Climate change in the dance studio: Findings from the UK centres for advanced training.

Abstract

Little is known regarding the stability of motivational climate perceptions, or how changes in climate perceptions affect performers. As a result, dancers' perceptions of the prevailing climate within both regional centers for talented young people and local dance schools were assessed longitudinally and in relation to dance class anxiety and self-esteem. Dancers (M age ϭ 14.41, SD ϭ 2.10; 75.7% female) completed standardized questionnaires approximately 6 months apart (Time 1 n ϭ 327; Time 2 n ϭ 264). Both climates were perceived as more task-than ego-involving, but talent center climates were perceived as more task-involving and less ego-involving than local climates. However, dancers found that talent centers became more ego-involving from the middle to the end of the school year, and this change predicted increases in anxiety. Changes in climate perceptions did not predict changes in self-esteem. Results point to the benefits of climates low in ego-involving features if dancers are to experience less anxiety around performance time.

Multidisciplinary predictors of adherence to contemporary dance training: findings from the UK Centres for Advanced Training

“…Perceptions of egoinvolving climates in dance are related to physical and emotional exhaustion (Quested & Duda, 2010) and anxiety (Nordin-Bates, Quested, Walker, & Redding, 2012). As such, if young dancers feel that their well-being is compromised by their social environment, they may choose to remove themselves from that environment.…”

Psychosocial Predictors of Well-Being in Collegiate Dancers

“…A plethora of research in sport (Duda & Balaguer, 2007) and physical activity settings (Braithwaite, Spray, & Warburton, 2011) has indicated that a task climate is positively related to a host of adaptive cognitive states (e.g., confidence, motivation) and behavior (e.g., reduced drop-out). More germane to the current study, dance researchers examining the motivational climate have found that as dancers perceive the dance climate becoming more ego-involved over time, they experience increased anxiety (Nordin-Bates et al, 2012). Hip-hop dancers with strong perceptions of a task-involving climate in their schools reported greater need satisfaction for autonomy, competence, and relatedness compared with dancers who viewed their dance school as being less task-involved (Quested & Duda, 2009).…”

“…For instance, it is well known that dancing is a physically demanding activity that results in high rates of injury (Hamilton, Hamilton, Meltzer, Marshall, & Molnar, 1989;Nordin-Bates et al, 2011). Other researchers have examined burnout (Quested & Duda, 2011), trait anxiety (Lench, Levine & Roe, 2010), state anxiety (Nordin-Bates, Quested, Walker, & Redding, 2012), performance anxiety (Walker & Nordin-Bates, 2010) and negative affect in dancers (Quested & Duda, 2009, 2011. However, with limited exceptions (e.g., Quested & Duda, 2011), few researchers have documented indices of well-being or examined predictors of well-being.…”

“…Furthermore, understanding how to promote positive experiences and reduce burnout can help reduce drop-out. Researchers have indicated that dancers drop out for a myriad of reasons, but factors such as losing their passion, low perceived competence, and teacher behavior are paramount (Nordin-Bates et al, 2012).…”

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“…Behavior training gives a feedback in task orientation and offers an intrinsic motivation. For this reason, this type of behavior is perceived as autonomous and inherently supportive a task climate, that is, task-oriented athletes are more likely to be conscious and resilient (Nordin-Bates, Quested, Walker, & Redding, 2012). In addition, Ntoumanis, Taylor, and Thøgersen-Ntoumani (2012), argued the partners' and coaches' behaviors have a great influence in the team sports' motivation and behaviors results promoting stability for the long term.…”