Dance in Schools… What for?

ABSTRACT

The essay is a defense for the presence of dance in the curriculum of elementary and secondary education. Why should we have dance in schools? Dance in schools… What for? Based on the work developed over the years by the authors, which involved searching for articles, participating in lectures, writings, among other strategies, this text points to eight points of argument that can be unfolded and gathered in other configurations. As a conclusion, the importance of dance in elementary and secondary education is highlighted, as, in addition to legislation, it enables students to develop knowledge about their own bodies, instigating their creative capacity and expanding their historical and cultural horizons.

Keywords:
Elementary Education; Education; Art; Dance Teaching; Social Role

RESUMO

O ensaio é uma defesa sobre a presença da dança no currículo da educação formal. Por que ter dança na escola? Dança na escola... para quê? Com base no trabalho desenvolvido ao longo dos anos pelas autoras, que envolveu busca de textos, participação em palestras, escritas conjuntas, entre outras estratégias, este texto aponta para oito focos de argumentação que podem ser desdobrados e reunidos em outras configurações. Salienta-se, como conclusão, a importância da dança na escola básica, pois, além de prevista em legislação, possibilita ao alunado evolução do conhecimento sobre o próprio corpo, instigação de sua capacidade criativa e ampliação de seus horizontes históricos e culturais.

Palavras-chave:
Educação Básica; Educação; Arte; Ensino de Dança; Função Social

RÉSUMÉ

L’essai est une défense de la présence de la danse dans le programme de l’éducation formelle. Pourquoi danser à l’école ? Danser à l’école… pour quoi faire ? S’appuyant sur le travail développé au fil des années par les auteurs, qui impliquait la recherche de textes, la participation à des conférences, l’écriture conjointe, entre autres stratégies, ce texte pointe vers huit points d’argumentation qui peuvent être déroulés et rassemblés dans d’autres configurations. En conclusion, l’importance de la danse à l’école élémentaire est soulignée, car, en plus d’être prévue par la législation, elle permet aux élèves de développer des connaissances sur leur propre corps, dynamisant leur capacité de création et élargissant leurs horizons historiques et culturels.

Mots-clés:
Éducation de Base; Éducation; Art; Enseignement de la Danse; Rôle Social

This text advocates the introduction of dance in the curricula of formal education. It collects arguments that we, the authors, discussed in the position of professors in a Teaching Degree Program in Dance, more specifically as supervisors of supervised internships in this undergraduate program. Why should schools teach dance? Dance in schools… What for? We aim here to gather arguments for advocating the introduction of dance knowledge as part of school curricula. We are constantly summoned — as are our students and professionals in the field — to advocate for such reason. These contexts are multiple: professionals who want to assume public service positions in art, in which managers do not recognize this training; public service admission exam notices that need to be rectified for lack of knowledge that art involves at least four possibilities of higher education training; school principals who present lists of content to be taught in schools that consist only of knowledge in visual arts; students and parents who have never had dance classes in school and do not understand curricular transformations; approved candidates who are not called to assume the public service position; disputes between the Physical Education Council and teachers-artists, because the former claims that dance is a physical activity and part of corporal culture and, therefore, must be included in Physical Education; among other circumstances. There are multiple reasons for this defense and it is not our goal to exhaust the discussion in this text. Our idea is to contribute to the field, gathering some notions and thereby fostering this discussion in our area, which since the 2000s has grown in number of teaching degree programs, number of professionals graduated, number of pedagogical productions, and number of teachers working in elementary education.

Our method was traditional. Over the years, we worked with several authors, participated in several lectures, prepared several texts, wrote several letters with requests to different¹ managers and, thus, gathered some of these defenses. To this end, we studied multiple conceptions that address the function of art-education and the function of schools themselves to, then, reflect on the very reason for dance being introduced in this space². We gathered these arguments into eight topics, but they can be broken down into others, as well as gathered into other configurations.

…because it is law

The most concrete argument we use is the Law of Guidelines and Bases of Education (LDB), that is, Law No. 9,394 of 1996. This Law, in Article 26, paragraph 2, states that “The teaching of art, especially in its regional expressions, will constitute a mandatory curricular component of elementary education³” (Brasil, 1996, p. 27,833, our translation). If this paragraph addresses art, in general, paragraph 6 specifies that “[…] the visual arts, dance, music and theater are the languages that will constitute the curricular component referred to in § 2 of this article” (Brasil, 1996, p. 27,833, our translation).

The wording of the LDB has changed throughout its existence since 1996. The four artistic languages were only introduced in 2016. We can say that the first movement that puts dance into vogue is the National Curricular Parameters (PCN) (1997). However, the Parameters have no force of law; they only suggest the knowledge to be addressed in Elementary Education. In any case, this document was important to affirm a place for dance knowledge in the Arts subject and to foster future discussions on the matter.

Although there is no mention of Dance in the 1996 LDB [this mention came at a later stage], volume six of the PCN, dedicated to the Field of Art, indicates the Visual Arts, Dance, Music and Theater, with the addition of Audiovisual Arts for Secondary Education, as artistic languages to be developed in this curricular component (Corrêa; Santos, 2019, p. 6, our insertion).

Recently, another official document was approved; the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC). The base was already provided for in the LDB (Brasil, 1996, p. 27,833, our translation), in article 26, which states:

The curricula of early childhood, elementary, and secondary education must have a national common base, to be complemented, in each education system and in each school, by a diversified part, required by the regional and local characteristics of society, culture, economy and students.

The BNCC (2018) states that, in Elementary Education, the curricular component Art is centered on the following languages: Visual Arts, Dance, Music, and Theater. In this context, dance, according to the BNCC, should be taught in Elementary Education.

The processes of investigation and artistic production of dance focus on what occurs in and through the body, discussing and signifying relations between corporeality and aesthetic production. […] By dealing with the sensitive, epistemological and formal aspects of the danced movement in relation to their own context, students problematize and transform perceptions about the body and dance through arrangements that enable new perspectives of themselves and the world. Thus, they have the opportunity to rethink dualities and binomials (body versus mind, popular versus scholar, theory versus practice), in favor of a hybrid and dynamic set of practices (Brasil, 2018, p. 193).

We know there is still much to be done as to mandatorily having a teacher with specific training teaching the Arts subject and its thematic units (a term used in the document to specify artistic languages). This situation has shown that most professionals hired for this area come from the Visual Arts, followed by Music professionals, due to a historical issue. As a result, those involved in dance are highly engaged in elaborating arguments in its defense.

Regarding the BNCC for Secondary Education, there are currently major discussions that pertain, among other aspects, to the organization of the New Secondary Education⁴ into areas of knowledge. In this organization, dance is a component of the artistic field subordinated to the competences and skills of the area of Languages and Their Technologies. This document contains entries such as:

The research and development of hybrid materiality creation processes – understood as forms built on the boundaries between artistic languages, which contemplate body, gestural, theatrical, visual, spatial and sound aspects – enable students to explore, in a dialogic and interconnected way, the specificities of the Visual Arts, Audiovisual, Dance, Music and Theater (Brasil, 2019, p. 474, our translation).

Numerous uncertainties persist as to how the BNCC is being implemented, especially in relation to the New Secondary Education. We are attentive to this development. The explanation of the term dance by the LDB, a change in the wording given by Law No. 13.278, of 2016, was — it is necessary to recognize — a great achievement for the area.

…to learn about repertoires: historical and contemporary, of our culture and others

We know the plural and complex character of the functions of the regular school. The school and its socialization process are permeated by contradictions and ambiguities. From this diversity, we will select an aspect, which is the trend to reproduce historical and cultural acquisitions already consolidated. This trend, conservative and which tends merely to reproduce the status quo, clashes with more renewing trends that drive transformation and change. Pérez Gómez (2000, p. 23) addresses the subject by propounding several issues for discussion. Regarding the aspect of conservation and change, the author proposes:

[…] using knowledge also socially and historically constructed and conditioned as a tool of analysis to understand, beyond the superficial appearances of the real status quo […]. Thus, by explaining the meaning of the influences that individuals receive in school and society, appropriate spaces of relative autonomy for the always complex and conditioned reconstruction of the adult individual can be provided to that.

How does dance relate to this reproductivist function? We can think of it, on the one hand, as a reproduction of little dances only for the purpose of festivities or to say that the content has been met, on the other hand, it also suffers total absence in school, so there is nothing to reproduce. Therefore, Marques and Brazil (2012, p. 26, our translation) write: “[…] here is a first good initial reason for the presence of art in school: access. Art is universal knowledge, to which everyone is entitled.”

Once we provide access to the knowledge of Art, in this case, to the knowledge of dance, we can experience what Duarte Jr. (1988) calls the feeling of time, that is, through the dance productions of different historical periods and different centuries we are invited to approach those ways of feeling and thinking. Accessing the knowledge of dance becomes a way of accessing the worldview of our different and multiple cultures and of the cultures of other peoples.

A professional with training in Dance has more tools to select, present, contextualize and discuss the different knowledges of different cultures and times, not only providing access to elementary education students, but a qualified access, endowed with a critical potential that problematizes these modes of dancing.

…to expand the possibilities of movement …which expands motor skills and abilities

We have argued that dance in schools is not the same as that taught in free courses on the subject. Dance in free courses usually consists of classes of specific types, such as ballet, ballroom dance, urban dances, etc. Schools, in our ideal, is not intended to train specialist dancers. We advocate that dance in schools should address different types of dance, and that, more important than teaching specific variations, dance in schools should work with a wide repertoire of body movements, which can be different modes or even a free dance, without reference to any of these types.

But what is a repertoire of bodily movements? We understand here this repertoire as the general vocabulary of body movements and not specific types of dance, although interrelated. When working with a specific genre or type of dance, we make certain choices as to that repertoire. In ballet, we teach light, fluid movements, in vertical posture and with great emphasis on arms and legs. In urban dances, in turn, movements prioritize strong weight, segmentation of movement in time and parts of the body, which changes its posture often with support on the ground, etc. Dance teachers in schools must know this range of possibilities of movement⁵. Teachers should consciously make their choices from this range of possibilities, in order to provide a relatively varied range to their students.

There is […] a milestone in the history of dance that is the discovery of the elements of movement – considered a general vocabulary of body movements and that can be applied in various areas such as dance, theater, sports, psychology, anthropology, etc. These possibilities were mapped by Rudolf Laban (1879-1958) and his assistants and are constantly being improved by collaborators who lived during and after his death (Valle, 2020a, p. 23).

Rudolf Laban was an important figure to make dance free of labels. He observed that any movement can be material for dance. In studying the qualities of movements in factory workers during World War II, he observed that “[…] the processes of training skill and efficiency in industry show many aspects parallel to the new training methods of contemporary theater artists” (Laban, 1978, p. 141, our translation). Author of a vast bibliography, he also trained several artists who continue to expand his theories to date: “[…] here is a factor of major importance: the discovery of the elements of movement. Whether the purpose of movement is work or art, that does not matter, since the elements are invariably the same” (Laban, 1978, p. 141, our translation).

In dance, we pay attention to the unfolding of the process of movement, and not to its end. The final pose or its quantity does not matter, but rather how this movement is performed: how does it start? How are the different body parts put together? What time, focus, flow, or weight dynamics are involved in the unfolding? How are the body parts positioned in the space and what paths do they draw in the air? This attention to the process promotes awareness of the movement and the body, therefore, of oneself.

In addition, by working on these possibilities of movement, we exercise respiratory capacity, motor coordination, flexibility, strength, agility and all other motor aspects that need to be developed, expanded and improved.

…to expand the communication of the body… … and consequently refine the perception of the other and of the world

The body establishes its communication by the way it manages its relation with gravity, with the force it employs in movement, with the path it traces in the space, with the time it performs. Dance works fundamentally with body movement in its micro and macro adjustments and produces expressions (Zancan, 2018). Its practice expands communication by refining corporal perception and exploring repertoires of movements, which imply the gain of possibilities present in expressive manifestations. In dance, different motivations are mobilized in the creation processes.

[…] the specific manner of perceiving the setting, its particular way of expressing, through movement, the poetic images directly associated with the bodily materiality and possibility, all these factors used as support for the effectiveness of its expressive ‘communication’ (Silva, 2001, p. 127, our translation).

With the increased corporal sensitivity promoted by dance activities, the personal corporal communication and the corporal communication of the other gain greater attention. The exchanges are achieved in the adjustments and leveling of the manifested intentions and in the individual perceptions. “There is confirmation of the other by me and of me by the other” (Merleau-Ponty, 1999, p. 252, our translation). Thus, dance and communication are articulated in at least two ways: by expressive manifestation and observation of the external world. It expands personal communication with the outside world through body refinement and enables us to better express ourselves. At the same time, the mobilization of this knowledge sensitizes our attention and contributes to our ability to capture and understand messages from the outside world.

It is the body that interacts with the setting. Then, one acts on the body through movement and dance. By focusing on changing body movement or expanding the possibilities of movement, there is expansion of paths to be chosen and options for interaction with the world. In the intersubjective relations produced by dance, whose motto is body movement, communication between consciousnesses occurs at a stage that precedes the intellectual definition of meaning. It is through the body that the relationship with the other is established, just as it is through the body that dance is perceived as an aesthetic object. The meaning of the expressive movement is not behind it, it is confused with the structure of the world and with subjectivity, which is reconstituted, at different times, by the subjects involved, that is, between creators and performers, between performers, between spectators and artistic composition and, at the same time, between the spectators present in the presentation. Through this interaction there is the resignification by intersubjectivity. The perceptual experience is not beyond the sensitive spectacle, but in everything that can be built by the experience itself.

Schools ends up being a special locus for these relations to happen, since, for many children, it is there that their social group is expanded. Dance mobilizes the exercise of this communication and of the socializing function that schools have.

…to sharpen the sensibility and broaden the self-knowledge …consequently, refine the perception of the self

Both in its performance and in its appreciation, dance is an art that has its power characterized by the way it reaches the human body with its emotions and feelings. Through dance, we come into contact with body knowledge, which is linked to knowledge by the ways of moving, feeling and symbolizing.

Dascal (2008, p. 47, our translation), in problematizing that which constitutes the knowledge of the body, “[…] which includes the existential dimension and emphasizes the experience as an original or meaningful situation,” replies: “It is a mixture that is never ready. Its components are all the objects of the world and all the experiences, feelings, ideas, emotions that permeate the body, because the body is what I am, I am my body, I am freedom, learning and choice” (Dascal, 2008, p. 47, our translation). Therefore, when, through experience, we mobilize the knowledge of the body, we transform ourselves.

From the point of view of performance, each type of dance has a specific technique, identified by the characteristics of its movements and creations. For its learning and improvement, each dance develops its body preparation procedures, which act in practices with different approaches, but promote awareness of the body through the perception of movements, exercising the body states and the possibilities of creation that characterize a certain type of dance. Thus, self-knowledge is linked to the expression of the movement. By situating oneself in the experience of learning to dance, the person expands their body knowledge and thus sharpens their sensitivity and refines the observation about oneself and about the other. The more emphasis is placed on the observation, analysis, and practice of body movement, the more the proprioceptive sensitivity is developed.

The person who undergoes experiences that mobilize body knowledge has good conditions to recognize their sensations and be more attentive and, consequently, more sensitive. Sensitivity is understood here as the ability to process more details, present in the bodily states, identified in the nuances of bodily tensions, in the organization of the body in the space, in the relation of the body with gravity, and so on.

Another type of experience provided by dance, which makes it possible to work on sensitivity and expand self-knowledge and, consequently, refine the perception of the self, of the other and of the world, happens when we watch it. It is assumed that human bodies watch other human bodies, watch people who shape dancing movement to make art, and thus establish a fertile ground in which the “[…] movement of the other puts into play the experience of movement proper to the observer: visual information causes in the spectator an immediate kinesthetic experience (internal sensations of the movements of one’s own body)” (Godard, 2003, p. 24, our translation). The way of feeling motivated by the kinesthetic sensation of the other constitutes a part of the whole that composes the perception of dance from the spectator’s point of view.

According to Foster (2011), the word kinesthesia derives from the Greek term kine, movement, and aisthesis, which means sensation. According to the author, studies carried out since the early nineteenth century point out that kinesthesia comprises the capacity of the body to “[…] simultaneously perceive its position, movement, moment and proximity to everything around it, and even its relation with gravity” (foster, 2011, p. 73, our translation). When watching dance, we can be captured by the appearances produced by the body in motion, often felt in our own body (Zancan, 2018).

Karen Wood (2015, p. 29, our translation), by combining kinesthesia with empathy in dance, argues that “Kinesthetic empathy can be vaguely defined as the sensation of moving while observing movement […].” Also according to the author, “[…] the concept arises as an empathic interaction between the performer and the spectator, who incorporates aspects of the performer’s movement” (Wood, 2015, p. 29, our translation). Thus, Wood (2015) argues that the sensory experience may be facilitated by emotion, memory and imagination.

The dancing body produces sensitive impressions in space and time. When we are affected by the aesthetic experience, we often do not find words capable of defining what we feel and, therefore, we seek to express ourselves through the use of metaphors. Another manifestation, which indicates the work of sensitivity produced in the reception process, is when we have changes in our bodily state, affected by the expanded perception (Zancan, 2018). These bodily changes, when they occur, indicate the work in sensitivity.

Therefore, sharpening sensitivity and expanding self-knowledge directly consists with the eighth general competence of Elementary Education, according to which “[…] knowing oneself, appreciating oneself and taking care of one’s physical and emotional health, understanding oneself in human diversity and recognizing one’s emotions and those of others, with self-criticism and the ability to deal with them” (Brasil, 2018, p. 10, our translation).

…to produce imagination and exercise creativity

One of the characteristics of art is the mobilization of the imagination. Art acts with this human trait, composing with the elements that create different meanings. Duarte Jr. (1988) differentiates routine thinking from creative thinking. Routine thinking is guided by symbols and connections already known, while creative thinking establishes new symbolic relations, based on experiences that previously did not show relations with one another. The movement of connection is driven by the felt meanings and the feelings produced by the creative act. For the creator, the associations initially occur at a pre-symbolic, experiential level. In a second time, which cannot be seen from a linear perspective, but rather a chaotic one, they seek to express such relations, finding symbols that can translate them. In routine thinking there is a search for the known, the reliable, for convergent action, that is, “[…] it stays in the rails and arrives at a solution that is often not original, but presents guarantees of solidity” (Duarte Jr., 1988, p. 98, our translation). While in the creative act there is divergent thinking, which triggers the imagination through exploratory behavior. “Imagination concerns the articulation of feelings, their transformation into images and finding symbols that express these processes and results” (Duarte Jr., 1988, p. 98, our translation).

In the practice of dance, in seeking a type of movement, the body explores certain capacities related to the degree of ease of execution, originality and interpretation of dance movements. The experience of body movement operates at a pre-symbolic or pre-verbal level. We know that every known concept is apprehended by the person through their experience and their symbolic repertoire. The body in the process of creation mobilizes personal attitudes, habits and values; evokes perceptions, thoughts, lessons; evidences cultural and environmental influences; and rearranges new meanings, new conceptual schemes.

By operating primarily at the pre-symbolic level, the body movements of dance trigger exploratory behavior, which empowers the imagination and points to multiple responses. At first, communication takes place at a stage that precedes the intellectual definition of meaning. It is through the body that the relation with the other is established, just as it is through the body that dramaturgy is perceived as an aesthetic object. The meaning of the expressive movement is not behind it, it is confused with the structure of the world and with subjectivity, which is reconstituted, at different times, by the subjects involved, that is, between the dancers and the people who watch them, among all those present at the place of presentation. The knowledge triggered by the experience of dance dialogues with the images produced by the movement in the process of relocation of information, enabling further expansion of this creative field present in dance. That said, student creation in school should be fostered: through improvisations, games, composition procedures and others.

…to (in)discipline the body

There is no freedom without discipline, in other words, […] there is no freedom without limit (Freire, 2014, 15’30’’, our translation).

When we watch a video of a conference given by Paulo Freire in 1994, we come across the previous statement. Freedom or limit, or even discipline or indiscipline, seem to be antagonistic terms, but we consider them more as “integrated polarities” (Valle, 2020b; Hackney, 2008). One can exist in the presence of the other, sometimes one is more emphasized. We believe that, in dance, these terms overlap, as Freire mentions that freedom requires limit.

Dancers are usually known for their discipline. They arrive before class time to warm up, dress according to the code required, pay close attention to their teacher, undergo strenuous training, among other points. That is because training the body requires that we make our body obedient. On the other hand, this meticulous control of the body opens it to several possibilities. This apparent contradiction has been previously discussed by one of the authors, who stated that: “the dance technique […] is liberating because we learn how to use the body efficiently […]. On the other hand, by training the body in specific dance techniques, we make it docile” (Valle, 2009, p. 43, our translation). If we work here from the point of view of dance, we know that this notion is not new and is not restricted to this practice:

[…] in any society, the body is trapped within very strict powers, which impose limitations, prohibitions or obligations on it. […] These methods that enable thorough control of the body’s operations, which carry out the constant subjection of its forces and impose a docility-utility relation on them, are what we can call the ‘disciplines’ (Foucault, 2012, p. 132-133, our translation).

The school is a body-disciplining institution. How does dance contribute to and break with this logic? First, although dance is disciplinary, it is a different discipline from school logic. We highlight the use of the body in motion, which takes the student out of the immobility situation. Dance happens in experience, in being there and now in motion, moving knowledge related to the carnal existence of the human being. It also works with the practice of certain types of movements that require concentration, balance, endurance, joint mobility, ability to combine different qualities of movement (time, space, flow, weight). As disciplinary as this practice is, it is a different discipline from immobility. "The school needs to regain the freedom of movement that life in the big city and its respective school operating model have restricted, preventing the simplest and most fundamental manifestations such as running, jumping, leaping, etc." (Tiriba, 2008, p. 10, our translation).

In addition to the disruption of immobility and the work of movement dexterity, the act of dance puts into practice the way we manage our emotions and feelings, aspects very dear to the artistic area. Confidence in our own body and self-knowledge of our own feelings reverberate in our everyday attitudes.

How does dancing affect our emotions and feelings? In enjoyment, where students are provoked to get engaged by reading choreographies and performances of relevant artists and also works of classmates. In creation, where students are provoked to propose corporal works to express their ideas, or even the expression of the idea of others. All this involves the exercise of esthesia, which concerns the sensitivity to perceive the world. It should be noted that Creation, Enjoyment, Expression and Esthesia are parts of the dimensions of Art knowledge in the BNCC (Brasil, 2018).

…because creation as an artistic manifestation is a political way of positioning oneself

Creation in dance, directly and simply put, “[…] is to compose forms, movements, phrases, studies and complete dances in a different and creative manner” (Rio Grande do Sul, 2009, p. 74, our translation). Creation in dance, then, can be associated with choreographic composition, choreography, dramaturgy and the very movement improvisation procedure. Here, we understand creation in dance as a certain result, a product that can be repeated, even with small improvisations and in the form of exercise and not necessarily something ready and finished.

For creation, we use choices based on our personal repertoire of movement. When we create, we let the other see ourselves. When we create, we make choices that reveal our way of seeing the world: we deal with our choices, which concern a scale between beautiful and ugly, right and wrong, ideal and precarious, etc. When we create, we make choices that reproduce pre-established models or create cracks, even if small, in the ways of doing. Creation reveals our notion about virtuosity, about bodily patterns, about possible hierarchies of importance in the performance, among other aspects. Creation is also experimentation, an adventure toward the different and diverse that can be related to itself, with its personal poetics and with ways of doing a culture.

When we are challenged to create, we begin to understand that any movement can be material for dance. We keep gluing and accumulating known movements in small sequences or phrases of movement. The little experienced students gradually understand that there is no need to be ashamed of moving and that any movement can be material for dance. After a certain initiation and understanding, we begin to complexify this gluing of movements together, working on the meaning of these constructions and their aggregate elements, that is, in addition to the more elaborate movement of the body, we make choices as to casting, costumes, setting, scenic elements and sounds, etc. Thus, students, at the time they learn to make and present their choices, gradually can appropriate a form of expression that is a citizen and critical training, and learn, in addition, to make assessments, analyses and argumentative discussions about these choices.

In higher education in Dance, future teachers are constantly stimulated to reflect on creation. One of the authors, in her doctoral thesis (Valle, 2012), develops the notion of counterconduct of creation:

The idea of counterconduct of creation as an exercise involves, therefore, asking oneself about one’s poetics of creation. It is to understand creation not as a free process in which the subject is the origin of creation. Creation is permeated by cultural references, knowledge, powers and historical lineages of bodily movements. Thus, counterconduct involves becoming aware of habits, ways of doing, bodily addictions and preferences of movement in order to, at a later stage (not necessarily from a linear perspective, more likely from an overlapping and chaotic perspective), challenge oneself to conduct oneself in another way, in ways perhaps not so comfortable or ‘beautiful.’ It involves leaving a comfort zone and adopting another way of thinking and acting (Valle, 2017, p. 20-21, our translation).

In this sense, “[…] it is about making a kind of self-government arise, […] resisting the habit, the sameness, the copy, the simple repetition. […] thought of as a reflection on ethical, aesthetic and poetic affiliations” (Valle, 2012, p. 37-38, our translation). This concept of counterconduct of creation can be considered in parallel with the notion of dissent as argued by Lepecki (2011, p. 56, our translation), who argues that “[…] this subject would be the political being, that is, the one who is able to exercise their (always present) power for dissent, which is an exercise also fundamentally aesthetic, not regimented by vectors of subjectification pre-data.” Understanding, after all, that our creation reflects our point of view is understanding that creation is a political mode of seeing the world and positioning oneself on it.

Final considerations

In this text, we seek to build an argument capable of fostering discussion about the reason for introducing dance as an artistic language in elementary education. We believe that dance in schools should, at first, deconstruct an imaginary about it that still persists in the older generations. Deconstructing these imaginaries imply understanding that dance is not just ballet, since this language has been hegemonic for a long time. It also implies understanding that dance is not only a specific experience, such as learning the Pezinho⁶ dance steps, a traditional dance from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, usually learned in the early years to celebrate the Farroupilha Week⁷, in our region. This leads to another important consideration, which is to understand that dance is not only the product to be presented at school parties, although we understand that this space can also be a space of visibility for dance, as long as it is assimilated as a space for showing a continuous process of the curricular component. Therefore, this article is aimed at contributing to disseminate information to school managers and the school community.

Much has been said about the excess of subjects and the excess of content that the school passes on to its students. We believe that a discussion on this subject is important, because in our experience in schools we observed the mere memorization of knowledge and the lack of its applicability and relation with life. In the Arts, which involve four languages, are we under such risk? Maybe. We believe, however, that knowing dance and other artistic languages is essential in Elementary Education, including the initial grades, taught by teachers with training. In the New Secondary Education, this space for arts is restricted. We think it is important to advocate Dance also as an elective subject, so the students identified with it can deepen their knowledge and, therefore, find pleasure and significance in studying.

Finally, this article selected and presented some arguments that we consider valid. The issue of legislation is a strong argument, but it is not the crux of the matter. Some of the ideas presented may perhaps be grouped under the assumption of fully living our corporeality. In this case, it would involve the expansion of the possibilities of movement, of the motor repertoire, of the (in)discipline of the body, of the refinement of bodily perception, which is self-knowledge to express oneself. Another grouping may involve the development of creative capacity. Creation, a term so dear to the arts in general, means exercising the imagination, its ability to choose, other modes of doing and of criticism. Would not that be a fundamental way to educate a person and make them a citizen? Last but not least, the group that involves knowledge of the historical and cultural repertoire of dance. This knowledge fosters a construction and re-construction of conceptions about the world, since dance has been interwoven in the ways of being and doing of social groups through the ages.

We seek, through the ideas presented here, to foster an existing discussion, but which still seems important to us to be revisited. Knowing arguments about dance in schools has been important for it to exist and resist.

Notes

• 1
  In 2009, a written letter was submitted to the mayor of Porto Alegre. In 2011, a letter was addressed to the then Secretary of Education of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Recently, in 2021, another letter was sent to the State Secretary of Education. These documents are available in the annals column at http://encontrograduacoes.blogspot.com/. Accessed: Mar 1, 2022. Letters to the Colégios de Aplicação of the Federal Universities were also sent, at the local and national levels. One of them can be accessed at: http://forumcoordenadoresdanca.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html. Accessed: Mar 1, 2022.
• 2
  For writing this article, in addition, a research in the CAPES Portal of Journals was conducted, using the descriptors "dance" and "school" and "function" NOT "physical education," but, when analyzing the titles, we saw that they did not meet our research focus. We know that most of the academic production in our area is not yet on this portal. In a Google Scholar search with the descriptors “dance” and “school” and “function” in the title, we obtained 1 single result. In this same site, with the descriptors "dance" and "school" and "why" we obtained 3 results. Synonymous words like “education” and “what for” were also used.
• 3
  In Brazil, basic education includes Early Childhood Education (up to the age of 5 years, optional), Elementary School, which comprises 9 years, and Secondary Education, in 3 years.
• 4
  The New Secondary Education is a new structuring of this stage that was announced in 2017 and began to be implemented in 2022. It is based on a learning model by areas of knowledge (training itineraries) that will allow young people to opt for technical and vocational training.
• 5
  This wide range of possibilities of movement is also known as choreology, a term brought and disseminated by Isabel Marques since the 1990s.
• 6
  Pezinho is a folk dance well known in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. It is a dance inherited from Portuguese colonization.
• 7
  Farroupilha Week is an event in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul that commemorates the Farroupilha Revolution (1935-1945). This was one of the provincial revolts that took place in the Brazilian territory during the Regency Period.

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Edited by

Editor-in-charge: Gilberto Icle

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  02 Dec 2022
• Date of issue
  2023

History

• Received
  12 Apr 2022
• Accepted
  19 Sept 2022