Judith Hanna
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Judith Lynne Hanna Earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University. Research focusing on dance as nonverbal communication began in 1963 in Nigeria. Her book, Dancing to Learn: The Brain’s Cognition, Emotion and Movement (Roman & Littlefield Education) synthesizes new research in neuroscience with knowledge in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and education. She has published 8 books and over 300 academic and popular articles including on dance semiotics, education, healing (coping with stress), the performer-audience connection, sex and gender, children, politics, culture, and the brain. She taught courses on dance at universities in the US, Belgium, and UK. See www.judithhanna.com.
She has been dancing since age 8 beginning with ballet, moving on to modern, Haitian, dances in Africa, Latin America, belly dance, flamenco, and hip hop, most recently dancing with her grandson, 20 year-old influencer Merrick Hanna on TikTok and YouTube.
She has served as a dance critic; grant evaluator, consultant for school, government, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and an expert court witness in First Amendment cases related to strip tease/adult entertainment.
Hanna’s other books include To Dance Is Human, Partnering Dance and Education, and Dancing for Health. Her articles appear in, e.g., American School Board Journal, Arts Education Policy Review, Dance Research Journal, Design for Arts and Education, Educational Researcher, Education Week, Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, Journal of Dance Education, Principal Leadership, and Research in Dance Education.
Interests
Dancing to Learn: The Brain’s Cognition, Emotion and Movement is groundbreaking. Interdisciplinary 21st century neuroscience suggests that the brain “choreographs” dance-maker, dancer, and spectator. The book synthesizes new research in neuroscience with knowledge in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and education to offer illuminating insights about dance as a compelling medium of education for everyone.
Key premises are (1) dance is nonverbal language affecting similar places and learning processes in the brain as verbal language, thus a powerful means of communication; (2) dance is physical exercise that sparks new brain cells (neurogenesis and neural plasticity, the brain’s amazing abil¬ity to change through¬out life); and (3) dance is a means to help us cope with stress that can motivate or interfere with learning.
The book explores venues for learning dance and other subjects, dance as an art, liberal art, and applied art, as well as a vehicle to find self, cultural, regional, and national identities. The goal is to enlighten educators, dancers, and the general public, as well as to encourage scientists to explore further the underpinnings of dance.
1979 To Dance Is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication. Austin and London: University of Texas Press. Paper edition, 1980 1987 Revised edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
1983 The Performer-Audience Connection: Emotion to Metaphor in Dance and Society. Austin and London: University of Texas Press (Choice, outstanding book)
1988 Dance, Sex, and Gender: Signs of Identity, Dominance, Defiance, and Desire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
1999 Dança, Sexo e Gênero: Signos de Identidade, Dominação, Desafio e Desejo. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Editora Rocco Ltda.
1988 Dance and Stress: Resistance, Reduction, and Euphoria. New York: AMS Press
2006 Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press
1982 "Is Dance Music? Resemblances and Relationships," World of Music 24(1):57 71
1995 "The Power of Dance: Health and Healing," Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 1(4):323-327
2010 “Dance and Sexuality: Many Moves,” The Journal of Sex Research (publication of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality) 47:212-241
2017 “Dancing to Resist, Reduce and Escape Stress,” in Vicky, Karkou, Sue Oliver and Sophia
Lycouris, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Wellbeing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University
Press, pp. 97-112
2022 “Children and Dance,” in Heather Montgomery, ed. Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies. New York: Oxford University Press. URL: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791231/obo-9780199791231-0249.xml
2025 “Why Focus on Children and Dance? in Lynette Overby, Jill Green and Billie Lepczyk, eds, `, Bristol, UK, Intellect Press