Becoming an Engaged Dance Scholar Through Arts-Based Community Engagement Projects

  • Lynnette Young Overby University of Delaware, Newark; Arnhold Institute for Dance Education, Research, Policy & Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
  • Diana Crum Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
  • Jill Grundstrom Northern Michigan University, Marquette; Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
  • Francine E. Ott Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
  • Melissa van Wijk Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.2002
Keywords: arts-based research, community engagement, assessment, dance, higher education

Abstract

Postgraduate dance education students can develop a practice of arts-based, engaged scholarship by applying their disciplinary knowledge in collaboration with community partners to enact projects that benefit lo­cal, regional and/or global communities and their own scholarship. The present article analyses seven arts-based research projects required as part of the Studio Seminar course for doctoral dance education students at Teachers College, Columbia University. The specific goals of the research project were (a) to assess the level of community engagement present in seven Studio Seminar projects, (b) to determine whether or not the cri­teria of “evocation and illumination” were fulfilled in the Studio Seminar projects, and (c) to determine the knowledge gained by the participating students who conducted and reflected upon the Studio Seminar projects. Two cohorts of students participated in the study: Cohort 1 (three par­ticipants), who completed the course in 2021, and Cohort 3 (four partici­pants), who completed the course in 2023. The data were collected and analysed based on the arts-based research evaluation criteria of evocation and illumination, and the community engagement criteria of co-creation, co-implementation, co-assessment and co-dissemination. The results of this exploratory study reveal that the community engagement criteria of co-creation, co-implementation and co-assessment were present in all of the projects, but co-dissemination was only possible for the students who completed their projects in the first cohort. In addition, the arts-based research criteria of evocation and illumination were present in all seven projects. Furthermore, the results of a Community Engagement Ques­tionnaire revealed that the projects had a positive impact on the students’ dissertation goals and their plans for future community engagement projects. In conclusion, providing postgraduate dance education students with guidance in developing arts-based, community-engaged projects as­sists in their development as engaged scholars.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Barone, T., & Eisner, E. (2012). Arts based research. SAGE Publications Inc.

Boyer, E. L. (1996). The scholarship of engagement. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 49(7), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.2307/3824459

Campus Compact. (n.d.). What is engaged scholarship? A resource collection. https://compact.org/resources/what-is-engaged-scholarship-a-resource-collection?f%255B0%255D%3Dpractice_area=198

Changfoot, N., Andree, P., Levkoe, C. Z., Nilson, M., & Goemans, M. (2020). Engaged scholarship in tenure and promotion: Autoethnographic insights from the fault lines of a shifting landscape. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/mjcsloa.3239521.0026.114

da Cruz, C. G. (2018). Community-engaged scholarship: Toward a shared understanding of practice. The Review of Higher Education, 41(2), 147–167. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2018.0000

Dailey, R., & Hauschild-Mork, M. (2017). Making it all count: A cross-disciplinary collaboration model incorporating scholarship, creative activity, and student engagement. InSight a Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 12, 64–78. https://doi.org/10.46504/12201704da

Duffy, A. (2019). Developing a service-learning project within a university choreography course. Dance Education in Practice, 5(1), 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23734833.2019.1565502

Ellison, J., & Eatman, T. (2008). Scholarship in public: Knowledge creation and tenure policy in the engaged university. Imagining America.

Giguere, M. (2019). The impact of community engagement through dance on teen and young adult dancers. In K. Bond (Ed.), Social indicators research series (pp. 263–280). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95699-2_15

Heron, H. (n.d.). Embodied expressions [Photograph]. F. E. Ott Personal collection.

Lang, D. (1936). Migrant mother [Photograph]. https://moma.org/collection/works/50989

Leavy, P. (2015). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice. The Guilford Press.

Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. The Guilford Press.

Lesley, M. K., & Smit, J. (2020). Teaching as we learn: Mentoring graduate students in engaged scholarship. In A. Zimmerman (Ed.), Preparing students for community-engaged scholarship in higher education (pp. 62–83). IGI Global. https://doi.org10.4018/978-1-7998-2208-0.ch004

Mabingo, A. (2018). Teaching African dances as civic engagement: Pedagogic perspectives of teachers of African dances in North America, Europe, New Zealand, and Asia. Journal of Dance Education, 18(3), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2018.1482417

Matthews, P. H., Karls, A. C., Doberneck, D. M., & Springer, N. C. (2015). Portfolio and certification programs in community engagement as professional development for graduate students: Lessons learned from two land-grant universities. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 19, 157–184.

Moffett, A. (2025). Arts-based research in dance. In L. Overby, J. Shanahan, & G. Young (Eds.), Undergraduate research in dance: A guide for students (2nd ed., pp. 56–67). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003436287-7

O’Connor, K. M., Lynch, K., & Owen, D. (2011). Student‐community engagement and the development of graduate attributes. Education + Training, 53(2/3), 100–115. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911111115654

O’Meara, K., Eatman, T., & Petersen, S. (2015). Advancing engaged scholarship in promotion and tenure: A roadmap and call for reform. Liberal Education, 101(3), 52–57.

O’Meara, K., & Jaeger, A. J. (2006). Preparing future faculty for community engagement: Barriers, facilitators, models and recommendations. Journal of Higher Education and Outreach, 11(4), 3–27.

Overby, L. Y. (2016). Public scholarship in dance: Teaching, choreography, research, service, and assessment for community engagement. Human Kinetics.

Overby, L. Y. (2022). Arts-based research for undergraduate students. In Mieg, H., Ambos, E., Brew, A. Galli D., & Lehmann J. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of undergraduate research (pp. 371–378). Cambridge University Press.

Overby, L. Y., Ruberto, D., Moffett, A., & Green, R., (2025). Mary Ann Shadd Cary, her life and legacy – A production. In K. Moriah (Ed.), Insensible of boundaries – Studies of Mary Ann Shadd Cary (pp. 97–120). University of Pennsylvania Press. https://www.pennpress.org/9781512826616/insensible-of-boundaries/

Purvis, D. (2018). Dance scholarship and community engagement: A literature review of the Journal of Dance Education. Journal of Dance Education, 18(2), 69–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2017.1360495

Risner, D. (2010). Dance education matters: Rebuilding postsecondary dance education for twenty-first century relevance and resonance. Journal of Dance Education, 10(4), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2010.529761

Saldana, J. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.

Warburton, E. C., Reedy, P., & Ng, N. (2014). Engaging families in dance: An investigation of moving parents and children together. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 15(1), 1–26.

Wilson, L., & Moffett, A.T. (2017). Building bridges for dance through arts-based research. Research in Dance Education, 18(2), 135–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2017.1330328

Published
2025-06-27
How to Cite
Young Overby, L., Crum, D., Grundstrom, J., E. Ott, F., & van Wijk, M. (2025). Becoming an Engaged Dance Scholar Through Arts-Based Community Engagement Projects. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 15(2), 95–129. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.2002
Issue
Vol 15 No 2 (2025): Toward Fulfilling the Gap Between Arts Policy and Practice
Section
FOCUS

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitted article, which will be published online in the Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (for short: CEPS Journal) by University of Ljubljana Press (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The Author’s/Authors’ name(s) will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
  2. The Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
  3. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  4. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.