Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

238 The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology
more meaningful knowledge or understanding can emerge and add to the already rich body of
knowledge that has been established.
Because the educator’s/teacher’s/instructor’s approach to teaching will effectively influence
what will be taught, and, consequently, learned, as well as how this learning will take place, it
would be important to address the ways in which dance can or may be taught in educational
settings by critically examining the language used in dance education. By doing this, we open up
the possibilities of multiple approaches and thwart the perpetuation of the status quo through one
approach to learning in dance. This links with a critical and postmodern approach to knowing
where there is the need to look beyond a Westernized, Eurocentric perspective as the only
epistemology to draw upon.
The language mainly used for the educational elements of dance carry one predominant
view of “knowing” as opposed to exploring other languages and art forms, which can provide
multidimensional understandings. We need to be aware of how the use of one predominant
language for dance education can hinder as well as enhance what we come to know as dance
and look at whether this raises issues of universalizing or generalizing, and provides, at best,
somewhat abstract concepts/approaches to teaching dance. From a pluralistic and multicultural
perspective, we need to promote the interrelationship between other cultural art forms and the
Eurocentric/Westernized language and methodology used primarily in dance education today
considering the students/children we teach and the diverse cultures they embody.
Ultimately, this leaves me with some questions that I think are worthy for all of us to consider
from a postmodern and postformal perspective. Can these abstract and somewhat universalized
concepts transfer across different dance styles/processes from other cultures/countries? Is this language
still relevant in a multinational, multicultural society? Is it meaningful to children/students
as a language for dance? Does it connect to students’/children’s lives today? Is there still a place
for a commonly accepted vocabulary for dance education that can be used universally and applied
to any/all cultures?
CONCLUSION
In many ways Laban’s theories were the antithesis of what ailed society, yet, as with many things
in society, those who inherit such legacies fail to adequately apply the same visionary foresight
to the ongoing sustenance of such legacies. Of course, I do not want to be misunderstood here,
because I truly believe that Laban’s theories and contribution to education have been mammoth,
and for this reason, have been given worthy consideration in many fields (although in some fields
concerning the body more than in others). Nevertheless, as with any visionary, we must continue
to envision the possibilities, as well as the limitations, for the generations that follow.
Ultimately, I want to continue to honor the legacy Laban left us related to his theories of
movement and its application to the field of dance education, but even more so I want to see it
develop and grow as our world and people change and exchange different ways of being in the
world. What can be more worthy of consideration than understanding ourselves as human beings
and, thus, understanding others and the world we live in? Movement, or the way the body moves,
is vital to this quest, especially where, in dance, the body and the person become one in a way
that provides a means of celebrating who we are as human beings. Coming to know ourselves and
answering the age-old question “Who am I?” is something that one begins to discover through
being in touch with what makes us tick, namely the movement of the body and its interrelation
with the mind and spirit. It is through the body that we experience the sensations of life, the pulse
of our heartbeat, the weight and balance of bodily matter, the force of gravity, the tension and
relaxation of everyday events, and the energy of life itself.