7.5: Intelligence is Being Able to MAKE Something!

Multiple intelligences theory relates to dance praxis, as according to Howard Gardener, being creative is intelligent! Creating a work of art, a dance, a poem, a craft a symphony, run an organization or teach a class, is intelligence. “Creativity has… to do with getting to know the subject (dance) in great detail, and then being willing to take that knowledge and use it new kinds of ways” (Gardener 1990, p. 21). The ability to put knowledge to work, however, requires a graduated and scaffolded teaching methodology. Dancers are not able to just suddenly create dance that is noteworthy. Students, without proper contextual understanding, cannot access, interpret, or understand dance presented in an abstract fashion with deep and lasting impact.

A pedagogical approach to dance is to correlate dance as an activity with associated brain activity. One way to structure your dance class, with a broad view for the entire year or semester for example, would be strategic and effective in that it would meet the needs of students by progressing their knowledge toward confidence and autonomy. Reference Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning, which was originally presented in 1956; Having undergone several revisions, Bloom’s Taxonomy supplies a cogent educational scaffold intended to introduce progressive exposure and skill building in job-specific career options unique to individual students of dance. Using Bloom’s revised taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) that facilitates a progression toward higher order thinking skills toward applicable use of educational objectives, student ideas and aptitudes inculcate visioning, planning, and executing.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

Figure 7.5. Bloom’s (1956) Revised Taxonomy of Learning (Vanderbilt University, 2020)

(Credit Image Source: Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. (19 November 2020). This represents a visual of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and descriptions of each category as it applies to the classroom. https://upload.wikimedia.org/Wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Bloom%27s_Revised_Taxonomy.jpg)

Level 1: Knowledge

Know, describe basic information. Fact based (who, what, when, where). recall from memory. Verbs to use in dance class: List, name, observe, memorize, remember, recall

Level 2: Understand

Comprehending information, recognizing steps. Identifying the process (the standard order to warm up at the barre in ballet class) Explain process. Verbs to use in dance class: Identify, summarize, describe

Level 3: Application

Using information in a new situation. Demonstrate, use, explain. applying what student has learned, using acquired information or skills to creative work. Verbs to use in dance class: Explain, apply, show, sequence, organize, imagine.

Level 4: Analysis

Breaking down information. Examine, analyze. categorize (place ballet steps accurately in the proper class sequence category such as pas be bourée in center floor/adagio or petite allegro, and grand jeté during across the floor/grand allegro). Break down information into parts making it more easily understood. verbs to use in dance class: categorize, examine, distinguish between, describe, analyze.

Level 5: Evaluation

Making and defending judgements, critique, judge merit, assess quality. Adjudicating artistic merit, judging validity of relevance of a dance work or the creative process. Verbs to use in dance class: evaluate, critique, judge, value, conclude, rate, solve.

Level 6: Create

Putting parts together to make a new whole. Synthesize, combine, compose, create. Coalescing material to form a new creation. Verbs to use in dance class: create, choreograph, relate, invent, plan, construct, design, edit, refine.

In dance we rely on critical thinking. Your mandate as a dance teacher is to reach your students on every level. It is up to you as a teacher how you fashion your lesson plan to create experiences that force your students to function on each level. We do not reserve the higher levels of thinking for older students! Therefore, as a student works their way up from mere memorization of steps of dance vocabulary, they grow to understand kinesthetic nuance and deeper historical or contextual knowledge related to certain steps, for example. Next, dancers working their way up Bloom’s Taxonomy would be able to apply their new knowledge, such as demonstrating proficient dance movement, execute specific steps with creative interpretation, as well as solve problems within a dance situation such as strategizing transitions for multiple dancers across the stage, or employing musicality to clarify movement to music.

Further, the ability for a dance student to distinguish between Vaslav Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913) and Pina Bausch’s (1980) Rite of Spring, as well as relate some historical context, compare, and contrast choreographic devices, or even experiment physically with similar movement would be to invite your students to access their ability to analyze. If a student can evaluate or critique movement, as in peer review of pirouettes, or argue for or against hip-hop being a codified movement language, these are climbing Bloom’s Taxonomy into the upper echelon toward cultivating the skill of evaluation. But the piece de resistance, is the cultivate ability to create. Considered to be the highest level of learning, a student would be able to produce something new! To choreograph, to write, assemble a production… To create is the hallmark of a student who has achieved the highest level of learning. And it is the responsibility of the dance teacher to scaffold instruction that facilitates such learning opportunities to cultivate deep knowledge.