What Good Will It Do To Watch Someone Else Dance My Part?

You learn something every day if you pay attention.  ~Ray LeBlond

         Dance is a physical activity, and, like most physical activities, is taught through a teacher modeling the steps while the students imitate the movements.  Kinesthetic learning is extremely effective, and research has documented that motor skills are acquired faster and more accurately via this method than any other. (2)

         In last week’s post about using mental rehearsal, I wrote about a new motor pathway being created in the nervous system each time a new physical activity is learned.  Each time the learned activity is repeated, a specific region of the brain is activated. A study conducted at the University of California at Santa Barbara found that this same region, appropriately called the action observation network, is activated when dancers watch someone else performing the learned activity. (1)

         It is for this reason that observation can and should be used as a tool in dance education.  When the action observation network is activated, blood flow to the brain increases, motor pathways that were created when learning the activity are reinforced, and muscle reaction time improves.

         There are many times in dance classes and rehearsals when dancers are not active, but scientific research indicates that those times can be used to improve through observation.  This evidence is exciting for the educator who may teach a young child that often refuses to participate in class.  That student is benefitting and learning simply by observing from the perimeter of the room.  The activation of the brain and nervous system also means that the student who arrives late to class, misses a substantial portion of the warm-up, and is not allowed to participate is also learning by actively watching his or her peers plié, jump and turn across the space.

         There are times during a dance class when the students are placed into groups and spend time waiting to take their turns.  Teachers need to find ways to ensure that those students are actively watching their peers perform.  By doing so, the group that is waiting will be working on skills without even realizing it.  Moreover, dancers are often double cast in roles.  The research suggests that being present and watching his or her alternate rehearse and perform the role will aid in improving the dancer’s performance.

         Dance educators have always believed that dancers could benefit from watching others, and now there is scientific research that not only supports this belief but also makes observing others a requirement if a dancer wants to improve.

         

(1) Grafton, S. & Cross, E. (2008) Dance and the brain. Learning, Arts, and the Brain.  The Dana Foundation, 71-9.

(2) Mattar, A.A., & Gribble, P.L. (2005) Motor learning by observing.  Neuron 46:153-60.

Using Grey Matter to Make Dance Matter

Why Dance Matters is a virtual event created by Nichelle Strzepek of Dance Advantage that rallies the dance community online to affirm the impact dance has on the lives of individuals and communities.  This week's post was written to be part of this event and help others see why dance matters.

“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.” -- Agnes De Mille

            The brain weighs a mere 3 pounds, yet it is the most complicated organ in the human body.  It contains millions of neurons that fire daily and requires 25% of the blood that is pumped through the body with every heartbeat.  Each person’s brain holds enormous potential, and we, as dancers, have the opportunity and blessing to frequently tap into the potential of the right brain hemisphere, which is often neglected in today’s left brain analytical world.

            The left hemisphere is the logical side.  It deals with organization, rational thought, verbal communication and analytical processing while the right hemisphere helps process relationships, emotions, non-verbal communication and the kinesthetic sense.

            Dancers use the right brain hemisphere constantly, and it is when the kinesthetic sense and wealth of emotions from the right brain dominates that dance becomes magic. 

            According to the Llewellyn Encyclopedia Online, magic “draws its power from a deep well in the center of the human soul.”  It is the deep well of emotions in the human soul that is at play when a dance seems to take on a life of its own or when dance transcends boundaries that would otherwise be seen as barriers.

            The kinesthetic sense and non-verbal communication skills are the magic that is at work when a special needs child is reached through dance.  Each December, New England Ballet in Orange, Connecticut, performs an Adaptive Nutcracker that allows children with special needs to dance alongside typical peers and overcome their disabilities.  A Waltz of the Flowers, performed in wheelchairs, transports the audience to a utopia where anything is possible.

            The emotional passionate power was at work when Noble Barker, Founder and Artistic Director of New Haven Ballet in Connecticut developed pancreatic cancer.  Mr. Barker’s vision was to use the power of dance to change the life of every person in the community, and his illness left the Connecticut dance community without words.   Instead, the groups of dancers that he had touched brought a dream to life, ignored and overcame obstacles, communicated love when words seemed empty, produced a benefit concert to raise money for medical bills and gave Noble Barker a reason to keep fighting. 

            That same power was the motivating force behind a group of dancers that united when a fellow dancer’s life ended far too soon.  In January 2012, dancer Eva Block, was killed in a tragic fire in Poughkeepsie, New York at the age of 21.  Eva’s friends and teachers from across the United States came together in a performance that established a dance scholarship in her memory, wordlessly expressed their grief and gave her mother a brief image of hope.

            Through dance we access our right brain and use it to stretch ourselves, reach beyond our comfort zones, surmount obstacles, think less and do more, reach out to others, express what words cannot, become powerful and make a difference.  Dance matters because it enables us to use our right brain to accomplish what the left brain may deem impossible.