Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the mediation effects of motivational regulation in the relationship between students’ fixed mindset of contemporary dance and academic engagement moder-ates by self-efficacy in a university setting.
 Methods A sample of sample of 325 contemporary dancers recruited from eight universities completed a set of questionnaires measuring their fixed mindset, motivational regulation, self-efficacy, and engagement in dance classes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, and hierarchical regressions through SPSS PROCESS macro version 4.0(Hayes, 2022) to test the moderated mediation effects of self-efficacy.
 Results The results of a moderated mediation analysis were as follows: (1)The effect of contemporary dancers’ motivational regulation on engagement in dance class was fully mediated by self-efficacy. (2)The interaction ef-fect of fixed mindset and self-efficacy on motivational regulation was significant, whereas the interaction effect of motivational regulation and self-efficacy on engagement in dance class was insignificant. (3)Self-efficacy sig-nificantly moderated the effect of fixed mindset on engagement in dance class.
 Conclusions These findings suggest that even though university dance students have a way of thinking that dance ability is not easily changed through practice and learning as innate ability, they should have a strong belief that they can successfully perform the movements during dance class.