Classical Dancers’ Mental Health During the Pandemic: Comparing Levels of Flow, Psychological Well-Being and Emotions Between Classical Dancers and Non-Performing Artists

Abstract

According to Natyashastra (an ancient Indian treatise on performing arts), “sangeet” (the amalgamation of songs, instruments and dance) was introduced to human beings to relieve them of the various burdens that they face after a very hectic day at work. In India traditionally performing art has been associated with great levels of well being and spiritual emancipation, but it said that it often requires one’s entire lifetime to hone their skills. The present study compared the psychological well-being, emotions and level of flow amongst college students trained in Indian Classical Dance forms, and students who are not trained in any artform. For the study, 12 young classical dancers comprised the experimental group, and 19 college-going students were part of the control group. The classical dancers were asked to practice their respective dance forms for at least 5 hours per week, for one month, and report back to the researcher regarding how many hours they put into their practice per week. This step was taken to ensure that the dancers practice their dance forms, as the ongoing pandemic might hamper their usual routine. The measures used were Activity Flow State Scale (AFSS), developed by Payne, Jackson, Noh, & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2011), Psychological Wellbeing Scale, developed by Ryff (1989), and the PANAS-GEN scale, developed by Watson, Clark and Tellegen (1988).  The results showed that the classical dancers experienced a higher level of flow, psychological wellbeing and positive emotions. The difference between the two groups was also statistically significant. The non-performing artists experienced higher levels of negative emotions, but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. It was concluded that classical dance forms help enhance one’s mental health, positive emotions and experience of flow.