'Observation' key to mastering dance forms

A new research has revealed that learning dance sequence by visual observation is better than learning by spoken instruction.

Researchers from Bielefeld University and the Palucca University of Dance in Dresden studied whether dancers learn a dance sequence better by seeing or by listening, that is, if a dance instructor first demonstrates the sequence, or if he or she first gives a spoken explanation.

Researcher Bettina Blasing of Bielefeld University said that it has long been believed, both in terms of theory and practice, that the patterns of movement are best learned by observation and so they wanted to clarify whether this is really the case.

The researchers found that when a dancer learned the set of movements first by sight, later, they were better able to reproduce the dance phrase than if they had initially been taught the dance by listening to spoken instructions.

A written questionnaire completed by the study participants also indicated that they preferred the visual learning modality and that they felt more sure of themselves when performing if they had learned the dance sequence mainly by observing it.

The research article detailing the results of this study was recently awarded "Best Paper" at the October 2014 conference of the German Society for Cognitive Science.