The position of dance in physical education

Dance has been a part of the physical education (PE) curriculum in several countries for a long time. In spite of this, studies demonstrate that the position of dance in the subject of PE is contested and that little time is devoted to dance. The overall aim of this article is to examine the position of dance as a pedagogical discourse in Swedish steering documents over time. The empirical material consists of five Swedish curricula for PE over a period of 50 years (1962–2011). Discourse analysis is used to identify organised systems of meaning, including privileged and prioritised values. Our theoretical frame of reference draws on Bernstein's concept of codes. Three different knowledge areas within dance are found in the text material: ‘dance as cultural preserver’, ‘dance as bodily exercise’ and ‘dance as expression’. Three pedagogical discourses emerge from these knowledge areas: an identity formation discourse, a public health discourse and an aesthetic discourse. The identity formation discourse in earlier curricula focuses on the perpetuation of Swedish and Nordic cultural traditions, while in later curricula, it emphasises the construction of a broader multicultural identity formation related to the understanding of different cultures. The public health discourse constitutes a prioritised understanding of dance as physical training related to a healthy lifestyle. The aesthetic discourse, which has the weakest position over time, represents the valuing of embodied experiences and feelings expressed through movements. This discourse is closely linked to the construction of gender. Over time, a new performance code came to surpass the former competence code in the steering documents. The performance code positions dance in PE as mainly a physical activity with little artistic or aesthetic value. The pedagogical discourse of dance remains within a highly disciplinary framework of social control.     

我国花样滑冰运动员艺术表现综合能力的提高途径

在花样滑冰竞技体育激烈竞争的今天,花样滑冰运动员的艺术表现能力已经成为影响比赛胜负的关键性因素。对我国花样滑冰运动员的艺术表现综合能力进行研究,结果表明：运动员的专项身体素质、舞蹈感觉、音乐素养及文化底蕴成为影响我国花样滑冰运动员的艺术表现综合能力的主要因素。提出注重身体素质训练,加强舞蹈感觉训练,增强运动员对音乐的理解和运用能力,培养综合素质,提升艺术修养等提高我国花样滑冰运动员的艺术表现综合能力有效途径,为提高我国花样滑冰运动整体竞技水平提供理论参考。     

The meaning of pain during the process of embodiment: a case study of trainee modern dancers' experiences of pain

A large number of sociologists have adopted the notion of the embodied subject to escape the trappings of the rational choice theory in sociological analysis. From a phenomenological perspective, the notion of an embodied subject refers to a subject who is in unity with the world. In this paper, I will present my ethnographic study of a group of trainee dancers preparing to embody the world of modern dance. I will present my study of their training experiences as a case of subjects striving to embody a world other than the one they already embody. I observed that pain formed the core part of trainee dancers’ daily experiences. Following Leder's theory of the ‘absent body’ and Bourdieu's conception of the ‘modern social world’, I interpreted trainee dancers’ experiences of pain with respect to the historically shaped collective expectations of the world of modern dance. I argue that their experiences of pain indicate how far along they are in the process of their embodiment of the world of modern dance. As they experience a decrease in the intensity of pain during their training, trainees become closer to embodying the world of modern dance.     

Re-inventing the martial ‘hero’ and the weak ‘beauty queen’ through the sporting identity: a tale of two competing gendered bodies,Muay Thai and the stability of the Thai nation-state

ABSTRACT

This article examines the gendered bodies and practices of male and female leaders in politically unstable, conflict-ridden Thailand between 2006 and 2019. In a country where the number of military coups has surged to twenty-two attempts (whether successful or unsuccessful) since 1932, the latest military-led coup by Gen. Prayudth Chan-Osha presents another threat to the stability of the country’s democracy. In response to public unease, Gen. Prayudth Chan-Osha projects himself as a source of Thai national strength and stability; to promote an optimistic public outlook, the general puts his martial masculinity and his militaristic physicality on public display. Culturally informed concepts of ‘good/strong’ male corporeality and its ‘bad/weak’ female countertype enable General Prayudth to identify as a national saviour by assuming the mantle of the martial hero. By highlighting his regime’s masculine military strength, he asserts, by contrast, the softness, weakness, and corruptibility of his key political rival, Thailand’s first elected female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. His public performance of national leadership argues that these frailties render his opponent ‘unfit’ for national leadership.     

Vive le defecteur!’ an analysis of the British media’s construction of Greg Rusedski’s national identity in the 1990s/2000s

ABSTRACT

This paper concerns the former professional tennis player from 1991 to 2007, Greg Rusedski, who was born in Canada but shifted national allegiance to Great Britain in 1995. Despite an impressive playing career, that saw him reach the US Open final in 1997 and attain a world-number-four ranking, alongside his steadfast efforts to ingratiate himself to the broader public, Rusedski’s British identity remained contested throughout his career. Focusing on four mainstream newspapers covering the political left and right, this paper analyses the British media’s treatment of Rusedski, and aims to develop an understanding of how his constructed identity as more or less ‘British’ fluctuated so markedly throughout his career. While his on-court results were certainly a factor in Rusedski’s swings between acceptance and rejection, this paper suggests a more nuanced analysis that takes into account, firstly, how Rusedski was positioned and characterised in relation to his countryman, the ‘quintessential Englishman’ Tim Henman, particularly in relation to his accent, ostensible personality, personal appearance and physique, and playing style, and, secondly, how Rusedski’s key period of success, in the latter half of 1997, can be contextualised in the light of broader socio-political events and developments.     

浅析艺术体操与舞蹈的区别

探讨了艺术体操和舞蹈之间的关系,指出两者既有联系,又有区别,既有共性,又有个性。艺术体操是艺术性的体育项目,它从舞蹈中吸取了具有丰富表现力的动作;舞蹈是一种经过艺术加工的身心协调的运动,它能够表达思想感情,反映社会生活。     

Physical education cultures in Sweden: fitness,sports, dancing … learning?

In a significant article from 1993, Crum describes the purpose of physical education (PE) as a ‘planned introduction into movement culture’. In broad terms, this purpose is tantamount to the stated purpose of Swedish PE in national steering documents. Crum contends, however, that physical educators do not prioritise learning, which is largely due to the different ‘movement cultures’ that constitute the PE lessons. This article explores how practice unfolds in movement cultures that are included in Swedish PE and their implications for teaching and learning in the subject. Some 30 (indoor) PE lessons in eight secondary schools in four cities throughout Sweden were video recorded. At ‘first glance’ these lessons indicated the prevalence of four logics of practice: a physical training logic, a sports logic, a sport technique logic and a dance logic. However, further analysis revealed that the teachers' and students' actions were not entirely in line with a logic of practice of training the body, winning the game, learning sporting skills or learning to dance. Instead, the PE practice largely unfolded as a ‘looks-like-practice’, where the purpose of teaching was blurred, and where any ‘planned introduction into movement culture’ was difficult to identify. In the final section, the authors discuss how physical activity logics can be recontextualised in a PE setting in order to emphasise the educational contribution of PE.     

Breaking for Gold: Another Crossroads in the Divergent History of this Dance

Veteran breakers have always viewed their dance as a form of art, but the public often views it as a competitive sport, trying to standardize and commercialize this dance as other forms of physical education often are. The World Dance Sport Federation has recently succeeded in adding ‘breakdance’ into the Olympic movement and the first ever Olympic event of its kind took place during the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Twenty years of historical hermeneutic research, ethnography, and social-scientific analysis have revealed a development trend in which the art of breaking has been becoming more and more similar to competitive sports, but these veterans believe that breaking is best encouraged to continue realizing its social, cultural, and artistic values. In order for more people to be able to enjoy the full range of its potential benefits, breaking should not be made to lose its unique characteristics during assimilation into the world of sports.     

The Delhi dilemma: media representation of the 2010 Commonwealth Games

Developing nations increasingly use sporting mega-events to demonstrate capacity, staking a claim to a place on the ‘world map’ by participating in what has been referred to as the ‘global circus’, or alternatively, the ‘prestige model’. The 2010 Commonwealth Games, hosted by India, provide an example of a mega-event which had mixed results in terms of signalling global modernity. This study extends existing media analysis research that found that the Western media’s interpretation of the event was critical overall and employed negative stereotypes that served to undermine India’s status as a modern power. This study employed a comprehensive textual analysis of relevant articles from eight major daily newspapers to reveal that the Australian print media coverage often focused on the inadequacies of India as an appropriate host nation for the Commonwealth Games.     

El desmadre: counter-hegemonic fervour in Carlos Monsiváis’s 1986 World Cup chronicles

ABSTRACT

The 1986 Mexico World Cup is memorialized in terms of two iconic moments produced by Argentine legend Diego Maradona’s on-field magic in the game against England – the controversial ‘Hand-of-God’ goal and the dribbling masterpiece score, unarguably considered to be the ‘Goal of the Century’. However, the World Cup with these dramatic events came in the backdrop of a tragic earthquake that devastated Mexico City taking a heavy toll of lives only a year back. While Mexico’s ruling party was accused of corruption and mismanagement in relief work, the government went ahead with the organization of the tournament. Interestingly, popular protests and movements against the government centred around stadiums such as the Estadio Azteca – the site of Maradona’s famed goals, transforming the same into sites of contestation and solidarity for many Mexicans. Writing at the time, Carlos Monsiváis, Mexico’s most notable chronicler, in his famous ‘¡¡¡Goool!!! Somos el desmadre’ (1986), captured the subversive atmosphere of these sporting venues through fan behaviour amounting to their counter-hegemonic fervour, coined ‘el desmadre’ in the chronicle. This study offers a discursive literary analysis of Monsiváis’s text and argues that both Monsi’s chronicle and his protagonists’ ‘disorderly’ behaviour served as popular discursive forces that challenged the Partido Revolucionario Institucional’s historical dominance in Mexico’s political arena.     

Cultural Exchange,Appropriation and Physical Culture: Strongman Eugen Sandow in Colonial India, 1904–1905

This paper examines the eight-month 1904–1905 Indian tour of world-renowned strongman and physical culture pioneer Eugen Sandow, which occurred as nationalism surged and Japan shockingly defeated Russia during the Russo-Japanese War. Using Sandow’s writings, numerous newspaper accounts and several fascinating Indian texts it penetrates beyond Sandow’s claims that he ‘learnt little’ in the subcontinent to explore processes of cultural exchange despite the power imbalances inherent in the colonial context. The paper provides details about Sandow’s itinerary, shows and reception in key cities such as Calcutta, Bombay and Madras between October 1904 and June 1905, when the strongman headed further east to the Straits Settlements and China, but it also reveals the voices of Indian physical culture practitioners, including wrestlers and pahlwans such as Ramamurti Naidu – the ‘Indian Sandow’ – who repeatedly challenged Sandow. The paper suggests that through the careful reading of a variety of sources it is even possible to glimpse moments of recognition and respect between Sandow and Indian strongmen or physical culturists. In Sandow’s case this was particularly apparent in his use of Indian knowledge to produce a new health product named ‘Sandow’s Concentrated Embrocation’ following his stay in India.     

Sports and Violence Reflected in the Mirror of Modern Societies: Sport Ambiguities

The theory of Norbert Elias, with regard to the ‘civilising process’, widely taken up and nourished by his epigons such as Eric Dunning, does not fully explain the reasons why sport, far from systematically pacifying, tends equally to reproduce or amplify certain violent tendencies in societal groups, when it does not in itself constitute the germ of the violence in the heart of contemporary societies. In fact, Elias considers the ‘new’ social configuration as a tool used to control violence, forgetting that the institutionalisation of budding practices also bears witness to social and societal transformations, including free time, access to education, growth of cities, the economic development of states, circulation of goods, merchandise and people, the forming of the media and communication cultures, and the dissemination of information and cultural models. The purpose of this study is to show how his singular posture prevents Elias from understanding all the facets of sport as being prey to its own tensions and contradictions, particularly when it is a case of examining the ‘educational’ positions of the activity reflected in the mirror of the socio-historical conditions of the production of culture and the ways in which the practice of sport has been instrumentalised.     

Political Protection: The International Olympic Committee’s UN Diplomacy in the 1980s

Abstract

In the aftermath of a widespread boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics that challenged the legitimacy of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began a vigorous but unsuccessful effort, lasting from 1982 to 1985, to convince the UN General Assembly to pass a resolution committing governments not to boycott the Games. Drawing on archives in Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, and Canada, this article brings to light this forgotten but important episode from the early years of Juan Antonio Samaranch’s presidency. The ambitious Samaranch and his limelight-seeking ally, Canadian Richard ‘Dick’ Pound, vastly overestimated the IOC’s global political capital in pushing governments to give up one of the most potent sport-related tools at their disposal. The IOC was at this time so weak that most governments failed even to respond to repeated entreaties about the proposal. The organization’s leaders never fully grasped the ironies of turning to what many observers considered the world’s most politicized body for a political measure to reduce political influence on the Olympic Games. Although the IOC has often claimed that it cannot force standards of behaviour on governments, the 1980s campaign was a sustained effort to do exactly that.     

Syrian Sport on an International Stage: Evaluating the Sports Movement between 1970 and 2013

Although Syria did not compete in Olympic Games between 1948 and 1970, its participation in most sport mega-events has been varied in terms of the level of participation, results, different championships and sports mega-events types since 1970. The nature of Syria's involvement in sport on the international stage reflects the nature of the institutional-culture context after the ‘Corrective Movement’ led by the late President Hafez al-Assad. This article relies on the official archive of the General Sport Federation in Syria, official International Olympic Committee publications and other material to examine the history of Syria's competitions and its results in different sports events. It is argued that Syrian competition in most regional/international games has not only been because of the social/political support represented by the Baath party but also it has been a means of reflecting the civilised and secular face of Syria and Syrians after a long period of coups in the 1950s and 1960s. This paper concludes by contending that political stability between 1970 and 2011 helped the sports movement to flourish. Even political conflicts after 2011 did not influence the desire for competition, but it was noted that the lack of security, and the increasing terrorism and political/economic sanctions, were the major barriers to Syrian sport on an international stage after the ‘Arab Spring’, which had a negative impact on the support of most sports teams and missions.     

Reconsidering the Female Tradition in English Physical Education: The Impact of Transnational Exchanges in Modern Dance

Histories of the female tradition in physical education in England tend to celebrate the unique early twentieth-century achievements of dedicated women successfully creating their own profession to train the female body in healthful gymnastics and games through the establishment of specialist training colleges. Yet, the female tradition has also been painted as a ‘time-limited achievement’ where female physical educators erroneously tied their fortunes to particular movement practices and modes of training. Their perceived inability to change with the times has been blamed for their loss of power in determining the direction of post-WW2 physical education. Yet, the so-called ‘demise’ of the female tradition was not so straightforward. Female physical educators had already moved well beyond obedience to Ling's gymnastic regulations or Laban's notions of effort and flow by mid-century and were increasingly alert to emergent movement philosophies. Once interest in a variety of somatic practices along with the promise of modern dance had seeped into the worldview of forward-thinking female physical educators their authority to direct their profession may have been diminished, but it was also enhanced and diverted into important transnational streams of dance and therapeutic movement-related professional opportunities which have been less acknowledged.     

Tim Henman,British tennis and the social construction of English identity in the 1990s and 2000s

Tim Henman was inarguably the best English player, and the most popular and socially significant British player, since Fred Perry. Throughout his career, media constructions of him fluctuated from being heralded as a potential Wimbledon champion, to a weak, underachieving perennial loser. Throughout his career, and despite the constant transition of dominant narratives, Henman’s quintessential ‘Englishness’ remained a key component, expressed through his image, appearance, ostensible personality/character and playing style. His ‘Englishness’ was especially apparent against the backdrop of the Wimbledon Championships, which used Henman’s success in its marketing of ‘tennis in an English garden’. This paper assesses the shifting meanings behind, and values of, Henman’s sustained image, and examines how changes in the narratives of Henman as a player reflected broader shifts in English identity. It is argued that Henman played a significant role in how Englishness was constructed, both in Britain and abroad, during the 1990s and 2000s.     

体育舞蹈教学对增强大学生自信心的价值研究

大学期间是学生对待人生、社会态度的塑造时期,目前现状是高校学生对待事物认真程度不足、人与亦云心理严重,这个问题背后隐藏的普遍问题就是大学生缺乏自信心。体育舞蹈作为一种对学生形体与艺术气息培养的课程,通过对学生形体的培养,增加学生对自我形象的自信心并调动了同学们的积极性,同时开发了他们的艺术创造力。本文通过探究体育舞蹈对大学生自信心的价值影响,让更多学生在自我探索的过程中,发现自己身体内蕴藏的天赋,养成稳定的心理素质,提高自我的肢体与意志控制力和自信心,使学生的心理素质有所提高,克服怯场心理与紧张情绪,进而提高自信心。     

Mixed Doubles: Political Hegemony,Urban Entrepreneurialism and the Australian Open Tennis Championships

The National Tennis Centre in Melbourne, Australia, occupies a symbolic role in the repositioning of a once ‘rust-belt’ city as a place for ‘footloose’ capital and tourism. This paper explores the decisions that have been made by successive Victorian state governments between 1984 and 1998 to construct and upgrade the National Tennis Centre. Thematic content analysis of three daily newspapers, and one monthly tennis magazine, was undertaken to map political decisions and accompanying public discussion surrounding the foundation and upgrades of the National Tennis Centre. Successive state governments, representing both the left and right side of politics, have adopted an urban entrepreneurial approach to development and economic regeneration of Melbourne since the early 1980s. Targeting sport as a competitive advantage, significant public investments have been made to ‘sell’ this product to consumers identified as citizens and tourists. Worthy of note, and of particular concern, is the limited consultation with important interest groups, particularly environmentalists and the citizenry, when creating an elite sporting entertainment centre.