Towards Vocational Training of the South African Dancer: Anxiety or Agency?

Abstract

Abstract The dance world is dominated by instilling technique and discipline in the dance training. Technique and discipline have been inculcated through training regimes that are dogmatically transferred through the generations — from teacher to dancer —and who in turn perpetuate technique and discipline in their teaching. Within a multicultural setting, dancers are required to start afresh and to subscribe to a standardisation that is often unattainable due to gender, physique, and bias. The standardisation reinforces a coloniality of power. This article examines this phenomenon and serves to promote inclusive strategies towards training vocational dance. Theories of learning are explored that advocate towards a long-term transformation strategy that takes the notions of deficit dancers and the coloniality of power within the dance education system into account. Consideration is also afforded to Nakata‘s (1998) cultural interface theories, which incorporate these aspects with a strategy on dance vocational training —the constructs of a professional learning community (PLC) that may not be seamless in implementation. Through reflective and reflexive inquiry, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) somatic training modules are case studies for a gap analysis framing of such a strategy. By actively participating in co-creating new knowledge and futures, a sense of agency is afforded the individual student.