Thinking with the Dancing Brain: Embodying Neuroscience

As seasoned dancers and dance educators, Minton and Faber approach brain function from inside the body as embodiment of thought. Their collection of neurological research about the thought processes in learning and performing dance encompasses a vision of dance as creative art, communication, education, and life. The book informs neuroscientists, educators, and dancers about the complex interdependence of brain localities and networking of human neurology through an integration of physiology, cognition, and the art of dance. Chapters address observation, engagement, critical thought, emotion, memory, imagery and imagination, learning, problem solving, and 21st century skills. Finer components are explored through neurological networks, classroom pedagogy, dance, and movement experiences that provide: Description of the thought processes, their components, and their neurological functional needs.The neurological physiology that has been discovered in the cognitive process.How brain function can be applied to the educational classroom.Applications of the neurological research to dance education, the choreographic process, and dance performance.Movement explorations for readers to experience the thought processes through dance with neurological knowledge in mind.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Robert G. Shulman Preface Acknowledgments 1. Groundwork for Thinking in Dance 2. Observation 3. Engagement 4. High Level Thinking Skills 5. Emotion 6. Memory 7. Imagination and Imagery 8. Learning 9. Problem Solving 10. 21st Century Skills Glossary Index

About the Author :
Sandra Minton, PhD, has written a number of dance education texts, including Choreography: ABasic Approach Using Improvisation, has published her research in juried journals, and has presented at national and international conferences. She was a dance major at UCLA where she studied with Alma Hawkins and Valerie Hunt who initiated her interest in the mind/body connection, has taught dance in public schools, and she earned her doctorate in dance/kinesiology. Minton is currently the co-coordinator of the Dance Education MA at the University of Northern Colorado. Rima Faber, PhD, trained with Anna Sokolow, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham and has pursued a career as a performer, choreographer, and dance educator. While a dance major at Bennington College, Faber also focused on intensive study of cognition, with research in child development and neurological functioning through dance. Upon receipt of a doctorate in education, she became the founding president of the National Dance Education Organization where she worked for thirteen years.

Review :
Thinking with the Dancing Brain is a must read book for educators, artists, and scientists. This gem is revolutionary in its structure. Current brain research and valuable educational theories are interspersed in every chapter with simple movement explorations that make the research understandable and the theories memorable. The book proves once and for all that the body and brain work as one unit and that thought cannot take place without movement. Thinking with the Dancing Brain should be part of every dance educator’s library, especially if they want to move forward in the 21st century with keener content and pedagogical skills. The authors have done an excellent job exploring the interdependence of brain function and critical thinking, how the interplay impacts learning and teaching dance, and its embodiment in movement. Each chapter ends with an application section in which students experience the effect. Remarkably, the book unifies the Cartesian duality between body and mind, physicality and thought. Thinking with the Dancing Brain is a wonderfully written text that genuinely brings the nature of brain and body together in dance and learning. Soundly grounded in neuroscience, the book carefully walks the reader through the research on the brain and its contributions to the beauty of dance and how dance improves brain functioning and learning. The embedded exercises help the reader reach a new awareness of the intricate interaction between the brain and body that helps make dance such an emotional and rewarding form of communication and how dance can improve learning and memory. The movement explorations are a functional and practical way to bring the didactic portion of the book to life. They benefit the kinesthetic learner, thus incorporating every learning style. As someone who specializes in movement, and teaching it to a wide patient population, these explorations were extremely useful. Thinking with the Dancing Brain brings decades of experience together to teach us about the science of movement, brain integration and the opportunity to more completely understand the applications of movement in education. The work invites dance educators, artists, therapists and others to the practice of observation and awareness. As our students’ needs are increasing and becoming more complex, we need more tools to access all learners. Minton and Faber continue to feed our community with insight and wisdom and to promote conversation and inquiry into how dance and movement help us to understand human interaction, expression, communication and function.