The basic study on the forming process of images leading up to the dance movement

Abstract

Since the themes of dance take up various subjects ranging from the concrete to the abstract, it is quite difficult for instructors to grasp the images that learners have in mind just by observing the movements expressed by learners. That's why instructors tend to relate the learners' movements to the images which the instructors have in mind when they observe the learners' movements.In this study, we researched ways to confirm the sequencing of the internal thought processes in learners as they are preparing to initiate a particular dance movement. In other words, we looked at ways to accurately evaluate a dancer's mental state from the movement of first visualizing a particular movement through to when they actually perform that movement. With this goal in mind, we chose to study dancers learning the “flapping of a big-sized bird”-theme, since the mechanisms of this dance movement can be comparatively easily grasped and its motions duplicated even by beginning dancers.As a hypothesis, we produced a model explaining the sequencing of this thought process, dividing it into three forms or kinds of images: (1) the imagining of a flapping bird, (2) the imagining of becoming a flapping bird, (3) the imagining of expressing this in dance movement.For this study, we did pre-tests on unexperienced primary school students, junior high school students, university students, and experienced dancers. We confirmed them the following: 1) We have to show the flapping movements of at least 4 kinds of flying movements of birds through TV screens in order to assumeour ability to identify the flapping of the bird which the subjects have pictured in their minds. 2) We must have a check list to replace the flapping movements of a bird with human movements and check by TV screens when we want to identify the imagining of expressing dance movement.We conclude that instructors can confirm and share what the subjects have pictured in their minds by making subjects choose what they imagined from among images showed on the TV screens.