Literature: "Teaching Collaborative Skills through Dance"

"Teaching Collaborative Skills through Dance: Isolating the Parts to Strengthen the Whole", 
Karen Schupp MFA (2015) Journal of Dance Education, 15:4, 152-158

'Collaboration' is "where people work together to accomplish shared objectives", and is a huge part of most dance practices and careers.

"As interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches and projects become more common inside and outside of dance, the facility to collaborate in diverse ways is key to a successful career in the 21st century."


In this literature, we are made aware the 4Cs, that are believed to be central to learning and innovation skills.

1. Collaboration 
2. creativity
3. communication 
4. critical thinking

Digital technology has made it easier for collaboration to occur. Clay Shirky (2010) argued that increased access to technology and the opportunity to communicate with people has moved people from consumers to collaborators, and that by creatively working together, people have the power to transform the world.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that there is a measurable collective intelligence that exists for people who work together, and that groups with a higher level of social sensitivity are more collectively intelligent (Woolley et al. 2010). It is clear that as a society, we value our collective knowledge and the potential of what might come through working together.


"Dance artists are not strangers to collaboration, and it could be argued that the talent to collaborate, whether it is with other artists or experts outside of the arts, is critical to a successful dance career."


'Thinking Collaborative' is an organization dedicated to teaching collaboration. In their seminars they address the “Norms of Collaboration”

1. Pausing: Allows time to think before responding to or asking a question.
2. Paraphrasing: Assists members of the group in hearing and understanding one another as they make decisions and discuss ideas.
3. Posing questions: Promotes inquiring into other’s thinking before advancing your own ideas.
(This is particularly applicable to the BAPP course - especially during group Skype sessions and on the blogs)
4. Putting ideas on the table: Helps to label the intentions of ideas, which are the centre of meaningful dialogues.
5. Providing data: Allows shared meaning to emerge from exploring, examining, and interpreting data as a group.
6. Paying attention to self and others: Promotes awareness of what is said, how it is said, and how others are responding.
7. Presuming positive intentions: Facilitates meaningful discussions; using positive language promotes positivity in the group

(Thinking Collaborative 2014).

It was found that although the individual intelligence of group members did matter, the social intelligence of a group was more influential in deciding a group’s collective intelligence (Woolley et al. 2010). A group’s ability to take turns conversationally positively affected a group’s collective intelligence, but a group’s level of motivation toward a task and sense of cohesion did not affect a group’s collective intelligence (Woolley et al. 2010).

"This research suggests that in a successful collaboration the finesse to tactfully interact within a group is equally, if not more, critical than a person’s individual expertise when working collaboratively."

This links in with my idea surrounding work traits versus character traits in the work place and if people are more likely to be employed/higher regarded/become more successful if they are great company member rather than if they are the most talented. In relation to my interview questions, when asked what skills a dancer should possess and what qualities are most valued in a colleague, things like being polite and respectful were often mentioned. This supports the above statement that the ability to interact tactfully is more important than individual expertise when collaborating and engaging in interdisciplinary practice/team work.


Rewarding and fruitful collaborations involve the following characteristics:

• Establishing goals
• Forming informed lines of inquiry
• Listening to others, taking turns offering ideas and honouring positive intentions
• Negotiating
• Offering constructive feedback
• Relating the parts to the whole

Content knowledge, creativity, and critical thinking undergird each of these components and are perhaps what relates each of them to the others.

What students tacitly learn through collaboration is valuable to their education and future pursuits. Empathy, leadership and stewardship, communication, initiation and follow-through, and negotiation; can be implicitly gained through these collaborative opportunities.