Lessons learned in the creative industries during lockdown can help dancers better handle uncertainties associated with the performing arts, research suggests.
Job lay-offs prompted by the pandemic highlighted the vital role psychological and social skills can play in the professional development of performance artists, the study concludes.
Investment is needed to teach performers techniques recommended for elite athletes – such as goal setting, coping strategies and focus – that will support them through future challenges, researchers say.
University of Edinburgh experts conducted an online survey to assess the Covid pandemic’s impact on dancers’ development and find out what skills, if any, they used to cope.
Findings revealed the pandemic had significant impacts on dancers’ physical health and psychological wellbeing.
Varied questions
Researchers asked performers, dance tutors and lecturers in creative disciplines a range of questions, including how performance artists maintained self-discipline and how willing they were to seek help.
Despite widespread recognition that psychological skills can build resilience, most survey participants were surprised by some performers’ mental ability to cope with lockdown.
Researchers also sought the perspectives of participants’ families and partners, who said they had underestimated the impact of lockdown on their loved ones’ well-being.
The study highlights the potential benefits of so-called psycho-behavioural skills. These are used by talented performers to help negotiate challenges/transitions by regulating their state of mind and behaviour within practice and performance settings.
Specific framework
Researchers suggest that a specific framework called the Psychological Characteristics for Developing Excellence (PCDEs) – which have benefitted musicians and sportspeople – could also be helpful for performance artists.
PCDEs represent a number of skills, including having realistic expectations, performance evaluation and self-regulation. Developing and employing such PCDEs can boost organisational skills and help performers manage the effects of pressure.
PCDEs are a set of skills that can help anybody deal with challenges and periods of transition, and they include commitment, planning and performance evaluation. Other PCDEs are self-awareness, quality practice and actively seeking social support.
Outcome goals
“PCDEs are skills that can be used to achieve various outcome goals, of which resilient behaviour is one,” says lead researcher Howie Carson.
“Setbacks drive performers to reflect on change. Studies have shown that what a person brings to a time of transition can contribute towards their ability to grow from it,” says Dr Carson, who is based in Moray House School of Education and Sport.
Respondents defined coping well as taking advantage of developmental opportunities, making the most of favourable environmental factors and possessing key psycho-behavioural characteristics.
They defined not coping well as struggling with teaching and grappling with interpersonal and psychological factors that were exacerbated by their social setting – leading to disengagement from training and development.
Possibly unaware
“This suggests that these participants were perhaps not aware of the psycho-behavioural skills that should have been indicators in the first place,” says Dr Carson.
“These skills seem to have been acquired informally from life experiences, parents and others, rather than developed as part of any formal training.”
Survey findings suggest a need for greater and more proactive integration of psycho-behavioural skills within the formal training pathway, the study team says.
“We hope the surprisingly positive responses of some students will convince our teacher participants that formal development of PCDEs may prove a useful addition to training and development curricula,” Dr Carson concludes.
