scholarly journals Dance Artists, Dance Education, and Society

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen McKinlay Kurnaedy

In this paper I take an historical look at dance artists and theorists, examining their influence on today’s curriculum in our school system. I argue that dance education should be recognized as of equal importance as other art forms, that it is essential for our society’s well being, and that it should be included and fostered in our school curricula. I further examine a number of key contributors to dance and dance education within the last century in the Western sphere. Key questions I examine are: Who were some of the most influential dance artists and dance educators of the past century? Who were the innovators and key contributors? How has their work affected dance education? How has their work been passed on? Have their bodies of work, their methodologies, or their beliefs about the body changed society? Has their work shaped culture or was it a byproduct or reflection of culture and the forces of the time they lived? As well as an historical look at dance artists and theorists, I also undertake a philosophical inquiry, examining the idea of dance in the curriculum as being misunderstood: as an area to explore feeling, but not intellect. Finally, I look at the essentialness of an integrated dance and movement education as a way of connecting human beings to their bodies, as well as using the body as an essential means of expression.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Maisie Beth James

In this article, I offer a somatic process to non-movers at home during the COVID-19 lockdown. These participants also offer reflections on their individual experience post-moving. As a facilitator, I invite you to take part in this process, whether you are a dancer or non-mover (whatever your age or ability). The process focuses on self-regulation and interoceptive awareness, allowing the time and space to connect with Self. Self-regulation and interoceptive awareness are two of the most important aspects of somatic movement in supporting free-flowing movement and balancing the nervous system. Self-regulation in turn can produce a sense of agency – meaning a sense of autonomy and release within the body can occur. In line with cultural pressures experienced within society, somatic processes can ease the anxieties of everyday life. Inviting Self into a practical, felt process is sometimes what we need in order to re-evaluate our positioning and perceptions within the world. As human beings we often find ourselves in stressful and challenging situations that ultimately affect the body’s nervous state and our relationship with Self. We currently find ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic, and opportunities to connect with Self in creative, communal ways are hindered. I am offering this article as a way of communicating my appreciation and passion for somatic work during this pandemic. As a Ph.D. student studying somatic movement dance education and therapy, I deeply recognize it is important to be connected with community and others, as well as my own inner sphere. Connection produces a sense of optimism during this time. This article offers a simplistically detailed, yet effective process that locates and contacts Self within our feeling, sensing organism. As we begin to re-connect with our energy and interoceptive awareness, a physiological shift can be experienced. When we drop our awareness within the vitality of the moving body, a change in consciousness can occur. Using breath awareness as an inroad to sensing internal processes, I offer this practical process to you, inviting you to cultivate an inner essence of gravity, breath, ground and body.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viveka Berggren Torell

With Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological view that human beings ’take in’ the world and experience themselves as subjects through their bodies as a starting point, players in both men’s and women’s teams, kit men, purchasing managers, sporting directors, and a coach from Swedish football clubs have been interviewed about their perceptions and experiences of football clothing. Since the body is both a feeling and knowing entity, clothes are seen as components of body techniques, facilitating or restricting body movements in a material way, but also as creators of senses, like lightness and security; in both ways, influencing the knowledge in action that playing football is. In this article, the content of the interviews is discussed in relation to health. When clothes are primarily related to a biomedical view that health means no injuries and illnesses, warm pants and shin guards are mentioned by players, who are rather ambivalent to both, since these garments counteract a feeling of lightness that is connected to the perception of speed. Players want to be fast rather than well protected. If clothes, instead, are interpreted as related to a broad conception of health, including mental, social, and physical components, the relation body–space-in-between–clothes seems to be an important aspect of clothing. Dressed in a sports uniform, unable to choose individual details, the feeling of subjectivity is related to wearing ’the right-size’ clothes. Also new textile technology, like injury-preventing and speed-increasing tight compression underwear, is perceived by players based on feelings that they are human subjects striving for both bodily and psychological well-being.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarra Tlili

The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s animal epistle is an intriguing work. Although in the body of the narrative the authors challenge anthropocentric preconceptions and present nonhuman animals in a more favourable light than human beings, inexplicably, the narrative ends by reconfirming the privileged status of humans. The aim of this paper is to propose an explanation for this discrepancy. I argue that the egalitarian message reflected in the body of the narrative is traceable back to the Qur'an, the main text with which the authors engage in the fable, whereas the final outcome is due to the Ikhwān's hierarchical worldview.


Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.


Author(s):  
Shiva Kumar K ◽  
Purushothaman M ◽  
Soujanya H ◽  
Jagadeeshwari S

Gastric ulcers or the peptic ulcer is the primary disease that affects the gastrointestinal system. A large extent of the population in the world are suffering from the disease, and the age group of people those who suffer from ulcers are 20-55years. Herbs are known to the human beings that are useful in the treatment of diseases, and there are a lot of scientific investigations that prove the pharmacological activity of herbal drugs. Practitioners have been using the herbal material to treat the ulcers successfully, and the same had been reported scientifically. Numerous publications have been made that proves the antiulcer activity of the plants around the world. The tablets were investigated for the antiulcer activity in two doses 200 and 400mg/kg in albino Wistar rats in the artificial ulcer those are induced by the ethanol. The prepared tablets showed a better activity compared to the standard synthetic drug and the marketed ayurvedic formulation. The tablets showed a dose-dependent activity in ulcer prevention and treatment. Many synthetic drugs are available for the ulcer treatment, and the drugs pose the other problems in the body by showing the side effects and some other reactions. This limits the use of synthetic drugs to treat ulcers effectively. Herbs are known to the human beings that are useful in the treatment of diseases, and there are a lot of scientific investigations that prove the pharmacological activity of herbal drugs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-367
Author(s):  
Roberto Paura

Transhumanism is one of the main “ideologies of the future” that has emerged in recent decades. Its program for the enhancement of the human species during this century pursues the ultimate goal of immortality, through the creation of human brain emulations. Therefore, transhumanism offers its fol- lowers an explicit eschatology, a vision of the ultimate future of our civilization that in some cases coincides with the ultimate future of the universe, as in Frank Tipler’s Omega Point theory. The essay aims to analyze the points of comparison and opposition between transhumanist and Christian eschatologies, in particular considering the “incarnationist” view of Parousia. After an introduction concern- ing the problems posed by new scientific and cosmological theories to traditional Christian eschatology, causing the debate between “incarnationists” and “escha- tologists,” the article analyzes the transhumanist idea of mind-uploading through the possibility of making emulations of the human brain and perfect simulations of the reality we live in. In the last section the problems raised by these theories are analyzed from the point of Christian theology, in particular the proposal of a transhuman species through the emulation of the body and mind of human beings. The possibility of a transhumanist eschatology in line with the incarnationist view of Parousia is refused.


Author(s):  
Evi Zohar

Continuing the workshop I've given in the WPC Paris (2017), this article elaborates my discussion of the way I interlace Focusing with Differentiation Based Couples Therapy (Megged, 2017) under the systemic view, in order to facilitate processes of change and healing in working with intimate couples. This article presents the theory and rationale of integrating Differentiation (Bowen, 1978; Schnarch, 2009; Megged, 2017) and Focusing (Gendlin, 1981) approaches, and its therapeutic potential in couple's therapy. It is written from the point of view of a practicing professional in order to illustrate the experiential nature and dynamics of the suggested therapeutic path. Differentiation is a key to mutuality. It offers a solution to the central struggle of any long term intimate relationship: balancing two basic life forces - the drive for individuality and the drive for togetherness (Schnarch, 2009). Focusing is a body-oriented process of self-awareness and emotional healing, in which one learns to pay attention to the body and the ‘Felt Sense’, in order to unfold the implicit, keep it in motion at the precise pace it needs for carrying the next step forward (Gendlin, 1996). Combining Focusing and Differentiation perspectives can cultivate the kind of relationship where a conflict can be constructively and successfully held in the inner world of each partner, while taking into consideration the others' well-being. This creates the possibility for two people to build a mutual emotional field, open to changes, permeable and resilient.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-209
Author(s):  
Syed Saqib Ali ◽  
Mohammad Khalid Zia ◽  
Tooba Siddiqui ◽  
Haseeb Ahsan ◽  
Fahim Halim Khan

Background: Ascorbic acid is a classic dietary antioxidant which plays an important role in the body of human beings. It is commonly found in various foods as well as taken as dietary supplement. Objective: The plasma ascorbic acid concentration may range from low, as in chronic or acute oxidative stress to high if delivered intravenously during cancer treatment. Sheep alpha-2- macroglobulin (α2M), a human α2M homologue is a large tetrameric glycoprotein of 630 kDa with antiproteinase activity, found in sheep’s blood. Methods: In the present study, the interaction of ascorbic acid with alpha-2-macroglobulin was explored in the presence of visible light by utilizing various spectroscopic techniques and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Results: UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy suggests the formation of a complex between ascorbic acid and α2M apparent by increased absorbance and decreased fluorescence. Secondary structural changes in the α2M were investigated by CD and FT-IR spectroscopy. Our findings suggest the induction of subtle conformational changes in α2M induced by ascorbic acid. Thermodynamics signatures of ascorbic acid and α2M interaction indicate that the binding is an enthalpy-driven process. Conclusion: It is possible that ascorbic acid binds and compromises antiproteinase activity of α2M by inducing changes in the secondary structure of the protein.


Author(s):  
Deborah Carr ◽  
Vera K. Tsenkova

The body weight of U.S. adults and children has risen markedly over the past three decades. The physical health consequences of obesity are widely documented, and emerging research from the Midlife in the United States study and other large-scale surveys reveals the harmful impact of obesity on adults’ psychosocial and interpersonal well-being. This chapter synthesizes recent research on the psychosocial implications of body weight, with attention to explanatory mechanisms and subgroup differences in these patterns. A brief statistical portrait of body weight is provided, documenting rates and correlates of obesity, with a focus on race, gender, and socioeconomic status disparities. The consequences of body weight for three main outcomes are described: institutional and everyday discrimination, interpersonal relationships, and psychological well-being. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways that recent integrative health research on the psychosocial consequences of overweight and obesity inform our understanding of population health.


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-108
Author(s):  
A.F. Jităreanu ◽  
Elena Leonte ◽  
A. Chiran ◽  
Benedicta Drobotă

Abstract Advertising helps to establish a set of assumptions that the consumer will bring to all other aspects of their engagement with a given brand. Advertising provides tangible evidence of the financial credibility and competitive presence of an organization. Persuasion is becoming more important in advertising. In marketing, persuasive advertising acts to establish wants/motivations and beliefs/attitudes by helping to formulate a conception of the brand as being one which people like those in the target audience would or should prefer. Considering the changes in lifestyle and eating habits of a significant part of the population in urban areas in Romania, the paper aims to analyse how brands manage to differentiate themselves from competitors, to reposition themselves on the market and influence consumers, meeting their increasingly varied needs. Food brands on the Romanian market are trying, lately, to identify new methods of differentiation and new benefits for their buyers. Given that more and more consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about what they eat and the products’ health effects, brands struggle to highlight the fact that their products offer real benefits for the body. The advertisements have become more diversified and underline the positive effects, from the health and well - being point of view, that those foods offer (no additives and preservatives, use of natural ingredients, various vitamins and minerals or the fact that they are dietary). Advertising messages’ diversification is obvious on the Romanian market, in the context of an increasing concern of the population for the growing level of information of some major consumer segments.


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