Dance, Sexuality, and Education

Today
Observations for Dance Educators
Doug S. Risner, Ph.D., M.F.A.

Keep in mind always the present you are

constructing. It should be the future you want.
Alice Walker1

his special issue is the first of two issues of

the Journal of Dance Education devoted
to a comprehensive discussion of sexuality
and dance education from multiple perspectives
including public schools (K-12), private studios,
conservatories, and higher education. Our primary
concern is to give these special issues a shape that
responds not only to the sociological and
pedagogical impact of sexuality on the educational
experience and perspective of dance students and
teachers, but also to attend to the scope of dance
education that our readership encompasses.
Though the enormity of the subject matter as well
as its diverse context-related implications makes
constructing a comprehensive issue especially
challenging, the significance of openly bringing
these concerns to the forefront of dance education
remains crucially important.
Among innumerable potential topics emanating from this review of sexuality and dance education in the 21st century, we focus straightforwardly on todays challenges for dance educators.
Critically examining age appropriate dance, the
hidden curriculum of gender and sexuality, the
Doug Risner, Ph.D., M.F.A., is the Chair of the
Maggie Allesee Department of Dance at Wayne
State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Correspondence: Doug Risner, Ph.D., M.F.A.,
Maggie Allesee Department of Dance, Wayne
State University, 3226 Old Main, 4841 Cass
Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202.

hyper-sexualization of children and adolescents,

sexual harassment and abuse, sexual orientation,
homophobia, HIV/AIDS, the impact of sexuality
in contemporary culture and mass media, and finally, definitions of healthy sexuality, the authors
highlight practical applications and provide insights and recommendations for todays educational environment. As Alice Walker reminds us,
it is in the today we have the opportunity to create what becomes the tomorrow with which we
have the obligation to live.

Background: Sexuality in Dance

Education
Sexuality is a difficult topic for all educators.
Dance educators are not immune to the educational challenges faced by colleagues in other disciplines, administrators, and parents. The recent
crisis in the Catholic Church reminds us of our
cultures ability to discount vitally important issues, especially concerning children, even when
our intuition tell us that something should be done.
What is most troubling in dance education though
is the lack of serious discourse and the development of educative strategies to confront issues of
sexuality in proactive ways particular to our own
private studios, schools, colleges, and universities.
What follows is a brief overview of the limited, yet
growing literature that informs this two-part special series on dance education and sexuality.
In the private sector, issues of age appropriateness and sexual explicitness in dance have surfaced recently as important concerns for dance
educators. Horosko2 warns of the psychological
ramifications of encouraging preteens to perform
dance styles unsuited to their age level, and the
5

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Journal of Dance Education

Volume 4, Number 1

ways in which childrens dignity and true capacity are sacrificed as a consequence. Gold3 and Gold
and Cuming 4 note apprehensions and varying
points of view regarding age appropriateness, but
challenge dance teachers in the private sector to
carefully reconsider the epidemic use of adult
themes in music, movement, and costume for
young dancers. Project Motivate directors Gold and
Cuming offer guidelines to schools of dance in annual workshops presented across the US.
In higher education, writings on sexual orientation and homophobia in dance education have
begun to emerge as important areas for further
research.5-7 Recent scholarship in dance education
and homosexuality is varied and diverse, encompassing research on gay males8,9 and male participation,10,11 as well as lesbianism12,13 and shifting
sexualities.14 Two additional titles of note that include emotional and psychological issues in dance
pedagogy, are Hamiltons Advice for Dancers: Emotional Counsel and Practical Strategies15 and The
Student Dancer: Emotional Aspects of the Teaching and Learning of Dance by Buckroyd.16
Of course many issues explain the relatively
small amount of scholarship on sexuality in dance
education. In order to gain greater insight, as well
as a sense of context, it is helpful to look more
broadly at the challenges faced by sexual health
professionals whose primary concerns focus on the
sexual and emotional well-being of children, adolescents, and young adults.

Contemporary Sexuality Education

Recent national opinion polls in the United States
show that 89% of the adult public supports sexuality education in schools.17 These numbers are
staggeringly high considering the pluralities with
which we elect Presidents.18 Although it appears
that adults recognize the significance of sexuality
education in fostering the development of healthy
children and the importance of sustaining wellinformed sexual attitudes and behavior throughout ones lifetime, debates concerning the structure, content, and delivery of sexuality education
often derail the strong support suggested earlier.
It appears that parents want someone else to tell
their children about sex, but what and how they
want their children to be told remains amorphous.
Young people, on the other hand, commonly describe the sex education they receive as too little,
too late, with an overemphasis on sexual mechanics and reproduction at the expense of issues such
as confidence, self-esteem, non-sexual ways of
showing affection, and the pleasurable, emotional,
and complex aspects of sexuality.19 In practice the
vast majority of young people receive their first

2004

exposure to sex education after they become sexually active, without benefit of timely information.20
Research in a number of high-income countries
now suggests that despite exposure to a range of
sources of sexual health information many teens
have continued misconceptions and limited knowledge about how to prevent pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases or how to use condoms and
other forms of contraception.19 Adolescents may be
confused by the mixed messages they receive: on the
one hand, popular media images depicting sexual
activity as a glamorous and desirable activity, on the
other, the juxtaposition of adult refusal to openly
discuss matters of sexuality with young people.
By comparison, levels of sexual health in highincome countries suggest that open communication with parents, and an open approach to sex in
the broader community, is an important determinant of the relatively good sexual health experienced by young people in countries such as The
Netherlands and Sweden, compared with the US,
the UK, or Canada.20 It has been reported that
The Netherlands has the lowest rate of teenage
sexual activity and the oldest average age for first
sexual intercourse, despite the fact that the legal
age for intercourse is 12. Among Dutch teenagers
both boys and girls are significantly more likely
to cite love and commitment as their primary
motivation for engaging in their first sexual experience, rather than physical attraction, peer pressure, or opportunity. The latter, however, tend to
be the primary reasons cited by young people in
the US and UK, particularly by young men.
Providing young people with easy access to
frank and consistent sex education and more effective preparation for sexual activity and relationships, requires partnerships between a range
of sectors21: including the media, schools, youth
opinion formers, welfare agencies, health services,
and representatives of parents and young people.
This directive is especially important for dance
educators, who like all teachers, spend a relatively
large amount of time with adolescents.
Moreover, young people who are disadvantaged
by factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity,
low educational attainment, and who have low expectations for the future, are at particular risk of
poor sexual health. They are less likely to have protected sex, making themselves vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) including HIV in
the process. Throughout the developed world, unintended teenage conceptions are most common among
those who have been disadvantaged in childhood and
those who have poor job prospects.
Seriously confronting the root causes of low
ambition and poor self-esteem in girls, starting at

Journal of Dance Education

a very young age, can make a significant difference. Programs that include life skills education
and involve young people in community work can
increase self-esteem and confidence about job prospects. Programs aimed at pre-school and primary
school girls result in lower rates of teenage pregnancy and better sexual health later on in life.22

Policy Paradox
Central to its many provisions, the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child gives children and adolescents the right to express their
views and to have their views considered in relation to the many facets of life experience. These
rights incorporate the way in which children are
treated, educated, and cared for by adults and society more broadly, as well as the services that are
provided and to which children have access.
This kind of humanistic vision of children and
adolescents as sentient beings, inherently worthy of
respect and dignity is largely in conflict with most
other dominant assumptions in policy making regarding children today. Mainstream policy views of
children and adolescents frequently de-emphasize
the rights of the child in the name of, among other
things, childhood innocence and corruptibility,23
childrens need for protection from certain adult
knowledge and information, and adult expectations
of childhood conformity. This paradox poses a challenge for those who advocate attending more responsively and humanely to young peoples experience,
perspectives, and beliefs.
What circumstances and conditions make such
a view at odds with the mainstream of dominant
culture? Wallis and Van Every23 suggest several
reasons for this contention. First, since the turn
of the century prevailing depictions of adolescence revolve around pejorative notions of storm
and stress linked to biological changes and their
behavioral correlation. Within this view, young people
can barely be treated as rational, still less as individuals whose perspectives should be taken seriously,
or as equal to those of adults or older generations.
Second, in a great deal of mainstream literature in psychology and adolescent medicine there
is a tendency to denigrate young people and treat
adolescence as a pathological condition.24 Adolescents are frequently viewed as problems for parents, teachers, clergy, and the adult population
generally, to modify, police, and control for their
proper role in society. Moreover, the word usage of
adolescent has connotations that belittle (specifically, that to act adolescent is to be immature,
less than adult). The notion of the problem child
in contemporary US culture is nearly a dead metaphor, in that to a large degree the metaphor no

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2004

longer resonates as one of exception, but rather

the pathological norm. Friedmans research illuminates this phenomenon when he observes:
The ostensible conflictual relationship with
parents, so often described in Western societies as one of turmoil resulting from the generation gap is perhaps more mythical than real
since it is much more common to find young
people and their parents sharing the same fundamental values. The differences are likely to
occur on much more ephemeral subjects.24
Unfortunately, these dominant views of children
and adolescents, to a large degree, unwittingly emphasize deviance, wantonness, loss of control, and
irrationality. These perspectives encourage us to
understand young people not on their own terms
but on those of an essentially adult logic, in which
those who cannot be controlled through psychological, behavioral, and biomedical interventions
are rendered malleable through adult pity (innocence, naivet, lack of knowledge) and projection
(corruptibility, worldliness, excessive knowledge).
To address this polemic, sexual health professionals argue that it would behoove us as teachers,
practitioners, administrators, and policy makers
to take seriously the accounts and perspectives of
children and young people on sexual and other
matters, as sometimes different but often very
similar to adults in hopes, aspirations, desires, and
needs.25 Ultimately, the key challenge for policy is
how to promote environments that enable healthenhancing behavior. In particular, it is important
to address the quality of information that young
people receive and the factors that influence their
ability to act on this information.

Implications for Dance Education

The tenets of good dance education have much in
common with the primary goals of sexuality education. Just as the merits of sexuality education
go beyond narrow criteria, holistic dance education provides an excellent paradigm for an education in the creation and participation in a pluralistic society. Both affirm the importance and
dignity of individual choice within a social collective that is inherent in Freires assertion that education is never neutral: it is either for freedom or
for domination.26 Comprehensive dance and sexuality education share many common features; they
both seek to enable individuals to:

Develop and maintain physical and mental

health;

Develop and enhance decision-making

skills;

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Volume 4, Number 1

Develop and enlarge an informed under

standing of diversity; and

Form and maintain stable relationships.

Each of the articles in this initial issue shares many

of these common, educational goals. Though each
essay emerges from a theoretical grounding, the
authors highlight practical aspects and provide recommendations and insights. Although the scale of
such an endeavor may be considered somewhat overwhelming, its scope is certainly not wasted on the
authors presented here.
Ann Dils begins this special issue by inviting readers, and sexuality, into her dance appreciation and
dance history classrooms. In her article Sexuality
and Sexual Identity: Critical Possibilities for Teaching Dance Appreciation and Dance History Dils
presents aspects of her class activities that focus on
sexuality. Her piece is informed by discussion with
current writings in queer theory, dance studies, education, and sociology, in which awareness of potential classroom diversity helps make student discussion rich, respectful, and productive. Dils critical
discourse gives students not only an alternative way
of thinking about their own sexual decision-making,
but also a rich understanding of the complex and
multiple messages the dancing body telegraphs in
contemporary US culture. Although her courses in
dance appreciation (exclusively non-majors) and
dance history (largely dance majors) have very different pedagogical issues and needs in regards to
sexuality, Dils methodology allows all students to
grapple with contentious points of comparison between concert dance and images of sexuality prevalent in popular culture.
Sexploitation is the subject matter of Dawn
Clarks important essay. From a K-12 dance education perspective, Clark focuses on girls and young
women and the myriad ways in which subtle and
not-so-subtle messages about gender identity exploit
young women as well as the work of dance educators more broadly. Clark compelling argues that
young women being hurried to grow up too soon,
too fast, are exploited in sexual ways that are potentially deleterious to their health. She asserts that
dance education, at the very least, facilitate for children and adolescents the opportunity to explore,
experiment, and experience a wide variety of dance
possibilities without risk of exploitation or denigration.
Heidi Godfrey, Linda Simmons, and Doug Risner
give readers an intimate look at the attitudes and
perceptions of seven private sector studio owners and
teachers regarding sexuality in contemporary culture, and its manifestations in schools of dance. The
authors findings indicate a profound asymmetry

2004

between the private sectors perceived forces of commerce (parental satisfaction, economic perspectives,
commercial costume manufacturers, and other cultural pressures) and the private sectors ability for
informed artistic and educational decision-making
in their own schools.
In the final article, a series of shorter essays,
current and former chairpersons from a variety of
dance education contexts in higher education were
asked to respond personally and professionally to
concerns and questions about sexuality in dance
education including but not limited to: the role of
orientation/intervention programs; parental concerns and pressures in the private sector and K-12
environments; sexual misconduct, harassment,
and abuse in university and conservatory settings;
responsibilities of dance administrators, studio
owners, and dance researchers; age-appropriate
movement, costuming, and choreographic themes;
negotiating sexually explicit choreography; freedom of expression; and cultivating responsible
approaches to healthy sexuality.
In Clarifying Gender in the Learning Environment, this journals Founding Editor, Luke
Kahlich, asks a series of important questions about
gay male students in dance education. Kahlich
notes that while dance has often been a welcoming home for gay men, many critical issues of personal growth are not included in dance pedagogy
literature. Kahlich suggests that dance educators
clarify gender and gender identification first from
their own perspectives, and then to encourage students to do the same. Because of the unique aspects the body holds in both the study of dance
and gender, dance education provides ample pedagogical space for exploring the body instrument
as signifier of gender, as a personal resource that
provides inspiration and ownership, and for developing a non-judgmental process that provides
alternative choices and multiple levels of expression, identification, and sharing.
In her essay, Recovering Girlhood: A Pedagogy
of Embodiment, Sherry Shapiro shares her
struggle with dance education students as they
attempt to better understand dance in the context of the lives of their K-12 students. Shapiro
discusses the highly sexualized environment adolescents confront in the mass media today and the
special challenges that emerge for girls and young
women, because it is their bodies, not boys bodies that are evaluated, displayed, and brutalized.
Her essay develops a pedagogy of embodiment in
dance education in which young girls can both celebrate sexuality, affirm pleasure and desire, and
at the same time re-connect sexuality to the responsibility and ethics of human relationships.

Journal of Dance Education

Donna Davenport invites readers to tackle collective concerns for dance education and sexuality
by countering the mixed messages and values of contemporary culture, including important censorship
questions with which chairs of dance programs and
concert directors frequently wrestle when finding
educational ways to negotiate often superficial, sexually explicit material. Davenport broadly advocates
the generation of healthy sexual perspectives that
foster three critical elements of dance education: open
and honest expression of self, genuine physical interaction, and comfort and celebration of the sensual body moving.
Can dance educators help students transform the
fear of being different into empowerment? Bill Evans
asks and answers this question in his frank essay
about sexual orientation and student identity in
dance education. Though gratified by increasing acknowledgment of and support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered students, dance educators must not allow any student to be forced to hide
or deny basic aspects of his or her identity to meet
the expectations or comfort of others. Evans suggests
instead that we continue to create and foster safe
environments in which our students as whole, complex, and unique individuals reflect and draw upon
their uniqueness as developing artists and teachers.
In the following pages, readers will confront many
ideas and insights some old, some new, and some
likely controversial. Clearly, frank discussion of sexuality remains arduous in most education circles.
However, I encourage readers to remember and gain
sustenance from the prophetic words of Alice Walker
heard earlier, reminding dance educators that the
opportunity and responsibility we hold today inevitably determine all the tomorrows of our students.

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