Dance is often thought to be solely an entertaining and fun extra-curricular activity. However, is it possible that dancing could actually enhance participants’ academic success? Could the benefits of dance even extend to increase participants’ neurological activity? This video investigates the numerous advantages dance provides and the various perspectives surrounding this topic.
18. Sources Speech: “Arts and Smarts: Test Scores and Cognitive Development.” SharpBrains, 16 Apr. 2009. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. <http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2009/04/16/arts-and-smarts-test-scores-and-cognitive-development/>. “Benefits of Arts Education.” Americans for the Arts, 2002. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. <http://www.americansforthearts.org/getinvolved/advocacy/fundingresources/default005.asp>. Brown, Steven, and Lawrence M. Parsons. “The Neuroscience of Dance.” Scientific American July 2008: 78-83. Print. Brown, Steven. The NeuroArts Lab. McMaster U., 2008. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://neuroarts.org/index.html>. Hanna, Judith Lynne. “Does Dance Education Help Academic Achievement?” The Free Library. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. <http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Does+Dance+Education+Help+Academic+Achievement%3F+The+Experts+Weigh…-a069066663>.
19. Sources (2) Speech continued: Laws, Kenneth, and Arleen Sugano. Physics and the Art of Dance. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford U. Press, Inc., 2008. Print. Parsons, Lawrence M. “Professor Lawrence Parsons BA, PhD. ” 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://www.shef.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academic/lawrence-parsons.html>. Ruppert, Sandra S. “How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement.” National Endowment for the Arts. 2006. Web. 4 Feb 2010. <http://www.nasaa-arts.org/publications/critical-evidence.pdf>. Pictures (in order of appearance): http://shrani.si/.../crw8279resized.jpg http://theballetbag.files.wordpress.com/.../mcrae-cojocaru-small.jpg http://www.carlisle.k12.ma.us/.../ReportCard.jpg http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/.../Brain%20activity.JPG SAT chart: 2005 College-Bound Seniors Table 3-3; SAT Scores of Students Who Study the Arts: What We Can and Cannot Conclude about the Association, Kathryn Vaughn and Ellen Winner (Fall 2000) Momentum picture captured by JanuszMazon
20. Sources (3) Pictures continued: Depiction of study on tango dancers scanned from Scientific American July 2008, page 81 http://mapage.noos.fr/.../hda3.jpg http://www.forum-dansomanie.net/.../prix_lausanne_2008_015.jpg http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/.../mri2009.jpg http://cmsimg.detnews.com/.../bilde?Site=C3&Date=20100222&Category=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=2220332&Ref=V4 http://www.made-schools.org.uk/.../RBS-Upper-School-dance-class.jpg http://boysballet.files.wordpress.com/.../vaganova-ballet-academy-2nd-class-girls-2007.jpg http://plfoto.com/.../1145625.jpg Video: The Georgia Ballet School filmed in The Georgia Ballet in Marietta, GA on March 19, 2010
Notes de l'éditeur
Dance initiated as a early form of representational communication and has evolved to be an intricate means of artistic expression. Dance at is highest form demands a control of movement, coordinated and synchronized to music, all guided by neurological activity.
Consistently attending dance classes provides a source of physical activity, develops positive character traits, improves academic success, and increases brain activity.
Dance education develops and nurtures skills necessary for success in the classroom and beyond. Dance education enhances social skills, work habits, positive attitudes, risk-taking, attention to structure, reading readiness, and nonverbal reasoning.
Several studies have been conducted attempting to relate participation in the arts, specifically dance, and success in academics. The arts have been proven to positively impact SAT scores.
Reviewing Education and the Arts Project correlated dancing and enhanced reading and nonverbal reasoning skills. Students who partook in the National Dance Institute, which linked dance instruction to school curriculum, improved in all academic subjects.
Scientific studies have been conducted analyzing the interconnection between neurological activity and dancing. A study performed by Steven Brown, Lawrence Parsons, and Michael Martinez investigated blood flow in the brains of ten Argentinean tango dancers utilizing brain scanning equipment. When the dancers executed a box step, blood flow to the motor areas of the brain was significantly greater than when the dancers simply flexed their feet.
A study performed by Dartmouth College students sought to discover the correlation between brain activity and a dancer’s ability to execute steps. Weekly MRI scans of dancers revealed increased neurological activity when a dancer viewed steps he or she could execute.
Multiple perspectives surround this topic, including those that state the arts do not affect academic success, current brain scans are not reliable, and listening to classical music may be a sole factor increasing academic success. Collected research, however, supports the perspective that dance education improves academic success, brain scans are conducted with the best available technology, and motor areas of the brain are activated even without music.
In response to these findings and other scientific studies, schools should implement dance programs and parents should enroll their children in dance classes. Hopefully these studies will shine a new light on dance and permit the art form to thrive in today’s society.