'Cultures of Dance' Construct Experiences of Health and Growing
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
An Exploration of How Various ‘Cultures of Dance’ Construct Experiences of Health and Growing Older Susan Mary Paulson Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy City University London Department of Psychology November 2009 . ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................. 7 RESEARCH PROPOSAL: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW VARIOUS ‘CULTURES OF DANCE’ CONSTRUCT EXPERIENCES OF HEALTH AND GROWING OLDER......... 8 AIMS OF PROPOSED RESEARCH............................................................................................... 11 OUTLINE OF PROPOSED RESEARCH......................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER ONE: INITIAL LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................... 13 IMPORTANCE OF ACTIVE AGEING IN PROMOTING HEALTH.................................................... 14 LACK OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH ON THE AGEING BODY ..................................... 14 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ON EXERCISE AND DANCE-LIKE MOVEMENT ............................. 15 RESEARCH ON DANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE MEDICAL MODEL ............................... 16 SOCIOLOGICAL WORK ON DANCE AND THE AGEING BODY ................................................... 17 EXISTING STUDIES FOCUS ON ‘BODY TALK’ NOT ‘BODY MATERIALITY’.............................. 18 PARADOXES OF THE AGEING BODY AND AGEING EMBODIMENT ........................................... 20 MASK OF AGEING AND FEMALE BEAUTY HYPOTHESIS.......................................................... 20 FEW ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES ON AGEING AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY................................... 22 PHENOMENOLOGY OF EMBODIMENT ...................................................................................... 23 CULTURE, PHENOMENOLOGY AND EMBODIMENT .................................................................. 25 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES.............................................................. 31 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 31 OUTLINE OF CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................... 31 1) DISCUSSION OF THE LITERATURE ....................................................................................... 32 The Cultural Turn in Psychology........................................................................................ 32 Insights from Participatory Action Research ..................................................................... 33 Insights from Dance Anthropology..................................................................................... 34 Ethnographic Notes as Thick Description .......................................................................... 36 Insights from Narrative Literature...................................................................................... 36 Realist, Post-modern and Post Post-modern Ethnography ................................................ 38 Insights from Critical Gerontology and Foucauldian Theory............................................ 39 2) REFERENCES TO DATA AND RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................ 39 Outline of My Research in Two Circle Dance Groups....................................................... 40 Outline of My Research in the Two Scottish Dance Groups .............................................. 41 Ethics................................................................................................................................... 43 Importance of Reflexivity .................................................................................................... 43 Narrative Style Interview Schedule..................................................................................... 44 Stages of Analysis of Data .................................................................................................. 45 MY REFLECTION ON THE EXPERIENCE OF WORKING ETHNOGRAPHICALLY AND WITH NARRATIVES............................................................................................................................ 48 SELF-REFLEXIVITY.................................................................................................................. 51 BIGGER STORIES EMERGING FROM THE NARRATIVE ANALYSIS ............................................ 52 CHAPTER THREE: FORMING A SENSE OF BELONGING THROUGH DANCE AS AN OLDER PERSON ............................................................................................................... 54 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 54 CRITICAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY AND CREATIVE ARTS......................................................... 54 Official Definition of Circle Dance Network...................................................................... 56 OUTLINE OF FINDINGS ON CIRCLE DANCE.............................................................................. 56 CIRCLE DANCES FACILITATE COMMUNITY ............................................................................ 57 SENDING THE LIGHT AND VISUALISING SICK MEMBERS........................................................ 60 CLOTHES FOR CIRCLE DANCE ................................................................................................. 63 MUSIC, METAPHORS AND MEMORIES ..................................................................................... 65 GENDER ISSUES IN CIRCLE DANCE ......................................................................................... 69 DANCING IN RETIREMENT AND MEMORIES OF DANCING WHEN YOUNGER ........................... 71 MEMORIES OF CIRCLE DANCING AND HOLIDAYS IN GREECE ................................................ 74 2 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL AND SOCIAL DANCING ............................................76 Official Definition of Scottish Country Dancing.................................................................79 Official Definition of Ladies’ Step Dance ...........................................................................80 OUTLINE OF FINDINGS ON SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE AND LADIES’ STEP DANCE .............80 SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCES FACILITATE COMMUNITY........................................................81 PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY DEMANDING SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCES ...........................85 LADIES’ STEP DANCES AS PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY DEMANDING .................................86 LADIES’ STEP DANCES FACILITATE COMMUNITY...................................................................88 CLOTHES FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE AND LADIES’ STEP DANCE.................................89 IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC...........................................................................................................93 GENDER IN SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE AND LADIES’ STEP DANCE .....................................98 DANCING IN RETIREMENT AND MEMORIES OF DANCING WHEN YOUNGER.........................101 SOCIALISING IN SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE AND LADIES’ STEP DANCE............................105 PROBLEMS OF SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE AS A SOCIAL DANCE FORM..............................111 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ......................................................................................................113 CHAPTER FOUR: LEARNING TO DANCE AS AN OLDER PERSON.........................116 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................116 LITERATURE ON THE AGEING BODY AND AGEING EMBODIMENT ........................................116 LITERATURE ON OLDER PEOPLE LEARNING TO DANCE........................................................117 METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES: BOTH CIRCLE DANCE GROUPS.................................................118 OUTLINE OF FINDINGS RELATING TO CIRCLE DANCE...........................................................119 COMPLEX FOOTWORK AND TIMING IN CIRCLE DANCE.........................................................120 EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING TO CIRCLE DANCE: EASE AND DIFFICULTY ............................121 EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING TO CIRCLE DANCE: SEPARATE MIND AND BODY VERSUS EMBODIMENT.........................................................................................................................125 STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING CIRCLE DANCE: MODIFICATIONS FOR AGEING .......................126 PROFESSIONAL DANCERS’ EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING CIRCLE DANCE .............................129 TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHING CIRCLE DANCE AS AN OLDER PERSON AND TEACHING OLDER LEARNERS................................................................................................132 METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES: BOTH SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE GROUPS AND LADIES’ STEP DANCE ...................................................................................................................................136 OUTLINE OF FINDINGS RELATING TO LADIES’ STEP DANCE AND SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE ...............................................................................................................................................136 LADIES’ STEP DANCE: BALLETIC FEET AND BRAINWORK....................................................137