Study Regarding the Use of Imagery in Dance

Abstract

Dance imagery is a skill performed in our head using our five senses (sight, taste, sound, smell, and touch) to visualize a movement or several movements in dance. It is possible for us to use imagery on its own or while we are dancing. The images formed in your head may comprise real movements or both movements and objects. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the use of imagery among dancers aged between 16 and 18. The investigation consisted in the application of the questionnaire "Development of the Dance Imagery Questionnaire" (DIQ) elaborated by Nordin, S. M., & Cumming, J. ( 2006) for 40 dancers. The questionnaire contains 16 items, divided into four categories: technique, artistry, purpose and quality of the role and the movement. It evaluates the extent to which the subjects incorporate imagery in all aspects related to dance. After interpreting the results, for technique we obtained a mean and a standard deviation of 5.7750 ± 0.70438, for artistry 5.6438 ± 0.65017, for the category of purpose 5.7938 ± 0.53973, and for quality 5.5938 ± 0.76520. After analyzing the data and making correlations between the four categories, we obtained values of Pearson's coefficient ranging between 0.05 and 0.01, which stands to show interdependence between the items of the categories. Consequently, it may be stated that the multiple answers to the questionnaire on the use of imagery in dance tend towards the value 6, which means that the subjects questioned used imagery in dance quite often.