Att tala – att dansa: om metaforens betydelse inom danspedagogik

The article focus on how dance pedagogues describe their modes of using verbal communication in the dance studio, and it is based on interviews and observations of dance education. The theoretical base embraces ideas about bodies as well as theories about the importance of metaphors in embodied communication. Moreover, it is argued that pedagogues and dance students are engaged in a corporeal version of critical thinking, in which verbal language is one of several important aspects.

Four pedagogues are interviewed and they represent different dance genres, which affects the kind of verbal communication used. However, a major common opinion is that the use of metaphors has undergone an historical change. A frequent use of metaphors with references to nature has today been exchanged for a more concrete, functional language. It could well be affected by both the dance techniques in use, and the current aesthetic trends in choreography.