Theories on creative dance in physical education and physical education teacher education – a narrative review

Abstract Creative dance, part of the teaching area of dance in physical education (PE) and physical education teacher education (PETE), has been thoroughly studied over the last decades. Creative dance risks a reduced educational impact due to unclear notions of what students and pupils learn when participating in creative dance. This uncertainty can reinforce the impression that there is nothing to learn from creative dance and that this activity merely involves directionless movement. The aim of this study is to explore the key ideas and theoretical perspectives about creative dance in PE and PETE, with the ambition to clarify what characterizes this teaching area in an educational context. A narrative review was adopted to summarize, compare, explain and interpret relevant research studies. In total, 29 peer-reviewed empirical studies of creative dance in PE and PETE were reviewed. The narrative review offers insights into the research field of creative dance in PE and PETE, where ideas about various forms of experience of movement are prevalent. It shows different educational qualities of creative dance as well, as it depicts a learning environment in which embodied exploration, aesthetic experience and subjective expression are of central concern, with numerous elaborate pedagogical considerations.