Authors: McKayla Pehrson, Emily Hyde
Mentors: Lyndsey Vader
Insitution: Utah Valley University
Emily Hyde and McKayla Pehrson acknowledge that social factors and life circumstances can provide barriers to success, defined as the ability to implement life skills such as self-discipline, creativity, and perseverance. They address how practitioners and educators can use dance and music to reduce barriers. Hyde and Pehrson engage in discourse analysis of recent scholarship, analyzing trends and outcomes in the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social benefits of arts-based interventions. Their research asks: What cognitive benefits are identifiable through dance and music training? What life skills are taught through the study of both music and dance? What are the benefits of dance and music in advancing different learning styles? What is the importance of administrative support and community-academic partnerships when it comes to arts-based learning?
Importantly, their research examines specific national and international training programs that use music and dance as a Life Coaching methodology. The presentation of their discursive findings foreshadows field work and data collection that they will undertake in the summer of 2024.
Hyde and Pehrson’s research focuses on the impact of teaching essential life skills through dance and music education. While dance education scholarship addresses positive learning outcomes of arts access, contemporary research does not adequately address how dance educators can receive training as life coaches to enhance their teaching practices. Their research will provide valuable discoveries advancing the conversation about how dance and music are beneficial to the development of life skills and crucial for the success of young learners. Simultaneously, they will offer insight around training programs that help prepare future dance educators to teach these life skills in the classroom.