International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Buck, R., & Snook, B. (2024). Embracing change in Tezpur, India: ‘Dancing the talk’ through a community dance pedagogy. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 25(18). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea25n18

This article reflects on a week-long staff professional development program at Tezpur University), Assam, India, conducted during mid-December 2023. As a focus of the professional development, staff from the Cultural Studies Department along with visiting academics and staff from other departments at Tezpur University learned how to teach community dance to their master’s students in 2024. Embedded into this learning was a transformational pedagogical approach to teaching that offered an alternative to direct knowledge transmission. Khedkar & Nair (2016) commented on the value of this pedagogical approach, noting,
Transformative pedagogy is defined as an activist pedagogy combining the elements of constructivist and critical pedagogy that empowers students to critically examine their beliefs, values, and knowledge with the goal of developing a reflective knowledge base, an appreciation for multiple perspectives, and a sense of critical consciousness and agency. (p.232).
Outcomes have been drawn from the participants' personal reflections. All the participants responded with enthusiasm to the new ideas and learning that came from the week of professional development. Enthusiastic engagement and enjoyment observed during the sessions suggest that their positive reflections were honest and open according to the guidance they had been given. We reflect on the learning that emerged from this, both for the participants and the facilitator.