28: The Language of Dance

Until recently, research on literacy has focused on the reading and writing of printed texts. However, with the advent of digital and multimedia technologies, this approach to understanding literacy is no longer adequate. Increasingly, verbal and kinesthetic behaviors need to be included in our understanding of what it is to be literate. As part of an emerging awareness of multiliteracies, many literacy theorists believe a more pluralistic view of literacy needs to be developed—one that includes the ability to comprehend, interpret, analyze, respond, and interact with a growing variety of data sources (Sensenbaugh, 1990). Spatial and kinesthetic expressions should be a part of this new literacy, and should include the movements found in dance. These movements can be captured in dance notation, which is an evolving form of literacy—one shaped by both historical and contemporary technologies.