Welcome to this issue of Research in Dance Education. The journal continues to thrive, reaching wide readership and authorship across the globe. The journal offers opportunities for original articles and viewpoints. There are also calls for special issues that are collections of articles focused on a theme. In addition, we run a new writer’s prize competition. This is open to any author who has not been published before. The article has to be a single authored work and can be considered for the prize through ticking this box during the submission process. I am always keen to recruit more reviewers for articles and books, so do please get in touch if you would like to be considered to review. Reviewers are very important to the maintaining the quality and sustainability of the journal and I wish to thank all who have given their time to review. This issue of Research in Dance Education represents work from Brazil, USA, Australia, Poland, Canada. Argentina and Indonesia.
The first two articles that follow, remind us about the physical and mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article is Online dance classes during the COVID-19 pandemic: new challenges and teaching strategies for the ‘Dance & Parkinson’s at home’ project, by Marcela Dos Santos Delabary et al. The authors discuss the social isolation experienced by those living with Parkinson’s disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how social isolation can intensify some Parkinson’s disease (PD) motor and non-motor symptoms and impact mental health. An online dance project called ‘Dance & Parkinson’s at home’, inspired by the Samba and Forró Brazilian rhythms was developed, initially in an asynchronous learning format (recorded dance classes inspired by the Samba and Forró Brazilian rhythms), and later as a blended learning experience (asynchronous – recorded dance classes – and synchronous learning – live-streamed dance classes). This article draws on knowledge and understanding of Parkinson’s disease, the experiences of individuals that were involved, and importantly, the holistic aspect of the intervention as supporting the physical, social and psychological. The authors describe challenges and learnings during the project.
This article, Healing minds, moving bodies: measuring the mental health effects of online dance during the COVID-19 pandemic by Rachel Rugh et al, explores the challenges and benefits of experiencing dance online with participants over 18 years drawn from the community. The article particularly discusses social and mental health impacts and draws on the importance of online pedagogy, for example, the use of repetition and scaffolding to build familiarity, simplicity of movement material and verbal cues, and tending to individuals and the group during the online sessions. Findings suggest that online dance can improve mood and increase community connectedness in healthy adults. It is also suggested that tactile learners gained the highest positive mood state and visual learners gained the most in terms of social connectivity.
The next two articles utilise dance science for dance education. First, Melanie Fuller et al, examine, Weekly injury rates within semesters of a three-year tertiary dance program, and prospective training monitoring across one semester of training: A longitudinal study. The authors suggest that weekly training loads and time points within a season that may be associated with injury, should be reported. The study analysed injuries using mixed methods, with each participant and within each semester of 14 weeks, to monitor load, mood and stress in a tertiary dance training cohort of 14 undergraduate dancers. The focus was particularly on ballet and contemporary dance. The authors argue that monitoring enables greater understanding of injury patterns related to the whole semester picture, and this may support planning to refine load management and injury prevention during the dance curriculum offer.
Authors, Artur Fredyk et al, in the article, Keep an Eye on the Balance – the influence of experimental training on postural stability in ballet dancers, discuss a nine-week training intervention, focused on developing kinaesthetic awareness, with 13 female students at a ballet school in Poland. The students engaged with particular exercises with their eyes closed, aiming to reduce postural sway and to improve stability and balance. It is suggested that the training without visual feedback forced the body to rely more on information from the proprioceptive system about the alignment and motion of body parts in relation to each other and the external environment. Findings found a significant reduction in postural sway after three weeks of the nine-week training programme and improved postural stability without compromising stability with eyes open. It is argued that the use of stabilographic testing can be useful as an objective evaluation of the aplomb level in ballet dancers. Further, this information can be used to inform planning and teaching.
Next, David Outevsky examines processes of cultural transfer and cross pollination within four, diasporic DanceSport studios located in major cities in Canada, in Soviet Bodies in Canadian DanceSport: Identities and Culture in Four Competitive Ballroom Dance Studios. The article discusses identity, as a diasporic community, of first and second generation Soviet-Canadian competitive ballroom dancers and challenges and adaptations in relation to teaching methodologies, norms and expectations of Soviet and Canadian completions and DanceSport industry. The article explores experiences through qualitative interviews, observations and narratives and discusses how the participants navigated the expectations of their parents’ and coaches coming from a traditional Soviet lens, and how the participants used their new multicultural identities in their approach to dance practice. The article also discusses how DanceSport has been influenced by Soviet expectations through a focus on athletic excellence, and that the dancers learned to adapt to social dance pedagogy and the commercialization of ballroom dance in North America.
Multimodal complexity in the transmission of a dance class is the focus of the next article: Visual and Sound Gesture in Dance Communication by Alejandro Grosso Laguna. Seventy-five participants that included dancers, musicians, non-musicians and non-dancers evaluated dance exercises using audio-visual clips with different modes of synchronization between voice and movement, following two testing strategies. The authors found that in-phase exercise markings are significantly easier to follow and understand. The authors describe, from an autoethnographic perspective, a real learning situation in which a teacher marks (bodily demonstration and verbal counting) a movement exercise for a dancer. The authors engage in analysis (microanalysis) of the components of this marking, considering the visual, spatial, the zero velocity and the prosodic components of the voice.
It is suggested that when the emphasis of the movement and the emphasis of the voice are synchronized, this increases the clarity of the instruction.
The final article in this issue is: Javanese art conservation in Indonesia inheriting potentials of local wisdom through Wayang Wong Bocah, by Hartono et al, examines cultural heritance, conservation and change. It used observation, interview, documentation and Hardsley’s theory for analysis. The findings demonstrate that the conservation process of Wayang Wong Bocah performed by dancers at Tjipta Boedaja dance studio is regarded as an effort to preserve the culture by maintaining, protecting, conserving and preventing from change, damage and extinction. In addition, this is viewed as a preservation and inheritance strategy through a focus on teaching to children. In particular, the authors discuss that conservation and inheritance of Wayang Wong Bocah as a local wisdom being passed onto future generations. This requires passionate and willing individuals to ensure the involvement of younger generations as future art performers. Further, that the community policymaker and government also have a responsibility to preserve art, culture and heritage.
The articles included in this issue enable reflection on challenges and innovation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of dance science to support dance education, how careful analysis of data can yield important implications for dance teaching and that culture, identity, preservation and heritage are important and complex considerations in dance.