Dancers often endure long hours of physical exertion and push their bodies to extreme limits in order to advance technically. The importance of physical health and fitness is not news to dancers and dance educators; however, psychological health and well-being are not discussed as much, yet play a crucial role in dancers' lives. This article will suggest ways in which dance teachers can help their students achieve optimum psychological wellbeing by utilizing research in positive psychology, a relatively new field that we believe has great relevance to dance.
Dance psychology typically looks to sport psychology for evidence and inspiration, but we suggest that a new emerging giant of a field, namely positive psychology, is another useful source. Therefore, this article will briefly introduce three positive psychology topics: self-determination, creativity, and flow. With an understanding of some key terms and how to apply them in class, teachers may be able to nurture healthy intrinsic motivation and thereby raise self-esteem and lower body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, by focusing on psychological factors that underlie excellence in performance, such as flow and creativity, instructors may be able to help their students reach higher levels of achievement.