Acknowledgements

Publication Information

Abstract – Tiivistelmä – Abstrakt

Invitation Letter to the Reader

Table of Contents

References

1 Introducing in the ‘Opening Circle’

The ‘Opening Circle’

1.1 Introducing the Work

1.1.1 Aims and Motivation

  • Arts-Educational-Philosophical Grounding
  • Motivational Grounding

1.1.2 Research Questions

1.2 Situating the Contexts

1.2.1 Academic Contexts

  • Artistic Research
  • Intra-active Pedagogical Orientation

1.2.2 Practical Contexts

  • Improvisation-based Dance Education
  • Fieldwork in Early Childhood Education
  • The Pre-examined Artistic Component Käännöksiä – Transpositions

1.3 Outlining the Structure

1.3.1 Assembling the Thesis as a Storyboard

1.3.2 Navigating the Work

  • Outlining the Pieces of the Storyboard
  • Guidelines for the Reader

2 ‘Tuning in’ to Intra-Active Early Childhood Dance Pedagogies

‘Tuning in’

2.1 Intra-active Pedagogy

2.1.1 Ethico-onto-epistemological Grounding

  • The Landscape of Relational Ontologies
  • The Concept of Knowledge as Relational and Situational

2.1.2 Intra-active Orientation

  • Related Research with an Intra-active Approach
  • Intra-active Pedagogy as an Emergent Space

2.1.3 Entanglements of Assemblages

  • Assemblages as Sites of Collective Expression
  • Thinking-with Materials: Duplo Blocks and Playdough

2.1.4 Agency as Relational

  • Agency as Intra-active
  • More/other-than-human Agency
  • Agencies in Improvisation-based Dance Education

2.2 On Children, Childhood, and Education

2.2.1 Contemporary Views on Children and Childhoods

  • Posthuman Perspectives in Childhood Studies

2.2.2 Posthuman Reconfigurations of the Child

  • The Human as Child and Adult
  • Posthuman Perspectives on Age
  • The Relational Child

2.2.3 Early Childhood Education (ECEC)

  • The Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care Context
  • Alternative Perspectives on Curricula
  • Posthuman Approaches to ECEC
  • Embodied Aspects of ECEC

2.3 Early Childhood Dance Education

2.3.1 Central Concepts

  • Dance and Movement as Mutually Inclusive Partners
  • From Creative Dance for Children to Dance Improvisation for All
  • Early Childhood Dance Education

2.3.2 Entanglements with Earlier Research

2.3.3 Improvisation-based Dance Education

  • Dance Improvisation as a Relational Practice
  • Working with Emergence

3 ‘Warming Up’ with Methodology

‘Warming Up’

3.1 Dance Pedagogical Research within Artistic Research

3.1.1 Postqualitative and Posthuman Approaches to Artistic Research

  • Methods as Emergent
  • Building on Earlier Research

3.1.2. Artistic Research as Translation

  • Translation in Artistic Research
  • Moving between Modalities
  • Translating across Contexts and Languages
  • Philosophical Aspects

3.2 Research Methods

3.2.1 Emergent Approaches

  • Improvisation-based Dance Pedagogy as Research Practice
  • The Hunting–Gathering Method
  • Propositions Enabling Emergent Research

3.2.2 Collaborative Aspects

  • Deep Hanging Out
  • Thinking-with Multiple Agencies in Research
  • Embodied and Entangled Being-with in Research

3.2.3 Writing as a Research Practice

  • Writing as Artistic Research
  • Writing with the Body: The Verbs and Lines Method

3.2.4 Play in This Research

  • Play as a Nomadic Research Practice
  • Dance Improvisation as Embodied Play
  • Researching Playfully

3.3 Working Diffractively with Research Materials

3.3.1 Pedagogical Documentation

  • Pedagogical Documentation as Material and Agential Translation
  • Pedagogical Documentation as Data

3.3.2 Research Materials

  • Writings
  • Drawings
  • Recordings
  • Gifts

3.3.3 Diffractive Analysis

  • Reflective Diffraction
  • Diffractive Reading
  • The Glow of Data
  • Re-turning

3.4 Research Ethics

3.4.1 Relational Ethics as Response-ability

3.4.2 Practical Ethical Considerations

  • Consent Procedures for the Fieldwork
  • Consent Procedures for Käännöksiä – Transpositions
  • Safeguarding and Handling of the Research Materials

4 ‘Exploring’ During Fieldwork

‘Exploring’

4.1 Preparing for the Fieldwork

4.1.1 Fieldwork as a Concept

4.1.2 Practical Arrangements

4.2 Diffractive Practice with Propositions

4.2.1 Allowing Time for Discovery

  • Time in ECEC
  • Time in Dance and Childhood
  • The Concept of Discovery
  • Research Discovery: Drawing as a Dance Pedagogical Approach

4.2.2 To See and to Become Seen

  • Embodied Aspects of Seeing
  • Digital Seeing: Threat or Possibility?

4.2.3 To Listen

  • Methodological Steps towards Embodied Listening
  • Hearing the Material Agencies
  • Research Discovery: The Methodological Assemblage of Hunting–Gathering with Embodied Listening

4.2.4 To Move and to Be Moved

  • Moving with Materials
  • Research Discovery: Thinking-with Materials

4.2.5 To Dance

  • A Magical Encounter: Dancing the Swan
  • A Clash of Cultures
  • Research Discovery: The Storyboard Method

4.2.6 To Play

  • Playful Dancing and Danceful Playing
  • Becoming-other as a Researcher

4.2.7 To Be With

  • Being-with the Daycare Community
  • Being-with More/Other-than-Human Agencies

4.2.8 To Not Know

4.3 Long-term Cooperation as an Overspill

4.3.1 Not/Finishing the Fieldwork

4.3.2 Overspills of the Research

5 ‘Sharing’ in the Pre-Examined Artistic Component Käännöksiä – Transpositions

‘Sharing’

5.1 Navigating Uncertainties

  • Warning! You are entering a re/de/constructi n site!

5.1.1 The Project Becoming a Home-based Family Affair

5.1.2 Challenges while Working towards the Event

5.1.3 Pre-examination of the Event: Wormholes, Ruins, and a Re/De/Construction Site

5.2 Outlining the Pre-examined Artistic Component Käännöksiä – Transpositions

5.3 Diffractive Reading of the Embodied Exploration of Lines of Flight

5.3.1 Setting the Scene for Diffractive Reading

  • The Aim and Outline of the Lines of Flight Activity
  • Diffractive Reading through Multiple Translations
  • Working with the Materials on a Re/de/construction Site

5.3.2 Diffractive Reading Re-presented Through Pedagogical Documentation

  • First Translation: From Affective to Visual
  • Second Translation: From Textual to Visual
  • Third Translation: From Thought to Visual
  • Fourth Translation: From Visual to Embodied
  • Fifth Translation: From Artistic Expression to Pedagogical Documentation
  • Sixth Translation: From Explosion into Insights

6 ‘Reflecting’ on the Openings through Discussion

‘Reflecting’

6.1 Dancing–Drawing Assemblages

6.1.1 Drawing as Communicating

6.1.2 Creating Choreography through Drawing

6.1.3 Exploratory Dancing–Drawing

6.2 Improvisation-based Intra-active Dance Pedagogy as Dancing-with

6.2.1 The Methodological Assemblage of Hunting–Gathering with Embodied Listening

  • Nurturing Creativity
  • Listening Differently by Listening to Difference
  • Transforming Teaching Art into Making Art

6.2.2 The Practice of Dancing-with

6.3 Overspills of the Research

6.3.1 Improvisation-based Intra-active Dance Pedagogy in ECEC

  • Dance as Integrated into ECEC
  • Dance as an Inclusive Practice in ECEC

6.3.2 Future Directions

6.4 Critical Reflections and Conclusions

6.4.1 Methodological Choices

6.4.2 Theoretical Considerations

6.4.3 Ethical Aspects

6.4.4 Conclusions