Teachers’ perspectives on dance improvisation and flow

ABSTRACT

The present study uses a qualitative approach to focus on dance improvisation and flow. Dance instructors with wide experience in performing and teaching dance improvisation took part in semi–structured interviews that featured questions about dance improvisation and flow, including issues of flow in dance education with children. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach, and the findings highlighted the following macro areas: characteristics of flow, conditions for flow, educational issues, and outcomes. Participants emphasized several connections between flow and dance improvisation and demonstrated their awareness of the potentialities of flow during dance improvisation and its usefulness for dance education with children. Participants considered the teacher a facilitator who has to inspire pupils and adopted a process orientation and a learner-centered approach for guiding children to exploring multiple ways of knowing. Physical and psychological wellbeing influenced performing excellence, as a global condition induced by flow and creative transfer emerged in the multidimensional framework in which improvisation and flow operate. The findings are discussed in the framework of general theories of flow to highlight the implications of adopting improvisation in general education.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance education
• dance performance flow
• psychological flow
• improvisation
• teacher views

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michele Biasutti

Michele Biasutti PhD, a Full Professor at Padova University, has a deep understanding of EC policies, methodologies, and working methods gained through involvement in EC-founded programs, projects, and institutions. He is past President of Italian Associations and Scientific Director of research projects financed by European Institutions. He is interested in improvisation, online music learning, creative collaborative processes. He is a member of the editorial board of international journals and he has published articles in impact factor journals. He was the conference director of the international conferences and author of eight books and about 250 articles, chapters, and conference proceedings papers.

Katarina Habe

Katarina Habe works as an assistant professor of psychology at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). Because of her musical and psychological professional background, she is successfully integrating the analytical approach of a psychologist and the intuitive holistic mind of a musician in her research work in the field of psychology of music. She investigates the holistic (psychomotor, cognitive, and affective) effects of music on one hand, and the skills of optimal performance in musicians on the other. She is a chief editor of The Journal of Music Education of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. She has published articles in Impact Factor journals.