| For many youth, participation in the performing arts promotes creative expression, helps build their confidence and self-esteem, provides a sense of belonging and fitting in, among other positive benefits. It is estimated that there are well over 800 summer performing arts camps for adolescents taking place every summer throughout the United States in various forms and sites. Many arts educators and youth worker professionals believe that these intensive programs can change the trajectory of a young person's life. In this way, these seminal experiences can be transformative. But what does such a claim mean and how exactly does such an occurrence happen? The range of practices and values within various program models vary from very traditional to more progressive.;This dissertation explores the phenomenon of teen transformation within the immersive summer arts programs that are currently prominent in the field. With a conscious reference to early 20th century educational reformer John Dewey and his Progressive Education Movement, the dissertation posits that the most progressive of these programs are capable of initiating the most profound transformations in its students. Specifically, the dissertation presents the UCLA summer High School Dance Theater Intensive (HSDTI) program as a unique and effective summer program that actively addresses such issues as access and diversity, interactive collaboration, high level "discipline-based arts instruction" (DBAI), and a series of human relations workshops (identity exploration and dialogue, etc.) in order to initiate and support individual and group transformation. By examining the HSDTI program's unique activities that initiate profound change, referring to Jack Mezirow's theories of perspective transformation and transformational learning , the dissertation tracks the transformative benefits of the HSDTI program in regard to: (1) the student's changing perception of self, (2) changing perception of others, (3) changing perceptions of society and the world, and (4) perceptions of how the arts can be used as a tool for positive change.;The dissertation concludes with a call for more progressive summer performing arts programs to be developed and implemented on more college campuses, in local studios, community centers, and at summer campsites and provides a blueprint to replicate a highly effective model. |
