Multiple Uses of Mental Imagery by Professional Modern Dancers

Abstract

The present qualitative study has revealed a range of mental imagery strategies which professional modern dancers used for different purposes during their training, during the creation and rehearsal of a choreography, as well as prior to, during, and after a performance. The dancers' use of imagery tended to be multi-modal, multi-dimensional, seeking to integrate mind, body, and spirit not only in their dance activities but also in their lifestyle. Many of these personalized images had common characteristics and similar effects, which made possible their organization into eight imagery categories: inspiration, atmospheric, specific movement, metaphysical, emptying out, filling up, projection, and imagery rehearsal. Suggestions are made for the inclusion of similar types of images into the dance classroom and into other movement contexts.