Examining the Artistic Voices of Community College Dance Students Using a Narrative Inquiry Approach

ABSTRACT

In this study, we use a narrative inquiry approach to understand how students construct their artistic voices as part of their educational experience in California community college dance classes. Data collection techniques included semi-structured interviews, video recordings of a dance performance, and a reflective one-page journal where participants described the attributes of their artistic voices. Participants included ten community college dance students. We used socio-cultural theories and the Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) framework to analyze individuals’ personal construction and movement vocabulary. We present three findings to inform dance teachers. First, deeper self-understanding was a foundational component of students’ artistic voice. Second, the performance of the artistic voice was guided by students’ construction of personal-interpretative narratives that inspired their bodily choices. Third, the construction of the artistic voice was sustained through three types of power negotiation (compliance, resiliency, and resistance).

KEYWORDS:

• Dance
• community college
• artistic voice
• narrative

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Permission to use still images from videos was obtained as part of our IRB approval. Students consented to having their images included in publications.