Investigating why Maltese young children take up dance lessons

Abstract

This dissertation aims to investigate the reason/s why Maltese young children are, much more than before (National Statistics Office, 2001 & 2010), choosing to attend dance lessons. It also explores the perceptions of some of Malta's leading dance teachers, children aged between 7-10 who attend dance lessons and their parents. The first chapter gives an introduction and background to the study. It also gives my reasons for setting off with this investigation. Chapter 2 discusses what previous and current literature has covered about the topic of children and dance education. The third chapter gives a description of the research methodology I used in order to collect data from the children, parents and dance teachers; namely the questionnaires and interviews. Chapter 4 includes the presentation and an analysis of the findings obtained from my data collection. The fifth and final chapter is a conclusion of the whole dissertation. It discusses which limitations were present in my study as well as gives suggestions for future research on the topic of dance education.