鈥淲e鈥檙e aiming to create a highly distinctive addition to the College鈥檚 current offerings. This doctoral program will be devoted exclusively to dance education, and will bring together faculty from across the College as well as the rich and extensive dance education community in and beyond New York City,鈥� says committee chair Mary Hafeli, Professor of Art & Art Education. 鈥淭hat means being consultative, in and outside of the College.鈥�
The program鈥檚 priorities are to prepare dance educators to teach teachers of dance in diverse school, community and college settings; develop dance educators as accomplished researchers; and foster leaders in dance education curriculum development and policy.
Mary Hafeli, Professor of Art and Art Education
Dirck Roosevelt, Visiting Associate Professor of Curriculum & Teaching, believes that aspiring master teachers must learn to balance consideration of classroom teachers鈥� everyday experience against a broader understanding of dance in society.
Dirck Roosevelt, Visiting Associate Professor of Technology & Education
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to think about problems the novice will encounter rather than simply envisioning what good teaching should look like at the end,鈥� says Roosevelt, who designed coursework for 麻豆原创鈥檚 doctoral specialization in Teacher Education. 鈥淏ut you also have to join the novice鈥檚 perspective to the larger territory of importance that dance occupies. For example, when I was in high school, I saw the film Isadora, in which Vanessa Redgrave plays Isadora Duncan. I was into politics, and the film made me interested in dance because of Duncan鈥檚 involvement with social causes.鈥�
Kelly Parkes, Associate Professor of Music & Music Education
Finding those connections for students, says Kelly Parkes, Associate Professor of Music & Music Education, requires 鈥渁 focus on the holistic education of human beings, not just on subject-specific skills, and an awareness of who鈥檚 in the classroom 鈥� and who鈥檚 not.鈥�
In Music Education, Parkes explores students鈥� decisions to be and teachers and performers, 鈥渟o that we can better prepare them for the careers they want.
Carol Ewing Garber, Professor of Movement Sciences
Dance education is typically about the art and pedagogy of dance, but 鈥渨e鈥檒l have the science and policy components to enable students to think about a range of career goals,鈥� says Carol Ewing Garber, Professor of Movement Sciences and Chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences.
Hafeli stresses that the program鈥檚 development is 鈥渁 work in progress.鈥� For the committee members, that has often been the most exciting aspect of the work.
鈥淚鈥檝e loved this collaboration,鈥� Roosevelt says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about different, vigorous traditions being brought to bear. That鈥檚 not always a strong feature of doctoral work 鈥� but it should be.鈥�
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