Dance Appreciation

Dance is an activity that everyone can enjoy, and Dance Appreciation will help students do just that.

Dance Appreciation is written to encompass the needs of a broad range of dance students, from high school to university level, and is appropriate for students who are new to dance as well as those who are experienced in the art form. The text will help learners discover more about themselves, connect with dance, and make it a relevant and vital part of their lives, whether it is their primary course of study, eventual career path, or simply a way to express themselves and enrich their lives.

This text is the only dance appreciation resource that offers ancillary materials for instructors:

• Instructor ancillaries consisting of an instructor guide, test package, and PowerPoint presentation package make the teaching experience both easier and more effective, whether teaching in face-to-face or online settings.
• Five video segments demonstrate elements of dance and offer associated learning and movement activities, bringing the content to life for students.
• Textbook elements such as learning objectives, key terms, Enduring Understanding statements, Spotlight special elements, and chapter discussion questions help students navigate the chapters and retain the essential content.

In addition, related resources delivered through HKPropel supply students with learning activities, individual and group projects, handouts, time lines, suggestions for further reading, video recommendations, and more to facilitate the learning experience.

Dance Appreciation helps students understand dance from the perspectives of dancers, choreographers, and professionals in other careers related to dance. Students are introduced to a broad range of dance genres, forms, and styles, and they learn to forge a relationship with dance as an art form, connecting it with other academic and artistic disciplines and with their own life experiences.

The text is organized into three parts. Part I, Exploring Dance, provides a foundational understanding of who dances and why, and it introduces the elements of dance and movement principles. Part II, Selected Dance Genres and Styles, covers Western dance genres, examining classical concert dance forms, hip-hop, and aerial and site-specific dance, highlighting notable artists and events. In part III, Connecting With Dance, students delve into aspects of dance performance and production, learning approaches for viewing and responding to dance performances and exploring the role of global interactions, especially through online content and social media, in developing and transmitting new dance forms and styles. Throughout the text, readers will learn about dance-related career paths.

Dance Appreciation offers instructors an up-to-date, comprehensive resource—complete with an array of ancillaries—that ensures that students have the opportunity to become informed, discerning, and responsive dance audience members and gain a broad appreciation of dance as an art form and a lifetime physical activity.

Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with all new print books.

Dawn Davis Loring has been writing about dance for over 20 years and has published articles and reviews in the Boston Globe, Dancing Times magazine (UK), the Austin Chronicle, and the Journal of Dance Education, among others. She directed the dance and theatre group Mosaic Dance Body for over a decade and served as a dance administrator in Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, and London. Dawn has been a lecturer at Suffolk University, Bridgewater State University, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), and Northwest Vista College in the areas of technique, choreography, dance appreciation, and world dance. Dawn received a BA in dance from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA in performance and choreography from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Julie L. Pentz is a professor of dance at Kansas State University, where she teaches dance appreciation, tap, jazz, teaching methods, and other courses. She serves on the executive board of directors of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and is a Global Goodwill Ambassador. Her credits include guest appearances at the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, the International Jazz World Congress, and Teatro Libero in Rome. She has also performed in Taiwan, Spain, Ghana, and Kuwait. Julie has a BFA in dance education from Shenandoah University and an MFA in theater arts with a dance emphasis from the University of Arizona. Julie is founder and director of Tap to Togetherness, a community-based initiative focused on building family relations and enhancing child development through tap dance.