Browsing by Subject "Dance"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Challenges to dance teacher education : interrogating the training of dance teachers at the UCT School of Dance 2001-2008
    (2008) Friedman, Sharon; Samuel, Gerard; Loots, Lliane
    Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-119).
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    In search of recognition: youth participation In 'traditional' dancing In Nyanga, Cape Town
    (2025) Tanino, Rise; Fuh, Divine
    This ethnographic study examines the experiences of young Black South Africans in seeking recognition through engagement in ‘traditional' dance. Based on six months of ethnographic research with a group of young ‘traditional' dancers in Nyanga township, Cape Town, it investigates the creative use of dance and strategies deployed by a group of young people to gain recognition as humans and as accomplished social adults. In a context in which young people must compete to fit across ever-shifting expectations of accomplishment, ‘traditional' dancing offers them a creative space to activate collective agency, negotiate visibility, being human and participate in community. Building on research about youth, dance, and recognition, I argue that youth in Nyanga employ economic, artistic, and organizational strategies in their ‘traditional' dancing to gain recognition. These strategies enable them to accumulate resources to be acknowledged in the consumerist and post- apartheid context, to quip them with outlet to express their emotions, and having stake and space in the community, allowing them to gain dignity as humans and as young people.
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    Looking at dance through the Te Whare Tapa Wha model of health
    (2011) Thorp, Kathryn; Samuel, Gerard; Baum, Rob
    This dissertation uses Mason Durie's Te Whare Tapa Wha (the house of four sides) model of health to examine the benefits of participating in dance. Durie's (1994) model is widely used and taught throughout Aotearoa New Zealand as a guide for discussions and practices involving total health and wellbeing. The four sides of the house are: taha wairua, the spiritual aspect of health; taha whānau, social aspect; taha hinengaro, mental and emotional aspect; and taha tinana, the physical aspect; each of which will be applied to circumstances, situations, and phenomena found in dance. Each aspect of health, although they stand alone in their own right, is interconnected with, and relies on the other. Dance is a place to explore, understand, and come to know oneself and others in each aspect of health; as dance is a holistically healthy activity which empowers an individual in life, as it reflects and amplifies issues, perceptions, and ideas, and is a place to explore those issues. Dance enhances the sense of spirituality and connection to one's self, others, and the environment. This occurs through muscular bonding, use of the shared breath, and the feeling of connectedness between people when honouring and embodying one's ancestors and history through movement. The dance community can also be a surrogate family, through developing how one builds and maintains relationships by building rapport, caring for others, and creating a sense of belonging within the group. Dance improves the ability to think through the body, and is a site for physically maintaining and improving the body.
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    Lost meaning-new traditions : an investigation into the effects of modernity on African social traditional dance in Nyanga, Cape Town.
    (2013) Rani, Maxwell Xolani; Greyling, Eduard
    The dancers of Nyanga have taken note of the extent to which modernity has caused them to adjust and transform the movement quality and execution of their dances to create new urban African social dances. In addition, the urban dancers' experiences in the field have affected and influenced their craft. These perspectives have served as a point of departure for a re-evaluation of the role and predicaments of African social traditional dance in an urban environment, with specific reference to Nyanga township and raises questions around the manner in which modern agencies such as Christianity, education, multimedia, fashion and geography influence South African social traditional dance.
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    Pedagogical shifts in Bharathatyam, Durban: Case studies in Durban-South Africa and Chennai-India (2019 & 2020)
    (2021) Devan, Saranya; Samuel, Gerard
    This dissertation explores pedagogical shifts in Bharathanatyam in Durban, South Africa and Chennai, India in the 2000s. It questions the state of Bharathanatyam teaching in South Africa today in order to understand its role in a multicultural context. Chapter One forms the rationale and background to the study. It begins by offering a contextual frame of the histories and cultural politics in South Africa and India. It discusses Dance and the beginnings of Indian Dance in South Africa, ending with reflections of Bharathanatyam pedagogy, post 1994 in South Africa. The literature review spans across Chapters Two and Three, which look broadly at critical pedagogy and expanded views of culture. Notions in Dance pedagogy by Sue Stinson (1999), Sherry B. Shapiro (2004), Lliane Loots (2006) and Sharon Friedman (2011) are accessed to discuss western pedagogical paradigms. These are contrasted by Suparna Banerjee (2013), Sunil Kothari (2007) and Shanti Pillai (2002) whose critique of the Guru-Shishya Parampara offers a counterpoint of the dominant western hegemony. Janet O'Shea (2009) and Ketu Katrak (2011) aid in the understanding of Bharathanatyam as a ‘carrier of culture' in the Motherland and diaspora. A qualitative research methodology was deployed to uncover practices by teachers in Chennai and Durban. This study will investigate how some traditional gesticulations such as Adavus, hastas and posture are not being rigidly upheld in the teaching of Bharathanatyam by certain teachers. Unstructured interviews, participant observation and a discussion of baani from case studies was utilized. Some of the major findings of the study included observations of a dilution of Adavu teaching in Durban, the marginalisation of Bhakti and the genealogical mapping of the Tanjore/Pandanallur baani. A proposal for the institutionalisation of Bharathanatyam is made.