The five pursuits: a case study of cultivating genius in a dance classroom

Dr. Goldy Muhammad’s framework for culturally historical pedagogy has guided New York City arts teachers on how to customize their instruction to cater to the needs of children of color. What distinguishes her work from other scholars is her use of African educational practices to develop the Hill model, which comprises five pursuits involving students and teachers in cultural and historical literacy. This paper presents how a dance teacher incorporated Goldy Muhammad’s Hill Model framework of Five Pursuits into a dance curriculum to foster, teach, and celebrate his students’ cultural and historical identities in the classroom. By examining the impact of the Hill Model’s implementation on a student named Daniel, this case study chronicles Daniel’s experience with each of the five pursuits. Furthermore, it is a testament to teacher practice when engaging in the five pursuits at a New York City Public School as students develop cultural and historical history. As a young choreographer, Daniel gained a lot of insight into himself via the five Hill Model pursuits. He was made aware of the challenges faced by Black and Brown choreographers, which allowed him to free his mind and start tearing down negative beliefs about both himself and other people.