Alshemmari, Athari M. Z. N. Z., Timmons, Wendy M. and Collins, David (2025) Sensing the direction of leadership and social identity in dance education. Research in Dance Education . ISSN 1470-1111
Abstract
There is a clear consensus that skills relating to creating, performing, and appreciating dance are all critical to the learning experience. The Social Identity in Leadership (SIL) model, recently applied
in sports coaching environments, argues that leadership is best
understood in terms of the relationship between the leader and
followers within a particular social or cultural group. SIL addresses
how individuals who share a common social identity collaborate to
lead other members of the community and influence them. Despite
potential application benefits, this theory has yet to be defined and
contextualised in dance environments. Accordingly, the aim of this
study was to determine current approaches to the delivery of dance
with regard to motivating learners to initiate, then sustain and
extend their engagement. Specifically, we sought to discover the
approaches to leadership currently applied by dance teachers and
to determine if the principles of SIL are used. Based on a review of
current literature about the application of SIL in teaching and
coaching contexts, semi-structured interviews were conducted
with eight experienced dance teachers. Five themes emerged
from the data that provide evidence to suggest that, whilst not as
yet clearly defined, the principles of SIL were employed by the
dance teachers.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article (Published) |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Leadership skills; group membership; relatedness; belonging |
| Subjects: | Social Sciences > Education Social Sciences > Teaching |
| DCU Faculties and Centres: | DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Health and Human Performance |
| Publisher: | Routledge |
| Official URL: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14647... |
| Copyright Information: | Authors |
| ID Code: | 32459 |
| Deposited On: | 24 Mar 2026 12:06 by Gordon Kennedy . Last Modified 24 Mar 2026 12:06 |
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