Dance as a Fitness Activity: The Impact of Teaching Style and Dance Form
Journal article by Karel Fromel, Gareth Stratton, Jana Vasendova, Robert P. Pangrazi; JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Vol. 73, 2002
Journal Article Excerpt
Dance as a Fitness Activity: The Impact of Teaching Style and Dance Form. by Karel Fromel , Gareth Stratton , Jana Vasendova , Robert P. Pangrazi High school physical education teachers are constantly challenged by students and parents to offer a curriculum that is meaningful and appropriate. Too often, the complaint is that teachers are presenting the same activities that were offered 50 years ago. The focus of instruction in the past has been dominated by directed and structured activities with a majority of time spent on team sports. During the 1990s, a strong movement in adult and youth activity shifted away from a focus on achieving high fitness levels and moved toward lifestyle physical activity. Recent goals set forth in Healthy People 2010 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000) focus on maintaining an active lifestyle that is dominated by moderate to vigorous physical activity of all types. No longer are only a few structured and vigorous activities viewed as acceptable. Today, all activity is seen as beneficial, and such movements as gardening, washing the car, and walking the dog are valued as much as jogging and calisthenics. A challenge for high school physical educators is whether they can offer activities that will appeal to today's youths. Very few states mandate more than a year of physical education. This means that teachers have little time in which to influence students' outlook on fitness and need to offer a curriculum that is attractive and desirable to students. Teachers must realize that they are competing against other content areas for students. A curriculum that is irrelevant to students will soon become a curriculum that is a thing of the past. Two major goals drive today's physical education for high school students. The first goal is that activities offered to students must meet their needs; that is, they must be activities that today's youths identify as popular and useful. The second goal is that the activities must be taught in a positive and caring manner, so that students leave school with a positive attitude toward lifestyle activity (activities that can be performed throughout the lifespan). Said in another way, physical education curricula should emphasize factors known to promote lifelong physical activity, such as feelings of competence, enjoyment, and self-management skills for program planning (Corbin, Dale, & Pangrazi, 1999). Dance as an Activity The national standards for physical education (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1995) identify the ability to perform a variety of dance forms as a benchmark for how high school students can meet content standard two ("Applies movement concepts and principles to the learning and development of motor skills," p. 1). Because dance offers so much to the total development of students in the physical, intellectual, aesthetic, cultural, emotional, and social spheres, it should be included as an integral part of physical education (National Endowment for the Arts, 1998). As Graves and Townsend (2000) expressed it, "Dance is a tool that teachers can use to satisfy students' fundamental needs" (p. 50). Koff (2000) emphasized that "dance in the curriculum provides a fundamental aspect of education that is not present in any otherform" (p.30) and "...movement, as a form of expression, is fundamental" (p. 30). Data from two studies in the Czech Republic revealed that high school girls (n=2,119) had a strong preference for aesthetically oriented physical activities (Fromel, Novosad, & Svozil, 1999; Fromel, Vasendova, & Krapkova, 2000). The two most popular girls' activities both in and out of school were swimming and dance. The least popular activities were those that focused on fitness, motor skills, sports performance, and competition. The activity levels of high school girls are a cause for concern in the U.S. as well as in the Czech Republic, because physical activity levels decrease dramatically among this age group (Rowland, 1990). Additionally, activity levels of high school girls are even lower on weekends, when they are out of the school environment (Fromel, Novosad, Svozil, Sigmund, & Gorna, 1998). This trend toward less physical activity points to the need to offer activities that have strong appeal and utility for high school youths. Dance is one such activity, because studies have shown that it can play a significant role in the promotion of physical activity for teenage girls (American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 1999; Fromel, Novosad, & Svozil, 1999; Sallis & Owen, 1998; Vacaro, 1997).Because dance is an activity that can be performed throughout life, it should be a vital component of a ... |
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