Low back pain in ballet, modern, and hip-hop dancers

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Low back pain (LBP) is a global medical issue that continues to rise in the general population. However, the consequences of low back pain in dance populations have been difficult to quantify, in part due to varying injury definitions. Low back pain is a multifaceted problem that is anecdotally common, but more research is needed to understand how low back pain impacts dancers’ lives and movements. The key aim of this thesis was to investigate low back pain in ballet, modern, and hip-hop dancers, and provide practical recommendations based on the findings. The aims of this thesis were to: (a) investigate the dancers’ perspectives on low back pain and what aspects of their lives and dancing it affects, including a determination of what movements dancers associate with exacerbating their low back pain, and (b) to further examine these movements, through archival and biomechanical research, to provide recommendations to the dance community. Study 1 assessed the dancers’ perspective on the impact and management of low back pain through an online questionnaire disseminated to primarily ballet, modern, and hip-hop dance populations. The results showed that low back pain negatively impacted dancers’ dance movements and non-dance activities, with spinal extension movements being most frequently reported as a movement that increased the dancers’ low back pain. Therefore, Study 2 utilized archival dance videos from YouTube.com to identify how often dancers were exposed to the movements that they reported in Study 1 as exacerbating their low back pain. Results showed that the dance movements that exacerbate low back pain were present in all the dance environments studied: ballet class and performance, modern dance class and performance, and hip-hop breaking, cyphers, and battles. Ballet performance environments had the highest number of total spinal extension movements (77±69.8), and hip-hop cypher environments had the highest frequency of spinal extension movements per minute (7±9.6). Recommendations for training focuses, based on the complete movement profile for each dance genre, are also presented. Study 3 used a case study to examine the biomechanics of three spinal extension movements: the ballet arabesque, the modern dance attitude with body roll, and the hip-hop dolphin dive. The influence of speed on the forces of the spine in dance had not been studied previously. Results suggest that thoracic and lumbar spine joint angles, angular velocity, and angular acceleration increase all three dance genres when performing movements from slow to fast speeds. Collectively, the results in this thesis verified that low back pain is an impactful condition with significant negative consequences for those dancers who are afflicted. The results also revealed dancers are frequently exposed to movements that they report can increase their low back pain. The results show increased angular displacements, angular velocity, angular acceleration in spinal extension movements performed at progressively increasing speeds. However, further research is needed to confirm if the forces at the low back increase as speed increases, and to clarify the role of asymmetry in movements that increase dancer LB

Zaha Hadid her ideas and architecture examined through musical composition final 24.05.2024

This is an interdisciplinary focus upon Zaha Hadid (ZH), the person, her ideas and architecture expressed through music as a portfolio of compositions. Information and mechanisms for these compositions are drawn from her biography, method of designing and final architectural realisations. The approach adopted is holistic and subjective. A number of alternative approaches are examined. These by contrast are largely atomistic. They are taken together with running discussions prompted by the research and my ideas for alternative methodologies, forming suggestions for future research. Also, the specific techniques thrown up highlight the different holistic approaches, contrast own techniques adopted within the holistic methodology and form an internal fruitful dialogue, leading to conclusions on translation efficacy, in general, and of ZH. This is intended as a initiating project where other composers are encouraged to add their contributions to musical responses to Zaha Hadid, either holistically and or atomistically. The body of this research consists of finding information about Zaha Hadid that can be converted in some way, via translation, interpretation, representation and other mechanisms, to music. The mechanisms are like intermediary devices between the architectural object, or objects, or person, Zaha Hadid, to be translated, or portrayed and the means of translation. This is to aid quantification in an area that is generic. This is then carried out and expressed as a portfolio. Another way of seeing this is as praxis between pure theory and practice. Theories of and about ZH are then brought to reality in the music portfolio. There is an inherent discussion about translation and transdicipliniarity within the context of ZH. Some observations in this connection are offered in the conclusions. Due to the interrelated complexity, the research can be read in several ways: about architecture, about Zaha Hadid, about the composer as interpreter and within a general enquiry of world problems raised by the double issue of translation, initially seen as a problem, and Zaha Hadid, her mathematical and spiritual questioning of the structure of the universe in relation to her unique avant-garde architecture. The result is a wide ranging collection of compositions touching on issues of Zaha Hadid’s art, her inceptive design processes, influences and inspirations involving topology, space and her unique challenging viewpoints on architecture in a modern evolving world. She, in turn, is an inspiration, overcoming obstacles to become a successful progenitor of a world renowned architectural practice. This inspiration is evident in the compositions. Whilst the starting point emulates her predominantly abstract approach, the mechanisms form specific linkages for each musical realisation. The final result is a personalised statement that encompasses several features of Zaha Hadid offered as a starting point in musical research about and evoking Zaha Hadid, or any person, addressed as a topic for translation. The main outcome is a proposition of translating a whole person, as compared and cross checked with an atomistic approach, also forming putative suggestions for further research in this atomistic way, or combined, across disciplines. It necessarily involves both abstraction and subjective interpretation, offering, within this context, a contribution to a translation discussion centring around issues raised by Walter Benjamin and my own perceived problems as outlined, then offering solutions

The Music Sound

A guide for music: compositions, events, forms, genres, groups, history, industry, instruments, language, live music, musicians, songs, musicology, techniques, terminology , theory, music video. Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. The traditional or classical European aspects of music often listed are those elements given primacy in European-influenced classical music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone color/timbre, and form. A more comprehensive list is given by stating the aspects of sound: pitch, timbre, loudness, and duration. Common terms used to discuss particular pieces include melody, which is a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit; chord, which is a simultaneity of notes heard as some sort of unit; chord progression, which is a succession of chords (simultaneity succession); harmony, which is the relationship between two or more pitches; counterpoint, which is the simultaneity and organization of different melodies; and rhythm, which is the organization of the durational aspects of music

Bowdoin Orient v.138, no.1-25 (2008-2009)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-2000s/1009/thumbnail.jp

Maritime expressions:a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors

This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britain’s maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised ‘Maritime Expressions’ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with ’A’, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of ‘maritime’ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according to their metaphorical strength and their transference from maritime usage into new registers and domains such as those of business, politics, sports and reportage etc. A revised model of metaphoricity is developed and a new category of figurative expression, the ‘resonator’, is proposed. Additionally, developing the work of Lakov and Johnson, Kovesces and others on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), a number of Maritime Conceptual Metaphors are identified and their cultural significance is discussed