2004 Business Meeting Minutes

Dance Kinesiology Special Interest Group Meeting
International Association for Dance Medicine and Science Annual Meeting
San Francisco, California
October 2004

Return to Dance Kinesiology Teachers Home Page

Purpose - The purpose of this meeting was to provide teachers of Dance Kinesiology with an opportunity to discuss topics culled and evolved from a conference of Dance Kinesiology teachers held at the University of Utah in May, 2003. The topics are summarized according to several questions that were posed in the agenda for the meeting. Other topics arose as well.

Do we want to schedule a separate conference to address topics of special interest to Dance Kinesiology teachers? If so, how often, when, where, and for how long?

The sense of the group was that there are already too many conferences to attend and that the meeting of this special interest group should, for the time being, be piggy-backed on other professional meetings. IADMS, PAMA, NDEO, and CORD were mentioned as possibilities.

The meeting concluded with a mixed sense regarding what to do for the coming year. Some thought we should arrange only a business meeting during at the IADMS Annual Meeting in Stockholm next year while others thought we might want to try to do something more. (A small group met informally later in the annual meeting to discuss organizing an all-day event for Dance Kinesiology teachers at the 2005 IADMS annual meeting. Also, we have received an invitation from IADMS to hold a similar event at the 2005 annual meeting, if we would like to do so.)

When we do meet again, what topics should be considered and in what form?

The group strongly favored whole-group participation activities to presentations by a few to a relatively passive audience. The emphasis should be on sharing ideas including teaching and dancer assistance strategies. Group brainstorming should be the main focus. A round-table sharing of course syllabi might be a reasonable extension of the forum discussion of what Kines Teachers should be teaching that was held just prior to this business meeting.

There was some discussion of arranging an event to gather together Dance Kinesiology teachers in Europe and it was agreed that a Kines teacher from that part of the world should play a major role in organizing the meeting to be sure it is tailored to European interests. Reetta Ronkko offered to play that role. Of the 25 meeting participants, 23 favored trying to arrange an event at the IADMS annual meeting in Stockholm in November 2005.

Some suggested that the need to accommodate university travel funding requirements might be negotiated by hosting panel discussions where several individual participants could be identified as presenters, but the discussion would be open to more than the panelists once brief, initial presentations are made.

Questions

Several questions arose during the discussion. Some might be used to focus discussions at future meetings of this special interest group. Who are we and what do we address? How many of us are there? What are our needs, wishes, interests? What does dance kinesiology include? How does it relate to other dance sciences? What is our purpose? Who is our audience? What can dance teachers offer to Kines teachers?

Audience

Someone suggested that while the dance sciences, including Dance Kinesiology, have made significant inroads into Modern Dance, they have not generally been embraced by teachers of Ballet. It was suggested that Ballet has been slower to accept application of the sciences because it is more emersed in tradition. Ironically, some also felt that IADMS seems to emphasize work with ballet dancers.

Communication & Access to Resources - How can we best communicate and share ideas regarding the concepts of dancer wellness among ourselves? How can we do the same for our students and promote these concepts to others involved in serious dance training?

There was substantial interest in collecting, organizing, and making available on the web information relevant to Dance Kinesiology. These might include: Annotated bibliographies describing textbooks, videos, CDs, DVDs, illustrations, and other anatomy/kinesiology tools; study guides; practice quizzes; screening protocols; teaching outlines for great classes; web links like those in the Structural Kinesiology textbook. Possible model web pages include: Dr. Sholls, Nureyev Foundation, and Primal Pictures. Several also expressed an interst in having access to a chat room and to threaded discussions. Resources like these should be available to teachers and students of Dance Kinesiology. Someone thought the IADMS web site might soon have some of the functionality needed to support such activities. Apparently, Yahoo also tries to facilitate the formation of virtual communities by sponsoring on-line chat rooms.

A first step seems to be the collection of resources from those who teach Dance Kines. Jane Baas and Eva Powers have expressed interest in working on such a project. David Weiss, IADMS web master and Donna Krasnow, IADMS Listserve manager, might be helpful in the endeavor.

Outreach - How can we disseminate dance medicine and science information to people who are not enrolled in university dance programs?

There was some discussion about how to reach beyond university dance programs to disseminate the information to dancers and teachers who are not part of university dance program. The Australia workshops may provide a useful model for stimulating interest in dance kinesiology. Could we organize something like Dance Medicine on Tour? Perhaps we could work through syllabus organizations such as Cecchetti and Vaganova societies. Could we sponsor participation in the convention circuit? Someone said that once you get invited to address an organization, the teachers are receptive. These interests, of course, overlap the charge of the IADMS Education Committee.

Accreditation systems for dance teachers who do continuing education work might be another avenue. Kent State offers a certificate program for studio teachers that includes a dance science component. Cal State Long Beach does something similar. NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) has a National dance registry that could be helpful in this connection.

Not all university dance programs have sufficient dance science components in their curricula. The NASD (National Association of Schools of Dance) accreditation process values the teaching of anatomy and kinesiology skills , but few university programs are accredited and the standards are somewhat general. Is there anything we might be able to do to refine the standards and to help more dance programs adopt them, whether or not their program is accredited?

It was pointed out that many dance programs are housed in community colleges which do not support faculty attendance at conferences. Can we do anything to help CC teachers receive the support they need to become involved with professional organizations?

Planning

We’re all so busy; how will we move our group forward? Several people volunteered to help:
Plan Special Insterest Group Program ‘05– Jane Baas, Pam Geber, Reetta Ronkko, Kista Tucker, Janet Karin, Tom Welsh (liason with IADMS board)
Create Dance Kinesiology resources site – Eva Powers, Jane Baas
Build a list serve – Shannon Sterne, w/ help from Jane Baas
Arrange for IADMS special interest group status – Tom Welsh

Return to Dance Kinesiology Teachers Home Page