Abstract
The present study revealed what 265 P.E. students assimilated from watching a performance. The performance was carried out in a theater owned by a dance group with intellectual disabilities. The dance group consist of intellectually disabled people (6 people with Down’s syndrome, 1 person with autism and 1 person with both physically and intellectual disabilities), their mothers, brothers and sisters. The investigation was based on 3 types of questionnaires for the P.E. students.
The results were as follows: (1) the P.E. students precisely perceived the characteristics of the piece; (2) they got strong impression that the performance was entirely rhythmic. Female students tended to give a higher evaluation than male students; (3) the free description responses could be categorized into ‘Emotion’, ‘Dance and Composition’ and ‘Experiences’, and these could be sub categorized into <Fun>, <Healing> and <Intoxication> (‘Emotion’), <Expression> and <a Sense of Unity> (Dance and Composition), and <Novelty>, <Study> and <Leverage> (‘Experiences). The Scopes of the students’ assimilation could be classified into three elements: (1) study of dance itself, (2) study as supporters and teachers of students with special needs through dance and (3) regard study the understanding of the activities of disabled people in society. At the same time, we attained insight regarding the educational significance of the study of dance appreciation in the field of dance education.
