Exploring video annotation as a tool to support dance teaching

Abstract

It is challenging for dance teachers to provide feedback to all students learning to dance. This is a common problem in large social dance classes, where the teacher do not have time to reflect before giving feedback. One possible way to address this is to allow dance instructors, peers, or students themselves to assess students' performance using video recordings. In this paper, we explore the use of a video annotation tool by dance teachers. We focused on a particular style of partner dance: Forró. We followed a three-step process to design and validate the video annotation tool, which includes: 1) interviewing dance teachers to understand the context and their needs; 2) asking teachers to assess video recordings of students dancing to capture their 'vocabulary'; and 3) developing the video annotation tool. We conducted semi-structured interviews with four dance teachers to understand how the tool can support dance teaching. The contribution of this paper is the exploration of the use of video annotation as a tool to support dance teaching. The paper discusses a series of insights gained by teachers as a result of using our annotation tool which was carefully crafted based on dance education foundations and the vocabulary elicited from experienced dance teachers.