DANCE 2050: The Future of Dance in Higher Education
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Summary of the 2012 Symposium and Conference Proceedings
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The symposium, held in May 2012 at Temple University, an NDEO Center for Research in Dance Education, lived up to its moniker, “DANCE 2050: The Future of Dance in Higher Education.” About forty dance educators, representing a wide demographic range of institutions, programs, and career stages, gathered for two days to consider the nature of dance within higher education in the year 2050.
The attending dance educators were invited to think of themselves as “futurists.” Just as participants of the 1966-67 “Developmental Conferences on Dance” generated important ideas for the future of dance education at that time, DANCE 2050 participants were encouraged to broadly imagine and realistically plan for the future of dance in higher education. The proceedings of the 1966-67 conferences, which were published in the 1968 issue of Impulse – The Annual of Contemporary Dance, were a significant impetus in planning the symposium and helped to contextualize and historically ground future projections for dance in higher education.
Co-organizers Tom Hagood and Luke Kahlich deserve kudos for the symposium’s carefully choreographed flow. Its structure was designed to support a think-tank for “visionary and generative” discussions concerning a broad range of challenges, including globalization and diversity; learning in the new world; leadership for dance; and dance in a digital world. Breakout group discussions around these topics with accompanying lead questions formed the skeletal structure of the symposium.
The plenary speaker Lucinda Lavelli, Dean of the College of Fine Arts at University of Florida, opened the symposium and added a critical backdrop. For although unsure of what institutions of higher education will look like in 2050, she was sure that creativity would be a core competency.
Most of the symposium was dedicated to small group discussions, which allowed each of the four breakout groups to evolve into independent think tanks. Discussion sessions, each framed around one of the designated challenges, were indeed “visionary and generative.” Perhaps not too surprisingly, overarching themes regarding projections and questions about the future did emerge. Clearly the essence of this symposium does not support an outcomes summary. Yet, mindful of history, we offer key questions emerging from and between the four given challenges.
Summary courtesy of Sherrie Barr and Karen Schupp.
To learn more about what was discussed at the Dance 2050 Symposium at Temple University, please review the official Conference Proceedings, a 122 page document.
Looking to the future, we will have a follow up symposium, so mark your calendars:
Dance2050: Projecting Forward - Cultivating Leadership in Dance
Hosted by NDEO and The College at Brockport
Brockport, New York
May 21-24, 2013
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2012 Conference Posters
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