In this student reading, I use examples from dance technique classes to bring attention to the choices that students make when learning new movement via observation and repetition. Based on these examples, I frame learning in technique class not as a process of imitation but a process of translation. In doing so I hope to advocate for the…

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…

This paper illuminates kinesthesia's role in ballet training by revealing findings of a study regarding non-tactile corporeal communication termed kinesthetic dialogue. Even before the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) heightened awareness of physical distancing, physical interaction between teacher and student was already increasingly…

By critically reviewing and discussing existing scholarship, this article considers how individuals construct their embodied performances of gender while navigating the diverse teaching--learning paradigms experienced within dance discourses. The inherent relationships that exist between dance education and gender have been substantially…

This mixed methods study investigates the juncture of dance science, somatics, and contemporary modern dance training, and how they intertwine with learning processes and skill execution through transfer theory. The effects of a novel somatics training program are analyzed through six case studies using data reduction and interpretation of…

The sequencing of dance movements may be thought of as a grammar. We investigate implicit learning of regularities that govern sequences of unfamiliar, discrete dance movements. It was hypothesized that observers without prior experience with contemporary dance would be able to learn regularities that underpin structured human movement. Thirty-one…

This paper examines two very different approaches to dance training, ballet technique and the somatic discipline of Topf technique ("TT"). It explores and evaluates the application of TT to ballet training. Initially, what is meant by the term "mind/body connection" is discussed, and then the paper examines, in a theoretical and a practical sense,…

The effects of practice on the bilateral transfer of complex dance movement patterns were studied by having subjects learn two sequences under eight different conditions. Results indicate that teachers have been correct in expecting students to transfer movements bilaterally (from one side to the other) but should teach to the nonpreferred side.…