Dance Observation Paper

Identification and Justification of the research:

Research describes dance to be physical, intellectual and emotional (Brown, 2014). There are many observational tools that will assist in the acquisition of technique and form in serial movement tasks like a dance sequence. Observational learning is used in dance when the expert teacher/choreographer is instructing the sequence or set moves to the novice dancers. Observation is beneficial as it facilitates motor learning and the development of cognitive processing (Rohbandard et al., 2011). Although observation is useful, most studies test acquisition of simple discrete tasks (Rohbandard et al., 2011). The issue that continues to exist is that the body remains an object for the teacher to

For the pre-test the participants are required to perform 5 physical practice trials (ballet combo) with no KR. The ACQ 1 requires participants in the physical practice group to continue the combination for 10 more trials, the observation groups, observe either the novice, expert or mixed perform the segment for 10 trails and the control group has no physical practice, no observation and no KR during this time. Next the immediate retention test (Imm. RET) follows and all participants physically perform motor task segment again with no KR. In ACQ 2 both the physical practice group and the observation groups perform segment again for 10 trials with no KR, the control condition do not get an opportunity to practice at this time. Following this period of acquisition there is a ten minute period for rest and retention. When the 10 min break is over all participants are then tested again in a 10 trail physical practice with no KR. Participants will undergo a 24 hour consolidation period, then return to the study and perform a 10 trial physical practice with no KR. All phases of the experiment took place in a dance studio, each of the experimental phases is done separately and participants could not see each other during the study. The dependent variables that are measured in this study are variable error (VE) in the movement form during the 4-segement routine, and form and accuracy of movement pattern is assessed. There are no significant differences in the level of ability, as assessed in the pre-test, confirming that groups are at equivalent skill level. Based on the research and study provided after the completion of acquisition phase 1, it is hypothesized that the observational-mixed group is expected to show superior form and accuracy compared to all other groups (Rohbanfard at al.,