USC Choreographic Institute Line Dance Study

Synchronous movement to music (dance) is an essential aspect of human experience. Groups of people historically engage in dance in social situations where bonding is important. For example, dance is a common activity at parties, weddings, funerals, and other ritualistic or religious ceremonies.

In line or party dances, dancers learn through wireless transmission or simple synchrony. By mimicking the leader's movements in time with the music, the group learns the dance and experiences the same dyadic relationship as children experience learning with a parent. Although it is taking place in a group setting the dyadic relationship is no less intimate or mysterious. The wireless transmission creates a non-verbal bond based on trust. The group trusts that the leader is going to share information that is going to be fun and psychically nourishing. The leader tends to the group with care and confidence, instilling in the group a sense of security and calm.

This study will include dance protocols for targeted therapeutic interventions measuring the effect of line dancing on cognitive, emotional and social well-being. The hypothesis is that participating in a one-hour line dance class once a week for twelve weeks will decrease stress levels and enhance participants' quality of life, as measured by interview survey questionnaires. Questionnaires will be administered at the beginning, mid-point, and end of the study. The objectives of the study are threefold: to quantify the beneficial effects of line dancing on quality of life including cognitive, emotional and social well-being; to identify how non-lifetime, amateur dance practitioners can benefit from dancing; and to demystify dance class and make it accessible to people who are not interested in learning a specific dance technique or concert/art dance. Line dancing is a cross-cultural, intergenerational activity that could fill this role.

This twelve-week line dance course takes place at the Ahmanson Senior Center at the Expo Center adjacent to University of Southern California University Park Campus. Nineteen senior citizen participants have agreed to participate.