Editorial: Dance, embodied agency and neuroplasticity in aging

Dance is a multi-modal artistic engagement whose group-delivered protocols have resulted in positive impacts on elderly health (Roberts et al 2017; Liu, Shen, and Tsai, 2021). Since the 2022 special topic issue on dance and the elderly was published (Markula, Clark and Goodwin 2022), reports from arts-science research collaborations have shown numerous ways person- and community-centered arts-based approaches have extended health across quality-of-life domains among aging adults (Fancourt and Steptoe, 2019; Golden, et al., 2023). For dance, such improvements have been reported from training in many different dance styles – structured (modern dance), improvisational, culturally stylized and technologically-assisted. The research is promising, particularly as many barriers to dancing have been removed and ease of access has improved for diverse populations. Nonetheless, important research gaps remain, specifically in articulating the social benefits of dance and their impact on agency (Karczmarska 2023; Jensen, et al., 2024; Kontos and Grigorovich, 2018). As an aesthetic art form, dance participation couples brain-body health with a range of communicative abilities bearing on relationality and meaning (Warburton 2011). Data on psychosocial skills of attention, listening, cooperation, self-regulation and empathy are not commonly collected or reported in quantitative research. Valuing such nontangible factors is particularly relevant first in promoting independence and in decreasing the perceived and actual burden of aging on general health and wellbeing. Further, critical to research advancement is the need to distinguish and differentiate functional and neuroplastic outcomes comparing dance protocols with comparable dosages of repetitive fitness exercise (Rehfeld, et al., 2018; Müller, et al., 2017). Last, the impact of aesthetic factors on health remains understudied (Chappell et al, 2021; Fontanesi 2021). For this special research topic issue on dance and health in older adults, our interest focused around the interaction of qualitative and quantitative factors. Specifically, we solicited studies that address how dance participation could foster embodied agency, as well as induce positive neuroplastic changes in the brains of the elderly across different populations. Manuscripts submitted reflected a global scope of collaborative research between dance educators and neurological and behavioral scientists, including Brazil, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Included in this collection are original clinical research, case series, conceptual analysis, and perspectives papers, in which researchers critically analyze interrelated connections and interactions of physical psychological, aesthetic, cultural and social meanings of dance for older persons. Although the collection offers a small sampling of the scope of the topic of embodied agency through dance (9 articles, plus Editorial), they represent an evocative variety of mixed methodologies in both quantitative science and qualitative phenomenological, sociological and cultural research. The issue opens with a perspective by Sheets-Johnstone, dance philosopher, who emphasizes the need to explicate the neurological and kinesthetic coordination dynamics embodied within dance, dynamics which are critical to engendering health of the whole body.In a conceptual analysis of an Italian study on dance and Parkinson’s disease, Houston extrapolates ‘soft skills’ – ‘anoetic knowledge,’ data which, when expressed through dance, preface a sensate, emotional and affective state of mind - one critical to self- and other-care, vulnerability, patience, and other indicators of meaningful social engagement.Other samples from the collection include original clinical research: a randomized controlled study on social determinants of health by Worthen-Chadhuri et al., reporting improvements in autonomy, competence and relatedness for persons with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy. In three studies, researchers designed digitally assisted technology in their dance/movement protocols: First, Delabary et al. reported sustained improvements from Brazilian dance for older adults living with Parkinson’s disease, despite switching from on-site to online learning during the COVID 19 epidemic. Second, emplying a protocol or virtual ballet and wellness classes, Harrison et al. reported combined qualitative and quantitaqtive improvements in measures of social efficacy and gait and balance for a group of elderly women. Third, the use of group-delivery of visual assisted feedback of hand gestures by Hansen, et al. proved aesthetically ‘irresistible,’ in stimulating movement learning.The article by Barnstaple et al., speaks to the need for transdisciplinary researchers to rise to the challenge of capturing nuance in ‘full bodied reporting.’ They pose methodological questions and offer guidelines that point the way towards improving sensitivity, reliability and replicability in research designs. We invite readers to explore all the articles in this collection and thank Frontiers for affording us the opportunity to pursue this project. We trust that in reading the articles in this special issue, readers will broaden their understanding of ways that dance offers a lived experience of embodiment, relationality, and meaning, integral to building a paradigm of mind and body holism and unity. As scientists consider the value of dance on health and wellbeing in aging, the collective contributions of the artists, participants, and clinicians will assist in building authentic and mutually beneficial relationships among the medical and public communities served.

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