Search results for "dance"

The phantoms of the opera—Stress offstage and stress onstage

2021

During opera performance singers deliver vocally demanding roles, follow a conductor, portray emotions of a musical work, act, dance, and engage with costumes, sets and props before an audience. Hence, opera performance is a stressful experience. This study examined different types of stress experiences by measuring the trajectories of 10 opera trainees’ heart rate variability (HRV) during two performances, covering onstage and offstage periods. We explored connections between HRV, self-reported stress measures, and expert-rated difficulty of the performed roles. We discovered that opera trainees had lower HRV and thus experienced greater physiological stress, while onstage compared to off…

Bodily Flashes of Dancing Women: Dance as a Method of Inquiry

2003

In May 1997 I was in Nicaragua researching a dance ritual known as May Pole. The act of dancing itself became a method of inquiry in my research process. This article concentrates on the interaction of two dancing women, Evelyn and me. My dance experience has acquired different interpretations in relation to time and context as I have reflected on it. I also enrich this experience with other dance experiences to explore my dancing body in its different forms. This hermeneutical starting point creates the conditions for trusting my instrument, my body, as a source of bodily knowledge.

Learning Mathematical Concepts as a Whole-Body Experience

2019

Body image and depression

2021

Abstract This chapter presents research findings on body image in depression sufferers. Body image is here considered to consist of three elements: image properties, body-self, and body memory. In depressed patients, the body image has characteristics typical to the disorder, influencing how they relate to themselves and their environment. Typical to the body image of depression sufferers experience low energy, discomfort in the body during social interaction, and a tendency to distance oneself from sensing the body. While having this fragmented connection to their own bodies, patients tend to ruminate on how others perceive them. Compared with standard care, dance movement therapy group tr…

Introduction to volume 40 of Interfaces ("Gestures and Transmission")

2018

International audience

Embodiment in Electronic Dance Music: Effects of musical content and structure on body movement

2018

Electronic dance music (EDM) is music produced with the foremost aim to make people move. While research has revealed relationships between movement features and, for example, musical, emotional, or personality characteristics, systematic investigations of genre differences and specifically of EDM are rather rare. This article aims at offering insights into the embodiment of EDM from three different angles: first from a genre-comparison perspective, then by comparing different EDM stimuli with each other, and finally by investigating embodiments in one specific EDM stimulus. Sixty participants moved freely to 16 stimuli of four different genres (EDM, Latin, Funk, Jazz – four stimuli/genre)…

Emotions in motion: Short-term group form Dance/Movement Therapy in the treatment of depression: A pilot study

2014

Abstract Depression is a highly prevalent mood disorder that impairs a person's social skills and quality of life. Depressed patients have been shown to have difficulty in identifying, expressing, and regulating emotions, especially negative emotions, such as anger. Here, we present a study that investigates using body- and movement-based therapy intervention in the treatment of depression. Central to this study is the use of a short-term group form of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) intervention. The main research question was whether a short-term group form of DMT intervention could decrease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Depressed participants ( N  = 21, aged 18–60 years) received …

Emotion-driven encoding of music preference and personality in dance

2014

Thirty rhythmic music excerpts were presented to 60 individuals. Dance movements to each excerpt were recorded using an optical motion-capture system, preference for each excerpt recorded on a 5-point Likert scale, and personality assessed using the 44-item version of the Big Five Inventory. From the movement data, a large number of postural, kinematic and kinetic features were extracted, a subset of which were chosen for further analysis using sequential backward elimination with variance inflation factor (VIF) selection. Multivariate analyses revealed significant effects on these 11 features of both preference and personality, as well as a number of interactions between the two. As regar…

Entre la realidad y la ficción, la razón y la locura: el drama coral como terapia individual y social

2017

Desde la función política de la tragedia griega, las diferentes formas dramáticas occidentales han asumido de manera más o menos explícita unas funciones del espectáculo dramático que integran bajo distintas acepciones la pretendida kátharsis aristotélica, en ocasiones para rechazarla y evitarla, que incluso van más allá del prodesse et delectare horaciano, tendiendo hacia una función terapéutica individual y social en unas formas dramáticas de elevado trasfondo coral en las que los límites entre realidad y ficción, entre cordura y locura se difuminan hasta llegar a confundirse, en las que la llamada “cuarta pared” deja de existir. El objeto de este trabajo es realizar un breve recorrido po…

Dance Like Someone is Watching

2018

Although dancing often takes place in social contexts such as a club or party, previous study of such music-induced movement has focused mainly on individuals. The current study explores music-induced movement in a naturalistic dyadic context, focusing on the influence of personality, using five-factor model (FFM) traits, and trait empathy on participants’ responses to their partners. Fifty-four participants were recorded using motion capture while dancing to music excerpts alone and in dyads with three different partners, using a round-robin approach. Analysis using the Social Relations Model (SRM) suggested that the unique combination of each pair caused more variation in participants’ a…