Recently, the2024 Teaching Exchange Event for Top-tier Dance Performance Programs in Higher Art Institutions, organized by the Shanghai Theatre Academy and co-hosted by the Shanghai Theatre Academy College of Dance and the editorial office of Contemporary Dance Arts Research (in Chinese and English), with support from the Shanghai Theatre Academy Affiliated Dance School, was held at the Shanghai International Dance Centre. The event is recognized as a grand gathering within the higher dance education community in China.
Representatives from over twenty higher art institutions, including the Shanghai Theatre Academy, Beijing Dance Academy, Minzu University of China, Central Academy of Drama, Nanjing University of the Arts and Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, gathered to discuss new trends, challenges and opportunities in dance education.
In his opening remarks, Xie Wei, Party Secretary of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, emphasized that exchange and mutual learning are hallmarks of social progress and act as "boosters" for high-quality educational development. For universities, high quality is primarily reflected in talent cultivation. This teaching exchange event is an important educational research activity facilitated by the Shanghai Theatre Academy within the context of implementing the high-quality development goals and the "One Guide, Three Integrations" high-level undergraduate talent cultivation requirement, as well as in response to the national initiative for cultivating top-tier undergraduate programs. It is believed that the outcomes of this initiative will provide valuable insights and references for advancing the development of higher education in dance in China.
The event was divided into three segments: the teaching curriculum showcase of the top-tier dance performance program of the Shanghai Theatre Academy College of Dance, the showcase of top dance talents from higher art institutions, and a teaching exchange seminar.
The teaching curriculum showcase featured four courses from the Shanghai Theatre Academy College of Dance's top-tier dance performance program. These showcased courses are not only the results of students' hard work, but also a testament to the careful guidance of their teachers, reflecting the teaching guidelines and characteristics of the top-tier undergraduate dance performance program at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. The goal was to jointly promote the construction of top-tier undergraduate programs in dance performance through this showcase.
The showcase of top dance talents from higher art institutions brought together 16 performances from six prestigious art universities, where students demonstrated their exceptional skills and professionalism, showcasing the high level and diversity of higher dance education in China.
During two round-table forums at the teaching exchange seminar, participating experts engaged in in-depth discussions on topics including the construction of independent knowledge systems, the challenges and solutions in training contemporary dance performance professionals, the core elements and implementation strategies of dance performance talent cultivation, and the mutual learning between dance performance programs and other art disciplines.
The teaching exchange seminar was divided into four sub-venues for Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dance, Chinese Classical Dance, Ballet and International Ballroom Dance respectively, facilitating exchange and learning between different dance genres and institutions.
As mentioned by Zhang Lin, Party Secretary and Dean of the Shanghai Theatre Academy College of Dance, current dance education faces the challenge of transitioning from traditional experience-based teaching to a more scientific, systematic and culturally enriched knowledge system, and this exchange event provides a valuable opportunity for higher education in dance in China to further focus on teaching itself, share experiences and achievements, think critically about issues and probe pathways thus exploring and progressing towards a systematic, modernized and culturally rich model of talent cultivation.
