Dance plays a critical role in understanding culture since its very being brings insight and understanding into diverse societies and ways of life. The widespread manifestation of dance around the world is valuable since certain dances can be used to study the cultures it originated from and provide insight into non-western societies. The cultural context of dances can be used to explore historical, social, and cultural origins of societies. Furthermore, dance can be utilized to educate and promote inclusivity and diversity. By discovering styles of dances from around the world, people can explore important aspects of culture and broaden their understanding and appreciation for traditions and lifestyles around the world.
However, it is important when studying styles of dances to accurately represent the culture and remain aware of differing interpretations and views. When striving to diversify dance education, there is no one way to go about it. Nonetheless, people should maintain the cultural distinctiveness of dances and acknowledge that a dance might not be representative of the culture as a whole. Furthermore, in order to effectively teach an appreciation of culture through dance, it is important for students study the culture through different lenses as well, including through film, text, music, and images. Overall, the options for increasing cultural diversity through dance are endless and studying humans through the lens of dance is a creative and educational way to gain awareness and understanding of a range of cultures as well as communal and cultural healing. Moreover, multicultural dance curriculum can reduce stereotyping, xenophobia, and prejudices that could result from lack of adequate understanding of cultures, and it can create further respect for cultural diversity by building culturally empathetic and supportive communities
The source below also gives several ideas for lesson plans to teach non-western dance styles.
Source: https://www.academia.edu/33897105/Dance_and_Cultural_Diversity
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