Written by Lea Satala
H’Doubler (1940) has described dance as an “aesthetic experience, and a creative process, through which the body, brain, and personality combine to express and communicate thoughts and feelings” (p.4). This short definition highlightsjust how complex the activity of dancing is: It involves our feelings, is personality-dependent, is used to communicate, has aesthetic value and involves our body. While dance formally belongs to the art sector, it is unique because it is expressed with the human body. Dancers have been referred to as “performing athletes” (Koutedakis & Jamurtas, 2004)since they must master both creative aspects, like technique, style, tradition, and expression, while also controlling their physicality. Dance has increasingly become an area of interest for psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists. Disciplines such as Performance Psychology and Dance Science are rapidly evolving and the study of the benefits of dancing and its clinical value has become an important area of research. In this article, I will discuss how dance has been understood through the lenses of cognitive, clinical and personality psychology, as well as present evidence for how dance influences people beyond the artistic domain. How can Dance Tell Us More About our Brain and Ourselves? If you ever had the chance to take a professional dance class, you probably noticed that the difficulty was usually not the movement, but the pace. How can professional ballet dancers repeat a whole section of exercises after being shown them just once? How are dancers able to remember a repertoire of complex movements in a short time? To add another layer of complexity, have you ever wondered how it is possible that a group of dancers can synchronise, even whilstimprovising? The complex nature of dance is reflected in the way our brains work since it involves a multitude of cognitive mechanisms such as working memory, implicit learning, motor learning, pace perception, selective attention, emotion perception and creative thinking. Studying dance has helped us to understand the neural networks underlying visual action and body perception. For example, it has been shown that dancing has an impact on our brain structure - professional dancers show anatomical differences in the brain structures involved in motor control processes (Hänggi et al., 2010). Dance has frequently been called a language. The metaphor of dance being a language of the soul, the language of emotions or a way of “communicating what words cannot”is widespread. We all know that body language is an established way of communication, nevertheless treating dance as a universal language is an interesting point of view. There seems to be an unexplainable agreement betweendancers on stage, like they could “feel” their thoughts and act as one organism. Clayton and Wilkins (2013), researchers from Cambridge, called this a communication without words. It may be claimed that dance surpasses individual and cultural differences, creating an organic way of communicating through the body. Furthermore, dance can be seen as a way of expressing oneself, the soul, and our emotions. The need for self-expression relates to personality. Research conducted by Bakker (1991) suggests that the “typical personality profile of a dancer” (p.673), classical and modern ballet specifically, is introversion combined with high scores on emotionality and achievement motivation. Additionally, one can look at dance as a tool for shaping personality. Some claim that successful dancers, like other athletes, have a specific personality trait called “grit”, which is a “trait characterised by perseverance and passion for achieving long-term goals” (Duckworth et al., 2007, p.1087). Dancing may also help build resilience. There is no strong evidence for this so far, yet dancers are believed to be less anxious and depressed (Bakker, 1991). How is Dance Used in Clinical Settings? Dance is becoming increasingly important in clinical settings as a tool for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (Rose et al., 2020). McKinley et al. (2008) were the first to show that dance could have health benefits for elderly individuals. Their study was conducted byrandomly assigning seniors to either walking classes or tango classes. The tango class participants showed greater improvements in strength, balance, and walking speed than walking class participants. However, the biggest breakthrough in dance intervention is connected to Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Parkinson´s Disease is a brain disorder with symptoms including shaking (tremors), slow and stiff movements, difficulty walking, balance, coordination and depression(National Health Service, 2022). Its cause remains unclear and there is currently no cure for it. However, dance helps people affected by Parkinson’s Disease both on a socio-emotional and physical level. On the emotional level, dance releases stress, helps with building a community, thus decreasing loneliness, and creates a sense of joy and achievement. The social aspect is particularly important since it increases subjective well-being (Houston & McGill, 2013). A meta-analysis has shown that dance therapy, compared to no intervention or other exercise-based interventions, had better results in increasing quality of life (Sharp & Hewitt, 2014). On the physical level, dance intervention helps with increasing confidence, as well as strength, quality of movement, body coordination and functional mobility (Houston & McGill, 2013). In fact, dance therapies for PD are very common nowadays due to their positive effects. Parkinson’s Disease is not the only neurodegenerative disorder shown to benefit from dance practice. Researchsuggests that dementia patients also benefit from dance, possibly even preventing dementia (Karkou & Meekums, 2017). Moreover, dance can also be used as therapy for depression, schizophrenia, stroke patients or trauma. The American Dance Therapy Association defines dance therapy as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of the individual” (American Dance Therapy Association, 2022). One key underlying concept underlying any form of dance therapy is kinesthetic empathy. This is defined as “an empathetic interaction between performer and viewer that embodies aspects of the performer’s movement” (Rosenberg & Wood, 2016, p.245) meaning that empathy is experienced just by watching the movements of another person, which is facilitated by emotion and imagination. What is the Connection Between Dance and Mental Health? From the existing evidence, it can be argued that dance is outstanding for mental health. Firstly, as with the benefits of dance for PD, dance helps to find a community and build meaningful human connections. Secondly, dance can be seen as a form of a higher cognitive state. While dancing, the individual needs to be present and focused, ultimatelyreducing mind-wandering and anxiety. Additionally, during dance one can experience flow, which can bring feelings of fulfilment and happiness (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). Dance is a prominent field of research for flow experience, as it is imaginative and requires the participants to create an alternative world, making them lose their self-consciousness and sense of time (Biasutti, 2011). Additionally, dancers unify through the activity of performance while on stage, which is a source of the unexplainable feeling of “flow”. Nevertheless, recently the “darker side of dance”, especially in professional dance, has been a research focus. Bakker’s (1991) research on the personality of dancers showed that dancers express less favourable self-attitudes compared to non-dancers. This may be caused by the critical atmosphere regarding body image in the dance industry, especially ballet. Some research indicates that dancers, as well as other athletes, are characterised by extremelyperfectionistic personalities (Eusanio et al., 2014). This is a paradox, as on one hand perfectionism drives dancers to achieve excellence, yet it leads to fear of failure which can lead to depression and injuries (Flett & Hewitt, 2005). Final thoughts The psychology of dance is a multidimensional field, which finds applications in cognitive, clinical and personality psychology. Dance may help those suffering from brain disorders and can increase the well-being of individuals. The founder of dance theatre genre, Pina Bausch, once famously said “dance, dance, otherwise we are lost”. Dance, evolving long before humans learned to use spoken language, is a way of creating order from the disorganised pieces of our lives, a way of developing character, creating meaningful connections with others and a way of achieving higher levels of consciousness. Today’s advances in technology and psychological knowledge allow us to unveil the mysteries behind this fundamental part of life. It does not matter if you are a professional dancer, occasional discotheque visitor or a person affected by Parkinson’s Disease, dance is a powerful force affecting our brains and lives. References American Dance Therapy Association. (2022). What is Dance/Movement Therapy?. https://adta.memberclicks.net/what-is-dancemovement-therapy#:~:text=Dance%2Fmovement%20therapy%20(DMT)%20is%20defined%20by%20the%20American,improving%20health%20and%20well%2Dbeing. Bakker, F. (1991). Development of personality in dancers: A longitudinal study. Personality And Individual Differences, 12(7), 671-681. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(91)90222-w Biasutti, M. (2011). Flow and Optimal Experience. Encyclopedia Of Creativity, 522-528. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-375038-9.00099-6 Clayton, N., & Wilkins, C. (2013). Conversation Without Words: Nicky Clayton & Clive Wilkins at TEDxOxbridge . YouTube. TEDxOxbridge. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iavquY2OFo. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087 Eusanio, J., Thomson, P., & Jaque, S. (2014). Perfectionism, shame, and self-concept in dancers: A mediation analysis. Journal Of Dance Medicine & Science, 18(3), 106-114. https://doi.org/10.12678/1089-313x.18.3.106 Flett, G., & Hewitt, P. (2005). The perils of perfectionism in sports and exercise. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 14(1), 14-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00326.x Hänggi, J., Koeneke, S., Bezzola, L., & Jäncke, L. (2010). Structural neuroplasticity in the sensorimotor network of professional female ballet dancers. Human Brain Mapping, 31, 1196 –1206. http://dx.doi.org/10 .1002/hbm.20928 H’Doubler, M. (1940). Dance: A creative art experience. 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Rose, D., Müllensiefen, D., Lovatt, P., & Orgs, G. (2020). The Goldsmiths Dance Sophistication Index (Gold-DSI): A psychometric tool to assess individual differences in dance experience. Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000340 Rosenberg, D., & Wood, K. (2016). Kinesthetic Empathy. In The Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies (pp. 245–262). essay, Oxford University Press. Sharp, K., & Hewitt, J. (2014). Dance as an intervention for people with Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 47, 445-456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.009v
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