More Reasons Why Dance is Good for Our Bodies

           "Stifling an urge to dance is bad for your health - it rusts your spirit and your hips." - Terri Guillemets

         We begin dancing, our heart rate increases, the number of blood vessels increases, increased blood flow delivers more oxygen and nutrients to our muscles, and our circulatory system becomes more efficient as was discussed in last week's post.

           Additionally, our nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems are called upon to work at their peak levels, and our bodies reap the benefits.

            As we dance, our nervous system responds in a variety of ways.  The nervous system is continually growing and adapting to accommodate the body’s needs. Each time we engage in a new movement, a new neural pathway is formed. This pathway is the route that a message travels on to go from the brain to the muscle and back to the brain again and is made up of specialized cells called neurons. Messages are passed along the neurons with the help of substances called neurotransmitters. As we begin to move, the brain, which is the control center of the nervous system, signals the body to release extra proteins and neurotransmitters. The proteins promote new neuron growth, and the neurotransmitters help to improve the speed at which messages travel the pathways. These new, efficient neural pathways increase muscle responses and coordination.

            Additionally, when we dance, the brain releases endorphins, which are hormones that promote feelings of happiness and euphoria. These feelings help improve moods, and studies have shown that physically active people recover more quickly from mild depression and have a healthier mental state.

            Dance can also create a healthier skeletal system.  Since dance is a weight bearing activity, it can positively affect bone density.  The cells in our skeletal system respond to increased weight loads, or stressors, by increasing bone tissue to protect the body.  The constant impact with the floor that occurs when dancers execute dance steps, jump, and practice choreographed falls increases the load, or amount of weight, the body must support. The bones respond by adding more layers of protein cells called collagen to support the load.  These layers increase bone density and help protect against broken bones and stress fractures. Dancing can also decrease the risk of developing osteoporosis, which is a bone disease that manifests itself in brittle bones that break because they are not dense enough to support the body and the loads placed upon it.

            Lastly, the muscular system’s response to dance is also a healthy one. As we dance and call upon our muscles to move our bodies in various ways, several things happen. As physical activity increases, the number of mitochondria found in muscle cells increases. The mitochondria are the organelles found in individual cells, which produce the ATP, or energy, that the body needs to move. The more mitochondria in our muscles cells, the greater the energy production capabilities. As muscles are exercised continually, individual muscle fiber size increases by 40-50%. As fiber size increases, muscles grow stronger, the nervous system must create more neural pathways, and muscles generate more power.  Additionally, connective tissue like tendons and ligaments also grow stronger, and the body develops greater protection against injuries.

            Clearly, dance provides the body with a multitude of benefits and can create happy, healthy people when they take the time to learn to dance in ways that are anatomically correct for their individual bodies.

Learning & Remembering Combinations

            "It is difficult to see the great dance effects as they happen, to see them accurately, catch them fast in memory." -Martha Graham

Everyday dancers enter studios, watch a demonstration of an exercise or combination, are asked to learn it, and then must perform it in a matter of minutes.  Some dancers learn the combinations quickly and are able to execute them almost immediately, while others struggle to remember what comes next.  It may be helpful for dancers and dance educators to understand what is happening in the brain and how memory is developed, and then use this knowledge to improve upon this necessary skill.

            There are three steps that occur in the brain when something is being “remembered”.  First, sensory information is gathered through sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.  For dancers, combinations are seen, directions and counts are heard, and the movements are kinesthetically felt through touch sensors as the exercise is performed.  These sensory messages are sent along nerve pathways by neurotransmitters to the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for organizing and storing memories.  The hippocampus connects and consolidates all of the sensory input into a single experience so that a dancer can watch a plié being done, hear the word plié, feel what it is like to perform a plié and know that all of these sensory experiences relate to the same thing.

            After this connection is made, this experience becomes part of the short-term memory.  The short-term memory can only hold about 7 items at a time and can only store them for about 30 seconds.  However, each time a new experience is repeated, the 30-second time clock is reset, which is why repeating something to yourself over and over again is valuable.  The short-term memory is also capable of grouping several items into a chunk of information – a relevé can be simply registered as one item and not as a plié, a rise, and a plié, which would account for three different items to be remembered.  The short-term memory also makes connections between the new input and past memories, which is why a repeated dance step is recalled more easily, even if it is being performed in a different context.

            After several repetitions, the neural pathway (the route the brain uses to communicate with the body) that is formed when a new exercise is learned becomes a well-travelled route, and this exercise is sent to the long-term memory.  Long-term memory has an unlimited capacity and can hold a memory forever as long as it is accessed from time to time.  If a memory is not recalled, the neural pathway weakens over time, and the exercise may have to be reviewed.  The review would serve to reactivate the established pathway and would not take as long as the original learning process.

            It is important to remember that how a dancer pays attention when seeing a combination for the first time will influence what he or she is able to remember.  Unless a dancer is focused, the brain treats the demonstration as merely another thing happening around it that has little importance.

            It is also important to understand that trying to absorb too much sensory information at once can overload the brain and impair the memory process.  A dancer might try simply watching the combination the first time it is demonstrated, marking it while watching it the second time, and repeating some type of auditory clues such as step names or counts to him or herself while watching and doing it another time.

            Repetition will help to reinforce the neural pathway and cement the memory.  Dancers should also know that merely watching others perform the combination or envisioning themselves performing it after they have learned it will also strengthen the pathway as is discussed in my posts

Envisioning Sugarplums and What Good Will It Do To Watch Someone Else Dance My Part.

            Remembering combinations in class will always be easier for some than others, but understanding the process may help those who struggle with this skill to find ways to improve upon it.

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.

Envisioning Sugarplums - Using Psychology to Improve Dance Performance

“If you want to dance seriously, do. You must think about it day and night, dream about it.” -Christa Justus

         Dancers dance.  They learn by doing.  They rehearse pieces over and over again, and when they are tired and their bodies are fatigued, they push themselves to dance the piece one more time because that is the only way the dance will improve, or is it?

         There are scientific theories and studies which suggest that envisioning yourself performing a dance piece, or mentally rehearsing it, can also improve the performance.

         When a dance or any type of physical activity is learned, motor pathways are created between the nervous system and muscular system.  Each time that movement is repeated, the motor pathway is reinforced until the movement becomes almost automatic.  This phenomenon is often referred to as muscle memory and was discussed in an earlier post on Dance, Muscle Memory & Neural Pathways.  The widely accepted Psychoneuromuscular Theory suggests that the same messages are sent through the pathway when we envision ourselves performing a dance as when we physically perform it, thereby further reinforcing the motor pathway.

         Envisioning a perfect performance can help even more.  The Self-Efficacy Theory is a psychological theory based upon the connection between imagining a perfect performance and expecting one.  If a performer believes he or she will perform well, personal expectations are raised, and he or she will.  Conversely, if a performer expects to do poorly, he or she will perform poorly.

         Studies have also determined that mentally rehearsing an activity can produce positive results.  A 1992 study of trampolinists showed that those who practiced a skill and then envisioned themselves performing that skill showed more improvement than those who only engaged in physical practice. (1)  A study done on 7-10 year olds determined that children who used mental rehearsal improved their shots in table tennis. (2)

         Mental rehearsal can be beneficial for all dancers, especially at this time of year when Nutcracker rehearsals and performances place stressful demands upon the body.  It would be worthwhile to encourage dancers to mentally rehearse their parts.  While mental rehearsal cannot replace physical rehearsal since it will not strengthen muscles, it will reinforce the motor pathways that are being used.  At this point in the season, muscular strength should be established, and the goals should simply be physical maintenance (see my post on Periodization Training in Dance), and an improved performance.  If dancers spend some time each day, both before and after rehearsals, with their eyes closed, envisioning themselves delivering a flawless performance, that may be just what the audience gets to see as well.

(1) Isaac, A. R. (1992). Mental Practice- Does it Work in the Field? The Sport Psychologist,
 6, 192-198.
(2) Orlick, T., Zitzelsberger, L., LI-Wei, Z., & Qi-wei, M. (1992). The Effect of 
 Mental-Imagery Training on Performance Enhancement With 7-10-Year-Old
 Children. The Sports Psychologist, 6, 230-241.

Dance, Muscle Memory & Neural Pathways

"The hard must become habit. 

                 The habit must become easy.  

                         The easy must become beautiful." 

                                                                          - Doug Henning

You walk into the dance studio, the teacher says, “Let’s begin with two demi pliés and a grand plié in each position,” the accompanist begins and you execute the exercise.  You don’t think: plié means to bend, demi means halfway, grand means big, I slowly separate my thighs while holding my turnout, I bend my knees, I bend my ankles while I keep my chest lifted and my chin high, and I hold my abdominal muscles strong.  You simply do the pliés.

 If you have been dancing a long time, you don’t have to think about how to complete this exercise any more than you would think about how to pick up a pencil.  Your body simply completes the task.  Did you ever wonder how that is possible?

Thanks to the body’s nervous system, humans have something called muscle memory.  Although it implies that we are able to store memories in our different muscles, that is not what it means.  When we do an exercise for the first time, we create a new neural pathway.  This pathway is the route that a message travels on to go from the brain to the muscle and back to the brain again.  The second time an exercise is performed, it becomes easier because the messages are travelling across a familiar pathway.  Eventually, after the movement is practiced several times, it becomes almost automatic because the pathway is no longer new but is well travelled.  This ability allows for well-rehearsed dances to be executed without the dancer thinking of what step comes next or how it should be done and gives the dancer the freedom to concentrate on performing.

Muscle memory, however, is also the reason that bad habits are difficult to break.  When a dancer learns to do a plié with forced turnout and pronating feet, and then tries to correct it, he/she is forced to stop the body from using the old pathway and then create a new pathway.

Fortunately, the nervous system never stops growing and developing, and it is always possible to change bad habits and learn new things.  The ability to learn new things, create new neural pathways, and reorganize the nervous system through physical activity is exactly what makes dance valuable for many different populations, including the elderly and the differently abled…  


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