Boys Dance Too: a case study on building and fostering peers communities among male-identifying dancers within Higher Education
Abstract
There is a wealth of research which indicates the negative effects that lack of male role models might have of male-identifying people interested in participating in dance (Risner 2007, 2009a; Polasek and Roper 2011; Halton and Worthen 2014). For those who have chosen to participate in dance training and have continued through to Higher Education, this lack of role models and peers continues to provide some additional challenges. The following project focuses on the participation of male-identifying students within dance, with a focus on exploring how building a sense of community might contribute to student engagement and wellbeing within higher education.
This project tracks the ongoing extra-curricular weekly choreographic sessions as part of ‘Lincoln Boys Company’ and its potential to create peer communities for male dancers within higher Education. The research proposes structured collaborative performance making as a tool for building and maintaining positive peer communities among male dancers in HE, and thus enhancing the student experience.
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