Author: Walker, Carol K.and Walker, Peter

Publication Year:

Media Type: Periodical (article)

Summary:

The music community is currently experiencing a stimulated awareness of itself as a community. Individual members - composers, instrumentalists, educators, singers and conductors for example - are concentrating less on self-reflective, self-protective issues and more on the need to acknowledge and protect objectives shared by the music community as a whole. College faculty members and administrators are beginning to become more aware of the inter-dependency of all levels of music education, from preschool through university. Vocal and instrumental teachers are re-examining how performance majors are being prepared to make a living in, and an impact on, a society and culture that, to a large extent, is musically illiterate.

Abstract:

Our interest in policy concerns the training of Western concert dance artists in ballet and modern dance. What policies are currently in place for the preprofessional training of dancers, and how do the dancers view their preparation?

We developed a brief survey, which was presented to two groups of dancers (see Appendix B). One group was composed of eighteen members of professional modern dance companies and included a range of dancers from recent professional school graduates to seasoned veterans, over fifty of whom were also members of companies. The respondents (eight men and ten women) were from geographically diverse areas within the , and two were from outside of the . The second group comprised twelve senior students from a B.F.A. conservatory dance program training for careers as modern dancers, ballet dancers, and/or choreograhers.

The responses we subsumed into six categories of inquiry:

1. Dance preparation (question 1).
2. Value expressions (questions 2 and 8).
3. Needs expressions (questions 3 and 7).
4. Sources of encouragement and commitment (question 4).
5. Decision, information, and resources (question 5).
6. Dichotomy of expectation and reality (question 6).

For clarity, the group of professional dancers will be referred to as company. The other group, the seniors in the B.F.A. professional conservatory training program, will be referred to as students. Where possible, the responses to the survey have been grouped and placed in percentage formats as a means of expressing the relative strengths of the total group. Some questions drew no response and some elicited multiple responses. (p. 21)

CONTENTS
Preprofessional training.
Expressions of value.
Expressions of need.
Sources of motivation.
Decisions, information and resources.
Expectations and reality.
Recommendations.
Appendix A. State requirements for high school graduation/college entrance.
Appendix B. Preprofessional dance training questionnaire.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Artists-Resources for