DANCE EDUCATION
Brenda McCutchen’s teaching materials are hot items in the field of dance education in the US and abroad. An experienced professor and dance educator, arts administrator and author, she is a creative force to be reckoned with. McCutchen is recognized as a voice for inquiry-based dance education.
McCutchen’s textbook, Teaching Dance as Art in Education (Human Kinetics, 2006), details what K-12 dance specialists should know and be able to do in dance so their students exceed all national standards. Her text shows how to mitigate four constant forces in dance to produce exceptional results: dancing & performing, creating & composing, analyzing and critiquing, and knowing about dance (especially the body, dance history and culture). The book articulates the 6DC Model of Educational Dance which is comprehensive, substantive, and sequential. Teaching Dance as Art in Education includes an extensive framework to guide curriculum and instruction.
A NATIONAL CONTRIBUTOR
McCutchen leads workshops across the U.S. She has led teacher workshops at the Getty Institute for Education in the Arts (Los Angeles), the Institute for Educational Inquiry (Seattle), the Louisiana Institute for Education in Dance (New Orleans), the Southeast Institute for Education in Dance (Chattanooga), and Virginia Beach City Public Schools Gifted Programs. McCutchen served on the board of directors of the National Dance Education Organization and is an active member of NDEO and NDA.
McCutchen lends dance expertise to arts education projects such as:
- The Council of Chief State School Officers -- Member of the INTASC Committee that drafted national teacher licensure standards in the arts (Washington, DC)
- Southeast Center for Education in the Arts -- Multi-Arts Renewal Institutes for teachers (Chattanooga)
- Arts education advisory panels and grants panels for the National Endowment for the Arts (Washington, DC), Kentucky Arts Council, and SC Arts Commission.
LEADERSHIP IN SC’s ARTS EDUCATION
McCutchen’s leadership continues to be felt in SC as it has for many years. For six years her role as Arts Education Program Director at the SC Arts Commission brought artists and schools together. Her continuous involvement with the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project since its inception in 1987 enables her to advance the state’s arts education agenda through the inner workings of the state arts education partnership. She is dance panelist on the Dance Committee of the SC Arts Assessment Project (SCAAP) that plans statewide dance assessments for SC schools.
She designed and directed the state’s first B.A. in Dance Education degree program to certify K12 dance specialists. She has extensive experience supervising clinical experiences and internships in K-12 schools. Her interest in world dance led her to travel to Bali, Indonesia to study its culture, rituals, and performing arts.
The SC Framework for Dance Education K12, which she and Jody Lunt authored in the late 1980’s, was adopted by the SC Board of Education as the first official contentbased dance curriculum framework in SC schools in 1990. The fully-realized Dance Cornerstone Framework found in Teaching Dance as Art in Education (2006) had its beginnings in that earlier document, which matured through twenty years of teaching into a comprehensive description of what students should know and be able to do in dance today.
McCutchen has over 35 years of experience teaching dance at all age levels (K-16). She specializes in teaching preparation in dance, creative dance for children, and dance analysis and criticism.
BACKGROUND IN DANCE AND EDUCATION
After earning an M.F.A. in Dance, she was dance professor at Furman University and founder of Furman Dance Theatre. Prior to that, she taught dance in middle school.
McCutchen cofounded Contemporary Dance Collection (later called One, Two, A Few…Dance Company) in which she performed her choreography and that of others. She also studied at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Theatre Lab in NYC.
PRAISE FOR MS. MCCUTCHEN’S WORK
“Brenda was an excellent choice as a facilitator of this project because she knows how to deal with the adult learner and she is extremely knowledgeable about her content area. Brenda was able to assess the teachers’ knowledge about dance and was able to build their knowledge up through exposure to articles, state and national frameworks for dance and watching video clips of good elementary dance programs. Soon Brenda was able to have the group articulate a vision for dance education for their own school district and develop a strategic plan for implementing this vision, in which they listed barriers that would have to be addressed.
The work was intellectually engaging and rigorous. The final document is one that I am extremely pleased with and represents the kind of work that reflects the collaborative efforts of teachers and a professional consultant.
I think the work of Ms. McCutchen is commendable and very professional. Not only would I recommend her to any district that needs a dance consultant, but also would not hesitate to hire her to work in our district again on other projects related to dance.”
~John M. Rodgers, Curriculum and Instruction, Crete-Monee School District 201-U in Crete, Illinois
“Brenda McCutchen served as our dance consultant for two years in the Institute’s Arts in Teaching and Teacher Education initiative…. Brenda brought much enthusiasm and verve to her work with us, and was able to get all of us on our feet dancing, (and enjoying it) even though many of the group had not experienced modern dance previously. She came enormously prepared to share ideas, materials, and pedagogy.”
“About ten years ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Brenda and hear from two of her graduate students about discipline-based dance education. Those students demonstrated such deep understanding and commitment - and wove together all the elements of DBDE in a remarkable way.”
“Brenda is committed to the notion that all children should have an opportunity to know, understand, and practice dance as an integral part of a comprehensive arts program. …she would add richness, creativity, and verve to a teacher education program.”
~Dr. Wilma Smith, Leadership Associate, Institute for Educational Inquiry, Seattle, Washington
