Science of Slink: The Evidence Based Pole Podcast with Dr. Rosy Boa

Hey Pole Dancer, welcome back to Science of Slink, a podcast dedicated to research of exercise, healing, and body image. Today we are joined by Dr.Melanie Stucky, Researcher - Performance and Social at École Nationale de Cirque. 

Dr. Stucky recently published the paper Four Domains for Development for All (4D4D4All): A Holistic, Physical Literacy Framework. (source and link below) this paper talks about the division and interconnectedness of 4 domains: creative, psychological, social, and physical development. These 4 domains are important components of physical literacy because they help us learn movement and have the highest potential to build our confidence when used correctly. This framework is meant to help define the most important aspects of creating an empowering culture in a studio and in our practice. 

We also looked into the Contexts which is the outer influence of the domains. These contexts are physical, social, and movement. Physical context is the environment you are in, this can be where you live and the set of tools you need to achieve your movement. Social context touches on culture, social norms, injustices, and in general, things affecting us more emotionally and mentally. 

You can find Melanie on Instagram @melirene13 and @thevolairlife

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Sources: 

The paper we mostly talk about: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10413200.2024.2342323

Agans, J. P., Stuckey, M. I., Cairney, J., & Kriellaars, D. (2024). Four domains for development for all (4D4D4All): A holistic, physical literacy framework. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2024.2342323 

Another paper I mentioned at the end: 

Preparation For Flight: The Physical Profile of Pre-Professional and Professional Circus Artists in the United States https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11065775/ 

Grab your FREE ticket to the Unraveling the Myth of Flow Summit! https://courses.circusmobility.com/a/2147870041/2uiBQNdv

Welcome to a special bonus episode with pole and aerial coach Jessica John of Circus Mobility. In it, we talk about flow, freestyle, pole vs. aerial, training within your capacity, and how to unlock more flow in your movement.

One topic that came up was the idea of cross-pollination, this is an idea that has been a theme of the year. Cross-pollination in pole is the idea of bringing together values and teachings of dance, aerial silks, pole, and more. What we feel threads all these topics together is the curiosity of research and movement backgrounds. 

We also touched on the idea of cross-training and how when training we sometimes think multiple areas are being strengthened which isn’t always true. This idea impacts us because our bodies are prepared for one modality of movement and we try another kind of movement, unexpectedly needing different training. An example of this is going from aerial to pole, grip strength is going to have to be very different and the strength that you need for both kinds of movement is different even if the movement seems similar. One way to mitigate this gap in variation is to do conditioning such as strength and mobility training regularly paired with freestyle and skill-building classes. This gives you a wide range of abilities to move through movements with ease and doesn’t stick you in only one form of movement. 

We touched on goals and how they change over time, especially with age. We have come to move from chasing a rush to moving to feel good and have a practice that grows with us. This change of mindset changes the goals that we set and why we set them. Frequently people will set goals based on how they think their training should look rather than what they feel is best for their practice. As instructors, our goal is for our students to enjoy their own journey and to help guide them in ways that align with them.

Instagram: Aerial & Mobility Educator (@circusmobility)  

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

In this episode we're joined by Sally Radell, Professor of Dance at Emory University, to talk about her 30 years of research findings on mirrors and body image in dance. We talk about, among other things, body image issues in dance, when mirrors help/hurt, and how to build better body awareness. 

One of her most prominent findings is that body image, when low, can poorly impact growth in dance by 6x. This means that another student who’s feeling more confident will more easily refrain from looking in the mirror and self-critique thus, helping them tap further into their body. When students are more in tune with their bodies they find positive growth with technical development and can align their movement with a sense of body awareness even without a mirror. 

Another interesting finding is that not only does body image impact growth on the way into class but even at the beginning of your dance or exercise journey. This is reflected by newer students doing best with a mirror to start as they enjoy dressing the part and learning what the moves look like. As the movement journey progresses and the learner understands how a move should feel, the need for a mirror and the impact of a mirror changes. 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/sallyradell 

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Some of the papers we talked about: 

FREE E-Book! - Science-Backed Tips to ⚡Supercharge⚡ your Home Pole Time: https://courses.slinkthroughstrength.com/research-backed-pole-tips 

Welcome back to the Science of Slink Podcast, pole dancer! This week we are talking about learning for mastery, which is a teaching method focused on moving on a more fluid and self-guided path towards goals that we set for ourselves rather than a more regimented system with goals set for us to achieve in a certain order. The learning for mastery method is one that I use at my studio for my students, if you’d like to join a class for a hands-on approach check out my website linked below! 

Learning dance in a mastery-focused way looks like a buffet rather than a menu. In this model, there is a choice between several things to learn daily, a “buffet” for learning rather than a main dish you are served. This allows dancers to have autonomy and empowerment in their learning journey while not feeling they are regressing at any point, rather, listening to and respecting their needs. An example of this is when you walk into dance class there will be 3 moves to choose from that day to learn and you can choose which one to work toward mastery on that day. In a more regimented class, there will be levels and you will move up the levels and do the according moves. 

So Is learning for mastery better? It depends! But big competition focus is associated with some not-so-great things, like less body appreciation. This method is best for freestyle methods of pole dance and enjoyment. If you are looking for competition pole, the more regimented class system may be more beneficial. 

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Mastery learning model: 

Bloom, Benjamin S. (March 1968). "Learning for Mastery" (PDF). UCLA - CSEIP - Evaluation Comment. Vol. 1.

Discussion of mastery in dance: 

Andrzejewski, C. E., Wilson, A. M., & Henry, D. J. (2013). Considering motivation, goals, and mastery orientation in dance technique. Research in Dance Education, 14(2), 162-175.

Honors thesis on dance competitions & mental well-being (" However, CCSW

had a significant negative relationship with body appreciation and a significant positive

relationship with ED risk and perfectionism.")

Cary, G. (2023). Dancing like Everyone’s Watching: The Impact of Competition-Contingent Self-Worth and Belonging on Dancers’ Mental Well-Being (Doctoral dissertation).

Hello Pole Dancer and welcome to another episode of Science of Slink. This week we are joined by a special guest, Dr. Cat Liang, Psy.D, who studies dance therapy. She has just published a great research article, The use of dance and movement for the embodied healing of interpersonal trauma in women and girls. We will be discussing her findings in her research and what movement therapy can heal. 

We talked about dance therapy and how when movement and joy are incorporated into your healing practice, specifically for healing trauma, students have a greater retention rate. This means that when we incorporate joy into the healing process, we can associate our trauma with new feelings and move past it rather than sitting in it more easily. We also see that people are more dedicated to taking a long healing path because the healing modality being used is bringing us joy beyond just healing the trauma, but also our relationship with our bodies as a whole while enjoying the process. 

The key findings of Dr. Cat's research ia that through dance therapy people's physical ability increased including but not limited to strength, flexibility, and mobility. She also found that their emotional capacity increased and there was a mind, body, and integration. This helps to push past dissociation and creates a sense of safety, allowing them to process in a safer and empowering way. When dance therapy was done in groups, people felt empowered in the community and people felt more safe with others including outside of the dance circle. Last but not least, people had lots of fun which helped people get out of the slump of reliving trauma and into a place to explore the emotions and needs of our bodies and minds. 

Dr. Cat's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drcatliang/ 

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:

⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Sources:

Paper: Liang, C. X. (2023). The use of dance and movement for the embodied healing of interpersonal trauma in women and girls: A systematic review. Pepperdine University.

The book I mentioned:  Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness by David A. Treleaven (clinician)

Hello and welcome to a new episode of Science of Slink, the evidence based pole podcast! This week we are joined by Dr.Val Oliphant. Dr.Val is a DPT physical therapist specializing in dance, circus arts, and pelvic floor needs, a professional dancer and teacher. Today we are talking about how your pole teaching informs your PT & vice versa, the most common issues seen in pole dancers, the sneakiest (maybe not most common but hardest to notice) issues seen in pole dancers, Progressions, and Regressions.

Hello fellow science friends and welcome to Science of Slink! Today we are touching into the topic of replicating studies, data reliability, Plublication Bias, and ‘Publisher Perish.’ These are important topics that shed light on the reliability of the data we read as well as of what influences some data to not be reliable. On the topic of replicating studies and data reliability we discuss that there is a strong correlation between earlier studies, before around 2010, being tested for replication and no correlation being found. Replication is when you do a replicate a completed study to examine if you can find the same data or if the data is different. Today we are referencing studies such as menstrual cycles related to mood and medical replication studies.We touch on the likelihood of publicity based on the interest or “wow factor” of findings, also known as Plublication Bias. One example of publication bias is, if there is low correlation or no effect you are unlikely to get published. Publication bias tends to lean towards more extreem results and findings. This is one reason that human studies are harder to find, there is more variation between people than there would be for a purely scientific and mathematic study. Our last topic is something called “Publiher Perish” and this is when a researcher may fall into scientific misconduct. A researchers primary job is plublsihing scientific papers as frequently as possible, making them as interesting as possible. Due to publication bias and the fact that not all research is going to be interesting enough to publish, there is pressure to create something more interesting which can incentivize scientific misconduct.

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Sources/Helpful Links: 

General overview of the replication crisis in psychology: 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/replication-crisis

The replication crisis (overview and what's changed since then): https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-023-00003-2 

Replication in evo psych specifically: 

https://replicationindex.com/category/evolutionary-psychology/ 

Helpful pop-schi overview of some of the issues with ovulation research in evolutionary psychology

https://slate.com/technology/2018/10/ovulation-research-women-replication-crisis.html 

Welcome to a new kind of episode with Science of Slink! We are begining a new topic on the podcast, research review! This episode is a research review of the "Longitudinal Effects of Pole Dance Training on Body Composition and Muscular Strength."

Some important background about the venue and authors are, this is a preprint in review at Scientific Reports, which is an open access journal known as the nature journal. The Nature review is a well regarded research paper review which covers all areas of the natural sciences, psychology, medicine and engineering.

This article is written by Agnieszka Nawrocka, Arkadiusz Mynarski, and  Zbigniew Pawelak. Important note, this appears to be Zbigniew’s first research paper. Additionally this appears to be a continuation of Agnieszka Nawrocka & Arkadiusz Mynarski’s work based off their prior research in 2016 together, their previous research is linked below. 

Their Research question was “What are the measurable longitudinal physical changes associated with pole dance training?” Their Methodology was as follows: 20-week study of new pole dancers, Looking at body composition & hand grip strentch, one 70-minute session each week. Their Conclusions are that there is an Increase in grip strength and a change in body composition. 

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Sources: 

Longitudinal Effects of Pole Dance Training on Body Composition and Muscular Strength in Women by Agnieszka Nawrocka, Zbigniew Pawelak, and Arkadiusz Mynarski (Preprint, in review) https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3990731/v1

Link to article: 

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3990731/v1

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10706424

Agnieszka Nawrocka & Arkadiusz Mynarski, 2016: "Effects of exercise training experience on hand grip strength, body composition and postural stability in fitness pole dancers" https://europepmc.org/article/med/27385549 

Hello Pole Dancer, welcome to The Evidence Based Pole Podcast! This week we are joined by an incredible guest, Neesh AKA Pole Savage. Neesh is a pole instructor and physical therapist, her knowledge of physical therapy brings a niche understanding of teaching people and understanding how ur bodies feel most comfortable. 

In this episode we have the opportunity to learn how Neesh's physical therapist knowledge has shaped her pole teaching and training and her tips for pole dance students. We dove deep into pole performance and competition tips and what to do before and after you perform! We also talk about best practices to prevent injuries & what to do if/when you get one. Furthering the discussion was the note that the evidence has changed on prevention and recovery of injury! 

Some of the ways we have discovered to prevent injury is building muscle, exercise flexibility, and joint mobility. An interesting part of the change to injury care that has changed is that resting and icing are no longer primary recommendations for healing. We used to term loading the tissue to rebuild after injury which means how much force is being applied to the area. This should be guided exercises by a physical therapist. 

Follow Neesh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polesavage/

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Hello Pole Dancer and welcome to another episode of The Evidence Based Pole Podcast with Rosy Boa. This week we are discussing the important topic of shoulders and pole dance! Shoulders are particularly important as a pole dancer because of the uncommon amount of use, weight, and mobility we use in comparison to daily life activities and they are commonly injured. 

Shoulders are tricky becasue it's all muscles, they're only attached to the bones at the clavicle. There are some common issues we see in the shoulders such as frequent Impingement. Another influential factor to shoulder health is rhythm of movement; we should go in the order, First your arm bone, Then your scapula (they need to move!), then Slight shoulder elevation. 

Things get even more tricky when raising your arms above your head. This motion is commonly too much on the lats and lack external rotation. This can lead to Upper trap tension (especially in moves like apprentice); I recommend to move your hand down.

Slink Through Strength Email Sign Up:  ⁠http://eepurl.com/iimjnX⁠

Join pole instructor & personal trainer Rosy Boa as she chats with experts about the evidence-based practices you can introduce to your pole journey to improve your pole journey and feel better. The Evidence-Based Pole Podcast aims to help pole dancers feel better on and off the pole by talking with experts and diving into relevant scientific research to find evidence-based insights we can apply to our pole journeys. It’s a production of Slink Through Strength, the inclusive, evidence-based online pole studio, which can be found online at slinkthroughstrength.com.

Edited by: Simone Rossette 

[email protected]

Citations: