The elective subjects system was introduced in the new course of study for physical education in Japan. In junior and senior high school, dance was changed to an elective subject from a required subject and, at the same time, the classes of mixed gender were introduced. This kind of renovation of the course of study brought forward new problems such as optionality and mixed learning in the field of dance education. Under this kind of situation, there is an urgent need to grasp the present state and the points at issue concerning dance lessons and to make some pertinent suggestions or proposals to improve dance education. The purpose of this study, therefore, is: 1) to investigate what kind of ideas the junior high school teachers in the Shikoku area have about teaching dance lessons including optionality and mixed-learning, 2) to clarify issues related to teaching those lessons, 3) to compare the results with the results of nationwide survey and 4) to propose some suggestions to improve dance education in the area. Method: 1) Subjects; 336 junior high school teachers situated in 4 prefectures in the Shikoku area. 2) Response rate; 47. 2%. 3) Time period; from October 15 to November 11, 1991. 4) Procedure; mail questionnaire consisting of 68 items concerning gender, age， years of dance experience， major in university， ideas for dance， problems in teaching dance， specific points in teaching dance, elective subjects system, mixed learning, and so on. The results are as follows: 1) Experience of learning dance in university greatly influences one's view of dance， view of teaching dance lessons， and teaching ability and tums out to be a motivating force toward the practice of teaching dance lessons. This result obtained in the Shikoku area is similar to the tendency observed in the results of the nation-wide survey. 2) Experience of teaching dance lessons is considered to forster one's view of teaching dance lessons and, at the same time， to become one's motivating force to the practice of teaching dance lessons. But in the Shikoku area， fewer opportunities are given to female teachers than the average of the whole nation. The problem here is how to secure opportunities for female teachers so that they can practice teaching dance lessons. 3) According to the nation-wide survey, the emphasis is placed upon improving one's practical skills in the content of university dance education and it is pointed out that not only practical dancing skills， but also practical ability in creating dance should be improved. This is also applicable to the Shikoku area. University curriculum and the content of short-term courses for in-service teachers should be renovated to put emphasis on teaching method, and the renovation is especially required in the Shikoku area. 4) Difference between male and female teachers conceming the experience of learning dance and the practice of teaching dance lessons is quite obvious on a nation-wide scale. As one of the ways to extend and enrich the practice of teaching dance lessons, more opportunities of learning dance should definitely be given to the male teachers.