Expertise in contemporary dance: the roles of cognition, talent, and deliberate practice

This paper examines the link between cognitive processes and superior performance in contemporary dance. In the first study, thirty-six participants (professional dancers, nonprofessional dancers, and non-dancers) carried out a task in which they were asked to reproduce a sequence of dance steps while being recorded on a camcorder. Analysis revealed a significant effect of skill and task difficulty on performance. Performance correlated with individual practice, group practice, rehearsing hours, sleep, concentration, enjoyment, dyslexia, and height, but not handedness. In the second study, the same group of participants augmented by 26 participants (a total of 62 participants) completed a questionnaire. There were skill differences on deliberate practice, sleep, concentration, enjoyment of dance tasks, dyslexia, handedness, and gender differences on group practice and height. Overall, the results suggest that both practice and talent play a role in the acquisition of expertise in contemporary dance.