Effects of the creative process in dance on anxiety and depression: A comparison of improvisation and imitation dances

Dancing is known to reduce anxiety and depression, and appears to be more effective than other forms of exercise (e.g., bicycling), listening to music, or a combination of such activities. However, the factors responsible for these effects remain unclear. Therefore, this study focused on the creative process as a factor to test the hypothesis that the creative process in dance reduced anxiety and depression. In total, 109 university students individually performed an improvisation or imitation dance online for approximately 20 minutes. Participants completed psychological measures of anxiety and depression before and after dancing. The results showed that both types of dances significantly reduced anxiety and depression. However, inconsistent with our hypothesis, there were no significant differences between improvisation dance and imitation dance in the improvement of anxiety and depression. Although the results suggest the creative processes may not contribute to reducing anxiety and depression, we considered participants' limited creative experience and the possibility of alternative mechanisms.