The purpose of this research paper is to investigate an undergraduate dancer within a ballet technique class and applying sports psychology to look at the affects it has on their practice and performance. Key definitions of sports psychology terms are included to provide more insight into the specific areas of focus for this dissertation. Motivation and anxiety are the key themes running throughout, with academic literature supporting and providing contrasting views to explore in relation to with ballet technique. In addition to the main themes of motivation and anxiety, subtopics of perfectionism, arousal, attribution theory, self-efficacy, and self-confidence are discussed widening the knowledge of sports psychology to fully understand how undergraduate dancers are affect within ballet technique. Additionally, this research paper looks at the characteristics of a dance class and various ballet terminology in order to apply the sports psychology factors to specific dance movements.
A variety of different literature sources have been used throughout the process of this research in order to gain a wide range of knowledge to best support the research question. These sources range from books to blogs, gaining academic and first-hand accounts that are integrated within the entire dissertation. The findings of this dissertation are based mostly upon academic sources for reliability and brief conclusions to provide a clear understanding to the reader. This has allowed the researcher to come a well-defined conclusion surrounding the affects that motivation and anxiety have on an undergraduate dancer within their ballet technique. As motivation levels increase, performance levels increase reaching optimum performance within ballet technique, however if the undergraduate dancer begins to feel a sense of apprehension and anxiety towards a certain movement phrase, the performance level will begin to decrease.
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