Embracing, Disclosing and Accepting Messiness in Research Practice: What Can Dance Science Learn from Somatics?

Background: The field of dance medicine and science is a niche and complex sector meaning that scholars must define their research lenses, frameworks and methodologies clearly to communicate the contribution to dance practice and knowledge. Recent writing about dance medicine and science research practice has suggested that, "research is not dance", but instead "supports dancing by asking questions, considering methodologies and approaches, acting on the question, reflecting on the outcomes, and providing answers on the outcomes of the action". Whilst questioning and reflecting as research processes are acknowledged, such assertions point to a linear, normative rhetoric regarding what dance medicine and science research is and how it is carried out. The implication is that dance medicine and science research processes are often considered to be external to the dancing self. Purpose: The research process is full of changes in direction, methodological adjustments, rephrased research questions, data gathering mistakes and analytical failures that mean the researcher must respond contextually to the dynamic site of research. As such, dance medicine and science research is a rich site for learning in practice, where the researcher takes a meandering path, creatively mitigating the redirections that are necessary for research to progress. Additionally, the doing of research, in all epistemological and ontological realms, differs depending on who the researcher is. With opportunities to learn about the practice of doing research in the field, such positionality should be discussed more widely, especially in dissemination. Conclusions: There is opportunity in dance medicine and science research to openly discuss both the positionality of the researchers and the decision-making processes that frame the work. In this paper, somatic principles are used as metaphors for the process of "practicing" and "doing" dance medicine and science research, to explore how researcher subjectivity and reflexivity might be embodied in dance medicine and science research culture more broadly.