Revisiting the Value of Somatic Education in Dance Training Through an Inquiry into Practice Schedules

Abstract

The practice conditions within dance training have remained essentially unchanged for decades. Those conditions appear to be based largely on a “culture of rigor,” a philosophy of which implies that continuous practice is the most beneficial way to improve (motor) skills. Current evidence in motor learning supports the concept of “distributed practice,” in which the resting phase within a practice session is comparable to, or longer than, the activity phase. Researchers in motor learning have shown distributed practice to be more beneficial to acquisition and retention of motor skills, and to decreased rates of injury, than continuous (“massed”) practice. At the center of somatic education is a pedagogical emphasis on balancing rest with activity. The authors reopen the question of the value of somatic education within dance training, drawing upon experiential evidence from their qualitative research and other recent research in neuroscience and motor learning.