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How does dance education happen in your school? In many elementary schools, dance is a prep delivery subject, taught by educators who are often “prep fairies”, with several responsibilities for multiple grades. While data exists about how many specialist teachers teach the other arts (46% for music as of 2018, 16% for visual arts, and 8% for dramatic arts) there is no data about how many specialist dance teachers are teaching in elementary public schools (People for Education, 2018). When dance isn’t your passion, how do you program effectively?

Non-specialist teachers might be tempted to turn to YouTube and have students copy the moves on an instructional video. This practice may appear to be an easy solution, as it does not require the instructor to be a proficient dancer with any background or experience. The authors of this article, who are associated with CODE (the Council of Dance and Drama Educators) and AML (the Association for Media Literacy) are keen to encourage educators to critically examine this practice, understand the problematic elements of it, and recommend alternatives that benefit everyone involved.

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Image from Provocations of students provided by Matthew Sheahan

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Just Dance

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