Kolb Learning Styles of dancers who do and don’t use dance notation compared to other fields

ABSTRACT

This statistical study of 272 dancers, ages 18–96, using Kolb Learning Styles Inventory 4.0, identifies dominant learning cycles, learning styles, and learning style flexibility of the dance participants, and subgroups of notation users, and then compares these results to existing results from other disciplines. The research reveals the depth and breadth of learning cycles and styles among the dancers (notation users and non-notation users) and provides implications suggested by comparing to other disciplines. The results provide insight into the value of shifting approaches to teaching by using motif notation or structured dance notation, some of which closely match disciplines that are seemingly quite different from dance. Motif notation results hint that motif notation pushes students to be much more flexible in their learning styles. This distinction represents motif notation users’ abilities to switch to a ‘back up’ learning style, when their dominant learning style seems not to fulfill every learning task. Structured notation users results point to ability to focus deeply into analysis. The results of this study point to two considerations for the dance classroom. Engaging in motif notation may be an ideal tool to stimulate flexibility for lifelong learning and structured notation encourages analytical skill building.

KEYWORDS:

• dance notation
• Labanotation
• learning styles
• dance education
• pedagogy
• Motif Notation

Acknowledgments

I extend gratitude to all the participants who provided their time and made this study possible. Thank you to Emily Pavelka for organizing data, Abigail Samson and Lauren Delisle for assisting with literature, Madeline Ortiz and Paige Edley for reading manuscripts, and Laura Massa for statistical analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Ipsative is a descriptor used to indicate a specific type of measure in which respondents compare two or more desirable options and pick the one that is most preferred (sometimes called a ‘forced choice’ scale).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Teresa L. Heiland

Teresa L. Heiland, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Loyola Marymount University, CLMA, Language of Dance Certification Specialist, teaches Laban Movement Analysis, pedagogy; choreography; dance wellness, and somatics. She researches how imagery affects dance technique, how learning evolves through the use of motif notation, and how Los Angeles affects dancers’ work. She has published in JODE, Research in Dance Education, Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity, Dance: Current Selected Research, and Geographies of Dance. She choreographs using motif notation and has restaged Nijinsky’s L’Après-midi d’un Faune and the Parsons Etude from Labanotation. She reviews dance for LA Dance Review and Bachtrack.