IntroductionAs western theatrical dance has developed through the centuries, dance educators, artists, and researchers have sought methods to improve dance skills and to refine the quality of dance performance. In the pursuit of ever-increasing technical skills, improved alignment, freedom from injury, and enhanced artistic capabilities such as expanded dynamic and expressive range, dancers have explored numerous training systems developed for these purposes. These systems are often used in conjunction with dance technique classes, and they explore a range of approaches addressing different aspects of the neural and motor mechanisms underlying dance skills. In general, the systems can be seen as operating within two large concerns. The first includes systems using imagery and/or mental practice designed to affect alignment and dance performance on the subcortical or neurological level, with minimal or no physical action (Bartenieff 1980;Dowd 1990;Sweigard 1974;Todd 1937). The second emphasizes consistent and specialized exercise programs designed to encourage muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and/or cardio-respiratory endurance, with the claim that these physical changes will enhance alignment, dance technique, and performance (Clippinger-Robertson

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The technique class can be an amalgam of frustration and joy, cautious imitation and mindless replication, being right and being wrong. Competing requisites, such as a desire for expressive freedom in relation to the demand that a movement be precisely structured, can unwittingly create a tension between teachers and students. The reasons for such tensions highlight a fundamental conundrum. Feedback, as a teaching and learning tool, is one way to bring the situation into focus. Yet to better understand what is happening under the rubric of technique, the voices of students should be heard. This essay, engaging student voices, examines the nature of the technique class by re-examining the meaning of feedback.

Banintroduction Recent scientific research provides evidence to suggest that it is more than coincidental that principles of training are held in common by Tai Chi, Sweigard's Ideokinesis, and Bartenieff's Fundamentals. The reason that principles of training for the neuromuscular facilitation of human movement can be found to cross diverse methods and forms of training is, quite simply, that they work. This statement comes as no surprise to individuals who have utilized these principles of training. However, only recently has objective scientific evidence been published that suggests the potential efficacy of this kind of training. Beyond comparing principles of training and current scientific research, the purpose of this paper is to build a testable hypothesis that can provide a focus in dance science for the beginnings of experimentation in neuromuscular facilitation training. Before comparing and synthesizing the vastly different kinds of literature included below, some comments regarding word choices are in order. The terms used for this paper are selected because of their generic meanings and because of their ability to connote the concepts to which they refer. They are not intended to reflect specialized meanings within any narrow realm. The paper draws upon language from different fields of study and different cultures because there are no standardized interdisciplinary or intercultural terms for the phenomena discussed. The thrust is to reveal existing conceptualization of the phenomena. On the surface, Tai Chi, Sweigard's Ideokinesis, Bartenieff's Fundamentals, and scientific research in motor control appear to be conceived of as distinct and unrelated practices with different purposes and goals. Yet, when the essential aims and applications of each of these pursuits are considered, more similarities than differences become apparent. Tai Chi is frequently taught and practiced as a means to glowing health. "It is often considered an art of extreme value for attaining longevity" (Huang 1974,12). The functional application of the movements learned in Tai Chi is in the realm of self-defense. In this manifestation,