Crafting fidelity: pedagogical creativity in kathak dance

doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12290

Paper

Crafting fidelity: pedagogical creativity in kathak dance

Published Oct 1, 2015 · Monica Dalidowicz

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Q1 SJR score

10

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1

Influential Citations

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Semantic Scholar

Abstract

Through a phenomenological account of apprenticeship in the North Indian dance form of kathak, I show how skills are adapted and changed through the ingenuity and innovation required in teaching to new generations of students. The traditional pedagogical model for learning in the Indian arts, the guru-shishya parampara (master-disciple relationship), has historically been based on imitative and repetitive pedagogies. Yet close examination reveals less conspicuous forms of creativity at work in the process of reproducing the tradition with fidelity; this improvisational work is further heightened in the demands of teaching in the diaspora. As teachers create opportunities for experiential learning, a spectrum of pedagogical tactics, scaffolding strategies, and coaching competencies are developed and accumulate as this tradition is passed on from one generation to the next. The pedagogical work in crafting fidelity can, in fact, produce its own kind of knowledge, which, ironically, can add new elements to the tradition in unexpected ways. In one unique case – the example of ‘kathak yoga’ – the pedagogical adaptations of kathak artist Pandit Chitresh Das elicited a creative response, a new scaffolding technique that would eventually be incorporated into the repertoire as a skill in itself. Pedagogical process, in this sense, was creative process. L'artisanat de la fidelite : creativite pedagogique dans la danse kathak Resume A travers le compte-rendu phenomenologique de l'apprentissage du kathak, une forme de danse du nord de l'Inde, l'auteure montre comment l'ingeniosite et l'innovation necessaires pour enseigner aux nouvelles generations adaptent et changent les competences en jeu. Le modele pedagogique traditionnel d'enseignement des arts indiens, la relation maitre-disciple ou guru-shishya parampara, se base historiquement sur l'imitation et la repetition. Pourtant, un examen attentif revele des formes moins visibles de creativite a l’œuvre dans la reproduction fidele de la tradition : ce travail d'improvisation est encore plus actif dans les circonstances particulieres de l'enseignement dans la diaspora. En creant des occasions d'apprendre par l'experience, les maitres constituent un eventail de tactiques d'apprentissage, de strategies de soutien pedagogique et de competences d'accompagnement qui s'accumulent en passant d'une generation a la suivante. De fait, le travail pedagogique de creation de la fidelite peut produire son propre type de savoir, duquel peuvent naitre, ironiquement, des ajouts inattendus a la tradition. Dans un cas exceptionnel, l'exemple du « kathak yoga », les adaptations pedagogiques apportees au kathak par le danseur Pandit Chitresh Das ont suscite une reponse creative, une nouvelle technique de soutien qui a finalement ete incorporee dans le repertoire comme une competence a part entiere. En ce sens, le processus pedagogique a veritablement ete un processus creatif.

Study Snapshot

Key takeawayPedagogical creativity in kathak dance education adapts and changes skills, producing new knowledge and unexpected additions to the tradition.

PopulationOlder adults (50-71 years)

Sample size24

MethodsObservational

OutcomesBody Mass Index projections

ResultsSocial networks mitigate obesity in older groups.

Paper

Crafting fidelity: pedagogical creativity in kathak dance

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Citations

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