February 13, 2018

Professor discusses dance-as-intervention research, inspired by Flint

Eva Powers remembers the moment she was inspired to study creative dance for children.

“When I first began teaching dance at Wayne State, I learned that our dance department chair, Ann Zirulnik, who was a dance educator in many forms of dance, was an expert in creative dance for children,” said Powers, associate professor and former department chair of the Maggie Allesee Department of Dance. “The previous chair of dance, Ruth Murray, was Ann’s mentor and Ann became my mentor, leading me into a world of creative movement for children that I did not know existed.”

Powers became a master teacher in creative dance for children and spent many years in this field until local, state and national budget cuts led her to pursue the science and somatics of dance.

Powers will be presenting her research findings on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 2 p.m. in the McGregor Memorial Conference Center, Room BC. RSVP here. A reception will follow.

Spurred by the lead poisoning of young children in Flint, Powers was inspired to survey the most recent research on brain plasticity, neurogenesis, child development and the impact of creative dance on children. As a result, she developed a curriculum of dance, language arts and science for kindergarten through third grade, with a focus on children with special needs.

The objective of this project was to improve learning, neurobehavioral functioning and academic skills, with a particular focus on children who may now suffer lifelong consequences after being exposed to lead during their most important formative years.

For her work, Powers was the 2016-17 recipient of the Murray Jackson Creative Scholar in the Arts award. The research grant has allowed Powers to pursue her passion of creative dance for children while helping find innovative ways to help the cognitively impaired.

“It is such an honor to be a recipient of this award to allow time for my creative research to flourish and, in many ways, honor my mentor, Ann Zirulnik, and the pioneer of the dance department, Ruth Murray, at WSU,” Powers said.