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It is mechanical, an application, not a creation. There should be no imitation or memory, as far as set movements and gestures are concerned. How can there be if we adhere to our definition of dancing—self-expression through movement? (11)
Growing the “creative germ” was central to H’Doubler’s pedagogy and philosophy for dance education. She was committed to the development of the individual, as well as the potential of creative and expressive movement in that development. H’Doubler clarifies her educational idealism in the closing paragraph of her introduction to A Manual of Dancing:
It is perhaps needless to say that if dancing is to hold a place of importance in an educational curriculum those who teach it must have as broad a background as possible. The better the background, the better the teacher. Those teaching this activity should believe in its values, not as performance, but as an educational influence of the finest type. Considering the aim of modern education, namely, development of the individual, I sincerely believe that the type of dancing I have attempted to suggest hold values we have been too slow to appreciate, and is as important a factor in physical or any other education as any subject in the curriculum. (12)
In large part due to the clarity and substance of her argument in the Manual, H’Doubler’s methods shaped the development of dance programs popping up across the county. Remley (1975) notes the following:
Long before the establishment of the dance major [1926.–Ed.], alumnae from 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1922, were teaching “Miss H’Doubler’s Dancing” at Northwestern University, the University of Washington, Michigan State Normal School, the University of Texas, Illinois State Normal University, North Carolina College for Women, and Wellesley College. (190)
In 1925 H’Doubler published The Place of Dance in Education, the first in a series of philosophical treatises, position papers, and policy statements that she generated to clarify her liberal, humanist, educational perspective (Wilson, Hagood, and Brennan 2006).
