17: How dancers learn with Janet Karin OAM

SciDance

“Dance is a natural and universal form of expression, but classical ballet has a sophisticated aesthetic and complex technique”.

Janet Karin discusses, in summary, how dancers learn, and how to make ballet technique natural. We look at the sensorimotor system and the creation of expressive movement, exploring how the historical development of ballet’s aesthetics and training methods influences the way dancers train today. This episode also covers motor control, movement cues, implicit and explicit learning, and movement beliefs. We also look into the recontextualization theory, and the impact on encouraging creativity and reducing perfectionistic cognitions through teaching methods.

Resources -

Iacoboni, Marco. 2009. “Imitation, Empathy, and Mirror Neurons.” Annual Review of Psychology 60:653–70. doi:10.1146/annurev. psych.60.110707.163604.

Karin, Janet. 2016. “Recontextualizing Dance Skills: Overcoming Impediments to Motor Learning and Expressivity in Ballet Dancers.” Frontiers in Psychology 7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00431.

Karin, Janet, and Sanna Nordin-Bates. 2020. “Enhancing Creativity and Managing Perfectionism in Dancers Through Implicit Learning and Sensori-Kinetic Imagery.”Journal of Dance Education 20 (1): 1-11. DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2018.1532572

Liao, Chu-Min, and Richard S. W. Masters. 2001. “Analogy Learning: A Means to Implicit Motor Learning.” Journal of Sports Sciences 19(5):307–19. doi:10.1080/02640410152006081.

Solodkin, Ana, E. Petr Hlustik, Elinor Chen, and Steven L. Small. 2004. “Fine Modulation in Network Activation during Motor Execution and Motor Imagery.” Cerebral Cortex 14 (11):1246–55. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh086.

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Cover art by Jill North. Original image by Young Images Photography.