Native American Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Followers of the New Age movement and others have been exploiting and commercializing “Native American” spirituality. This exploitation is being fought by many Native people. Native American spirituality may be studied and appreciated, but use of Native American religious forms outside of Native American communities is considered misappropriation and cultural theft. Native spiritualities address the needs of present-day Native communities. A Native spirituality that ignores that need is no longer a religion of and for the community. Disconnected from a Native community, religious beliefs, ceremonies, and religious art forms lose their primary significance.     

Hay’s Buddhist philosophy of gestural language

The central role of gestural language in Buddhism is widely acknowledged, as in the story of the Buddha pointing at the moon, the point being the student’s seeing beyond the finger (as object) to its gesture (as act). Gesture’s role in dance is similarly central, as noted by scholars in the emerging interdisciplinary field of dance studies. Unsurprisingly, then, the intersection of these two fields is well-populated, including the formal gestures (called “mudras”) Buddhism inherited from classical Indian dance, and the masked dance of the Mani Rimdu Festival. In this investigation, I will articulate a new Buddhist philosophy of gestural language, based on a new conception of emptiness that I locate in the work of contemporary U.S. choreographer Deborah Hay, as influenced by Nāgārjuna and Zen. And this, finally, suggests that contemporary Western philosophy should incorporate this compassion as a normative dimension to its own theorizing and practice.     

舞动治疗对高校辅导员职业倦怠的干预研究

旨在探讨舞动治疗对于辅导员职业倦怠干预的效果,为辅导员缓解职业倦怠提供方法和依据。采用简单随机抽样方法,从三所高校中抽取60名辅导员进行研究,分为两组,通过舞动治疗与普通系列讲座两种方式,并前后对照探讨舞动治疗对高校辅导员职业倦怠的影响。研究采用前后测对照组实验组实验法,使用问卷对60名辅导员进行调查研究。问卷共包括两部分,分别为一般自我效能感量表（GSES）和Maslach职业倦怠量表（MBI-GS）。结果显示舞动治疗后职业倦怠的情绪耗竭和玩世不恭维度得分显著下降,成就感得分显著上升,自我效能感显著提升;系列讲座后职业倦怠的玩世不恭和成就感得分没有变化,情绪耗竭得分明显增加,自我效能感没有改善。由此可以看出舞动治疗可以改善高校辅导员的职业倦怠状况。     

广场舞组织氛围和老年人主观幸福感的关系:组织认同和自尊的中介作用

以366名参加广场舞活动的老年人为研究对象,探讨广场舞组织氛围对老年人主观幸福感的影响及其作用机制。结果表明：广场舞组织氛围能通过组织认同和自尊的中介作用对主观幸福感产生影响,且该中介作用包含了两条路径——自尊的单独中介作用以及组织认同—自尊的链式中介作用。因此可以通过改善广场舞组织氛围增强老年人主观幸福感,以促进老年人成功老化、积极老化、健康老化。     

Gross-motor skill acquisition by preschool dance students under self-instruction procedures

The effects of two training procedures--(a) modeling and praise and (b) self-instruction, modeling, and praise--on complex gross-motor chain acquisition for preschool dance class students were evaluated. Six girls participated in the study. A multiple baseline design across six gross-motor chains with a secondary group comparison for treatment order effects was used. Both procedures were effective in teaching the gross-motor chains. Nevertheless, for 4 of the 6 participants, the self-instruction procedure produced a faster acquisition rate in at least two of the three comparable pairs of gross-motor chains. Furthermore, very early in gross-motor chain acquisition, for five of the six gross-motor chains, the self-instruction condition was associated with faster response acquisition.     

The Dance: Essence of Embodiment

An analysis of movement, and particularly of dance,helps us to see in an extraordinarily effective way the meaningof embodiment. This paper then looks through the eyes ofdance theorists and at philosophers who consider dance andmovement and their meaning of embodiment. A study of movementand dance encompasses the fullest meaning of embodiment: that theembodied way of being-in-the-world is also an embedded way ofbeing in a world of others. Dance has critically importantsocial ramifications. In our own and other cultures, dance playsan important role in healing and in health enhancement.     

MA and Togetherness (Ittaikan) in the Narratives of Dancers and Spectators: Sharing an Uncertain Space

The Japanese concept/character MA (間), commonly translated as “gap, interval, or the in between,” partakes in many forms of Japanese arts and daily-life practices. In this article, we report the results of a qualitative research on the meaning or experience of MA and its relation with the feeling of togetherness in the context of contemporary dance improvisation. We interviewed performers and spectators (all professional dancers) while they watched the videotaped and reduced stick-figure versions of short dance improvisations created in a laboratory installed with motion-capture sensors. Based on the individual narratives, and inspired by Japanese and occidental aesthetic writings, we elaborate a specific understanding of MA as attending to the event's preacceleration, and how this experience causally relates to the feeling of togetherness (一体感, ittaikan). We propose that MA, understood not extensionally (as an empty space or a silent gap), but intentionally/internally as a certain quality of attention or perceptual mode, is fertile ground for serendipity. MA as an interpersonal ethical construct suggests a transsubjective difference as a foundation for a collective coming together.     

Effects of Movement Improvisation and Aerobic Dancing on Motor Creativity and Divergent Thinking

Creativity is considered to be an embodied concept, where internal psychological and external behavioral processes are intertwined. Creativity enhancement programs often target the cognitive side of this bi‐dimensionality leaving the impact of motor interventions underexplored. To address this gap in the literature, we tested the effectiveness of two motor programs on motor creativity and divergent thinking (verbal and figural). A total of 92 college students (M_age = 25.36, SD = 2.66) were randomly allocated to a movement improvisation, an aerobic dance, or a control condition. Participants in both motor programs took part in ten 30‐minute classes twice a week over a period of 5 weeks. The findings revealed a significant effect of the motor programs on motor fluency and flexibility. Movement improvisation yielded the greatest effects on those variables, followed by aerobic dancing and control condition. Movement improvisation also impacted significantly more figural originality than the control condition. However, the effects were limited to the motor domain and failed to transfer into other divergent thinking variables. The findings highlighted the contribution of movement programs to creative potential development, and the imperative role of a non‐judgmental environment, where individuals are free to move spontaneously.     

Move2Love and Vibrancy: Community Dance/Fitness

The Move2Love program demonstrates the feasibility of establishing community-based programs involving dance and exercise to support physical and social well-being in older women. The social fitness program has been running continuously for 23 years. It currently involves 125 to 175 women between the ages of 54 and 94 in weekly rhythmic training sessions. In addition to meeting the initial goals of addiction avoidance in an at-risk population, this program has contributed to the well-being of participants, both by lowering disease burden, and by increasing physical, social, and psychological fitness. This article describes the program and explores the reasons that it has continued to work for over two decades. It also demonstrates the value experienced by participants in their own words. The Move2Love program could serve as a feasibility pilot for other communities wishing to create sustainable, salutary activity programming to enhance the well-being of senior women.     

Mechanisms for Affect Communication from Dance: A Mixed Methods Study

Dance is a multifaceted creative act that has been used to communicate emotions throughout human evolution. Despite this history, there has been no empirical exploration of components of dance that allow it to communicate emotion. We address this with a mixed methods study in which a quantitative study with dance viewers builds upon qualitative findings with dance artists. Qualitative analysis revealed proposed components of dance responsible for emotion communication are narrative content, social interaction, emotion portrayal intent, and textural quality of movement. These elements were then manipulated using dance video stimuli to quantitatively test viewers' emotion perception accuracy. Results revealed emotion portrayal intent (i.e., expression intent in dance creation) is an important factor for viewers to accurately perceive emotion, regardless of narrative content. While prior studies have focused on the perceiver's role in emotion perception from dance, this is the first study to demonstrate emotions are perceived from dance based on intent during dance creation. Findings highlight the nuanced structure of emotion communication in dance, for which we pose a theoretical framework. Together, dance holds possibilities for studying distinct mechanisms for creative communication that may be important for the study of generalized affect communication outside of creative arts contexts.