Ballet as a movement-based contemplative practice? Implications for neuroscientific studies

A neuroscientist who practices both classical ballet and contemplative movement compares the neural and mental causes and consequences of these two movement disciplines. The author argues that ballet, rather than modern dance, provides a good contrast for contemplative practice because modern dance has been influenced by contemplation. The comparison examines four dimensions: cultivation of attention, development of interoception, cultivation of meta-cognition, and emotion regulation. The author notes that limited studies exist due to movement artifacts in neuroimaging and EEG measures, and identifies important gaps in neuroscientific understanding, with implications for future studies of contemplative practitioners and dancers.

Study at a glance

Abstract

There is a rising scientific interest in the neuroscience behind contemplative practices (see e.g., Vago and Silbersweig, 2012 for a review), including movement-based practices such as yoga and tai chi. Given that, it becomes important to ask how such contemplative practices differ from Western movement practices such as dance. In both dance training and contemplative movement, one learns to control the body very precisely, and this requires an assortment of mental skills as well. As a practitioner of both classical ballet and contemplation, and as a neuroscientist who studies contemplation, I will examine how the neural and mental causes and consequences of movement training differ between dance and contemplation. Ballet, rather than modern dance, serves as a good contrast for contemplative practice, because modern dance itself has been influenced substantially by contemplative practice (Hay, 2000). I will compare classical ballet and movement-based contemplative practice on the dimensions of (i) cultivation of attention, (ii) development of interoception, (iii) cultivation of meta-cognition, and (iv) emotion regulation. To date, there are limited studies of movement-based practices, for the obvious reason that movement tends to create artifacts in neuroimaging and EEG measures (e.g., Gwin et al., 2010). I will point out important gaps in our neuroscientific understanding of these phenomena. The results have implications for how we conduct studies of contemplative practitioners and dancers.