TEACHING THE SHENYUN DANCE TECHNIQUE: A STUDY ON UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA STUDENTS

Abstract

Chinese dance is a culturally rich and popular art form worldwide. However, its teaching needs to be improved in Malaysia, despite its multicultural population and significant Chinese community. In the last century, ShenYun technique emerged as one of the primary schools that have been used in teaching Chinese classical dance to ensure its form and type standardization. Nevertheless, there have yet to be any attempts to teach Chinese classical dance overseas using the original teaching materials of the ShenYun technique. This paper focuses on measuring the effectiveness of teaching ShenYun dance technique to international students. 22 students from Universiti Sains Malaysia and various cultural backgrounds were selected to learn the ShenYun dance technique for 12 sessions. The evaluation of the student's learning outcomes involved multiple methods. Post-class questionnaires were given to students after every class, and a final questionnaire was given at the end of the course. Local dance experts assessed the students' progress by observing a live performance, while Chinese dance experts evaluated a video recording of the final performance. The data obtained from students were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation to determine the participants' understanding level. At the same time, the data collected from experts was used to evaluate the learning outcomes. According to the study's findings, the 12 sessions of ShenYun dance technique is an effective instructional resource for international students.