History of Dance, An Interactive Arts Approach
In spite of the daunting subject matter, this new book by Gayle Kassing successfully arranges hundreds of years of dance and hundreds of concepts about the history of dance into a manageable volume. Not only is History of Dance well organized and interesting to read, Kassing's writing style makes the subject accessible and enjoyable for dancers and anyone interested in dance history.
Published by Human Kinetics, the 310-page work is a valuable contribution to the almost non-existent contemporary college texts on dance history. A handful of new works are much longer and don't take Kassing's particular perspective when explaining the role of dance throughout history. Other recent works like No Fixed Points by Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick (Yale University Press, 2003) have served some dance history courses with an impossibly long treatment (907 pages.) Kassing comprehends the college student, professor, and schedule by arranging her information into 14 concise chapters that easily coincide with a standard semester. This arrangement allows time for the research paper project usually due at the conclusion of a study on dance history. Additionally, History of Dance is packed with concrete snippets of information on a variety of topics related to the time period of each chapter giving students a long list of ideas to pursue for end-of-term reports. Plus it all matches up with national standards on the study of dance and several other subjects.
In writing about history, the timeline of events sets the order for the subject. Instead of simply retracing the steps of the dance world in monotone, linear fashion, Kassing offers lively discussion of dance in relationship to historical events surrounding its development. She adds interesting comments such as, "Tattoos showed social status, completion of a rite of passage such as initiation or marriage, or a record of personal information." This comment on the use of tattoos as a form of costuming and self-adornment during "Dance at the Dawn of Time" is an ingenious way to connect current trends with historical events and contributes to reader interest. When the information seems relevant to the student they always continue reading!
"Integrative" is a contemporary buzzword being thrown around in many genres and it receives considerable overuse in the arts world. The concept of blurring the boundaries between art forms is admirable but artists aren't always sensitive to their audiences and tend to integrate too many different mediums. Kassing reaches for an "interactive" arts approach as claimed in the book's title. The interactive concept is achieved in a number of ways especially by the addition of website resources and a unique section entitled "How to do a WebQuest." Important vocabulary words are listed at the end of each chapter but a complete glossary of terms is non-existent. Students must develop their own definitions from chapter studies.
Kassing answered some questions about her book via e-mail.
Why did you take the integrative arts approach to writing History of Dance: An Integrative Arts Approach? How does this perspective compare to any other dance history books or textbooks?
GK: The unique approach to this textbook helps students see that the history of dance didn't occur in a vacuum, rather it was shaped by the interactive environment of arts, culture, and technology. This perspective provides a taste of the times from prehistory through the twentieth century to help students make connections between the major events in history and what was happening in the dance world. It also encourages students to be active learners to explore across the arts, social studies, and technology to learn about the dances of the era, to identify the costumes, the music, the personalities, classic and significant dance works, complete projects, and basically be able to answer who, what where, when, and why about dance history. One interesting comparison with other history of dance books is that each chapter includes a series of learning activities for students to explore dance to gain a deeper perspective.
Has the book been adopted by any schools yet?
GK: Yes, the book has been very well received by teachers who were excited to see a book that had such features as time capsules relating all aspects of society, references to websites, a guide to writing a research paper, and instructions for developing a web quest.
Are there any additional teacher resources available to accompany the book? Is there a teacher's edition?
GK: This is the only history of dance text to have instructor ancillaries free to course adopters and a student online resource area/.
What's your next writing project?
GK: I'm conceptualizing a beginning ballet book for students.