Art meets sport: What can actor training bring to physical literacy programs?

Lisa M. Barnett, Rea Dennis, Kate Hunter, John Cairney, Richard J. Keegan, Inimfon A. Essiet, Dean A. Dudley

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    8 Citations (Scopus)
    57 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The aim of this communication is to highlight synergies and opportunities between the fields of education, sport and health and the performing arts for the promotion of physical literacy. First, physical literacy is introduced and then defined according to the definition used in this communication. Secondly, we highlight the gap in physical literacy interventions, in that they do not address learning based on a holistic comprehensive definition of physical literacy. Then we provide examples of interventions that do borrow from the arts, such as circus arts, and show how these approaches explicitly link to the discipline of arts. This is followed by program examples, which approach motor and language development from discipline-specific perspectives. Then we introduce actor training (within the discipline of arts) in terms of how this approach may be useful to our understanding of physical literacy and how to expand the conception of physical literacy to include affective meaning making, and tolerance for ambiguity and discomfort in not-knowing. Finally, we conclude with the next step for the bridging of disciplines in order to further our journey to understand and improve physical literacy.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number4497
    Pages (from-to)1-12
    Number of pages12
    JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
    Volume17
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 23 Jun 2020

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

    Keywords

    • Actor training
    • Child
    • Performance
    • Performing art
    • Physical education
    • Theatre

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Pollution
    • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
    • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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