Community engagement has become an increasingly prevalent part of dance education. This study responds to the need for additional research on community engagement activities in private sector dance studios in the United States. Using a combined qualitative and quantitative approach, we provide an in-depth look into the current types of community…

This article reflects on observations as a dance pedagogue, adapting Gilbert's BrainDance to a range of learning and teaching opportunities in intergenerational classroom contexts. Initially applied in an early childhood education context, BrainDance provided a point of departure into conversations and observations with teachers on how the…

Ensemble Thinking (ET) is a toolkit of movement scores developed by dance-maker Nina Martin in the 1980s in New York City. The scores of ET arose out of a confluence of Martin's choreographic and improvisational performance practices. The impetus for developing ET was to develop a technical language for creating and discussing improvised dance.…

What happens when undergraduate dance pedagogy students observe dance educators' teaching practices in diverse dance education sectors? Traditional field observation focuses primarily on the teacher, teaching methods, and classroom management. Comparatively, critical field observations examine teacher and learner action equally through rich…

Ballet dancers are exposed to the high likelihood of lower extremity injury due to repeated high-impact jumps under stringent ballet rules. The injury incidences occurring in dancers during jump landings are highly associated with excessive vertical ground reaction forces (vGRF) and the sharp loading rate (LR). The aim of this study was to compare…

Since 2011, Malaysia has witnessed the emergence of Bharatanatyam performers who are not of Indian ethnicity, groomed through dance studies at Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA), a tertiary arts institution assessable to students of all ethnicities. The performance of Bharatanatyam, including the completion of the Arangetram, for…

In this student reading, I use examples from dance technique classes to bring attention to the choices that students make when learning new movement via observation and repetition. Based on these examples, I frame learning in technique class not as a process of imitation but a process of translation. In doing so I hope to advocate for the…

We conducted an intervention based on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) with dance students to improve their performance and reduce their anxiety levels. Sixteen students from a dance conservatory participated in a quasi-experimental mixed research, test-posttest design without control group, consisting of five SFBT sessions. Their teachers…

Professional dancers have described high levels of performance anxiety while also experiencing flow on stage. However, such research tends to capture one period of time in the performance experience and rarely focuses on vocational dance students. The current study samples vocational dance students at a UK performing arts school and captures their…

Memoirs of studying with acclaimed dancer-choreographer Moustapha Bangoura in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, illuminate the significant, yet unspoken role played by the "djembefola" (lead drummer) in teaching and learning dance. This portrait provides autobiographical and ethnographic insights, gained through attending "Le…

This article utilizes dance scholarship and economic theory to re-imagine student engagement within choreography as a consumer-oriented, service-driven environment. The central query considers how the dance student might be viewed as the consumer of a dance-making experience. Seeking to disentangle power structures potentially evident within the…

This article examines the current construction of dancer wellness and argues that the focus on intrapersonal aspects of safety, health, and wellness should be balanced with a stronger consideration of interpersonal, institutional, and systemic aspects. The author explores how infusing dancer wellness with equity literacy can support individual and…

Flow states have been linked to positive emotions, optimal focus, productivity, and a stronger sense of self through learning. Past research has confirmed that dancers experience flow, that flow in dance is related to spirituality and community connectedness, and that environmental factors can inhibit or facilitate dancing flow. This exploratory…

Parent-Toddler Movement Class (PTMC) is a structured dance curriculum that introduces movement to toddlers and caregivers. Using a qualitative methodological approach, the present study investigated how PTMCs supported the attachment of 27 caregiver-toddler dyads. The children ranged in age from two- to three-years-old and were students enrolled…

We demonstrate the ways an improvisational dance workshop provided the opportunity for university students to be autonomous actors and engage in embodied sense-making through dance--two key parts of the conceptualization of enactive cognition. As part of a Design-Based Research project, we use Interaction Analysis to present examples of using…