Movement and Pedagogy: Multiple Ways of Understanding Dance in Southcentral Alask

This project used multiple methods to explore the rich human activity of dance, questioning what, if anything is shared within and across cultural groups when teaching, learning, and performing dance. Two dance traditions presently practiced in Southcentral Alaska were documented and analyzed using: participant observation, interview, questionnaire, archival material, and visual recordings. Dance traditions consist of established and purposefully selected types of human movement that reflect the culture from which they arise. The dance traditions included in this study were Alaska Native Yup'ik dance, specifically the practice of yuraq, and contemporary concert dance practiced by the University of Alaska Anchorage Department of Theatre and Dance. Within the major theme of Why Dancers Dance arose sub themes of identity, communication, connection, and health (mental and physical). Within the major theme of Learning Through the Body arose sub themes of: body, effort, shape, and space. Sub themes of the second major theme were defined by methods of Laban Movement Analysis.;The Alaska Native dance tradition placed more of an emphasis on the story or message behind the dance, while the contemporary concert dance tradition tended to teach through the body first with a strong visual preference. One main difference between the two dance traditions involves who dances. Alaska Native cultures had a more inclusive view of dance, reflected in a wider range of participants who viewed dance as an integral part of their identity throughout their lifespan. The contemporary concert group viewed the act of dancing as a more specialized activity, yet the dancers who dedicate themselves to becoming a dancer express that it is a core part of their being. There were however, similarities between these dance traditions such as, getting to another place through the practice of dance.