Dance and early childhood cognition: The Isadora Effect

ABSTRACT

This article proposes the existence of an Isadora Effect: the propositions that motor development plays a primal role in brain development, and the first understanding of symbolic meaning among young children occurs from an understanding of movement and gesture. Anecdotal evidence for the past few decades has demonstrated that dance education and the early use of symbolic movement greatly enhance cognitive development in young children. The author presents (a) background and historical information about dance in early childhood in the United States; (b) research in which physical, emotional, and social development has served the backbone for rationalizing inclusion of dance in early education; (c) The Isadora Effect in early childhood dance education and its relationship to cognitive development, brain development, and intelligence; (d) the 21st Century Skills in relation to early childhood development and dance education; and (e) early childhood dance education and the National Core Arts Standards. The author makes three recommendations for improving the development of American youth relative to early childhood dance education: increased inclusion of creative movement and dance in early childhood curricula, scientific study by the pediatric and neurological communities to investigate effects of motor development and early symbolic movement on brain development and cognitive growth, and ways dance educators can communicate with policy makers about the kinds of support needed to make the first two recommendations a reality.     

Toward a More Progressive Art Education

From an administrative perspective, this article investigates equity issues in dance education, and current challenges and opportunities for leadership in postsecondary dance programs involved in teacher education and certification. Although dance education is varied in content and environment, much is shared in terms of common goals for gender equity, curricular equity, status of dance education, and diversity in the field. The author urges dance educators and administrators to actively emphasize and act on commonly shared goals, rather than focusing on differences that have historically served to separate the field. The article provides recommendations and strategies for advocacy and development focused on enduring values of dance education rooted in art making, creativity, experimentation, and the importance of artistic expression in education.     

Dance education in Singapore: Policy,discourse, and practice

This article provides an overview of dance education in schools in Singapore with regard to physical education, co-curricular activity, initiatives by the National Arts Council's Arts Education unit, and pre-tertiary and tertiary dance programs. In an effort to gain a better understanding of how well the official discourse and the reality of schooling in dance interconnect, a meta-analysis of published articles, conference papers, committee reports, and curricula was conducted. Situated within the larger sociocultural, political, and historical contexts, Singapore presents a curious case for probing the merits and limitations of research, policy initiatives, and policy implementation. In the conclusion, the author argues that the development of a coherent dance education in Singapore requires “fixing” three dilemmas—meritocratic schooling in dance, the ill-defined and exhaustive use of the term “talent,” and the uneven research that has not kept pace with the policy initiatives.     

Influence of flight time and flight environment on distance communication by dancing honey bees

Forager honey bees communicate the distance of food sources to nest mates through waggle dances, but how do bees measure these distances? Recent work suggests that bees measure distance flown in terms of the extent of image motion (integrated optic flow) that is experienced during flight. However, it is known that optic flow also regulates the speed of flight. Therefore, the duration of the flight to a destination is likely to co-vary with the optic flow that is experienced en route. This makes it difficult to tease apart the potential roles of flight duration and optic flow as cues in estimating distance flown. Here we examine whether flight duration alone can serve as an indicator of distance. We trained bees to visit feeders at two sites located in optically different environments, but positioned such that the flight durations to the two sites were similar. The distance estimates for the two sites, as reported in the waggle dance, were compared. We found that dances differed significantly between the two sites, even though flight times were similar. Flight time perse was a poor predictor of waggle dance behaviour. We conclude that foraging bees do not simply signal flight time as their measure of distance in the waggle dance; the environment through which they fly plays a dominant role. Received 11 April 2005; revised 16 May 2005; accepted 3 June 2005.     

Genetic diversity within honeybee colonies increases signal production by waggle-dancing foragers

Recent work has demonstrated considerable benefits of intracolonial genetic diversity for the productivity of honeybee colonies: single-patriline colonies have depressed foraging rates, smaller food stores and slower weight gain relative to multiple-patriline colonies. We explored whether differences in the use of foraging-related communication behaviour (waggle dances and shaking signals) underlie differences in foraging effort of genetically diverse and genetically uniform colonies. We created three pairs of colonies; each pair had one colony headed by a multiply mated queen (inseminated by 15 drones) and one colony headed by a singly mated queen. For each pair, we monitored the production of foraging-related signals over the course of 3 days. Foragers in genetically diverse colonies had substantially more information available to them about food resources than foragers in uniform colonies. On average, in genetically diverse colonies compared with genetically uniform colonies, 36% more waggle dances were identified daily, dancers performed 62% more waggle runs per dance, foragers reported food discoveries that were farther from the nest and 91% more shaking signals were exchanged among workers each morning prior to foraging. Extreme polyandry by honeybee queens enhances the production of worker-worker communication signals that facilitate the swift discovery and exploitation of food resources.     

中国大跗突瓣叶蜂种团一新种（膜翅目：叶蜂科）

合室舞虻属Tachydromia Meigen是舞虻科中较大的属,已知112种分布世界各地.我国以前已知10种.本文首次发现合室舞虻属在陕西有分布,记述2新种:基黄合室舞虻Tachydromia basiflava sp.nov.和粗鬃合室舞虻Tachydromia crassisetosa sp.nov.,均属于白毛合室舞虻种团Tachydromia arrogans species group,并编制了中国合室舞虻属分种检索表.     

四川平须舞虻属Platypalpus三新种（双翅目：舞虻科）

平须舞虻属Platypalpus Macquart是舞虻科中最大的属之一,已知550余种分布世界各地.四川以前已知8种.本文记述四川平须舞虻属3新种:短芒平须舞虻Platypalpus breviarista sp.nov.,微距平须舞虻Platypalpus minor sp.nov.和亚丁平须舞虻Platypalpus yadinganus sp.nov,均属于长角平须舞虻种团Platypalpus longicornis species group,并编制了四川平须舞虻属分种检索表.     

A comparison of physiological responses and rating of perceived exertion between high-impact and low-impact aerobic dance sessions

The aim of this study was to compare the exercise intensity and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of a high-impact (HIP) and a low-impact (LIP) university aerobic dance session. Ten women [mean (SD) age 22.9 (2.6) years] took part in the study. An incremental treadmill test was performed by each subject to determine maximum oxygen consumption (V˙O_{2 max} ) and maximum heart rate (HR _max ). The measured V˙O_{2 max} [mean (SD)] was 49.0 (7.5) ml · kg⁻¹ · min⁻¹. The subjects were randomly assigned to LIP and HIP sessions (i.e. five of the subjects participated in the HIP session first, and the other five participated in the LIP session first). In a laboratory, heart rate, oxygen uptake and RPE were measured throughout each session for each subject. Expired air was collected continuously throughout the sessions using Douglas bags (ten bags over a 30-min period). The sessions consisted of 20 min of aerobic exercise (bags 1–7) followed by 5 min of local muscular endurance exercise (bags 8 and 9) and 5 min of flexibility exercises (bag 10). The mean intensity of the aerobic section of the LIP and HIP sessions was 51.6% and 64.7% V˙O_{2 max} , respectively. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals for the average difference between the HIP and LIP sessions demonstrate that the %V˙O_{2 max} was between 12% and 14% higher for the HIP session. The mean %HR _max for the LIP and HIP sessions was 71.4% and 76.7%, respectively, with the %HR _max in the HIP session being between 5.4% and 7.2% higher on average than that of the LIP session. On average, the RPE for the aerobic section of the HIP session (12.1) was consistently higher than that of the LIP session (11.1). HIP activity has the potential to maintain/improve the aerobic fitness of its participants. According to the literature, the exercise intensity elicited by LIP activity may have a limited training effect for the population utilised in this study, and for some individuals may result in detraining. Conversely, LIP activities may be an appropriate mode of exercise for overweight and unfit individuals. Accepted: 5 January 1998     

Brachystomatidae,Empididae and Hybotidae (Diptera) of Uzh River Basin,with additions to checklists of Ukraine

An inventory of species from families Brachystomatidae, Empididae and Hybotidae from random and non-intensive samplings from Uzh River Basin in the Ukraine is presented. Thirteen empidid species [Empis (E.) filata, Hemerodromia oratoria, Hilara flavipes, H. hyposeta, H. intermedia, H. lasiochira, H. litorea, H. media, Chelifera precatoria, C. trapezina, Rhamphomyia (Aclonempis) longipes, R. (Holoclera) nigripennis, Wiedemannia (W.) tricuspidata], and three hybotid species (Crossopalpus curvinervis, Oedalea stigmatella, Platypalpus longiseta) are recorded for the first time for the fauna of the Ukraine. Ukrainian checklists of these families are summarized for Brachystomatidae with two species, for Empididae with 57 species and for Hybotidae with 91 species.     

西藏准驼舞虻属二新种（双翅目：舞虻科）

首次报道西藏准驼舞虻属Parahybos,并记述2新种:短突准驼舞虻Parahybos breviprocerus sp.nov.和长突准驼舞虻P.longiprocerus sp.nov.。     

Rapid partner switching may facilitate increased broadcast group size in dance compared with conversation groups

Dancing is a universal human activity that involves exertive rhythmic movement to music. It is often conducted in a social environment and often involves synchronization. It has been found to cause dancers to bond socially. Like conversation, it has been suggested that dancing may be an inexpensive form of social bonding, in that both activities facilitate efficient group bonding by allowing multiple individuals to bond simultaneously. However, no previous study has systematically observed the size of naturally occurring dance groups. During unobtrusive observation of natural dance and conversation behavior, we found that the cumulative number of dance partners (cumulative group) was greater than the number of partners at any one moment (instantaneous group), whereas no such difference was found for conversation. Additionally, the length of uninterrupted engagement (bout) was negatively predicted by group size in conversation but not dance groups, and it was significantly longer in conversation groups than dance groups. Finally, instantaneous group size was significantly larger in dance than conversation groups, and also positively related to time spent synchronizing in dance groups. Together, these results suggest that dance may allow a larger number of individuals to simultaneously engage with each other than conversation does because (i) more rapid partner switching increases cumulative broadcast group; and (ii) synchrony facilitates simultaneous interaction with multiple individuals, allowing for larger instantaneous groups. We conclude that the capacity for information transfer provided by language comes at a cost in terms of social bonding, and that dance may have played an important role in bonding large hominin social groups.     

中国四川平舞虻亚属Planempis三新种(双翅目:舞虻科:舞虻属)

平舞虻亚属Planempis Frey,1953为舞虻属Empis一个中等大小的类群,全世界已知46种,仅局限分布于古北区和东洋区,我国已知8种.本文发现平舞虻亚属Planempis在我国四川有分布,记述3新种:黄足平舞虻Empis(Planempis)flavipedalis sp.nov.,黑足平舞虻Empis(P...     

Practical Uses for Tiles

In this research study, I examined how institutional power affected the experiences of two dance educators attempting to gain their K–12 dance teaching license in Minnesota. My research analyzed the ways in which candidates applying for the portfolio review process constructed, amended, or abandoned their identities as teachers/artists/individuals while completing the process. Using critical discourse analysis to examine interview data collected in the study, I sought to better understand how institutional power disrupted the experiences of candidates completing their license via portfolio. My results suggest that participants in the study delegitimized their teaching experience outside of the K–12 context, which challenged their teaching identities and left them feeling powerless during the license via portfolio process. Confusing, inconsistent, and incorrect information provided by the Minnesota Department of Education combined with a lack of support from the state also contributed to their feelings of powerlessness.     

中国猎舞虻亚属一新种（双翅目：舞虻科）

记述我国猎舞虻亚属1新种：双鬃猎舞虻Rhamphomyia (Rhamphomyia) biseta sp. nov., 编制了中国种类检索表。模式标本保存在中国农业大学昆虫博物馆。     

Biofeedback and Dance Performance: A Preliminary Investigation

Alpha-theta neurofeedback has been shown to produce professionally significant performance improvements in music students. The present study aimed to extend this work to a different performing art and compare alpha-theta neurofeedback with another form of biofeedback: heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback. Twenty-four ballroom and Latin dancers were randomly allocated to three groups, one receiving neurofeedback, one HRV biofeedback and one no intervention. Dance was assessed before and after training. Performance improvements were found in the biofeedback groups but not in the control group. Neurofeedback and HRV biofeedback benefited performance in different ways. A replication with larger sample sizes is required.