IADMS Madrid 2001   [back to the Category]

Qualitative examination of the physiological attributes required for contemporary dance   [read the french version]

Author :   Matthew Wyon, MSc

Thursday 1 November 2001
4:00 – 4:20 pm Room 1

Qualitative examination of the physiological attributes required for contemporary dance

Matthew Wyon, MSc, St. Martins College, Lancaster, Claire Wyon, University of Central Lancashire, Emma Redding, Laban Centre, London; England

Contemporary dance has also used French to describe the majority of its movements. Dance teachers and choreographers also use a “visualization” language to impart body-awareness, technique and feeling for movement. As dance medicine and science research increases the language that both the research and the dance community uses must be examined and unified to prevent misunderstanding. The first part of the study examined dancers’ interpretations of specific components of fitness and how they would develop them.
The second part of the study examined what dancers’ perceive as the physical, mental, skill and performance attributes required for contemporary dance. Using the Performance Profile (Butler and Hardy 1992) the subjects wrote down each attribute and gave in a mark out of ten as to its importance for dance.
The study examines the differences between “perceived” and “actual” requirements of contemporary dance and also discusses the benefits of using the Performance Profile as a tool for dance companies to help bridge the understanding between dancers, trainers, PT’s and artistic directors.