Beginning Modern Dance With Web Resource

Description

This is your guide to the unique and expressive artistry of modern dance. For those new to modern dance, this book provides a friendly orientation on the structure of a modern dance technique class and includes information regarding class expectations, etiquette and appropriate attire. Students also learn how to prepare mentally and physically for class, maintain proper nutrition and hydration and avoid injury. Beginning Modern Dance supports students in understanding modern dance as a performing art and as a medium for artistic expression. The accompanying web resource offers 38 interactive video clips and photos of dance technique to support learning and practice. In addition, E-journaling and self-reflection assignments, performance critiques and quizzes found within the web resource help students develop their knowledge of modern dance as both a performer and a viewer. Beginning Modern Dance is a part of Human Kinetics' Interactive Dance Series.

Miriam Giguere, PhD, is the dance program director in the department of performing arts at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Giguere has been teaching modern dance in higher education for 22 years. Before teaching at the university level, Giguere danced professionally with three modern dance companies. As dance program director at Drexel, she created the curriculum for the dance major to include multiple styles of modern dance. Using her experience as a dance teacher in an academic setting, she developed 11 new courses and associated teaching materials. Giguere is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences on the topics of best practices in dance education and cognition during the creative process in dance. Her dissertation on the latter topic received the 2009 National Dissertation Award from the American Educational Research Association Arts and Learning Special Interest Group. She was the invited keynote speaker for Singapore's Dance Education Conference 2010. She holds a master's degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in dance from Temple University. She is a member of the National Dance Educators Organization (NDEO) and the Congress on Research in Dance. Giguere also is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Dance Education and the Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship. In her free time, Giguere enjoys practicing yoga and spending time with her family. She and her husband, Ralph, reside in Glenside, Pennsylvania.