Social Justice in Dance: The Exploration of Dance as a Tool for Promoting, Recognizing and Influencing Change

The purpose of this study was to prove that dance could be used as a platform for representation and to foster change within the community and beyond. This purpose aligned with the goal, which was to measure the impact of a structured choreographic curriculum on student engagement with social justice topics. The goal of this study was to answer the following research questions: Q1 Can dance be a tool in promoting social justice? Q2 How will students in the classroom respond to an integrated social justice theme through dance and production components? Q3 How will these topics be interpreted to an audience when performed as a showcase theme? The researcher incorporated a social justice theme with students’ Spring dance showcase, which was predominantly student choreographed, as a way to gauge how this concept would translate to audience members. Two dance classes participated in the Spring dance showcase; one was an audition-based course and the other was an elective dance course. All students were required to perform in the showcase as part of their final grade but only the students’ work who agreed to participate in the study was used as part of the result findings. By incorporating a social justice theme, a range of subject matters was reflected by students’ own personal and community connection. Through teacher instruction, students were guided how to select an appropriate topic that correlated with the theme. Handouts were provided to students that initiated the conversation of social justice topics. Ultimately, the students interpreted and choreographed numerous dance numbers that covered a range of social justice topics including mental health, women’s rights, LGBTQ+, racism, gun violence, war, fast fashion, sexual assault, and social media addiction. Of the twenty-four students enrolled in the two dance courses, only eight students agreed to participate in the study. Of those eight students, only three of those students choreographed and conceptualized dance numbers in the showcase. The researcher used a post-performance survey for audience members to participate in who were over the age of 18. The post-performance surveys were produced by a QR code that was printed in the programs. This link directed audience members to a Google form. Members were asked a series of questions using a linear scale of 1-5, with 5 being the most successful and 1 being unsuccessful. These questions covered a range of production components including choreography formations, genre or style of dance, music selection, voice and sound integration, lighting elements, costuming, and overall theme interpretation. In total, there were 23 respondents for the post-performance survey. A majority of the survey respondents worked in school administration or as teachers, although specific demographic questions such as what school or district they worked in were not included in this study. Based on the post-performance survey results, having a dance showcase with a theme centered around the idea of social justice was deemed to be very successful with its audience members. The component that received the lowest score on the linear scale was costume selection and colors associated with them. The eight students who agreed to partake in the study also participated in a journal reflection following the performance. There was a total of 10 questions the researcher asked the students in a printed handout. These questions asked the students about their creative process including if they were overall happy with their finished product, what their initial thoughts were about having the showcase theme, and if their feelings changed overtime. The journaling reflection with students was predominantly positive. Students enjoyed the theme with some admitting their initial hesitant responses changed over time. Many were proud of their interpretations of their selected topics and spoke highly of their peers’ hard work.