Associate Professor Ralph Buck is Head of Dance Studies, University of Auckland. His research and teaching focus on dance education, curriculum, dance pedagogy and community dance. Ralph is currently the elected dance nominee, Executive Council, World Alliance for Arts Education; Chair, Education and Training Network, World Dance Alliance; Dance advisor, UNESCO International Advisory Committee, Second World Conference on Arts Education. Ralph’s teaching and leadership has been recognised by the University of Auckland Distinguished Teaching Award, 2008; Faculty Award for Leadership, 2010; and the 2006 Excellence Award for Equal Opportunities. His research in dance education is published in international journals and he has delivered keynote addresses and master classes in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Columbia, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand and Fiji.
Ralph Buck
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Articles
Booting the tutu: teachers and dance in the classroom
Ralph Buck (National Institute for Creative Arts and Industries, University of Auckland) focuses on how we might develop sustainable dance education practice in the primary school classroom. He emphasises the importance of changing perceptions about dance in terms of the associations with femininity, ability, performance, mastery of skill and elitism.
Reclaiming the community of Cabelo Seco through dance
Paulo Freire and John Dewey are helping the youth of Cabelo Seco in the southern reaches of the Amazon to reclaim their violated community. Freire (1921–1997) and Dewey (1859–1952) remain alive in Cabelo Seco, identified as one of Brazil’s most dangerous communities. After describing the context of Cabelo Seco, the local community arts projects and the philosophies driving this work, I examine meanings of community dance in Cabelo Seco. Utilising a constructivist methodology that values dialogic interaction to build shared understandings, interviews and observations provide insights into diverse ways that people experience, value and make meaning from dance in community contexts. Dewey, Freire, Eisner, Boal, Zequinha and other arts educators are ever present in Cabelo Seco; understanding a lineage of influence helps to examine current practices and envision future projects. This paper explores the shifting and emerging role of dance in this community, focusing on how dance is helping to reclaim it.
A historical overview of dance in the New Zealand curriculum
A historical overview of the development of the New Zealand dance curriculum from the early twentieth century to the present day reveals shifting meanings and emphases from military drills to gymnastics, eurhythmics, creative movement, European folk dance and cultural Maori dance. In the last decade however, dance in the New Zealand school curriculum has arguably gone through its most influential change as it shifted from the physical education curriculum to the arts curriculum.
This curriculum shift refined and focussed the academic study of dance in New Zealand primary, secondary and tertiary education contexts. This article focuses upon curriculum and the key persons shaping curriculum development and its delivery in New Zealand from the early 1900s to the present day.