The Arts Education Research group explores current contemporary issues within arts education around the world. The group critically questions how arts education intersects, challenges and resonates with cultural, social, political, and economic issues. Through diverse qualitative and artistic methodologies, this group seeks to expand meanings of the relationship between creating, learning, and teaching art and what arts education might be able to offer a rapidly changing and challenged world. 

Projects

Project 1: The People’s Dance: The Power and Politics of Guangchang Wu

Project Leader: Associate Professor Rose Martin

Across the People's Republic of China, millions of people go to public squares, parks, and plazas after dinner, and dance. This practice of Guangchang Wu, or ‘square dance’, is often viewed to be synonymous with community dance in China, and frequently associated with middle-aged and retired women, who have been referred to as “dancing grannies”. However, Guangchang Wu in China has been rapidly shifting and developing, with younger generations joining in, Guangchang Wu competitions flourishing, and a diversity of teaching and learning strategies occurring. Coupled with this, Guangchang Wu has received increasing attention from the Chinese government, and through policy support Guangchang Wu has become a powerful cultural force in China. This project will result in a book (published by Palgrave Macmillan in late 2020) that presents the first historical analysis of how the grassroots movement of Guangchang Wu in China has become a national phenomenon. 
Collaborator: Ruohan Chen (University of Auckland)

Project 2: Tracing dance stories: Cultural and political histories of dance in contemporary Syria

Project Leader: Associate Professor Rose Martin

This project traces the stories of Syrian dancers (performers, teachers and makers) who are currently in exile, exploring the research question: What are the cultural and political histories of dance in contemporary Syria?  The diverse dance cultures of Syria are internationally recognized as a form of intangible cultural heritage, reflecting complex social, ethical, political and embodied knowledge that is central to the sustenance of a cultural community. Through a multi-sited ethnographic narrative enquiry, engaging with interviews and film documentation, the dance stories of Syrian dancers are gathered to construct a pluralistic understanding of Syrian culture and society. Through documenting these diaspora voices and filming their ongoing re-imagining of dance and identity in their locations of exile, histories of dance in Syria will be continued, and insights into dance and the exile experience will be shared. 

Project 3: Silk Road Dance Education

Project Leaders: Associate Professor Nicholas Rowe, Associate Professor Rose Martin, Associate Professor Ralph Buck

Dance education in China is changing rapidly. This transformation is occurring in association with New Era government policies, and increased international engagement with dance researchers, educators and practitioners through the One Belt One Road policy. Central to this transformation is a critical questioning of the Modernist education approaches that pervaded the design and implementation of folk, classical, contemporary and creative dance curricula and pedagogies across China in the second half of the 20th century. Through such questioning, new educational strategies may emerge that can support dance learners in China to contribute to the knowledge economies of the 21st century in diverse ways. The Silk Road Dance Education project gathers Chinese and international researchers to contribute chapters to a published volume on dance education in China. Through seminar sessions, the gathered participants have co-designed research projects focused on dance education in China, drawing upon postmodern research methods and critical theories. The subsequent published book, entitled Moving Beyond Modernism: Critical theories and qualitative research into dance education in China will be edited by Nicholas Rowe, Ralph Buck and Rose Martin and published in late 2020. 
Collaborators include: Professor Kai Lehikoinen (UniArts, Helsinki); Prof. Eeva Anttilla (UniArts, Helsinki); Professor Tone Pernille Østern (NTNU); Associate Professor Karen Schupp (Arizona State University); Prof. Wang Jie (Beijing Normal University); Prof. Deng (NorthWest Normal University); Professor Lv (Beijing Dance Academy); Dr. Jin Jin (Beijing Dance Academy); Dr. Alfdaniels Mabingo (University of Auckland); Dr. Liu Liu (Minzu University). 

Project 4: Research in Creative Engagements (RiCE)

International Research Advisor: Associate Professor Rose Martin

Collaborators: Dr. Rebecca Kan Yen Pei (NAFA), Dr. Ernest Lim (NAFA), Georgette Yu (NAFA).

This research captures the voices of professional musicians-educators, as the faculty reflect on evolving notions of artistic identity, community, values and beliefs in the process of music making. The intention of this project is to reflect on diversities and commonalities through the medium of music, at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore. This research provides engaging points of departure into how contemporary music educators see themselves in the modern-day academy. The focus of the project is on uncovering how creative processes reflect the cultural and social contexts of Singapore today. The research is initiated by the following main question: What are professional musicians-educators current processes of music making within Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts?