The Feldenkrais Method® (FM) is a form of somatic education aiming to increase brain-body communication, reportedly via interoceptive mechanisms. Although empirically proven to improve perceived interoceptive ability and psychological well-being in adults, feasibility in adolescents remains unclear. We therefore used a combined randomized…

This article examines limitations of teaching contemporary dance through a Eurocentric lens and proposes an expansive approach to contemporary dance pedagogy that honors students' experiences in multiple dance forms and cultures. I question the Western pedagogy of contemporary dance and problematize the use of ballet pedagogy as a foundation of…

This study investigates the impact of partial versus full mirror use on body image in a beginner-level ballet class. At the end of a seven-week period, researchers distributed an online survey inclusive of qualitative questions to two groups of female collegiate students enrolled in separate beginner-level ballet courses taught by the same…

Little is known about how individuals with histories of sexual trauma experience dance in non-clinical settings. Dance educators outside of the clinical sphere, such as in dance studios and higher education dance programs, may lack knowledge surrounding how the experience(s) of sexual trauma can alter one's movement and involvement in the dance…

Background: This paper examines ensemble learning in the context of ballet. We use more-than-representational theory to account for the "invisible" dimensions of ensemble learning, such as sensations, energy, or intensity that bodies sense, circulate, and evoke in others. We illuminate the mobile architectures that emerge in ensemble…

Research at the intersection of race, dance, and education is often discussed descriptively or as a cultural intervention, one tracked by what is physically seen (identity of students) rather than how it operates unseen (such as how race operates on students in the classroom). I contribute empirically to the sociocultural frames of the current…

The creative dancing body is an ideal exemplar of the embodied mind. However, creativity research has ceased to develop due to a lack of study of the embodied mind in cognitive science. Thus, much can be gained through exploring ways in which we maximize students' creative potential by engaging 4E cognition through rich dance experiences. In my…

This dissertation examines the academic status of dance as a discipline of higher education through the lens of the Western mind-body problem. Such an examination is pursued based on arguments suggesting dualism obscures the significance of the body, art, and aesthetics for educational ends. The primary interpretative lens used to explore the…

This article investigates and discusses Swedish preschool teachers' work with and understanding of teaching dance. Preschool teachers should teach aesthetic expressions such as dance, according to the curriculum. This study depicts how preschool teachers, in semi-structured group interviews in 18 preschools, describe their work with teaching…

This article employs a theoretical framework, utilizing cultural analysis, to explore how the intersection in the United States between competition dance, televised dance shows, and social media (which will be defined as consumer dance) is affecting the embodiment, pedagogy, and appreciation of dance, and contributing to the objectification and…

This article connects the "Theory of Extended Mind" with the use of three-dimensional, physical objects in dance pedagogy. The theory of the extended mind supposes that cognition is an activity that reaches out from the mind to the body and to the environment. In particular, we take up Dewey's pragmatic Instrumentalism as a framework…

This qualitative descriptive study explored how undergraduate dance students describe somatic experiences in dance technique classes and their influence on their critical thinking, feelings of empowerment, and dance technique at a private southwest university. The theoretical foundation for the study was critical pedagogy. Using critical pedagogy,…

In this paper, we deploy Foucault's theories of power to interrogate body politics in ballet training in Zimbabwe. To achieve this, we critically examine instances of ballet-related discourse-induced docility occurring in the Afrikera Professional Dance Training (APDT) students' bodies during training. From a Foucauldian perspective, we…

This article addresses the notion of touch and its constitutive role in the participatory sense-making process (de Jaegher and Paolo 2007) of play and dance improvisation. It is argued that touch is always relational, as it continuously changes the contours of self, other(ness), and world(ing). It is therefore surprising that touch traditionally…

This article forms part of a larger qualitative, conceptual project that investigates the ways in which Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) can contribute to the larger field of dance research and education with reference to dance, new technologies and particularly notions of space in screendance. Screendance refers to a dance that is specifically made…