When students engage dance as embodied knowledge, their thinking begins to shift. They move beyond learning movement as steps, choreography and stage performance, and start recognizing the histories, rhythmic organization, cultural meanings, and living connections carried in them.

Roots — context and lineage. "I’ve learned that if you look at African style dances at face value it can appear as a dance to just have fun. If you look deeper within the culture and history that lies in the movements, you can see that it all comes from a place of community." —World Dance Student 10th grade

Rhythm — embodiment and listening. "Trying to [be] on the beat of the drums in the music has made me connect to my movement a lot more by giving me better musicality skills when I dance."—World Dance Student 9th grade

Relevance — connection and meaning. "If we lived in a society where the community actively supports farmers in their work, I think we would see a lot more young people turning to farmwork. There would be a larger appreciation for grown food/crops, which could lead to community celebrations. As well as grown food and crops, I think we would see our land as something to treasure and care for. This would lead to less corporate destruction of lands, and it would bridge the divide between many people."—Contemporary African and African Diasporic Dance Practices I Student 1st Year College

Student reflections and written analyses from courses taught through the Roots, Rhythm and Relevance™ framework.