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Well into the 21st century, it is difficult to deny the contribution that Mayan culture has made to the history of the world, and not only because of its contribution to universal culture with its architecture, astronomy and mathematics. Understanding the management practices of a Mayan dance (the dance of the Pochó) that has transcended over the years can give us an idea of the management practices carried out by an ancestral culture such as the Maya. The purpose of this article is to establish an initial conceptual relationship between the management process proposed by Henry Fayol (1916) and the management of a Mayan dance that has survived to the present day.

A specific ethnographic study was carried out in the municipality of Tenosique, Tabasco (Mexico) for two consecutive years. Research methods such as direct observation, researcher diaries, in-depth interviews and photographs were utilized that allowed a study of management practices.

Thanks to the cross-checking of the data obtained, it was possible to determine a theoretical-conceptual relationship between Fayol's management process and the Mayan dance studied. In fact, 12 specific management practices found in the four phases of the process were identified. In addition, with the ethnographic study it was possible to determine the levels of intensity and impact regarding the satisfaction of those attending and performing the dance.

Research limitations are due to result from the fact that the analysis corresponds to a single Mayan dance in a specific place (Tenosique) in the state of Tabasco, Mexico.

To understand the management practices of the Mayan culture through the study of a dance that has remained alive until our days; this might be useful for the management practices of today's companies.

It is a pioneering study that analyzes a Mayan dance through the optics of management sciences.

This article aims to bring together and demonstrate overlaps in three different areas of reflexive research concerned variously with audiences for contemporary dance. These are: 1) artists reflecting on their own creative process and engaging other researchers in doing so, generating new insights and language as a result; 2) humanities-based dance studies and a small number of dance scholars reflecting on this “process turn” in dance; and 3) the field of empirical audience studies, drawing on a single study specifically interested in access to creative process. The goal is to propose how these areas might coexist and mutually inform each other.

The approach develops a three-fold framework where the multiple definitions and examples of reflexive research in dance-making processes coexist. It draws systematically on a detailed example of one self-reflective study conducted by a dance company into creative process, on new scholarly writing on the “process turn” in dance research and written analysis of a unique audience research project as well as related literature.

In conclusion, the article suggests that in whatever combination of different research approaches, empirical evidence is increasingly important. This risks tipping the balance towards a more utilitarian understanding, particularly in the area of audience studies. It is possible to counterbalance this with approaches from artists and scholars interested in understanding arrived at through reflexive study of creative practice.

The original contribution is to bring these three areas together for the first time to expose difference and overlaps and suggest that challenges of understanding (in a non-utilitarian form) could be mitigated through more systematic dialogue between them, such as presented here.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategy of performance art, especially Silat Movement (as a source and identity of traditional dance movement of Minangkabau ethnic group), as a marketing medium of tourism, especially in West Sumatera Province.

This research used a qualitative approach among six cases of dance. Quantitative method was used to collect data about the dance movement of Minangkabau ethnic group, which is in accordance with the cultural value that they adopt. The data collecting technique used was focus group discussion, documentation, observation and interview. The case study method was used to conduct this research, focusing on the Silat dance movement as a medium to promote tourism. The research method is presented to generate a study that is in harmony with the background and the problem statement. This was a qualitative descriptive analysis research with the aim of providing a comprehensive illustration of performance art as a medium to promote tourism in West Sumatera.

Minangkabau ethnic dance movement, which is based on custom and religion, includes movements originating from the Silat movement. Movements in Minangkabau dance include Silat movements, such as attacking and fending off, rolling over, sawhorse posture and leg and hand movements. This is an original movement source and derives from cultural movements born from the fighter. That is why the Minangkabau dancer is a male; females were initially not allowed to dance because the movements are not suitable for them. Movement stylization suitable for a woman appears when she starts involving in dance movements in Minangkabau. Given the basis of culture and religion, the concept of suitable movements for a woman involves having no pelvic-rocking movements, erotic movements (with legs, hands and head) or other movements, such as rolling over, fighting and fending off. When male and female dancers perform together, they are not allowed to touch each other.

The movement in the dancing art of Minangkabau actually should be in harmony with, balanced on and based on the value of Adat Basandi Syarak, Syarak Basandi Kitabulah, which is the philosophy of the Minangkabau ethnic group. This means, a religious value must be seen in all expressions of dance movements of the Minangkabau ethnic group; no expression should contradict the values of the religious and customs value. A similar perception to the philosophy states that it is very helpful for Indonesian choreographer for the needs of aesthetic from the rich of Indonesian dance. Also, Hastuti and Supriyanti (2012) state that it can be a differentiator from the dance rules of Western thought patterns.

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize how Miley Cyrus’ brand values are projected through the multimodal semiotic structure of the live performance of the song Do my thang (from the Bangerz album (2013)).

Sociosemiotic conceptual framework in conjunction with an interpretive videographic method of analysis, facilitated by the multimodal qualitative discourse analytic software ATLAS.ti.

Four major territories were identified as regards the spectacle’s latent axiology, namely, freeplay, polymorphous sexuality, neo-burlesque, and hyperdifferentiation.

Attending to structural couplings between signs and modes in the context of bespoke artists’ brand languages constitutes a priority for managing an artist as brand, and, concomitantly, for safeguarding relevance for a fandom. A multimodal reading grid is offered to this end.

From a branding point of view, this study constitutes the first one that theorizes the live show spectacle as the manifest discourse whereupon brand image and brand values are edified, with an emphasis on the dance mode, over and above the verbal/visual modes that dominate the advertising/branding literatures.

Many graduate attributes (such as adaptability, resilience, cultural awareness and professionalism) are often considered aspirational or invisible and conventionally go “under the radar” of standard university dance education. The purpose of this paper is to add to existing theories of dance as an academic discipline and contributes to studies identifying and mapping graduate attributes across the academy.

The research project Making the Invisible Visible contextualises this paper. It has involved a two-year, cyclical data-gathering process, involving interviews with leading dance employers and academics, and surveys of students from diverse disciplines entering and completing full-time dance degrees.

Due to the centrality of embodiment in studio learning, dance is an unusual discipline within research on graduate attributes and holds a unique place in academia. The creative, embodied, collaborative activities typical to dance learning offer fresh insight to the literature on graduate attributes – both visible and invisible – all graduates from a given institution are expected to hold.

A narrative methodology is employed to present a series of amalgam characters manifesting specific ways in which invisible graduate attributes inform pedagogies, student–teacher relationships and student understandings of their professional skills.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the specific field of arts entrepreneurship by focussing on the practices of vertical dance; a language of contemporary dance where dancers act on a vertical axis, moving suspended on the surface of buildings and walls. The authors’ focus on vertical dance as a meaningful corporal practice to explore the particular combination of dance and human movement, going beyond its purely metaphoric dimension.

The authors’ adopt a micro-social perspective, observing the practices (Gherardi, 2012; Nicolini, 2012; Sicca, 2000), that took place from 2013 to 2015 in the daily work of Wanda Moretti, a Venetian choreographer and co-founder of the company “Il posto”, observed in different contexts of artistic practices (Zembylas, 2014).

Deconstructing the overlapping dimensions that compose the space in our daily experience (force of gravity and the supporting surface), vertical dance clarifies how often we undervalue the complexity of the space and, at the same time, opens up the way for a better understanding and investigation of entrepreneurship in artistic fields.

The study sheds light on the way in which different categories, such as the human body, space, and movement, are a particular entanglement of elements, useful in highlighting some of the fundamental assumptions at the heart of the field of entrepreneurship. The heterogeneous complexity of space and bodies is emphasised, challenging its ordinary conceptualisation.

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo investigar el campo específico de las iniciativas empresariales artísticas, centrándose en las prácticas de la danza vertical, un lenguaje de la danza contemporánea donde los bailarines actúan sobre un eje vertical, moviéndose suspendidos sobre la superficie de edificios y paredes. Nos centramos en la danza vertical como práctica corporal significativa para explorar la combinación particular de la danza y el movimiento humano, que va más allá de su dimensión puramente metafórica.

Adoptamos una perspectiva micro-social, focalizándonos en las prácticas (Gherardi, 2012; Nicolini, 2012; Sicca, 2000) que tuvieron lugar desde 2013 hasta 2015 en el trabajo cotidiano de Wanda Moretti, coreógrafa veneciana y co-fundadora de la empresa “Il posto”, observado los diferentes contextos de las prácticas artísticas (Zembylas, 2014).

En deconstruir las dimensiones superpuestas que componen el espacio en nuestra experiencia diaria (la fuerza de la gravedad y la superficie de apoyo), la danza vertical aclara la frecuencia con la que subvaloramos la complejidad del espacio y, al mismo tiempo, abre el camino para una mejor comprensión y la investigación del espíritu empresarial en los ámbitos artísticos.

El estudio subraya cómo diferentes categorías, como el cuerpo humano, el espacio y el movimiento, son un enredo particular de elementos, útil para poner de relieve algunas de las premisas fundamentales en el campo del espíritu empresarial. La complejidad heterogénea de espacio y los cuerpos se enfatiza, desafiando a su conceptualización ordinaria.

The over-arching purpose of this paper is to provide a reflexive personal narrative of the inequalities experienced as the author grew up with a desire to dance; personal experiences which influenced the author to become an educator and eventually led the author to engage in some active research on the issue of boys and dance in secondary schools in the north of England.

This project is based on narrative interviews with young males, as the researchers seek to assess the current landscape of dance education within the UK. Interviews were conducted within two high school settings. Yet, this paper does not focus on the data produced in such interviews. Instead, it adopts a reflective methodology in terms of auto-critiquing the inquiry, exploring themes such as dancing negativity, homophobia and homonormativity.

The paper offers a brief critique of the literature around long-standing cultural ingrained discrimination experienced by boys who dance. Finally, and importantly, the paper offers a personal and intimate account reflecting on the author's experiences of engaging in research on male dancers in secondary schools.

This paper is a semi-autobiographical reflective inquiry which assesses the current issue of masculinities and dance, within adolescent educational settings. It is important in generating an awareness of the importance of individual and subjective reflective starting points for conducting research and the paper concludes how ethnographic research is never really neutral.

Music and dance are art forms that involve a full mind-body experience, integrating the cognitive, affective and kinaesthetic domains. To engage in creating music and dance is to use information to express oneself and communicate. In this chapter I explore the information experience of two distinct groups: those who compose music for an audience and those who dance socially with a partner.

For the composer, information sources can be a stimulus for creation. Sounds, feelings, moods, images, ideas and life experiences can trigger a creative idea. These ideas are shaped by existing musical styles and structures, and by the composer’s personal aesthetic. The intention of the composer is to communicate their expressive ideas to an audience.

For the social dancer, information sources are those used to communicate with a partner. There is no intention to perform for an audience. A social dancer aims to express the music and style of the dance while creating a strong connection with their partner. Information sources include the music, the partner’s body, the emotions generated by the dance, the position of other couples on the floor and the feeling of the floor.

Use of information in the arts is an under-researched experience. Most information studies are based on the assumption that information is documentary and codified. Subjective and affective information is rarely recognised and legitimised. Information-as-it-is-experienced through creative practice such as music and dance is holistic in acknowledging mind, body and spirit as well as traditional documentary forms of information. This chapter draws on empirical research to illustrate experiencing information as creating and expressing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues surrounding the use of ethnography and participant observation in event studies. It considers the role and benefits of participant observation in terms of understanding event audiences and provides examples of the range of participant motivations and preferences such approaches can reveal and explore. As a methodological paper it focuses on the processes, challenges and benefits surrounding the utilisation of ethnographic methods within events research, with specific examples taken from an ethnographic study into contemporary dance music culture to contextualise the discussion.

Ethnography and participant observation are flexible research approaches characterised by varying levels of participation in and observation of different cultural groups and activities. This paper focuses specifically on participant observation revolving around field trips, focus groups, internet research and key informant interviews.

The challenges facing ethnographic researchers studying event audiences include identifying opportunities for observation and participation, identity negotiation for different research settings, their positioning on the participant observer spectrum, recruiting participants, recording data and the extent to which research takes an overt or covert approach, bearing in mind ethics and participant reactivity. It concludes that once these challenges are addressed, this multifaceted approach provides a valuable avenue for researchers exploring the range of socio-cultural forces at play surrounding event audiences and their experiences.

It advocates a shift from attempts to quantify audience motivations and experiences, to methods which seek to understand them more fully through focusing on the entirety of the event experience and the influence of surrounding cultural networks and discourses.

Librarians find the search for information on dance topics time‐consuming and difficult. There are few reference works devoted specifically to dance, and a number of those that do exist are outdated and need revision. Further, because the field is so diverse, a search for dance information will frequently lead the investigator into a variety of related subject areas, each with its own complicated access problems. Reference librarians faced with dance inquiries may in the course of an hour find it necessary to consult sources in music, education, aesthetics, theatre, or physiology. On a more specific level, questions may call for information on such subtopics as ballet, folk dance, dance therapy, choreography, tap dance, and movement technique. College students may need information on famous dancers of the past; theatergoers may want an up‐to‐date evaluation of a performance of a specific ballet company; and dancers may often need information on technique and conditioning.