Dance Research Research Articles

17th Century Costuming Features of Korčula’s Moreška

A tangible aspect that points to a historic past of the Korčula moreška is the skirted costume, which is unlike any other outfit worn on the island or elsewhere in Croatia. Recently, mid-seventeenth century archival costume illustrations of noble court ballets in Turin as well as costume designs of royal French productions in Paris were shared online, providing illustration of dance costuming in the theater. Popular Venetian public theater productions started in 1637 – studied by theater, stage costume, and dance researchers – reveal the importance of Roman features in costuming to denote nobility, strength, and leadership in theatrical spectacles. This Roman costume feature brings credence to the first known written description of a “Roman-Oriental” costume from the report of a moreška performance during the Saxon King’s visit to Korčula in 1838. Both the 17th century courtly spectacles and the Venetian public theater with many king-led combat dances thus extend our knowledge about costuming – sufficiently to warrant further research into the seventeenth century roots of Korčula moreška costuming.

Weekly injury rates within semesters of a three-year tertiary dance program, and prospective training monitoring across one semester of training: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT Dance research should consider time points within a season that may be associated with injury, and report on weekly dance training loads. The current study aimed to analyse injuries within each semester and participant, monitor load, mood and stress within one semester, and calculate compliance with monitoring in a tertiary dance training cohort. The dance training program that participants are drawn from is a six-semester, three-year undergraduate course, training in ballet and contemporary dance. A better understanding of injury in dance may further refine load management and injury prevention strategies. Fourteen tertiary dance students consented to participate. A medical attention injury definition was used. Weekly injury rate ratios within each 14-week semester were calculated. Participants completed ratings of perceived exertion , and mood and stress questionnaires across one semester. Injuries were significantly increased for Week 5, Semester 1; Week 2, Semester 2; and Week 1, Semester 3, and 4. Spikes in load coincided with injury spikes, as observed visually on a line graph. Certain weeks in proximity to a change in training schedule had increased injury. Applying training principles in response to monitoring, specifically to return to dance after a holiday period, may aid in reducing injuries at this time requiring further investigation.

Perfectionism vis-à-vis Dance Motivation of students in learning the Art Form in selected Local Colleges in Pampanga, Philippines

A descriptive-correlational study which aims to determine the relationship between perfectionism and dance motivation of students learning the art form from selected local colleges in Pampanga, Philippines. DMQ and BTPS were used to gather data from (378) Bachelor of Physical Education (BPEd) and Bachelor of Performing Arts (BPeA) students. Pearson r analysis result found out that perfectionism has a positive significant relationship to dance motivation of students. Based on the result, this study concludes that perfectionism has a positive outcome to students’ dance motivation in learning the said art form. This study provides new and valuable insight into perfectionism and dance motivation, most specifically in dance research. Limitations of this study is acknowledged and directions for future research is recommended.

Leadership Styles of Choreographers Vis-A-Vis Commitment of Student-Dancers Across Various Higher Education Institutions in Luzon, Philippines

This study aims to determine the relationship between leadership style of choreographers and commitment of student-dancers. Respondents for the study are from different HEIs in the entire Luzon. Data gathering has been conducted through online survey using LSQ and OCQ to 105 choreographers and 228 student-dancers. Frequency, mean, sum and standard deviation were used to describe the leadership styles of choreographers and the level of commitment of student-dancers, and Pearson-r to determine the relationship between leadership style and commitment. Results found out that most of the choreographers’ leadership style is democratic, while the commitment level of student-dancers was found to be moderately high. Leadership style has no significant relationship commitment which accepts the null hypothesis tested in the study. Further investigation was recommended to deeply understand the relationship between leadership style of choreographers and student-dancers commitment. Lastly, based on the results of this study, programs were designed to enhance leadership skills of choreographers and the commitment of student-dancers. The result of this study brings new information in the existing study in leadership and commitment, but is highly significant as new knowledge in the field of dance research.

Approaches to Dance (4): Moving, Teaching, Thinking, Writing: A Minor Excavation

This reflective essay traces a pathway through dance, beginning with the early influences in dance training and scholarship, through to building a University dance programme and research centre. With reference to the many scholars and artists who have been so important to this journey, the essay seeks to offer a glimpse into how a career in dance research often twists and turns through teaching, practice, writing and collaboration.

Az etnokoreológiának áldozott élet

The scholarly discipline of ethnochoreology or, as Hungarians would say, dance folkloristics, has had a profound and developed history in Hungary. From the very beginning of its establishing in early 1950s, various intense research activities have focused on the collection, documentation and systematization of traditional dances throughout the country, but also on developing particular theories about their historical and regional stratification. Along with dance notation (Labanotation), one of the main methods of collecting and documenting traditional dances has been their planned filming during pre-arranged sessions, financially and organizationally supported by the state institutions. Among early dance researchers, Labanotators and ethnochoreologists the most significant figure whose influence will far exceed the historical timing and national boundaries of his scholarly work certainly is György Martin (1932-1983). Thanks to the fertile environment of early traditional dance investigation in Hungary coupled with his academic education in folkloristics and ethnomusicology, but also, on the other hand, his huge passion for field research and cabinetwork equally, Martin has left a monumental academic foundation in all of his numerous writings, among which some were published after his early death. The book Selected papers of György Martin, edited by prominent dance researchers from Hungary (Fügedi, Szőnyi and Varga) and Ireland (Quigley), consists of the most significant Martin’s articles from various periods of his career. Besides Martin’s essays translated or re-edited in English, there are also dozens of papers by dance scholars mostly from Hungary. They critically reinterpret Martin’s achievements and reposition them not only within Hungarian but also within international scopes, pointing to their great importance for developing ethnochoreology as an academic scholarly discipline in general and to the continuation of their actuality in the second and third decades of the 21st century. Thanks to the fact that this capital publication is printed in English, Martin’s most significant papers and their scholarly interpretations will be available to a wider readership around the world, which will enable further theoretical, methodological and intellectual considerations about (traditional/folk) dance.

Az etnokoreológiának áldozott élet : Recenzió a Foundations of the Hungarian Ethnochoreology: Selected Papers of György Martin című kötetről

The scholarly discipline of ethnochoreology or, as Hungarians would say, dance folkloristics, has had a profound and developed history in Hungary. From the very beginning of its establishing in early 1950s, various intense research activities have focused on the collection, documentation and systematization of traditional dances throughout the country, but also on developing particular theories about their historical and regional stratification. Along with dance notation (Labanotation), one of the main methods of collecting and documenting traditional dances has been their planned filming during pre-arranged sessions, financially and organizationally supported by the state institutions. Among early dance researchers, Labanotators and ethnochoreologists the most significant figure whose influence will far exceed the historical timing and national boundaries of his scholarly work certainly is György Martin (1932-1983). Thanks to the fertile environment of early traditional dance investigation in Hungary coupled with his academic education in folkloristics and ethnomusicology, but also, on the other hand, his huge passion for field research and cabinetwork equally, Martin has left a monumental academic foundation in all of his numerous writings, among which some were published after his early death. The book Selected papers of György Martin, edited by prominent dance researchers from Hungary (Fügedi, Szőnyi and Varga) and Ireland (Quigley), consists of the most significant Martin’s articles from various periods of his career. Besides Martin’s essays translated or re-edited in English, there are also dozens of papers by dance scholars mostly from Hungary. They critically reinterpret Martin’s achievements and reposition them not only within Hungarian but also within international scopes, pointing to their great importance for developing ethnochoreology as an academic scholarly discipline in general and to the continuation of their actuality in the second and third decades of the 21st century. Thanks to the fact that this capital publication is printed in English, Martin’s most significant papers and their scholarly interpretations will be available to a wider readership around the world, which will enable further theoretical, methodological and intellectual considerations about (traditional/folk) dance.

A magyar etnokoreológia alapvetései : Martin György válogatott tanulmányai angol nyelven

Selected Papers of György Martin, with its 824 pages, is a considerable volume to impress the reader at first sight. It has been published as the first piece of the series Foundations of Hungarian Ethnochoreology by the Research Centre for the Humanities Institute for Musicology and the Hungarian Heritage House. Four decades after the premature death of György Martin, Hungarian ethnochoreologists took a symbolic step forward: publishing this volume counts as paying tribute to the emblematic figure of Hungarian traditional dance research, as well as it helps them position their own professional identity in the light of the predecessor’s oeuvre.

A magyar etnokoreológia alapvetései : Martin György válogatott tanulmányai angol nyelven

Selected Papers of György Martin, with its 824 pages, is a considerable volume to impress the reader at first sight. It has been published as the first piece of the series Foundations of Hungarian Ethnochoreology by the Research Centre for the Humanities Institute for Musicology and the Hungarian Heritage House. Four decades after the premature death of György Martin, Hungarian ethnochoreologists took a symbolic step forward: publishing this volume counts as paying tribute to the emblematic figure of Hungarian traditional dance research, as well as it helps them position their own professional identity in the light of the predecessor’s oeuvre.

"It Can Be Magic:" Creating Age Awareness Through Contemporary Dance.

Professional dancers typically retire before age 40. Although the physical requirements for dance performance are often considered the reason for retirement, there is an increasing number dance researchers who demonstrate that the idealization of youthfulness on the stage is also a result of complex cultural, social, and economic realities and as such, in need of critique. As a group of mature women dancers who continue to perform, we aim to critique the idealization of youthfulness as a form of ageism in professional dance. In this paper, we present findings from our feminist memory-work study in which we critically reflected the rehearsals and performance of a choreography titled “Initiation.” We detail three main themes—”It Will Only Get Worse;” “It Can Be Magic;” “Once a Dancer Always a Dancer”—that emerged from our study. We conclude that we gained critical awareness of the gendered and ageist construction of dance as a performing art. As a result, we now feel empowered to continue our work as mature dance artists.

Psychological research in dance

This paper examines dance as a significant ethnological, historical, geographical, sociological, artistic, musical, aesthetic, psychological, biological, and psychotherapeutic phenomenon. The main focus is on its psychological aspects and the interconnectedness of psychological and physical components, which enables a unique experience not only for the person who dances but also for the observers. In the first part, the complex phenomenon of dance is elaborated, differences between spontaneous dance and dance as an artistic discipline are highlighted and a new comprehensive definition of dance is offered. Secondly, different aspects of dance are looked at through the prism of questions that intrigue researchers in various psychological disciplines such as developmental psychology, social, cognitive, health and clinical psychology, physiological, evolutionary, and finally the psychology of creativity. The last chapter provides the basic determinants of artistic dance from the perspective of the psychology of creativity. Specific issues related to artistic dance are discussed, including the characteristics of a creative person - choreographer or performer, creative process, work of art - dance, audience and creative environment. The paper concludes with a brief overview of the importance of psychology for the field of dance, and vice versa, emphasizing the continuous interchange between the two.

DeviceD: Audience-dancer interaction via social media posts and wearable for haptic feedback.

The performative installation DeviceD utilizes a network of systems toward facilitating interaction between dancer, digital media, and audience. Central to the work is a wearable haptic feedback system able to wirelessly deliver vibrotactile stimuli, with the latter initiated by the audience through posting on Twitter social media platform; the system in use searches for specific mentions, hashtags, and keywords, with positive results causing the system to trigger patterns of haptic biofeedback across the wearable's four actuator motors. The system acts as the intermediator between the audience's online actions and the dancer receiving physical stimuli; the dancer interprets these biofeedback signals according to Laban's Effort movement qualities, with the interpretation informing different states of habitual and conscious choreographic performance. In this article, the authors reflect on their collaborative process while developing DeviceD alongside a multidisciplinary team of technologists, detailing their experience of refining the technology and methodology behind the work while presenting it in three different settings. A literature review is used to situate the work among contemporary research on interaction over internet and haptics in performance practice; haptic feedback devices have been widely used within artistic work for the past 25years, with more recent practice and research outputs suggesting an increased interest for haptics in the field of dance research. The authors detail both technological and performative elements making up the work, and provide a transparent evaluation of the system, as means of providing a foundation for further research on wearable haptic devices.

Sex-Specific Brain Responses to Imaginary Dance but Not Physical Dance: An Electroencephalography Study of Functional Connectivity and Electrical Brain Activity.

To date, most neurophysiological dance research has been conducted exclusively with female participants in observational studies (i.e., participants observe or imagine a dance choreography). In this regard, the sex-specific acute neurophysiological effect of physically executed dance can be considered a widely unexplored field of research. This study examines the acute impact of a modern jazz dance choreography on brain activity and functional connectivity using electroencephalography (EEG). In a within-subject design, 11 female and 11 male participants were examined under four test conditions: physically dancing the choreography with and without music and imagining the choreography with and without music. Prior to the EEG measurements, the participants acquired the choreography over 3 weeks with one session per week. Subsequently, the participants conducted all four test conditions in a randomized order on a single day, with the EEG measurements taken before and after each condition. Differences between the male and female participants were established in brain activity and functional connectivity analyses under the condition of imagined dance without music. No statistical differences between sexes were found in the other three conditions (physically executed dance with and without music as well as imagined dance with music). Physically dancing and music seem to have sex-independent effects on the human brain. However, thinking of dance without music seems to be rather sex-specific. The results point to a promising approach to decipher sex-specific differences in the use of dance or music. This approach could further be used to achieve a more group-specific or even more individualized and situationally adapted use of dance interventions, e.g., in the context of sports, physical education, or therapy. The extent to which the identified differences are due to culturally specific attitudes in the sex-specific contact with dance and music needs to be clarified in future research.

‘The idea that something new might happen is completely obvious…’: A conversation with Andrew Morrish

In Andrew Morrish’s 40-year career in the arts he has been a performer, teacher, facilitator, mentor and advocate for a range of practices including improvisation, performance, dance education, dancetherapy and dance research. From 2008 until 2013 he was a Visiting Research Fellow in the Drama Division of Huddersfield University (U.K.) In 2016 he was awarded the Dance Fellowship of the Australia Council for the Arts (2016-2017). He now lives in the far south east corner of Australia where he continues to practice as a performer, teacher, coach and researcher.

11+ Dance: A Neuromuscular Injury Prevention Exercise Program for Dancers

ABSTRACT Epidemiological studies over the past decade indicate high injury prevalence in preprofessional ballet (76%) and professional contemporary and ballet dancers (60–69%). Injuries can have detrimental effects both for the dancers and the dance company. Most injuries are in the lower limb and reported as the gradual onset of overuse. Professional dance companies have reduced injury incidence and severity through the implementation of comprehensive injury audit programs and proactive exercise prescription. Injury prevention research in dance is scarce, and there has been no intervention targeting dance injuries. This article describes the development of 11+ Dance, an injury prevention training program designed for dancers, based on current evidence and best practice on injury prevention in sports. It is a 25–30-minute neuromuscular-based training program focused on strength, balance, and jumping/landing technique, with special attention to ankle, knee, and hip alignment. The high prevalence of injuries reported in the different styles of dance suggests that implementation of an injury prevention program is both the plausible and ethical action to take for all levels of performance.

Decolonising or Recolonising: Struggles on Cultural Heritage

This article directly responds to an article authored by Iacono and Brown published in Dance Research (2016), and considers issues emerging since its publication. The core topic is the UNESCO Convention from 2003, and in our view, criticism in the 2016 article is based on misinterpretation. We address the claims that the Convention is marked by binarism and provide in-depth background for the concept of intangible cultural heritage. We also caution against using the biomorphic term ‘living cultural heritage’ as its application stands in an ambiguous relation toward essentialist, organicist and totalitarian ideologies. We end with a discussion on attitudes toward globalisation and the concept of innovation. These, we argue, have profound implications for recent discussions on decolonisation.

An Analysis of Korean Dance Research Trends through Text Mining Methods

오늘날 한국무용 관련 연구는 양적으로 괄목할 만한 성장을 거두었다. 과거에 비해 연구주제의 범위 가 넓어지고 연구방법론이 세분화되고 있다는 점도 주목할 만하다. 그러나 아직까지 연구의 질적인 측 면과 다양성 부분에서는 미흡한 측면이 있다. 한국무용학 관련 연구는 여전히 특정 학회나 창작춤에 대한 분석 위주로 이루어지고 있다. 특히 한국무용은 여러 전통춤이 포함돼 있는데 기존 선행연구들은 이러한 분류 시도가 미흡하여 장르별 연구가 부족하고 전통춤을 하나의 통합 대상으로 인식하는 경향 이 있었다. 다만 수십 개에 이르는 전통춤의 연구동향을 개별적으로 살펴보는 것은 쉽지 않을뿐더러, 자료가 부족하거나 내용이 중첩되는 장르들도 있어 전통춤 내에서 특정 장르들을 선별하여 연구할 필 요가 있다. 본 연구에서는 한 국가의 역사적 소산으로써 사회적 가치와 문화적 상징성이 부여되는 국가 무형문화재로 지정된 7개 전통춤의 연구동향에 대해 분석하고자 하였다. 이러한 시도는 전통춤을 하나 의 장르로 인식하거나 특정 대중적 장르 위주로 분석하는 기존 선행연구들과 차별성을 부여할 수 있다. 아울러 전통춤 연구동향에 대해 보다 심층적이고 세분화된 시사점을 도출할 수 있다. 이에 본 연구에서 는 국가무형문화재 전통 공연·예술 분야 중 춤 항목으로 등록된 7개의 전통춤을 키워드로 하여 논문을 수집하고 텍스트마이닝으로 분석하였다. 자료는 제목과 연도를 중심으로, 빈도분석, 개체명인식, 연결 중심성, N-gram을 살펴보았다. 학술연구정보서비스(RISS)에서 수집하여 본 연구와 관계 없는 논문을 제외하고 최종분석에 활용한 자료는 학술지 1,043건, 학위논문 1,065건이었다. 분석결과, 같은 국가무 형문화재들 간에도 장르별로 논문수가 큰 차이를 보였고, 현 시점에 가까워질수록 전통춤에 대한 연구 가 점차 줄어드는 경향을 보였다. 아울러 국가무형문화재 전통춤의 해석과 개발, 보존과 전승에 초점이 맞춰진 연구가 많은 가운데, 다른 한편으로는 한국전통춤을 교육 프로그램 및 콘텐츠로 개발하거나 대 중화시키려는 연구들이 늘어나고 있음을 알 수 있었다.

Dance Research at the University of Malaya: Shifting Paradigms in Teaching and Learning

Dance Research at the University of Malaya: Shifting Paradigms in Teaching and Learning

The Freedom to be Independent in My Journey: Student Research in Dance

In recent years providing undergraduates with a significant research experience has been cited as an important educational outcome for colleges and universities. This article considers the merits of self-directed undergraduate experiences in research for dance. The case is made for encouraging undergraduate dance majors in self-directed written, kinetic, and media-based expositions. The self-directed capstone both exposes students to and trains them in the dimensions of investigation, from conceptualizing its initial premises, to identifying sources and source materials, to framing and presenting its final conclusions. Discussion references the National Dance Education Organization’s Dance Education Literature and Research descriptive index, and an example program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. An alumna of a program that incorporated a self-directed perspective in its senior capstone project is interviewed for her reflections on the process and its outcomes.

The Dolalak Dance of Purworejo Regency Central Java: A Changing Performance as Entertainment

Dolalak dance is a type of folk dance originating from Purworejo Regency, Central Java Province. Research on Dolalak Dance has been carried out by many dance researcher’s with various perspectives. However, Dolalak Dance in Central Java still has its appeal and uniqueness to be studied with new perspectives. This article is a new perspective on Dolalak Dance which sees changes in appearance due to the presence of the women's Dolalak dance group. The perspective used in this article is ethnocoreology. This is an interdisciplinary study that focuses on the changing aspects of the origins of the Dolalak dance with religious nuances and then turn it into an entertainment and performance art, with a new style of appearance. The ethnocoreological approach views dance as a cultural product. In such a sense, ethnochoreological analysis is based on the ethnographic method of dance from the physical point of view of the Dolalak dance performers and all aspects of its appearance. Thus, this article is a way of looking at Dolalak dance from the point of view of changing the aesthetic response of the female Dolalak dancers to become a model of entertainment performance art.