Dance Psychology for Pole Dancers with Clara Deiters

In this episode Rosy Boa interviews dance psychology science communicator and West Coast swing teacher Clara Dieters about applying psychology to dance. They discuss how dance differs from other movement activities through artistic expression, and how dancers can balance self-expression with external validation by recognizing multiple reasons for dancing beyond judges’ approval. Clara suggests coping with post-competition disappointment by setting specific, measurable goals and evaluating them afterward to regain control in unpredictable competition settings like Jack and Jill. They cover the “glitter crash” after festivals, explaining it as a drop below baseline following high endorphin, oxytocin, and dopamine levels, and recommend gentle movement and light socializing. Clara shares implementation intentions/habit stacking for fitting short dance practice into daily transitions, and offers stepwise strategies to build improvisation comfort. They also address cautious science communication around claims about dance and depression, and mention research on synchrony increasing pain threshold as a proxy for endorphin release.

Follow Clara: https://www.instagram.com/clara.deiters.wcs

Try a sample class: https://mailchi.mp/slinkthroughstrength.com/free-pole-flow-class 

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and Teaser

00:30 Membership and Free Class

01:24 Meet Clara Dieters

02:52 Dance as Art and Sport

05:48 Validation and Belonging

08:23 Post Competition Tools

11:53 Glitter Crash Explained

14:44 Habits When Life Is Hard

17:49 Improv Confidence Building

23:08 Dance and Depression Claims

25:30 Science Communication Challenges

28:09 Synchrony and Endorphins

29:56 One Big Takeaway

31:29 Where to Find Clara

32:23 Final Wrap Up

Citations:

Prudente, T. P., Mezaiko, E., Silveira, E. A., & Nogueira, T. E. (2024). Effect of dancing interventions on depression and anxiety symptoms in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Behavioral Sciences, 14(1), 43.

Tarr, B., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2016). Silent disco: Dancing in synchrony leads to elevated pain thresholds and social closeness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(5), 343–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.02.004

Teixeira-Machado, L., Arida, R. M., & de Jesus Mari, J. (2024). The effectiveness of dance interventions on psychological and cognitive health outcomes compared with other forms of physical activity: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54, 1179–1205.

Transcript: 

Rosy Boa: Hello pole nerd, welcome to Science of Slink!. Uh, today we've got a really great conversation for you with Clara Dieter, who is a dance psychology science communicator. We had a really wonderful conversation. Uh, we talked about a ton of stuff, managing emotions during competition, uh, how to do it with glitter crash, we touched a little bit on learning how to improvise, how to get better at improvisation. Uh, there's a great little tip in here for my neurodivergent folks about how to work dance into your life a little bit easier. So really fantastic stuff. Uh, but before I get into it, you know what I have to do.

Don't have to. I get to, I'm gonna say a big shout out. Thank you to my members. Y'all are fantastic. My Science of Slink members who are there for everything I do. My Essentials of Slink members, uh, who are joining me for an hour a week. I really appreciate you. Uh. Membership's open. You can join whenever you like, but if you'd like to get a little bit of, a little bit of a taste, a little bit of a sense of what it is like to dance with me.

I also have a free sample class that I realized [00:01:00] recently I don't tell the podcast people about, so. If you wanna try, uh, doing some of the stuff that I'm always talking about, see how it shows up in my teaching. Uh, check out the free sample class. I got the link down there below. And, uh, enjoy. And regardless of whether or not you come dance with me, I think this conversation was fantastic and I hope you'll come away with some really good little brain tidbits to just make your whole life a little bit better.

Let's get into it.

Welcome to Science of Slink, the Evidence-based pole podcast. Uh, and today a little bit of a departure. I'm joined by someone who is not. A pole dancer, but is a dancer, uh, and is also a science communicator, uh, specifically around the psychology of dance. So I'm joined today by Clara Dieters. Uh, do you wanna tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your science background, a little bit about your dance background, so Clara, take it away.

Clara Dieters: Hi. Uh, I'm, I'm really glad to be here, be here. And I am a West coast swing dancer, so I come from partner [00:02:00] dancing.

Did a little bit of ballroom before that, but now I only do west coast swing and also teaching and that scene quite a bit. And I also have a degree in psychology. At some point I realized how cool it would be to combine those two because there's so much that we as dancers can learn from psychology.

And I also saw a big need for that, especially in the West Coast swing community because lots of people struggle for example, in a competitive setting. And I just wanted to yeah, help people, educate people, um, and just. Basically give that scientific knowledge to the people in the West Coast Wing community, but also to other dancers because I think the findings that we have in scientific papers are really applicable to pretty much any dance style.

Rosy Boa: Yeah, definitely. It's definitely something that I, as a teacher think about quite a bit

and I think the first thing that might be helpful to sort of pick apart is. What is it that makes dance different from other types of [00:03:00] organized movement? Um, and I suppose here I'm specifically thinking about recreational dance when people are coming together for the specific purpose of doing a specific type of dance as an activity in an organized way, and not necessarily like spontaneous kitchen dancing.

Um, although of course that is also a joy and a delight.

Clara Dieters: Yeah. So what I really enjoy about West Coast Wing or just dance in general is that you have so much freedom to express yourself. And if we compare let's say a dance class to a tennis class, for example, um, of course in dance we have kind of that sports aspect as well, where of course we move and of course we.

We move our bodies and we exercise in a way, but also in dance we have that artistic expression. And I think that's something really important that we, that we shouldn't neglect. Because especially when we're thinking about the competition context, I feel like we're getting, [00:04:00] we're evolving more into a direction of treating dance as a sport.

And I would, um, hate to see the artistic expression get lost in that because of course when we do a competition, we need certain parameters and, um, we need to find ways of of yeah, putting people into categories and of. Finding an objective way to rate their dancing. But I think we shouldn't forget that this is still an art form and that this is not only sports, not only exercise.

Um, yeah. And that's where I see the, the difference between and a tennis class and dance, for example.

Rosy Boa: Yeah, definitely. That, that artistic, uh, component to it, I dunno who coined the term, but a lot of people who work in circus research, uh, like, like Emily Sherb, uh, use the term, uh, artistic athlete. I mean obviously if you, if you're doing dance, it requires a lot from the body and you have to have the physical capacity to do things you're trying to do.

But, uh, yeah, that, that [00:05:00] additional artistic aside can't be ignored

Clara Dieters: I see a lot of people, um, like when I, when I work with dancers, um, and when I also teach psychology workshops at events, um, I see a lot of people kind of getting lost in that and, not really knowing, Hey, how much artistic expression can I put out there?

Because I want to be seen as an artist and I want to express myself through dance. I think that's one of the big goals or one of the big things that we as dancers all want to do. But at the same time, I want to get good results in competitions or I want to be seen as somebody who is a good dancer.

So what exactly do I need to do to still. Stay true to myself, but at the same time be liked and be valued by others in my dance. That's a big problem for lots of people that I work with.

Rosy Boa: What sort of things would you, you bring up to somebody who's, who's sort of struggling with this dichotomy of, you know, I want to express myself, I wanna have this very like, personal experience, but also I'm looking for a sense of social [00:06:00] belonging and not necessarily praise, but acceptance.

Yeah.

Clara Dieters: And

Rosy Boa: also maybe praise.

Clara Dieters: So, one big part of my own journey, for example, was accepting that this need for external validation has actually perfectly fine. Like we as humans have always wanted. External validation is always been a part of us. And it's perfectly fine to crave that external validation in other aspects of life and in dance as well, um, because it's only natural and it, it's something that we all want.

And while we acknowledge that we want this kind of external validation, we still need to look at what other aspects of dancing make us happy. So accepting, hey. It's fine that I maybe want a judge's approval or that I want my peer's approval. But at the same time being, um, being conscious of the fact that I don't only enjoy that external validation, but I only but I also enjoy many other aspects of the stance.

For [00:07:00] example, the social aspect or being creative. That, exactly that creative expression that we just talked about. Or being able to learn something new. Like there's so many different things that we can enjoy about dance, not only the external validation. And then kind of realizing, oh, hey, I have so many different reasons why I dance and so many pillars that I can lean on in my dancing.

That even if I don't get that external validation I can still draw happiness and joy out of all the other all the other goals that I have. And then kind of seeing, oh, okay, cool. Maybe I didn't get that external validation in a competition or whatever setting. But I can still realize that maybe this dance was especially creative or maybe during this convention, during this festival, I had lots of cool social interactions.

And that's one thing that also makes me happy. So kind of seeing the, the bigger picture and realizing external validation might make us happy, but also other things [00:08:00] make us happy at the same time.

Rosy Boa: Yeah, I think that's, can sometimes I'm speaking for myself here, right? 'cause like I've, I don't really compete anymore these days, but, but I used to quite a bit.

Um, and I think that can be really challenging to find in the moment, right? Especially, you know, you have these big feelings, maybe you didn't do as well as you had hoped, and you, you're dealing with disappointment and maybe you're feeling rejected. So if someone's in that, that situation where they're having like really big feelings, uh, do you have any specific tools you'd recommend that they, they reach for in a situation like that?

Clara Dieters: Um, so if you're experiencing maybe all those big feelings after competition, let's say you did. Not do the way you expected or you did not do well. I think finding an objective way to measure what you were actually doing in that competition is a really great way to track your own progress instead of relying on external judges opinions, external situations.

Because every [00:09:00] competition is different. Um, the people who you are competing against are always different. The judges are always different. The situation is always different. So what can really help is to put more control in that uncontrolled environment because. Everything feels really uncontrolled.

You're having these uncontrolled emotions, you're having an uncontrolled situation. Um, especially in, in West Coast swing. Everything is really uncontrolled by design, actually. Um, because we compete in a Jack and Jill format. Which means you get a random partner, you get a random song. And all of that is really exciting and can feel like a loss of control.

So putting in as much control as you can in that uncontrolled situation that is so scary, um, can actually really help to soothe that anxiety, not only beforehand, but also after hands afterwards. And yeah. Finding a system that works for you of measuring your progress. So writing [00:10:00] down very specific set goals before the competition.

Set goals for yourself that you want to achieve in your own pro, in your own journey, your own progress. And then after the competition evaluating like, Hey, did I actually achieve those goals? Going back to every single one, seeing, okay I wanted to smile at my partner at least twice during the dance.

Cool. Got that check. And then having a more objective way of measuring what actually happened versus maybe just seeing, oh, I didn't make it to finals, or, oh, I didn't really get that appreciation that I was hoping for. And then feeling really, really crushed because of that. More control can really, really help.

Rosy Boa: Yeah. Yeah. I could, uh, I could also see that applying really well to, um, improvisational pole performances. Right. Or even not necessarily performance in front an audience. Just like for your, your own improv. Maybe something like I want to climb twice. Right. Or, uh, there's a new shape that I've been working on.

I want to, to get that shape into my dance at some point. Um, and even if maybe your angle was [00:11:00] off from what you were hoping for, or you know, you felt like it was a little bit clunky getting into and out of it. You can still be like, I had this specific goal and I achieved it. And then being like, yes, a success, a proof of self-efficacy.

So we, we talked about sort of handling, those strong perhaps negative emotions around, not doing well. And I think for a lot of pole dancers, even if you're not competing, I think we all have a little judge in our head, uh, that is not necessarily always looking out for our best interest and wellbeing.

So maybe this is something that you can, uh, offer for your little head judge to be like, get outta here.

Conversely, uh, and I think, uh, a lot of people who have, you know, sort of. Performance or, or any sort of dance experience have, have probably experienced this. Uh, you do amazing.

You feel fantastic. You have a wonderful, wonderful time. And then the next day you wake up and you're like, this is the worst I've ever felt. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that phenomena? Uh, I think, uh, I've heard it called the glitter crash. Uh, I'm sure there, there are other names as [00:12:00] well.

Clara Dieters: Yeah, absolutely.

So I actually very recently did a video on that. And this happens to loads of people. It's a really normal thing to happen. So we're not alone with this. And I see that happening, especially after huge conventions, west Coast swing festivals on the weekend, um, where of course you have all those exciting moments and you talk to lots of people, you dance a lot, and then you have some social time and like all those things coming together that make you feel really good.

And then on Monday you go back to regular life and you completely crash and you feel dreadful and you just. You can't feel any happiness anymore in your regular life. And that can be a really soul ing feeling and I don't want people to feel alone with that. And also want people to understand the basically the scientific side of it, because when we are.

On those on those weekends at those events basically our brain just dumps [00:13:00] lots of feelgood hormones, so lots of endorphins, lots of oxytocin, lots of dopamine, um, and we get all those hormones that feel so, so good. And. We are flooded by all of those. And then of course, once you don't have all those stimuli anymore no social dancing, no socializing anymore.

Um, you come back home and you basically get a crash. Because after having the levels so, so high, everything suddenly is depleted. And you don't go back to regular baseline, but you actually go below baseline. So you need a little bit of time to get to your regular baseline again. That's different for everybody of course, but usually a couple of days until you feel like, oh, okay, I'm kind of back to normal.

So yeah, there, there are multiple things that can help against that. So for example, just really gentle movement, introducing gentle movement, maybe going for a walk, maybe doing a little bit of stretching can really help to get you back to baseline more quickly. [00:14:00] Also light socializing, like meeting up with a friend can really benefit getting back to baseline again.

And all of those don't need to be like crazy. You do not need to go on a marathon or you don't need to go to a party or anything because then once again high dopamine and crashing again. Just being gentle with yourself and seeing what's possible in the moment can really, really be great. After feeling like you're crashing a little bit.

And I know it can be hard. Um, I mean, especially when you're already feeling down and you're feeling low, you don't really feel like. Doing a stretching session or talking to a friend or something, but it can really, really help so much if we just take that little step to take care of ourselves after having such a crash.

Rosy Boa: Yeah, I think it's, uh, I don't think that I am alone in, uh, being someone who is dealing with a lot and a lot of feelings right now outside of dance, right? And I think [00:15:00] when things feel very overwhelming in life and in the world, it can be, I. Very challenging to make time to move and do our fun hobbies that we do for fun and things can feel frivolous.

Uh, and I think there can be a little bit of, um, I maybe nihilism in there as well. But do you wanna talk about where, from sort of a brain wellbeing perspective your fun hobbies should you would recommend, uh, exist when things are. It things are rough.

Clara Dieters: Yeah. Especially when, when everything is really rough and things going on in the world are dragging you down it can be hard to take care of yourself and it can be hard to actually do the things that usually bring you joy.

Something that has really helped me and that I also see helping other people a lot, are implementation intentions. Which basically means doing a small thing because of [00:16:00] something else. It works better if I explain it with with an example. So let's say you make the implementation attention every time I come back from work, I'm gonna dance for five minutes.

That's not a big thing. Five minutes, that's a really short period of time. And because you connected to something that you do anyways coming back from work you don't need motivation and you don't really need anything that is gonna that is gonna. Gets you into that, into that state. You are already there.

You already finished work and because you connected that to this other activity to dance then you hopefully will automatically do it and you don't even need to think about it all that much anymore because. I don't know, you're, you're laying in your bed, you're feeling down, and then the thought of, oh, now I need to get up.

Now I need to practice for an hour, or go to a class for an hour. That can feel very overwhelming. So first of all, that [00:17:00] connect to an already daily activity. And then also, second of all, keeping it very low threshold and keeping it a short amount of time can really help to implement things that make you feel good without that huge mental stress.

Rosy Boa: Yeah. And I also really like that idea. We've talked about habit stacking on the podcast in the past. Folks may be familiar with some of that work. But I do really like the idea of tying it specifically to a transition as well. 'cause I know, I know some of y'all listening are neurodivergent and, uh, that activation energy and like task switching has a cost associated with it.

So if you already have that cost and you can like, add in just like a little something, a little, something nice that aligns with your values and can help you feel better. Uh, I think that's a, that's a really good way to, to think about it. Yeah.

I know that improvisation is a big part of West Coast swing. Yes. Some types of ballroom, some types of partner dancing. Also, uh, not necessarily always a big part of pole dance. Many people do choreographies. I'm a [00:18:00] freestyler. I am very much an improviser, and that's what I, I really love and sort of my, my zone of joy.

But do you wanna talk a little bit about improvisation, creativity? The psychology I think, learning how to improvise better is one of those things that sounds like such a weird contradiction, but is something that anyone can do. Uh, and do you want to, uh, give us a little, a little bit more context around that and a little bit more understanding.

Clara Dieters: Yeah, totally. So improv is the base of West coast swing. In West coast swing. We try to base everything on the concept of lead and follow. So we have one leader, one follower and. Then you need to communicate as well as possible in that partnership and that communication can be from physical communication, so when you're touching each other's bodies, um, but also visual communication like your facial expression or your body language.

And you're trying to basically communicate as well as possible. With [00:19:00] people you might have not even ever danced with before because in, let's say this Jack and Jill format that I was talking about earlier, you get a random partner, you get a random song, which means you might get a song you've never heard.

You might get a partner you've never danced with before, and then suddenly you need to improv on that song. Just with that connection that you learned about in all those lessons. And that for me is a really fun part of West Coast SL and making yeah, that improv improvisational moment happen is really, really cool.

Because so much creativity can be sparked by that super super unique situation. For me personally and I know that's different for everybody, but for me personally, actually improv makes me less nervous than having a certain choreography. Um, because in my head when I'm improving, I can't do anything wrong.

There are no faults because there is no set thing that I need to do. There is no choreography. So when I'm improving, basically everything I do is [00:20:00] right. So when I'm performing in front of a crowd, I'm not really all that nervous anymore because I know I can't really make any faults. And that really helps me personally.

I know there are lots of people who really struggle with that thought of improv. Because for them it can feel very overwhelming because improv also means every millisecond of the stands. You can have all the choices that you want. You can literally make any choice that you want at any given moment.

And that can feel very overwhelming. And then some people tend to freeze. And just not do anything and not put any improvisational work into the dance at all. And there are multiple things that you can do to kind of get into that improv mood or, um, kind of start improving, um, when you're very much at the beginning.

And once again. I think this is the case for a lot of dancing or also a lot of situations in life in general. Putting [00:21:00] in as much predictability and as much control as possible can really help to to boost that security at the beginning, because of course, if we tell a beginner, okay, you're gonna be in front of a crowd and you're gonna be dancing with an unknown partner to an unknown song, and you have to do it all at once at the same time.

They're gonna be overwhelmed. So starting really small. I usually tell my students, just put on some music in a room that's locked. Nobody can come into the room, nobody can see you. Maybe even switch off the lights so you can't even see yourself, and you're just gonna move to that music and see what happens.

Nobody's there to judge you, nobody's gonna see you. Um, and it's a completely protected room within you, where, where you can just explore your own movement for a little bit at first. And anything is allowed. Anything is possible. Make it as weird as possible as possible, actually because nothing's wrong in that room.

And then once you feel comfortable with that, maybe take it a tiny, tiny [00:22:00] step further and maybe record yourself. Uh, or maybe do it in front of a mirror so you're exposing yourself at least to that improvisational work. Um, and then once you feel comfortable with seeing yourself, maybe you can start doing it together with a partner still in a protected room.

Of course, not in front of an audience, not in front of, uh, a class or anything, just with one person that you trust. Putting in little pieces of improv in there and then doing it in a class, then doing it in front of crowd and so on and so forth. Basically taking, taking baby steps towards the direction of feeling more and more comfortable with that improv.

Rosy Boa: Yeah, I like that. Working your way up to, to the big thing by breaking it down. Yeah. Yeah. And folks who have not listened to that episode we do with Sally Raddel, who is, uh, a researcher who looks at the effects of mirrors on dancers, you should go listen to that. Uh, because I think this, it's very relevant to, uh, you know, feelings of, not self regard, but like, um, the, the feeling of observing yourself and how getting rid of that can really help [00:23:00] you find a little bit more ease. And then perhaps if that's something you are interested in doing, uh, slowly beginning to work things back in. I think that's a, that's a great tip.

Are you familiar with a study that came out a while ago that I suspect is being sort of misrepresented on social media, but I have not dug into deeply, so I'm just seeing if, if you have, uh, about how dance is better than antidepressants at preventing depression?

Clara Dieters: I, I did read into that into that meta-analysis briefly. I can't say that I know everything about it, but as far as I know, that study was basically a big meta-analysis with lots of studies in it.

Saying that dance can significantly, significantly reduce, um, symptoms of depression and possibly also reduce symptoms of anxiety. As far as I know in that study or in that meta-analysis they said that dance was equally as good. As other types of movement. So not dance, [00:24:00] but sports, et cetera. But not saying that it was necessarily better than any sports but it was indeed better than the control group.

So it was indeed better than doing nothing. But yeah, I, I think that dance can have great impacts on also, things like depression and anxiety.

But I think it's something that should be treated with caution, especially on social media. I know that there's lots of interest in the topic of psychology and lots of people are getting more into the. Alternative ways of maybe treating depression. But I think one key thing that people should understand about this is that dance cannot substitute professional help or in some cases even medication. So I don't think it would be wise, wise thing to say that. If you have depression, just go dance and you'll be better.

That's just not how it works. That would not be a scientific statement. [00:25:00] So yes, it's really cool to keep that in mind that dance can definitely reduce, um, depressive symptoms. But that doesn't mean that it is the only solution or the best solution for every single person.

Rosy Boa: Yeah. Particularly when we get into more of the, um, pathology, right? And, uh, we get onto more of the medical side of things. I definitely agree. That's when you should reach out to someone who is the other kind of doctor, uh, not, not, uh, not the time for research papers, but for the time for, clinical assistance. So, yeah.

It's challenging and I think, science communication is just hard because when it is done effectively, often the thing that you say is like, well, in this very specific situation, this thing seems to be true and we've reduced our uncertainty about the world in a specific way. It can be really challenging when there is a finding that sounds really exciting, and then, uh, it gets perhaps misrepresented or overstated and then, you know, people who are familiar with the overstatement will sort of take that and run [00:26:00] with it.

And you, get to a, a place where the popular understanding of a result is not really robustly supported by the research that led to people's belief of that understanding. Which is unfortunate, but it does happen sometimes.

Clara Dieters: Yeah, I totally agree. I think it's hard to navigate that, um, like social media in general in combination with sciences because I think it's really cool that people try to take scientific findings and take them to social media and inform people about it.

But the problem is also that social media works in a certain type of way. So, attention spans are short and you need to hook people and you need to be as punchy and as concise as possible. And that does not really do well with. Science in general, because of course science is difficult and there are so many layers to topics and studies have so many different variables that it's just really hard to crunch that into a really short, punchy video.

[00:27:00] Where many people want to get as many views as possible and you get views by being super punchy and, and super. Sensational. Um, that's also something that I kind of struggled with my own videos because I want to reach many people and I, I want many people to know about how awesome dance is and all the, all the cool things that dance psychology has to offer to us as dancers.

The one the many ways that it can help us. But at the same time, I want to stay as scientifically grounded as possible and to not spread any mis misinformation. So I've had to find my own way to kind of create videos that are both entertaining yet scientifically correct at the same time. And I feel like now I've kind of found my groove with it, but I did struggle with it at the beginning realizing that I need something that kind of entertains and hooks people, but at the same time staying true to the science.

Rosy Boa: It's a skill. It's, it's not easy. [00:28:00] Yeah. I appreciate it. Uh, and you mentioned you had a list of like possible topics, things that you were interested in. Give us something off the list. What's something that you've, uh, you've been in interested in that you'd like to talk about?

Clara Dieters: Yeah, sure.

So one study that I frequently cite in my videos is by Tara Al, and it's actually about dance and endorphin release. I think it's really cool because it digs into the synchrony of movement a little more. So especially related to partner dancing and synchronous movement. With other people. They were basically seeing how synchronous movement has an effect on our pain threshold.

So the amount of pain that we can endure and that pain threshold is actually really great proxy for endorphin release. And basically what they did is that they looked at. How much pain can you endure when you're moving in synchrony with others versus when you're not moving in synchrony with others?

[00:29:00] And they found that when you're moving in Synchrony, you can endure more pain, um, than when you're not moving in Synchrony, which means that when you're moving in Synchrony, you actually release more endorphins. And that's really cool to connect that with partner dancing because that means when we are dancing with other people, we get more endorphins, we get more, yeah.

All those feel good chemicals as we like to call 'em in pop psychology. And that just makes, it makes us feel good Moving with other people feels pretty, pretty great.

Rosy Boa: What a lovely finding. Uh, what a nice, what a nice thing.

Little sidebar here. For folks who are interested in digging deeper into research on Synchrony a lot of the mirror neuron stuff that was really big like a while ago, a sizable chunk of that literature has not replicated particularly well.

So just little grain of salt. Speaking of things that got picked up in the general public consciousness in a way that was not necessarily supported by the, the work itself.

So we're getting, getting closeish to time time, but if there [00:30:00] was one. Psychology finding insight thing, uh, that you could just sort of like immediately broadcast and every dancer in the world would just boop, have it in their mind.

What would it be?

Clara Dieters: That's a good question. I feel like the main thing that I want people to know is. Dancing just feels good and act actually scientifically proven, makes you feel good. We already talked about different aspects of this, like, the pathology part, et cetera, but if we're just looking at the broad population there was a, a meta-analysis by take Sarah.

Machado, I'm not quite sure if I'm pronouncing this correctly, so take it with a grain of salt. But that basically, um, was just looking at how dance can. Promote wellbeing and can boost our mood and just make us feel better overall. And that is just a really well supported matter analysis, um, where I can really say, Hey, dance makes us feel [00:31:00] good.

So even if you're not going to any dance classes or if you're not dancing regularly, just taking a five minute dance break in the middle of the day if you're feeling low can actually really, really make a big change in the course of your day. Dance a little more in your life, it's gonna make you feel good probably.

Rosy Boa: I think that's something we could send out to people who do not consider themselves dancers either. Alright. Well, thank you. This has been a wonderful conversation. Any citations that we mentioned will be below the, uh, this wherever you are listening or watching to it. But where can people find you if they wanna keep up with what you're doing?

Clara Dieters: So you can find me on Instagram mainly. It's Clara Dieters wcs. And I both post videos about my own West Coast wing dancing, but also, um, weekly videos about dance psychology. They always come out every Wednesday at 3:00 PM German time. And they basically cover any topic, either about competition or about, um, dancing [00:32:00] in general or about, improving your training or improving your mindset. Um, it's really on a variety of topics and if you're interested in that and interested in improving your dance journey and having people with you, um, alongside you that are also interested in that, then I would love it if you looked at that and checked it out.

Rosy Boa: And that link will also be below. All right, with that, I'm gonna wrap up the episode. Thanks so much for joining us today, Clara, thank you to all of you for listening. Hopefully you've taken away some little tips and tricks.

Uh, perhaps have some, some reading to do if you wanna get into some of the studies we've talked about. And I look forward to talking with you very soon. Goodbye.

Clara Dieters: Bye-bye.