| Summary: | This study focuses on aesthetic development, its
nurture and assessment, in dance education. Observations,
interviews, and examinations of student journals, were used
to collect data for this multiple case study. Four classroom
settings provided a picture of aesthetic growth representing
a range of ages. The findings were examined in light of the
symbolic theory of the arts developed by Suzanne Langer
(1953), aesthetic learning through entry to the world of
play described by Huizinga (1950), and the developmental
aesthetic model of Malcolm Ross (1984). Significant
descriptions voiced by the participants provide snapshots of
student growth at various stages of development.
The study concludes that the aesthetic experience,
defined as the simultaneous engagement of intellect and
emotions, is indeed evident in dance to both the dancer and
the observer; it may be seen and recognized as a special
quality which invariably draws the eye and focuses the
viewer's attention. Opportunities for such engagement are
carefully structured by effective teachers.
While stages of aesthetic growth are evident, students
of al l ages grow aesthetically in individual ways;
aesthetic understanding results from complex combinations of
social, psychological, and experiential factors, as well as
maturation.
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