Dance and the Quality of Life

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Introduction: At Last, Together

   • Karen Bond

   Pages 1-20

3. Dancing Ecology, Sustaining Earth

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21

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   2. Canyon Consciousness

      • Sondra Fraleigh

      Pages 23-44

   3. Dancing the Landscape

      • Don Asker

      Pages 45-65

   4. In the Shadow of Crisis: Dance and Meaning in the Anthropocene

      • Robert Bingham

      Pages 67-80

4. Spirituality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

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   2. Dance as a Taonga from Children to the World: A Perspective from Aotearoa New Zealand

      • Adrienne Sansom

      Pages 83-100

   3. West African Dance and Spiritual Well-Being for African Americans

      • Ojeya Cruz Banks, Jeanette “Adama Jewel” Jackson

      Pages 101-115

   4. Dancing on Earth: The Healing Dance of Kalahari Bushmen and the Native American Ghost Dance Religion

      • Kimerer L. LaMothe

      Pages 117-133

   5. The Spirit Moves: Christian Trance Dance in Late Medieval Europe and Early Nineteenth-Century America

      • Jessica Van Oort

      Pages 135-151

5. Philosophical Perspectives

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

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   2. How Seudati Put Me in Touch with Birds

      • Sally Gardner

      Pages 155-165

   3. Pause. Listen.: Visibility and Freedom in Choreographic Practice

      • Simon Ellis

      Pages 167-183

   4. Beauty in Disability: An Aesthetics for Dance and for Life

      • Aili Bresnahan, Michael Deckard

      Pages 185-203

6. Dancing Gender, Dancing Family

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 205-205

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   2. “Just Me and Daddy”

      • Byron Richard

      Pages 207-225

   3. Fathers, Sons and Encounters in Dance

      • Isto Turpeinen, Ralph Buck

      Pages 227-243

   4. Friction: Male Identity and Representation in Umfundalai

      • C. Kemal Nance

      Pages 245-260

7. Health, Wellbeing, Ability

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 261-261

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This is the first volume devoted to the topic of dance and quality of life. Thirty-one chapters illuminate dance in relation to singular and overlapping themes of nature, philosophy, spirituality, religion, life span, learning, love, family, teaching, creativity, ability, socio-cultural identity, politics and change, sex and gender, wellbeing, and more. With contributions from a multi-generational group of artists, community workers, educators, philosophers, researchers, students and health professionals, this volume presents a thoughtful, expansive-yet-focused, and nuanced discussion of dance’s contribution to human life. The volume will interest dance specialists, quality of life researchers, and anyone interested in exploring dance’s contribution to quality of living and being.

• Dance and Quality of Life
• Dance and Well-Being
• Arts in Human Development
• Drawing and Childhood Dance
• Intrinsic Dance and Quality of Moving
• Dance and Meaning in the Anthropocene
• Role of Dancing in Human Life
• Evolutionary Theories on Dance and Religion
• Dancing the Life Span
• Dance Education for Men
• Teenage Dancer's Perceptions of Identity
• Dancing Elders in Northern Australia
• Dance and Quality of Life in Schools
• Dance and Freedom for University Students
• Interactive Cognitive Subsystems (ICS)
• Teaching Dance in Dance in Higher Education
• Dancing with Post-Partum Depression
• Quality of Life of Dancers with Parkinson
• Life-Changing and Disability-Inclusive Dance

• Department of Dance, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

  Karen Bond

Dr. Karen Bond is Chair of the Temple University Department of Dance, Philadelphia, USA. She was formerly Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Dance Education and Research at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where she developed several of Australia’s first Master’s level courses in dance. She was a founding member of Al Wunder’s Theatre of the Ordinary, Australia's first improvisational performance company, and of Adzohu, a West African music and dance ensemble based at La Trobe University, Melbourne. She is known for her research into experiences and meanings of dance for participants from a range of populations and settings encompassing education, community arts, performance and therapy. Dr. Bond is widely published in books, journals and conference publications, and has presented papers, courses, and workshops in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Jamaica, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Saipan, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the USA. In 2013, she wasthe inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Dance Education Researcher Award from the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).

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