Posted by: IADMS Promotion Committee

Photographer: Erin Sanchez

Matthew Wyon 

1. Could you tell us about your presentation theme at the 28th IADMS Annual Conference (#IADMS2018)?

In my opinion research is pointless unless it is applied and utilized within the environment it has focused on. The roundtable “Embedding dance medicine and science into teaching and learning” will highlight how this has been done within a variety of scenarios and how science and medicine research can be used to support dance teaching.

2. How will your presentation help dance educators to apply research with students and participants in the classroom?

There has been a huge acceleration in a wide range of dance medicine and science research within our extended community, which is excellent, that is intended to help dancers/teachers/health professionals enhance performance/learning or reduce injury incidence. But it often takes 4-5 studies to answer one small question and to the “research outsider” this can be seen to be overly complex and often written in an undecipherable/poorly accessible language. The work that we did at ArtEZ Conservatoire, Netherlands was a collaboration between scientists and artists to achieve an artistically driven outcome. Even when the goal is the same for the two parties the journey can be difficult as they speak different languages and use different maps.

3. What are your thoughts on IADMS relevance for your field of work?

Within the Dance Science research team at the University of Wolverhampton the focus of our research is enhancing dance performance or injury reduction through intervention. IADMS conferences are therefore our primary forum for sharing our research with the wider community.

4. Personally, what is the importance of attending to IADMS annual conferences?

I have been attending IADMS conferences for the past 15+ years. Over this time I have met some wonderful colleagues who are now friends, it is probably the friendliest conference that I attend and very nurturing of new researchers/presenters. The conference also gives me the opportunity of hearing about current research and looking for future collaborations.