Dance genres in Swedish upper secondary school - a quantitative survey

Dance as a subject in upper secondary school is a relatively young subject with a vague framing that provides the teachers with more room for interpretation. The aim of this paper is to shed light on a somewhat unexplored researched field and to contribute with knowledge about what dance genres that are featured in Swedish upper secondary schools. The study investigates what genres the students encounter in the everyday dance training and how much time in class. Further, it is investigated which genres the schools bring in as guest genres and who teaches them. The data is collected via a survey that was sent to all Swedish upper secondary schools with an arts program in dance. The results are analyzed and discussed via curriculum theory and Swedish dance history. Some of the main conclusions are that the modern and contemporary dance stands out in more than one way and is well established in dance programs in Swedish upper secondary schools. Another result shows that there is a wide diversity in the genres schools chose to include as a guest genre. The results also show that the most common is to bring in a guest teacher in different subgenres of street dance.