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Motor Learning and Control for Dance
Principles and Practices for Performers and Teachers
by Donna Krasnow and Mary Virginia Wilmerding
336 Pages
As dance training evolves and becomes more complex, knowledge of motor behavior is foundational in helping dancers learn and master new skills and become more efficient in integrating the skills. Motor Learning and Control for Dance is the first resource to address motor learning theory from a dance perspective. Educators and students preparing to teach will learn practical ways to connect the science behind dance to pedagogy in order to prepare dancers for performance. Dancers interested in performance from the recreational to professional levels will learn ways to enhance their technical and artistic progress.
In language accessible even to those with no science background, Motor Learning and Control for Dance showcases principles and practices for students, artists, and teachers. The text offers a perspective on movement education not found in traditional dance training while adding to a palette of tools and strategies for improving dance instruction and performance. Aspiring dancers and instructors will explore how to develop motor skills, how to control movement on all levels, and—most important—how motor skills are best taught and learned.
The authors, noted experts on motor learning and motor control in the dance world, explore these features that appeal to students and instructors alike:
• Dance-specific photos, examples, and figures illustrate how to solve common problems various dance genres.
• The 16 chapters prepare dance educators to teach dancers of all ages and abilities and support the development of dance artists and students in training and performance.
• An extensive bibliography of sports and dance science literature allows teachers and performers to do their own research.
• A list of key terms is at the beginning of each chapter with an accompanying glossary at the back of the book.
Part I presents an overview of motor behavior, covering motor development from birth to early adulthood. It provides the essential information for teaching posture control and balance, the locomotor skills underlying a range of complex dance skills, and the ballistic skills that are difficult to teach and learn, such as grand battement and movements in street dance.
Part II explores motor control and how movement is planned, initiated, and executed. Readers will learn how the nervous system organizes the coordination of movement, the effects of anxiety and states of arousal on dance performance, how to integrate the senses into movement, and how speed and accuracy interact.
Part III investigates methods of motor learning for dancers of all ages. Readers will explore how to implement a variety of instructional strategies, determine the best approaches for learning dance skills, and motivate and inspire dancers. This section also discusses how various methods of practice can help or hinder dancers, strategies for improving the recall of dance skills and sequences, and how to embrace somatic practice and its contribution to understanding imagery and motor learning.
Motor Learning and Control for Dance addresses many related topics that are important to the discipline, such as imagery and improvisation. This book will help performers and teachers blend science with pedagogy to meet the challenge of artistry and technique in preparing for dance performaance.
Chapter 1: Foundations of Motor Behavior
Part I: Motor Development
Chapter 2: Theories of Motor Development
Chapter 3: Development of Postural Control and Balance
Chapter 4: Development of Locomotor Skills
Chapter 5: Development of Ballistic Skills
Part II: Motor Control
Chapter 6: Organization of Motor Control
Chapter 7: Attention and Performance
Chapter 8: Motor Control and the Sensory Systems
Chapter 9: Motor Control and Central Organization
Chapter 10: Speed, Accuracy, and Coordination
Part III: Motor Learning
Chapter 11: Theories and Concepts of Motor Learning
Chapter 12: Instructional Strategies
Chapter 13: Motivation
Chapter 14: Conditions of Practice
Chapter 15: Retention and Transfer
Chapter 16: Mental Practice and Imagery
Donna Krasnow is a professor emerita in the department of dance at York University in Toronto, Canada, and is a member of the special faculty at California Institute of the Arts in the United States. She specializes in dance science research, concentrating on dance kinesiology, injury prevention and care, conditioning for dancers, and motor learning and motor control, with a special emphasis on the young dancer. Donna has published numerous articles in the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science and Medical Problems of Performing Artists, as well as resource papers in collaboration with M. Virginia Wilmerding for the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS). She was the conference director for IADMS from 2004 to 2008 as well as serving on the board of directors. Donna is currently the associate editor for dance for Medical Problems of Performing Artists. She conducts workshops for dance faculty in alignment and healthy practices for dancers, including the Teachers Day Seminars at York University, and is a nine-time resident guest artist at Victorian College of the Arts and VCA Secondary School, University of Melbourne, Australia. Donna has created a specialized body conditioning system for dancers called C-I Training (conditioning with imagery). She has produced a DVD series of this work, and in 2010 she coauthored the book Conditioning With Imagery for Dancers with professional dancer Jordana Deveau. She offers courses for teachers in Limón technique pedagogy and C-I Training.
Virginia Wilmerding danced professionally in New York City and is now a research professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she teaches for both the exercise science and dance programs. Courses include kinesiology, research design, exercise physiology, exercise prescription, exercise and disease prevention, and conditioning. She also teaches at the Public Academy for Performing Arts, a charter school. Ginny is currently the chief executive officer of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS) and the chair of the IADMS Annual Meeting Program Committee. She is past president of IADMS and served on the IADMS board of directors from 2001 to 2011. Ginny is the associate editor of science for the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science. She has published original research in Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and Idea Today. With Donna Krasnow she has coauthored resource papers for IADMS. Research interests include body composition, training methodologies, injury incidence and prevention, pedagogical considerations in technique class, and the physiological requirements of various dance idioms.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
Save
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
Save
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
Save
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
Save
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
Save
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
Age-Appropriate Movement and Dance Training
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Dance training can be more effective when teachers and dancers understand the landmarks in various stages of motor development and the age limits to multiple sensory inputs. Many phases in this process exist, but this section focuses on two distinct time lines, the early childhood years and the adolescent years.
Childhood and Prepuberty
Dance classes can begin for children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Typical children in this age range are already walking, running, and jumping competently. From age 3 to 7 jumping continues to improve, so it is an excellent time to explore this skill. One of the more engaging ways to work on jumping skills is through jumping over objects, both real and imaginary. Muscle force is the main rate limiter in jumping, so be aware of the potential to overtax the legs in these games and exercises.
Galloping also emerges at a fairly young age (between 2 and 3 years old). The main difference between galloping and the previously mentioned skills, such as walking and running, is that galloping is asymmetrical. Further, most children gallop with the dominant leg in front considerably sooner than with the nondominant leg. This preference suggests that the youngest students should be allowed to select the leading leg and not be pressured to perform the task on both sides. By age 4, children can be asked to gallop on either side.
Hopping should not be introduced until children are fairly comfortable galloping. Hopping does not emerge until 3-1/2 years of age, and it continues improving past age 5. Like galloping, it is asymmetrical, and children use the dominant leg initially. Because this skill requires more strength and balance in one leg, these aspects should be considered carefully in designing class material for children. An additional factor is the underuse of arms in the early stages of hopping. Asking children to fully engage their arms during this phase only overwhelms them.
Skipping appears sometime between 4 and 7 years old, and only about half of all 5 year olds can skip. Recall that less than 20% of 4-year-olds can skip. Regardless of the amount of instruction and practice that they are given, 4-year-old children will not accomplish skipping. Forcing this skill in this age group merely serves to discourage the children. Once again, the favoring of the dominant leg appears; children often step - hop on the dominant leg and take a running step on the nondominant leg. Children need to practice the leg action in skipping until they are comfortable with the skill before they are asked to integrate oppositional arms.
In each of these asymmetrical locomotor steps, consider allowing young children to select their preferential leg; do not impose a structure of performing on both sides. Note that children use the en bloc strategy for the neck and trunk until about age 7, so to expect movement of the head in opposing directions to the torso is unrealistic in the early years of dance class.
Much of the research highlighted in this chapter emphasized the late development of the ability to manage multisensory (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory) input. It is imperative that younger children be given movement of sufficient simplicity that the various modalities are not in conflict. For example, if giving material that involves moving through the space, it is best to have them keep the head vertical on the spine. This suggestion also supports the heavy reliance on visual information in young children.
Finally, girls develop more quickly than boys in a number of cognitive and motor skills. It may be wise to give boys different variations of class material that is appropriate for their stage of development. This differentiation needs to be handled sensitively so that young boys do not feel self-conscious. In addition, boys are often stronger than girls of the same age, so they can be encouraged to jump, skip, and hop higher and further than the girls as a way to compensate for poorer coordination. This strategy is a way of supporting boys in class and encouraging their confidence.
Chapter 3 described some of the potential benefits of using improvisation in dance classes. Improvisation is commonly found in classes for children ages 3 to 7, often called creative movement classes. However, by age 8 or 9, children regularly move into more highly structured technical classes. While the importance for children to begin gaining technical skills is acknowledged, the value of continued improvisational movement should be recognized. Aside from the creative expression it affords children, its use in motor skill development is apparent from all of the information provided in this chapter. From unexpected challenges to balance to disrupting habitual movement patterns, improvisation can serve as a remarkable tool in dance training.
Adolescent Years
Because of the changes resulting from growth spurts in this age group (as explained earlier in the chapter), adolescent dancers need special consideration. Teachers can modify class material either for the entire group or for specific dancers going through a growth spurt. It is also a good idea to place limits on work such as jumping, pointe work on one leg, stressful partnering work, and movements that stress the knees, including grand pliés and floor work. Teachers can emphasize work that develops core support, alignment, kinesthetic awareness, and artistry. Balancing work can focus on proprioception, such as simple balances with eyes closed rather than difficult positions and turns. Growth spurt periods can also be good times to introduce supplementary conditioning and expand continued improvisational work into composition and choreography. This age group should avoid excessive flexibility exercises, because muscles have limited strength especially during growth spurts, and the tendon attachments are weaker at this age. Encourage adolescents to make informed and responsible choices about how they will modify class. Remain aware that students will go through regression phases, and help them understand that this is temporary. Skills will return, but the dancers should not stress and strain the body to achieve what cannot occur during these transitions.
Aside from acknowledging the growth spurts, adolescence can be an ideal time to begin challenges to multisensory input. Now is the time to add complexity that challenges the three mechanisms for balance. You can give traveling material with the head and torso away from the upright alignment, even with the body turning. As vestibular and visual systems are disrupted, proprioception is further challenged. Both improvisation and closed-eye balances work to heighten proprioception and to prepare dancers for work onstage when lighting diminishes visual acuity.
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Gamma Efferent System and Alignment
The gamma efferent system explains how a dancer can be much tighter in movement than while passively stretching, but this system also affects alignment.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
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Vestibular System Interactions With Vision
The vestibular system’s effectiveness is heightened by ways in which it interacts with other senses, especially vision. One example is the vestibular ocular reflex (VOR), which stabilizes the eyes during head movement.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
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Long-Term Memory
The long-term memory is responsible for permanently accumulating or storing information. In particular, it stores what can be recalled about how to do activities including motor skills, personal past events, and universal or general knowledge.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
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Issues in dance training
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills.
Knowledge of the sensory modalities gives dance educators and dancers a wealth of information about crafting dance training and practice. When teachers understand how motor control is strongly influenced by the extensive incoming sensory data, they can design and implement specific approaches to various skills. This section presents several examples, but teachers and dancers are encouraged to be creative and thoughtful in devising their own approaches.
Enhancing Use of the Senses
While the use of visual, auditory, and vestibular systems often occurs at the nonconscious level, researchers believe that people can develop cues and instruction to enhance the use of these systems. For example, dance teachers can discuss the concept of spatial awareness as part of training. Although open spaces and studios are less defined spatially than a stage with wings, dancers should learn to judge and modify stride length in preparation for various performance spaces. Teachers can encourage an awareness of the distance dancers travel in a given combination and how to adjust stride length to either increase or decrease traveling work. This skill is particularly important for dancers who present the same choreography in a variety of performance spaces. Similarly, teachers can encourage dancers to become aware of the subtle sounds of other dancers breathing to enhance group timing. Synchronization of breath timing can be especially helpful when working with no music, or with music that does not have a clear rhythmic beat, such as some contemporary scores. Finally, enlisting improvisations that encourage the head to be off the vertical in dynamic and traveling material can allow dancers to attend to unusual balancing situations. Bringing conscious attention to nonconscious sensory information can aid dancers in a fuller use of their sensory modalities in their dance practice.
Visual System
Several aspects of vision can be considered as part of training dancers. Peripheral vision is extremely important to dancers. They must be aware of the dancers and objects around them as well as precisely where they are in the performance space. If dancers regularly take class or practice without considering these elements, the transition to performance is difficult and can be overwhelming. Teachers can remind dancers to consider these aspects and become aware of the dancers around them even in simple center work combinations. The constant use of mirrors gives the impression that dancers are seeing the dancers around them, but it is illusory. Focus with mirrors uses central vision, and it actually weakens or reduces peripheral vision. At least some of the classes should be done with the mirrors covered or the dancers positioned to face a different direction.
While most dances use music for temporal cueing, dancers can also be trained to be sensitive to relying on visual prompts. Teachers and choreographers can remind dancers to see what is happening in the choreography at a specific point in the music, and sometimes choreographers want changes to occur using visual cues in the absence of musical cues. This strategy requires that dancers are seeing what is happening around them, attending to the surrounding environment, and at the same time concentrating on their own dancing.
Lifts that are done while one or both dancers are traveling in space are quite difficult. The dancers must integrate lifting techniques with the ability to determine time to contact. In other words, the two partners must calculate the exact point in space and time that they will meet to do the lift. Most beginners stop when they come together and then execute the lift. Experienced dancers make a smooth transition from the traveling steps into the lift. In training traveling lifts, the lift portion should be practiced first, then the traveling steps preceding the lift can be added as a second component.
Dancers enhance the vestibular and proprioceptive systems when the head is not upright and vision is compromised.
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Dance-specific conditions of practice
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics.
Two conditions of practice that are specific to dance or have dance-related concerns are improvisation and the use of mirrors. These tools are used in other fields, particularly in the arts and in athletics. For example, musicians regularly use improvisation in both composition and performance. Weightlifters often work with mirrors to examine their lower limb alignment. How improvisation and mirrors influence or affect dancers requires special focus. Improvisation is widely used as a creative tool in dance, but its potential use in motor learning has not been investigated. More thoroughly studied is the use of play in animal models, and the evidence is clear that playing leads to greater flexibility and resilience in unexpected circumstances as well as better problem-solving skills. The use of mirrors is widespread in dance training, although little knowledge exists of their effect on skill acquisition or of some of the negative consequences on self-esteem and motivation. Dancers and teachers can enrich dance training by addressing these two conditions of practice and assimilating them more effectively into dance classes.
Improvisation
Improvisation offers another way for dancers to explore variability of practice. Dance improvisation is the process of creating movement in a spontaneous and experimental manner, and it is facilitated through a variety of sensory explorations. Different approaches to improvisation include systems such as Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), based on the work of one of the pioneers of European modern dance, Rudolf von Laban; Body-Mind Centering, founded by artist and therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen; and contact improvisation, founded by experimental choreographer Steve Paxton. Historically, improvisation has been regarded as a tool for early childhood development, creativity in choreographic processes, group sensitivity work, and as a means of employing nontraditional elements in the dance context, such as voice work. Voice work in dance can involve audible text or singing or random sounds as part of the score for a dance. To date, little has been done to examine the potential for motor learning through the use of improvisation as a complement to traditional dance training. However, several aspects of improvisation may contribute to the acquisition of motor skills for dancers.
How Improvisation Can Aid Various Facets of Dance Training
One facet of dance training that is particularly difficult for beginners is the multitude of elements to consider simultaneously, including counts, phrasing, directions, level changes, shape design, dynamics, and technical challenges such as balance and multi-limb coordination. In the midst of this array of elements to process, dancers must comprehend fundamental concepts, such as use of space and levels or use of weight, which can be considered movement principles. Improvisation can provide a context in which dancers self-select the various components while maintaining a primary focus on a singular concept of the movement. For example, a teacher may wish to focus on the use of weight in a combination going to the floor and returning to stance. Allowing the dancers to determine their own timing, method of descent, and body shaping enables them to concentrate on the concept of release of weight without multiple elements to achieve.
Improvisation also changes the main focus of the work by means of attentional mechanisms. When performing the skills within set choreography, a dancer might only attend to an ideal prescribed by the teacher or the dancer (top - down attention), with arousal being a determining factor (the fear of doing the movement incorrectly). Improvisation allows the student to notice or observe features of the movement or environment (bottom - up attention), which allows for a student-based (discovery) learning situation. In the previous example of the use of weight, after the improvisation the teacher can ask the students to describe something that they noticed about releasing their weight to the floor.
Dancers can explore balancing through the use of improvisation.
Learn more about Motor Control and Learning for Dance.
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