Teachers’ perspectives on dance improvisation and flow

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study uses a qualitative approach to focus on dance improvisation and flow. Dance instructors with wide experience in performing and teaching dance improvisation took part in semi–structured interviews that featured questions about dance improvisation and flow, including issues of flow in dance education with children. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach, and the findings highlighted the following macro areas: characteristics of flow, conditions for flow, educational issues, and outcomes. Participants emphasized several connections between flow and dance improvisation and demonstrated their awareness of the potentialities of flow during dance improvisation and its usefulness for dance education with children. Participants considered the teacher a facilitator who has to inspire pupils and adopted a process orientation and a learner-centered approach for guiding children to exploring multiple ways of knowing. Physical and psychological wellbeing influenced performing excellence, as a global condition induced by flow and creative transfer emerged in the multidimensional framework in which improvisation and flow operate. The findings are discussed in the framework of general theories of flow to highlight the implications of adopting improvisation in general education.