In my investigation of dance curricula in US higher education, the dance discipline's primary pedagogical concentrations in classical ballet and Eurocentric modern dance techniques implicitly signal their centrality to the development of any academically trained dancer. This focus, in turn, generalizes and essentializes other cultural and…

Dance is a universal human behavior and a crucial component of human musicality. When and how does the motivation and tendency to move to music develop? How does this behavior change as a process of maturation and learning? We characterize infants' earliest dance behavior, leveraging parents' extensive at-home observations of their children.…

The present study uses a qualitative approach to focus on dance improvisation and flow. Dance instructors with wide experience in performing and teaching dance improvisation took part in semi-structured interviews that featured questions about dance improvisation and flow, including issues of flow in dance education with children. The data were…

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) was studied (N = 361) in pre-professional/professional dancers, college athletes, and active participants. The relationship among MD, overexcitability (OE), and emotion regulation was examined. Results indicated that MD was associated with imaginational OE and negatively with sensual OE. Difficulty with emotion…

This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dance freelancers' mental health and wellbeing using a cross-sectional exploratory qualitative methodology. Findings from semi-structured interviews with six dance freelancers indicated the pandemic posed challenges to the mental health of dance freelancers, amplified preexisting…

Talent development addresses important components and stages of domain trajectories from childhood through adulthood, with the goal of providing opportunities for achieving creative productivity for those with abilities and aspirations to pursue that goal. The talent development megamodel (TDMM) identifies the interaction of domain specific…

This paper describes the "Virtual Borders" project developed in response to the dramatic changes in dance teaching and learning globally, arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from action research, "Virtual Borders" presents an innovative adoption of Peirce's sign theory to tertiary dance choreographic pedagogy, that…

This article situates the multiple formations of pedagogical hubs that Two-Spirit, Queer, and Trans (2S/Q/T) Indigenous educators co-constitute with the Land of the Spirit Waters (central and south Texas, United States). Through these pedagogical hubs, 2S/Q/T Indigenous educators are re-constituting a Queer Indigenous cosmology bonded intimately…

This article is dedicated to an underdeveloped, but a highly relevant aspect of work of museums, first of all, the theatrical ones, namely keeping, studying and promoting the works associated with choreographic heritage. The artistic and aesthetic potential of material and visual exhibits related to the ballet theatre is revealed. All the…

Sexualized dance routines for young girls are becoming more and more common in dance competitions. The appropriateness of these dance routines is being debated by parents, dance instructors, and public audiences as prepubescent children are frequently presented in risqué costumes to perform sensual movements that critics argue are inappropriate…

It has become a cultural cliché to equate dancers with unattainable perfection. When movies, television, and print advertisements want to portray perfection, they are often accompanied by the image of a dancer. Considering that perfectionism comes at a high cost to a person's mental and physical well-being, Robin Prichard suggests this mind-set…

From its inception in 1998, the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Board used ever-evolving versions of an Applied Strategic Plan (ASP). Each ASP consisted of goals and related objectives to develop and grow the organization. While the wording and order changed as NDEO grew, the essential nature of the goals remained the same. From 2011…

"Professional performance experience versus pedagogical knowledge in teaching technique class as a creative process" is a qualitative examination of the practices of six contemporary technique teachers that identifies the ways in which their educational and professional performance experiences have affected their teaching practices.…

Ballet training is designed to develop creative, expressive artists. However, an explicit approach to technical instruction may not assist in the development of individual creativity and may encourage counterproductive perfectionistic goals. This paper describes a five-day intervention designed to enhance creativity in thirteen adolescent…

This paper examines the link between cognitive processes and superior performance in contemporary dance. In the first study, thirty-six participants (professional dancers, nonprofessional dancers, and non-dancers) carried out a task in which they were asked to reproduce a sequence of dance steps while being recorded on a camcorder. Analysis…