References & Additional Reading
Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress by Judith Lynne Hanna, AltaMira Press, a Division of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers; 2006
“Dancing Helps Boys With ADHD.” Research project by Barbro Renck of Karlstad University and Erna Gronlund of the University College of Dance in Stockhom, June 8, 2006, and reported in The American Journal of Dance Therapy.
“The Mental Health Benefits of Music” by Darlene Oakley, August 18, 2010.
“The Art of Healing: Visual and Performing Arts Take on a Bigger Role in Patient Recovery” by Beth Baker, Washington Post, August 17, 2004 Page HE01.
“Friends for Life: An Emerging Biology of Emotional Healing,” by Daniel Goleman; New York Times, October 10, 2006.
“Socializing Appears to Delay Memory Problems” by Tara Parker-Pope. Reported in the New York Times Health Section, March 1, 2011.
“Dancing Away an Anxious Mind: A Memoir About Overcoming Panic Disorder” by Robert Rand. Copyright 2004 by University of Wisconsin Press.
“Hospitals Find That Alternative Therapies Are a Good Way to Attract Paying Patients,” Washington Post Health Section, Nov. 15, 2011. This article discusses how hospitals increasingly offer art/music therapy to inpatients not only because it can be effective treatment and it helps attract patients to that hospital.
“Brain Rules: Twelve Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School,” by John Medina, Pear Press (P.O. Box 70525; Seattle, WA), Copyright 2008. Professor Medina, is a developmental molecular biologist at the U. of Washington School of Medicine and the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. He explains how the brain functions at a molecular level and applies the results to how humans can work, learn, and function most effectively. His first rule is that exercise improves brain power. "To improve your thinking skills, move.”
He also says that "on mental tests, exercisers outperform couch potatoes on long term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, and fluid-intelligence tests.” AND, if "couch potatoes" start an aerobic exercise program, their cognivitve abilities improve. In fact, "couch potatoes" who are fidgetty, actually do a little better on mental skills than "couch potatoes" who don't fidget!“Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination,” by Robert Jourdain, Avon Books, copyright 1997. The book discusses the impact of music on the mind. Its final chapter on "ecstasy" begins with findings of how helpful music can be in restoring Parkinsons patients to normal movement. He also discusses how music generally increases feelings of well-being in people.
“The Scientific American Healthy Aging Brain: The Neuroscience of Making the Most of Your Mature Mind” by Judith Horstman, published by Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Imprint, copyright 2012 by John Wiley and Sons and Scientific American, copyright 2012. This exceedingly readable book of just 200 pages, reads like a summary of many other articles in this list. Although the title makes it sound like a book about aging, it is more of a book about how adults can get the greatest health and well-being from their brains. There is a great emphasis on exercise. Dance, particularly partnership dancing, is specifically mentioned as a healthful activity.
“This Women Was About To Go In For Surgery. What She Did Moments Before Was Awesome" by Lori Leibovich, Huffington Post; 11.06.13. The following video shows the joy that dancing can bring, even in the face of a serious illness.
This video about using movement as therapy: youtu.be/J9gAe9H5Rok
“The Health Benefits Of Dancing Go Beyond Exercise And Stress Reducer” This article from NPR summarizes very interesting research. Among the findings is that groups of people moving together get a boost in pain tolerance. But movement that isn’t synchronous for a group of people does not have this effect.
“Work. Walk 5 Minutes. Work.” This last article suggests that mood is elevated by walking for 5 minutes every hour if one normally sits at a desk the entire workday.
“Singing in a choir could be ‘the new exercise’—here’s the surprising science behind why” This article is about the benefits of doing activities in synchrony with other people. Dance and rowing are mentioned but the emphasis in this article is on singing!
“Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly” This article is about a classic New England Journal of Medicine study that is often cited. The research findings confirm that dancing benefits both health and cognition, and was more beneficial than with other physical activities.
“Walk, Stretch or Dance? Dancing May Be Best for the Brain” This article is about research showing that there were improvements in the white matter of subjects’ brains after they took 6 months of social dance classes. The research was done with 174 healthy people in their 60s and 70s. Other physical activities that were tested did not show this improvement. The article cannot always be viewed free online. Printed: April 4, 2017 NY Times Page D4.
“Dance for neuroplasticity: A descriptive systematic review” This is an article in “Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews” volume 96, Jan 2019, pages 232-240. The article is a scholarly research study that found that dance may be effective at improving several aspects of neuroplasticity in the brain. In addition, dance can strengthen the connectivity between the two cerebral hemispheres because the complex movements in dancing involve many different areas of the brain.
“Is Dancing the Kale of Exercise?” Great article that explains the cognitive benefits of dancing. It explains research findings that out of eleven physical activities studied, social dancing was the only one associated with less risk of dementia! The study mentions that causality could not be necessarily inferred, but that it did show that dancing was associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia—-along with all the other health and well-being benefits of dancing!
youtu.be/g1pjJh3hFxM This is a Tedx Open Mic talk that Barb gave May 7, 2020 about how coping with crisis, and adjusting the ways we dance during the pandemic can provide a silver lining to the hardships encountered. And youtu.be/0gUm61tmMBI shows another Tedx Open Mic Video by Barb which was given in May of 2019—before the pandemic hit. This one is about the overall health benefits of group synchronous movement (like Rueda dancing!).
“A singer wanted to perform for seniors. So she rented a cherry picker and sang from outside their windows.” This uplifting article mentions the ability of music to enrich the lives of people with dementia—prompting memories from the era when the music was first popular.
“A Musical Cure for Covid-Related Stress and Sadness” This is a Wall Street Journal article that says a research study found musical endeavors (singing, dancing, and playing an instrument) to be the best way to relieve sadness during the covid pandemic.
“Dancing in the Dark” This is a touching podcast about a man who found dancing Rueda de Casino helped diminish his feelings of depression and loneliness. It’s a beautiful story, told “first-hand.”
Choral singing has the same joy and benefits to well-being as the group synchronous movement in dance. These effects are enhanced greatly by the enriching sounds of overtones—notes that aren’t sung but can be heard! The joy of choral singing is undoubtedly enhanced by the richness of the sound that happens when good vocal production creates overtones. The YouTube videos below explain the phenomenon which is a fascinating concept in the science of music.
youtu.be/hGu3yuQ7Br8 This presents an excellent illustration of overtones. The viewers see for themselves that they can hear sounds that aren’t actually played on an instrument. They are just overtones of a note that is played! (Magic!!)
youtu.be/A0mFTG79DWE In the guise of training viewers to hear overtones, a musician first plays and then stops playing the note that viewers are hearing. It’s a trick—viewers learn that a faint sound they hear was actually produced by playing a different note. That is, it was “just an overtone." (More magic!)
youtu.be/Wx_kugSemfY Andrew Huang is amazing (and funny!) at explaining the math and music theory involved in overtones
“Dancing may lighten depression from Parkinson’s, study suggests” Previous research on Parkinsons’ Disease focused on how dancing improves movement symptoms. This is about alleviating feelings of depression that are associated with Parkinsons’ Disease
“Don't Get It Twisted: Dance Is An Intellectual Pursuit” by Alice Blumenfeld in Dance Magazine, July 30, 2018
nytimes.com/2017/12/11/well/mind/how-loneliness-affects-our-health.html
cbsnews.com/news/many-americans-are-lonely-and-gen-z-most-of-all-study-finds
scientificamerican.com/article/were-only-human-all-together-now
telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/08/24/having-no-friends-could-be-as-deadly-as-smoking-harvard-universi
health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/loneliness-has-same-risk-as-smoking-for-heart-disease
scientificamerican.com/article/music-synchronizes-the-brains-of-performers-and-their-audience
youtu.be/0gUm61tmMBI Tedx Open Mic Talk by Barb on May of 2019—before the pandemic hit. about the overall health benefits of group synchronous movement (like Rueda dancing!).
edspace.american.edu/thectrlbeat/2024/07/24/a-different-mindset-on-teaching-learning-lessons-from-dance-instruction-barbara-bernsteinThe CTRL Beat, published by American University’s Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning, Fall 2024 issue.
bbc.com/future/article/20230526-how-rhythm-shapes-our-lives How Rhythm Shapes our Lives, by Nina Kraus, Neuroscientist at Northwestern University; May 26, 2023. This article originally appeared in The MIT Press Reader.
