Critical Literacy and the Multiliteracies of Dance: A First Approach

Abstract

Greek traditional dance’s transition from its “first” to the “second” existence took place in the context of the urbanization as this took place in Greece. This transition was accompanied, among others, with its teaching into a classroom that had to follow the principles governing every educational process. In this new context, the dance teaching is subject to literacy processes, which, in this case, are related to a literacy of dance and therefore of culture, that is to a dance and cultural literacy. The aim of this study is to look at dance as an educational subject that can lead to critical literacy through dance’s multiliteracies as a synthesis of dance, movement, cultural and art literacy, with specific reference to Greek traditional dance. For this, literature-based research methodology is adopted that includes analysis and evaluation of relevant published literature. The literature review showed that Greek traditional dance, in the modern education framework, can be perceived in the light of critical literacy based on its multiliteracies, which are related to the concepts of movement, dance, art and cultural literacy.