The purpose of this study was to understand the significance of emotions and the body in the lived creative experience in dance. Using a phenomenological approach, I was interested in gaining a deepened understanding of the creative experiences of members of Canada’s contemporary dance community. Currently, dance is taught in multiple contexts of education including K-12 arts education and physical education, recreational studios, university settings such as in faculties of education, kinesiology, and fine arts, and in conservatory-style pre-professional training programs. As a result, there appears to be little evidence of a holistic pedagogical approach. Coming from a predominantly ballet-oriented dance training background, I wanted to learn what it’s like to create dance; specifically how contemporary dancers use their bodies and emotions as part of their creative process. I had the pleasure of being an invited guest, writer, speaker, and researcher at the 2008 Canada Dance Festival (CDF), a biennial dance festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Results shed light on rarely discussed facets of the creative experience in dance. This study explores the way dancers optimally want to feel, how they prepare to feel the way they want to feel, what obstacles they encounter, and what strategies allow them to revisit their optimal feel within their creative experience in dance. Doing so, the role of the body and the emotions in dance are better understood. A description of the 2008 Canada Dance Festival as a transactional space also surfaced. There, the CDF is understood as a place where the art of dance’s perceived meaning and values are discussed, and ultimately negotiated. Finally, results also contributed to an enriched understanding of artistic identity in dance as an ongoing process of becoming. With an enhanced pedagogical understanding of dance education, a final discussion unearths implications of this work and shines a spotlight on future research in dance scholarship.

The purpose of this study was to understand the significance of emotions and the body in the lived creative experience in dance. Using a phenomenological approach, I was interested in gaining a deepened understanding of the creative experiences of members of Canada’s contemporary dance community. Currently, dance is taught in multiple contexts of education including K-12 arts education and physical education, recreational studios, university settings such as in faculties of education, kinesiology, and fine arts, and in conservatory-style pre-professional training programs. As a result, there appears to be little evidence of a holistic pedagogical approach. Coming from a predominantly ballet-oriented dance training background, I wanted to learn what it’s like to create dance; specifically how contemporary dancers use their bodies and emotions as part of their creative process. I had the pleasure of being an invited guest, writer, speaker, and researcher at the 2008 Canada Dance Festival (CDF), a biennial dance festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Results shed light on rarely discussed facets of the creative experience in dance. This study explores the way dancers optimally want to feel, how they prepare to feel the way they want to feel, what obstacles they encounter, and what strategies allow them to revisit their optimal feel within their creative experience in dance. Doing so, the role of the body and the emotions in dance are better understood. A description of the 2008 Canada Dance Festival as a transactional space also surfaced. There, the CDF is understood as a place where the art of dance’s perceived meaning and values are discussed, and ultimately negotiated. Finally, results also contributed to an enriched understanding of artistic identity in dance as an ongoing process of becoming. With an enhanced pedagogical understanding of dance education, a final discussion unearths implications of this work and shines a spotlight on future research in dance scholarship.