In recent years, a growth in dance and wellbeing scholarship has resulted in new ways of thinking that place the body, movement, and dance in a central place with renewed significance for wellbeing.
The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Wellbeing examines dance and related movement practices from the perspectives of neuroscience and health, community and education, and psychology and sociology to contribute towards an understanding of wellbeing, offer new insights into existing practices, and create a space where sufficient exchange is enabled. The handbook's research components include quantitative, qualitative, and arts-based research, covering diverse discourses, methodologies, and perspectives that add to the development of a complete picture of the topic.
Throughout the handbook's wide-ranging chapters, the objective observations, felt experiences, and artistic explorations of practitioners interact with and are printed alongside academic chapters to establish an egalitarian and impactful exchange of ideas.
Introduction Vicky Karkou, Sue Oliver and Sophia Lycouris Section A: Dance and the Body Vicky Karkou and Sue Oliver 1. The Dancing Queen: Explanatory Mechanisms of the 'Feel-Good-Effect' in Dance Corinne Jola and Luis Calmeiro 2. Dance in the Body, the Mind, and the Brain: Neurocognitive Research inspired by Dancers and their Audience Bettina Bläsing 3. Subjective and Neurophysiological Perspectives on Emotion Perception from Dance Marie-Helene Grosbras, Matthew Reason, Haodan Tan, Rosie Kay, and Frank Pollick 4. Evidence-based BIODANZA Programmes for Children (TANZPRO-Biodanza) in Schools and Kindergartens: Some Effects on Psychology, Physiology, Hormones and the Immune System Marcus Stück and Alejandra Villegas 5. Dancing to Resist, Reduce and Escape Stress Judith Lynne Hanna 6. Body Memory and its Recuperation through Movement Heidrun Panhofer 7. Listening to the Moving Body: Movement approaches in Body Psychotherapy Laura-Hope Steckler 8. Authentic Movement as a Practice for Wellbeing Jane Bacon 9. Authentic Movement and the Relationship of Embodied Spirituality to Health and Wellbeing Zoe Avstreih 10. Reimagining Our Relationship to the Dancing Body Andrea Olsen Section B. Dance within Performative Contexts Sophia Lycouris and Vicky Karkou With contribution from Taira Restar on her work with Anna Halprin 11. A Greater Fullness of Life: Wellbeing in Early Modern Dance Michael Huxley and Ramsay Burt 12. Therapeutic Performance: When Private Moves to Public Thania Acarón 13. Portals of Conscious Transformation: from Authentic Movement to Performance Marcia Plevin 14. Butoh Dance, Noguchi Taiso and Healing Paola Esposito and Toshiharu Kasai 15. Flow in the Dancing Body: An Intersubjective Experience Louise Douse 16. Common Embrace: Wellbeing in Rosemary Lee's Choreography of Inclusive Dancing Communities Doran George 17. Wellbeing and the Aging Dancer Jan Bolwell 18. Being in Pieces: Integrating Dance, Identity and Mental Health Mark Edward and Fiona Bannon 19. Writing Body Stories June Gersten Roberts 20. (Im)possible Performatives: Embodying the Politics of Loss Beatrice Allegranti Section C. Dance in Education Sue Oliver and Vicky Karkou With contributions from Julie Joseph, Jo Bungay-Orr, and Foteini Athanasiadou 21. Provoking Change: Dance Pedagogy and Curriculum Design Ann Kipling Brown 22. Pedagogies of Dance Teaching and Dance Leading Jayne Stevens 23. Creative Dance in Schools: A Snapshot of Two European Contexts Sue Oliver, Monika Konold, and Christina Larek 24. Moving Systems: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Enhance Learning and Avoid Dropping-out Claire Schaub-Moore 25. Dance/Movement and Embodied Knowing with Adolescents Nancy Beardall 26. Movement Therapy Programme with Children with Mild Learning Difficulties in Primary Schools in Saudi Arabia: Links between Motion and Emotion Abdulazeem Alotaibi, Vassiliki Karkou, Marietta L van der Linden, and Lindesay Irvine 27. Dance Movement Therapy, Student Learning and Wellbeing in Special Education Sue Mullane and Kim Dunphy 28. The Wellbeing of Students in Dance Movement Therapy Masters Programs Hilda Wengrower 29. Cultivating the 'Felt Sense' of Wellbeing - How we Know we are Well Anna Fiona Keogh and Joan Davis Section D. Dance in the Community Sue Oliver and Vicky Karkou With contributions from Carolyn Fresquez and Barbara Erber 30. Free to Dance: Community Dance with Adolescent Girls in Scotland Anna Kenrick, Carolyn Lappin, and Sue Oliver 31. Methods of Promoting Gender Development in Young Children Through Developmental Dance Rhythms: A Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) Dance/Movement Therapy Approach Susan Loman 32. Together We Move: Creating a Laban-style Movement Choir Cynthia Pratt 33. Touching Disability Culture: Dancing Tiresias Petra Kuppers choreographing an essay with contributions from Lisa Steichmann, Jonny Gray, Melanie Yergeau, Aimee Meredith Cox, Nora Simonhjell, Neil Marcus, Elizabeth Currans, Amber DiPietra, and Stephanie Heit 34. 'Building Relations': A Methodological Consideration of Dance and Wellbeing in Psychosocial Work with War-affected Refugee Children and Their Families Allison Singer 35. Reconstructing the World of Survivors of Torture for Political Reasons through Dance/Movement Therapy Maralia Reca 36. Haunted by Meaning: Dance as Aesthetic Activism Sherry B. Shapiro 37. Cultural Adaptations of Dance Movement Psychotherapy Experiences: From a UK Higher education Context to a Transdisciplinary Water Resource Management Research Practice Athiná Copteros, Vicky Karkou, and Tally Palmer 38. Capoeira in the Community: The Social Arena for the Development of Wellbeing André Luiz Teixeira Reis and Sue Oliver 39. The 5Rhythms® Movement Practice: Journey to Wellbeing, Empowerment and Transformation Mati Vargas-Gibson, Sarena Wolfaard, and Emma Roberts Section E. Dance in Health Care Contexts Vicky Karkou and Sue Oliver With a contribution from Chan Nga Shan and Ania Zubala 40. Dance Movement Therapy in Health Care: Should we Dance across the Floor of the Ward? Iris Bräuninger and Gonzalo Bacigalupe 41. Dance as Art in Hospital Diane Amans 42. The BodyMind Approach(tm): Supporting the wellbeing of patients with chronic medically unexplained symptoms in primary health care in England Helen Payne 43. Dance Therapy-Primitive Expression Contributes to Wellbeing Alexia Margariti, Periklis Ktonas, Thomas Paparrigopoulos, and Grigoris Vaslamatzis 44. Dance: An Aesthetic Experience to Foster Wellbeing for Vulnerable Mothers and Infants Elizabeth Loughlin 45. Dance Therapy and the Possibility of Wellbeing with People with Dementia Heather Hill 46. Emotions in Motion: Depression in Dance-Movement and Dance-Movement in Treatment of Depression Marko Punkanen, Suvi Saarikallio, Outi Leinonen, Anita Forsblom, Kristo Kulju, and Geoff Luck 47. (Dis-)Embodiment in Schizophrenia: Effects of Mirroring on Self-Experience, Empathy and Wellbeing Sabine C. Koch, Janna Kelbel, Astrid Kolter, Heribert Sattel, and Thomas Fuchs 48. Dance/Movement Therapy and Breast Cancer Care: A Wellbeing Approach Ilene Serlin, Nancy Goldov, and Erika Hansen 49. Attending to the Heart beat in Dance Movement Psychotherapy: Improvements in Mood and Quality of Life for Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Mariam Mchitarian, Joseph Moutiris, and Vicky Karkou Conclusion Vicky Karkou and Sue Oliver
Vicky Karkou holds the Chair of Dance, Arts and Wellbeing at Edge Hill University. A qualified dance teacher, researcher and dance movement psychotherapist, she has lengthy experience of working with diverse clinical populations in different settings. She is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and books, and acts as the co-editor of the international journal Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy published by Taylor and Francis. She travels extensively around the world for research and teaching purposes. Sue Oliver is a freelance dance tutor and researcher. Based in Scotland, she left her post as senior teacher and dance tutor for her local education authority to concentrate on her research in creative dance and wellbeing, focusing on children, adolescents, and latterly older adults, including seated movement to music in day care settings. Current projects include dance with sufferers of Parkinson's Disease and community-based choreographic projects. Sophia Lycouris is an academic interested in interdisciplinary research methodologies and research by creative practice. She is also an artist working with movement/dance, choreography, improvisation, performance and new technologies since the late 90s. Her work involves processes of ""listening"" to spaces and designing subtle movement interventions, which trigger affective transformations. Her academic projects on movement and new technologies have been funded by research councils and her artistic work has been presented in the UK, Europe, and USA.
Reviews for The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Wellbeing
An immensely rich resource for scholars and general audiences who are curious about mind-body communication, different types of dance movement, somatics, embodied learning, kineaesthesia and empathy, and the therapeutic potential of movement. * Hiie Saumaa, Dance Research Journal * Karkou (Edge Hill Univ., UK), together with a team of contributors from a range of backgrounds, presents a comprehensive survey of current dance and well-being scholarship. ... Readers are presented with an authoritative and richly interdisciplinary review of the current research and scholarly exploration of dance and well-beingaincorporating perspectives from psychology and neuroscience as well. ... It is especially welcome to find such depth of detail and scholarship in one place. ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *
