.Community.
Dancing students not flipping over job outlook
By Bevin Gilmore
Emerald Contributor
Unlike states such as Ohio
and Texas. Oregon has no for
mal public school certification
for its college dance majors
who wish to pursue a leaching
career in the public school sys
tem.
Certification could be likened
to putting the cart !>efore the
horso in today's economic cli
mate. as so few jobs exist in the
Oregon public schools that
would require it.
Dance majors who wish to
teach in public schools will ei
ther move to a state where the
certification and jobs exist or
"they will go on to get a mas
ter's degree and teach at a uni
versity," said. Janet Descutner,
University dance department
head.
Descutner said there has not
been a move at the University
to push for certification in the
past few years because the state
has been cutting back on teach
ers of physical education, art
and music.
"We figured there wouldn't
lie any takers for putting more
teachers on the market who
would not be employable.” she
said.
Sharon Oberst. a graduate of
the University dance program
and currently a dance instruc
tor at Western Oregon State
College, said the dance certifi
cate would still be a worth
while goal for the University's
dance program. Oregon has a
good reputation for teachers.
Oberst said, and the certificate
would enable graduates to
i lime when federal funding
was encouraging the growth of
:iance and other art programs
in Oregon.
There are five alternative
schools in the state that are
artbasod and have received fed
‘It gives children an outlet to express
themselves and communicate through ges
tures and movements in a way that is gone
bv the time we are adults. ’
- Sharon Oberst
qualify for job* in other states
where dance programs flourish
University dance instructor
Jennifer Craig said Oregon does
not fully recognize dance as a
necessary tool of the student.
"As educators we are lacking
in the K through 12 area."
Craig said.
Craig said it is necessary to
reach children with the arts
and dance experience while
they are still open to it. She
said exposure to dance at the
elementary school level is
"heavily reliant on personnel"
— teachers in dance who are
willing to design and imple
ment programs.
Carol McIntyre, a teacher in
the 4-J School District and also
a graduate of the University
dance program, said there was
••ral grant money Dance was
highly visible at that time. Mc
Intyre said, but the funds are
disappearing.
"Today no one is going to
hire you to teach dance alone."
she said.
both McIntyre and Oberst
claim that in addition to the
economy acting as a barrier to
the creation of more certified
dance programs, a system that
devalues dance in education
also contributes.
“Dancers as a rule are not in
real high echelon," McIntyre
said.
Oberst, a former dancer with
the Houston Halle! Company,
said Oregon is doing as well as
any other state in the area of
higher education dance. How
ever, she said she is appalled
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by the state of dance at the ele
mentary school level in Ore
Ron
She attributed this lack to a
national belief that dance is a
luxury and therefore not worth
while as core curriculum
"Because of our background
(in the United States) we don't
think that dance is necessary'."
she said. "But it is not a luxu
ry. and it is not somethiriR that
should be the first thing to cut
when the funding is cut.”
Oberst called dance an inter
disciplinary activity, focusing
on what she called "creative
dance" as opposed to the more
codified forms such as folk
dancing or ballet
"In creative dance, there is
no right or wrong" no winning
or losing, Oberst said. "You
may be more successful or less
successful, but whatever you
do is right.”
She cited England as one
country where dance is part of
the core curriculum in public
becoming more difficult lx*
cause "increasingly we art
finding that more and mori
children are coming from dys
functional homes."
Martha Harris, curriculurr
coordinator for elementary
schools in the 4-J School Dis
trict. said she also believes thal
elementary school is the propel
place to begin exposure to art!
such as the dance, but she alsc
said that the district would nol
be in a position to hire certified
dance specialists as teachers
anytime in the near future foi
full-immersion studies.
While there is no specific
school position on the impor
tance of dance in the school
curriculum, goals relative tc
movement and dance exisl
within the physical education
domain. Harris said.
The University dance depart
ment is still working to create
the climate where dance-certi
fied programs would be accept
ed. At present the effort to pro
‘We figured there wouldn't be any
takers for putting more teachers on the
market who would not be employable. ’
-Janet Descutner
school education.
Oirerst said dance instills dis
cipline, develops creativity,
helps a student learn prob
lemsolving. and also builds
selfconfidence. Lesson plans
from other disciplines are being
incorporated into dance class
es. Oberst cited research stud
ies in geriatrics that are demon
strating benefits in dance that
have always been known intui
tively.
"Dance is. after all. a primi
tive human instinct." Oberst
said "It gives children an out
let to express themselves and
communicate through gestures
and movements in a wav that is
gone bv the time we are
adults
Mi Intvre agreed tlj.it dance is
considered something periph
eral in public education She
said teat lung anv class today is
mote dance in public educatior
is being done through work
shops and lecture demonstra
tions sponsored by the Westerr
Oregon Institute for the Art)
and Education and by the Ore
gon Dance Association.
Descutner said these efforts
come at a time when the eco
nomic climate is still not very
favorable, but she defends them
as the type of groundwork that
is necessary for any future ex
pansion.
The Oregon Dance Associa
tion is pressing to develop a
curriculum and philosophy in
dance outside of the one that
currently exists within the
physical education domain.
Descutnersaid.
"We are starting to build up
steam toward this again." she
said
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