ABSTRACT
Dance, an art form, and action research, a scientific enterprise concerned with the analysis of perceptual-motor behaviours, have had little contact. This is not surprising considering the usual separation of the arts and sciences. However, the gap between these two lines of activity need not persist. Filling the gap holds great promise. Dancers and dance instructors face technical as well as artistic challenges, and action researchers may be able to help dancers address these concerns. Action researchers, on the other side, may benefit from the inclusion of artistic and emotional expression in their portfolio of research interests. By recognizing the challenges of acting gracefully or of acting in ways that convey emotions in musical contexts, action researchers may broaden the scope of their investigations to embrace artistic expression as well as more traditionally studied topics in action research such as efficiency and maximum speed of performance (Fitts, 1954).
