Dr Luke Hopper discusses biomechanics and movement variability. This episode looks at the biology of movement control, processes of feed forward and feedback, schema, and the relationship between movement variability and expertise. Inconsistent movement is unavoidable, so informed by his research, Luke gives suggestions for teachers and dancers based in goal oriented movement and setting constraints, to learn to accommodate this dynamic system. 

Resources -

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14647893.2017.1420156

https://www.danceknowledge.com/courses/variability-and-movement-expertise

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311999673_Analysis_of_the_Movement_Variability_in_Dance_Activities_Using_Wearable_Sensors

Find Luke here -

Email: [email protected]

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Brenton Surgenor talks about resilience. Drawing from his various experiences, we look at holistic approaches in coaching dance, and how a balanced physical and psychological approach may reduce the risk of burnout. We also cover warning signs for burnout, and given prevention is often more effective than treatment, we explore developing resilience to aid this. In particular, this episode looks at developing a sense of identity outside of dance, the importance of rest and recovery, and more of Brenton's top strategies for building resilience.

Resources -

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/

Find Brenton here -

Twitter: @brentonsurgenor

Email: brentonsurgenor@gmail

Website: http://www.counsellingmbs.com/

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Meghan Brown gives an introduction to nutrition for dancers, informed by her own work and research. We look at basic needs such as energy demands, metabolic rates, and calorie intake, as well as introducing macronutrients, micronutrients, and hydration. Meghan also explores scheduling, timing, and importance of meals around classes and performances, and discusses issues of energy deficiency and recovery in dancers. Part two coming soon where we look further into nutrition myths, and relationships to body image and injury - stay tuned!

Resources -

https://www.ais.gov.au/nutrition

https://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/

https://www.onedanceuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/DUK-Info-Sheet-12-Nutrition-for-dancers.pdf

https://www.iadms.org/page/RPnutrition

Find Meghan here -

BCU staff pages: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/health-sciences/research/centre-for-life-and-sport-sciences/members-and-partners/members-of-staff/meghan-brown

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brownmeghan/

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Meghan_Brown3

Twitter: @MeghanA_Brown

Instagram: @drdancenutrition

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Matthew Wyon, Professor in Dance Science at the University of Wolverhampton, discusses the physiological demands of dance. This episode considers the gap in physiological requirements between typical dance classes or rehearsals, and performances, as well as how supplementary training may be a way to aid this. Matt also explores the relationship of physiological fitness in dancers to rate of injury, and performance enhancement.

Resources -

https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/89157

https://www.onedanceuk.org/resource/demands-of-classical-ballet-performance/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15335242/

https://www.iadms.org/page/303

Find Matt here -

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @mattwyon

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

“Dance is a natural and universal form of expression, but classical ballet has a sophisticated aesthetic and complex technique”.

Janet Karin discusses, in summary, how dancers learn, and how to make ballet technique natural. We look at the sensorimotor system and the creation of expressive movement, exploring how the historical development of ballet’s aesthetics and training methods influences the way dancers train today. This episode also covers motor control, movement cues, implicit and explicit learning, and movement beliefs. We also look into the recontextualization theory, and the impact on encouraging creativity and reducing perfectionistic cognitions through teaching methods.

Resources -

Iacoboni, Marco. 2009. “Imitation, Empathy, and Mirror Neurons.” Annual Review of Psychology 60:653–70. doi:10.1146/annurev. psych.60.110707.163604.

Karin, Janet. 2016. “Recontextualizing Dance Skills: Overcoming Impediments to Motor Learning and Expressivity in Ballet Dancers.” Frontiers in Psychology 7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00431.

Karin, Janet, and Sanna Nordin-Bates. 2020. “Enhancing Creativity and Managing Perfectionism in Dancers Through Implicit Learning and Sensori-Kinetic Imagery.”Journal of Dance Education 20 (1): 1-11. DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2018.1532572

Liao, Chu-Min, and Richard S. W. Masters. 2001. “Analogy Learning: A Means to Implicit Motor Learning.” Journal of Sports Sciences 19(5):307–19. doi:10.1080/02640410152006081.

Solodkin, Ana, E. Petr Hlustik, Elinor Chen, and Steven L. Small. 2004. “Fine Modulation in Network Activation during Motor Execution and Motor Imagery.” Cerebral Cortex 14 (11):1246–55. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh086.

Find Janet here -

[email protected]

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Anastasia Paschali discusses her research into health promotion and wellbeing in dance. We look at overall concepts of health and wellbeing, enablers and barriers to health in a dance population, as well as what Anastasia hopes to see in the future of health promotion in dance.

Resources -

Perkins et al. (2017) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00968/full

Araújo et al., (2017) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01558/full

Social determinants of health (Dahlgren & Whitehead, 1991): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-profile-for-england/chapter-6-social-determinants-of-health

IADMS Resources: https://www.iadms.org/page/186

ODUK COVID19 Guidance: https://www.onedanceuk.org/covid-19-guidance/

Trinity Laban blog - Dance for Health during COVID19: https://trinitylaban.wordpress.com/2020/03/31/dance-for-health-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Find Anastasia here -

Twitter: @APaschali_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-paschali-671080156/

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Lucie Clements, on Instagram as @thedancepsychologist, discusses creativity in dance. This episode looks into where creativity fits within dance science, and identifies the importance of developing creativity alongside technical excellence. We also look at Lucie's research into creativity in choreographers, covering key themes which emerged from the study.

PARTICIPATE IN DANCE MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH HERE:

https://chichpscyh.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e9cVG7ojQYVhW85

Resources -

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326672668_Making_Space_for_the_Psychology_of_Creativity_in_Dance_Science

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15290824.2020.1744154

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15290824.2019.1572155

Find Lucie here -

Website: www.thedancepsychologist.com

Twitter: @luciedancepsych

Instagram: @thedancepsychologist

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Kim Hutt talks about periodization in dance training. This episode looks at trends typically seen in dancers' workloads, distiniguishing cognitive, creative, and physical work, and taking into account individual differences in students, all informed by Kim's own research into periodization & the impressive programme at ArtEZ. We discuss periodization for both injury prevention and performance enhancement, as well as what these ideals look like in the real dance world.

Resources -

https://youtu.be/UT9WOCJVgoE

https://youtu.be/7faeLUTs5EE

https://www.onedanceuk.org/resource/periodisation-in-training/

Find Kim here -

Email: [email protected]

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

As the second episode in a two part series with performance psychologist Gene Moyle, this episode explores the psychological links to overtraining, stress, and burnout in dancers. Gene also discusses potential psychological predictors of injury, as well as touching on how this field can be used for performance enhancement as well as injury prevention.

Resources -

Buckroyd, J. (2000). The student dancer: Emotional aspects of the teaching and learning of dance. London, UK: Dance Books Ltd.

Hamilton, L. H. (2008). The dancer’s way: The New York City Ballet guide to mind, body, and nutrition. NY, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Hays, K. F. (2017). Performance psychology with performing artists. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press.

Hays, K. F. (Ed.). (2009). Performance psychology in action: A casebook for working with athletes, performing artists, business leaders, and professionals in high-risk occupations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Taylor, J., & Estanol, E. (2015). Dance psychology for artistic and performance excellence. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Wilmerding, V. & Krasnow, D. H. (2017). Dancer wellness. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare - https://www.aspah.org.au/

Arts Wellbeing Collective - https://www.artswellbeingcollective.com.au/

Performing Arts Medicine Association - http://www.artsmed.org/

One Dance UK - https://www.onedanceuk.org/

Dancer Transition Resource Centre - https://dtrc.ca/

Find Gene here -

Email: [email protected]

https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Moyle,_Gene.html

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.

Gene Moyle gives an introduction to performance psychology. The first in a series of two episodes, we look at dance training behaviours, traditional training methods, and both dancer and teacher attitudes to training. This episode discusses how attitudes to training may influence behavioural responses, and how performance psychology can support this for performance enhancement. 

Resources -

Buckroyd, J. (2000). The student dancer: Emotional aspects of the teaching and learning of dance. London, UK: Dance Books Ltd.

Hamilton, L. H. (2008). The dancer’s way: The New York City Ballet guide to mind, body, and nutrition. NY, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Hays, K. F. (2017). Performance psychology with performing artists. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press.

Hays, K. F. (Ed.). (2009). Performance psychology in action: A casebook for working with athletes, performing artists, business leaders, and professionals in high-risk occupations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Taylor, J., & Estanol, E. (2015). Dance psychology for artistic and performance excellence. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Wilmerding, V. & Krasnow, D. H. (2017). Dancer wellness. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare - https://www.aspah.org.au/

Arts Wellbeing Collective - https://www.artswellbeingcollective.com.au/

Performing Arts Medicine Association - http://www.artsmed.org/

One Dance UK - https://www.onedanceuk.org/

Dancer Transition Resource Centre - https://dtrc.ca/

Find Gene here - 

Email: [email protected]

https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Moyle,_Gene.html

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @scidancepodcast

Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.