How is dancing related to science

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If you have any questions about the collection or use of this information, please contact the Office of Advancement at digital ucalgary. The data of dance: When science and art merge It's hard to imagine two disciplines less alike than dance and science. Dance is about movement, artistic expression, interpretation, flow.

Science is about measurement, observation, data, controlling variables. Where dance is seen as fluid, science can be rigid. Yet increasingly, in the field of dance science, scientific methods are applied to dance and dancers in the same way that sports and athletes are studied to maximize performance, limit injuries and improve overall health and well-being.

Author Mike MacKinnon. Share this article. Related content. Two of his students are comparing balance in dancers and non-dancers. Laura Obler, majoring in dance and chemistry, and Tiffany Yu, a biological sciences major, seek to understand how dance training affects balance and what patterns people demonstrate as they try to maintain postural stability.

They are using a balance platform equipped with sensors to measure and compare the degree of sway exhibited while standing on two feet and on one foot. He also works with a motion capture system to collect biomechanical data. When such choreography works well, it affects us on two levels: intellectually, we sense an underlying order, process or pattern, and in doing so we feel the kinds of emotion that science can provoke — a wonderment at the world, a marvelling at its details, a glimpse into its mysteries.

His writing archive is at sanjoyroy. Previous Next. Search Search. The ground pushes back up at the dancer at the same speed and with the same strength, creating the force for pointe shoes to work. But this can only happen in a balanced manner if the centre of gravity is aligned with the point of contact.

If the center of gravity were not aligned, then the forces would not be equal, which creates a state of unbalance. The dancer would topple over. This also explains why dancers spin around the same rotational axis. Maintaining balance is a combination of skill and experience.

Dancers must anticipate, calculate and respond quickly to situations they encounter in order to keep their center of gravity and rotation stable.

This is because it improves the frame of mind and even some cognitive skills. Scientists have also found that taking a class in ballroom dancing can improve cognitive function in healthy seniors and in older adults with mild impairment.

Dancing can be physically exhausting, and after dancing you should be ready to relax. The heightened endorphins help lengthen your attention span and make you more receptive to positive stimuli, on stage and off. Happy thoughts make for a happy mood.

It reduces stress and stimulates the release of serotonin, the feel-good hormone. It also helps in neuroscience, including developing new neural connections, enabling long-term memory, and improving spatial recognition. The brain of a dancer rewires itself after constant training.

Dancers are less likely to feel dizzy because they have fewer neurons sending signals to a cerebral cortex area responsible for the perception of dizziness. Although an advantage for dancers, this adaptability can lead to greater feelings of dizziness when people give up dancing.

Their brains no longer receive the same input that made them adapted to suppress the response. They experience symptoms of perceiving motion as they would if they had never been dancers. The major objective is to conduct research based on primary data that establish formulas for movement patterns.

The Dance Science major integrates coursework in dance and human performance with scientific disciplines so that students can connect with other majors on campus. There are several levels of education in Dance Science. These include- Undergraduate, Post Graduate, and Ph. A lot of universities in the United States offer a variety of courses as well. These degrees can go on to offer lifelong careers.

Dance degrees are an excellent way to gain a firm grounding in a wide range of practical performance skills and conceptual dance techniques alongside social sciences and humanities. They combine practice, theory, and aesthetics, making it the perfect bridge between the dance industry and academia. They open the doors for a plethora of careers, including the following. Remember, this is only a small sample of the careers you can pursue with a degree in dance science.

Dance Movement Psychotherapy is a holistic and integrated approach to treatment that takes the whole person and the whole of his or her experience into account.

It sees the body as a means of expressing experiences, exploring issues, and finding solutions. It provides an opportunity to experiment with new possibilities for resolving difficulties, to find out what works best in different situations.

Dance administrators may work for independent dance studio owners, large corporations, or government organizations.