matriculating mannequins
recently, a debate on ‘core texts’ started at an old workplace. the intention was to setup a ‘one stop shop’ at the front of the library.
the idea was well intended (to make the library more accessible/interesting to students), but deeply flawed.
students lack research skills, collecting the texts in one location stops them learning how to ‘browse’ for information. if core texts must be co-located, place them at the back of the library (force them to wander). also, students should be buying core texts for themselves.
the actual concept of ‘core texts’ was also questioned; is there such a thing? my reading lists are designed to develop, and contextualise the core principles i teach. we shouldn’t depend on books, and their absent authors, to ‘educate’ our students.
books offer additional perspectives, examples, and reference points. make them ‘bibles’, and students will never look beyond the page(s). i recommend books as points of interest, never something to ‘get’. discourse is active, not a passive, fixed set of interpretations.
for example, i offer first year (undergraduate) improv students «you are here: personal geographies and other maps of the imagination» by katherine harmon (2004). i consider cartography (mapmaking) and navigation, key composition skills. harmon’s text offers a multitude of maps for different purposes.
students reading is often ‘limited’ (obvious) and subject specific; so i wouldn’t (initially) recommend «traces of dance: choreographers’ drawings and notations» by valerie preston-dunlop et al (1994). for the more capable student i might suggest «notations» by john cage and alison knowles (1969). this text is also useful for applications of graphical notation and interpreting/perfroming graphical scores.
if you have something to ‘tell’, say it yourself. if you have somethings to ‘share’, show/tell and offer texts. students should be able to find the ‘readers’ and ‘k.i.s.s.’ books through your teaching, and their own learning/research. if you have to point them out, you’re (probably) doing something wrong.
if your ‘core texts’ are reference texts (e.g. advanced labanotation) then they should be on a reading list. but few dance modules deal with such fundamental content.