Reasons for the long-lasting participation in a community-based aerial sling class: Creative, performative, playful, challenging, and rewarding without feeling like a workout

Year 2025, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 16 - 27, 28.02.2025

Maria Kosma

https://doi.org/10.31459/turkjkin.1617035

Abstract

USA has the lowest life expectancy of its peer countries and steadily increasing obesity rates. Although exercise is key to health and well-being, long-term exercise participation is a significant challenge. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative, hermeneutic study was to examine the reasons for the long-lasting participation in a community-based aerial sling class (Flow) among adult women. Drawing on the philosophical underpinnings of techne (art) and phronesis (practical wisdom/reasoning), it was hypothesized that the techne-related elements of the Flow class (e.g., performativity, creativity, play, accomplishment of challenging skills) would be highly motivating and thus lead to the participants’ decision to continue with the class and other similar movement endeavors (link between techne and phronesis). Study participants were seven women (aged 28 – 48 years), including the class students and instructor at a major US city. The Flow class commenced in January 2024 and took place once per week for 1.15 hours. The class included skill based and performative elements such as dynamic sling choreographies. Following a show performance in May 2024, individual interviews were conducted via zoom to collect the study’s data. Based on the qualitative analysis, three themes emerged regarding the reasons for the long-lasting (at least nine months) participation in the Flow class: a) Performativity, creativity, play: creating and performing choreographies, returning to childhood; b) “Proud” feeling of accomplishment; Motivating and not boring: “does not feel like a workout”: sensing the “addictive” nature of aerial arts vs. “being bored by lifting weights at a gym”, “mentally rewarding,” “feeling accomplished”; and c) Improved strength, energy, stamina, and health: being stronger and healthier than before (e.g., improving symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis). Based on the study findings, the techne elements of the Flow class led to long-term participation in the class and other similar exercise endeavors. Therefore, exercise promoters should incorporate performative, creative, playful, and challenging elements in movement programming for long-lasting exercise participation.

Keywords

Aerial sling and aerial arts, long-lasting exercise participation, love of movement, phronesis, techne (art movement)

Supporting Institution

Louisiana State University

References

• Angier, T. (2010). Techné in Aristotle’s ethics: Crafting the moral life. Continuum International Publishing Group.
• Aristotle. (1999). Nicomachean Ethics. (M. Ostwald, Trans.). Prentice Hall. (Original work published 350 B.C.E). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022, May 17). Obesity & overweight: Adult obesity facts. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
• Coogan, S. M., Dhokai, N., Baraniecki-Zwil, G., Glass, E., & Ambegaonkar, J. P. (2021). Motivation and determinants for successful engagement among community-dwelling older adults participating in a ballroom dance program. J Dance Educ, 23 (1), 57–67. doi: 10.1080/15290824.2021. 1896720
• Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter: Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again. Cambridge University Press.
• Flyvbjerg, B. (2004). Phronetic planning research: Theoretical and methodological reflections. Plan Theory Pract, 5, 283–306. DOI:10.1080/1464935042000250195
• Gadamer, H. G. (2012). Truth and method (2nd ed.). (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Revised Trans.). Continuum International Publishing Group. (Original work published 1975).
• Garcia- Hermoso, A., López- Gil, J. F., Ramírez-Vélez, R., Alonso-Martínez, A. M., Izquierdo, M., & Ezzatvar, Y. (2023). Adherence to aerobic and muscle- strengthening activities guidelines: A systematic review and meta- analysis of 3.3 million participants across 32 countries. Br J Sports Med, 57, 225–229. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106189
• Haynes, A., Tiedemann, A., Hewton, G., Chenery, J., Sherrington, C., Merom, D., & Gilchrist, H. (2023). "It doesn't feel like exercise": A realist process evaluation of factors that support long-term attendance at dance classes designed for healthy ageing. Front Public Health, 11, 1-19. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1284272
• Hwang, P. W., & Braun, K. L. (2015). The effectiveness of dance interventions to improve older adults' health: A systematic literature review. Altern Ther Health Med, 21 (5), 64-70.
• Kafle, N. P. (2011). Hermeneutic phenomenological research method simplified. Bodhi: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5 (1), 181–200. doi: 10.3126/bodhi.v5i1.8053
• Kosma, M. (2021). Play vs exergaming: A conceptual analysis as to why exergaming is not play. Turk J Kinesiol, 7(4), 141-151. doi: 10.31459/turkjkin.1015139
• Kosma, M. (2022). Breaking away from dualisms: Exercise habitus and reflexivity are embodied. Int J Appl Sports Sci, 34(1), 35-49. doi: 10.24985/ijass.2022.34.1.35
• Kosma, M. (2023a). Phenomenological body schema as motor habit in skill acquisition – Intentionality is in action. Athens J Sports, 10 (2), 83-94. doi: 10.30958/ajspo.10-2-2
• Kosma, M. (2023b). Total freedom in physical activity via body schema: Being for itself and being in the world. Turk J Kinesiol, 9 (3), 247-258. doi: 10.31459/turkjkin.1316448
• Kosma, M. (2024a). There is techne and phronesis in movement: A beautiful combination for health and well-being! Turk J Kinesiol, 10 (2), 124-130. doi: 10.31459/turkjkin.1447811
• Kosma, M. (2024b). Gadamer’s hermeneutic universality of play: The greatest form of human play is art and its signification to movement education. Athens J Sports, 11, 9-20. Doi: 10.30958/ajspo.11-1-1
• Kosma, M. (2024c). Embodied and playful movement for older adults: An important approach to health and well-being. Global Journal of Aging & Geriatric Research, 3 (1), 1-3. doi: 10.33552/GJAGR.2024.02.000554
• Kosma, M., & Buchanan, D. R. (2018). “Connect,” log it, track it, go! Techne—not technology—and embodiment to achieve phronesis in exercise promotion. Quest, 70, 100-113. doi:10.1080/00336297.2017.1355818
• Kosma, M., & Buchanan, D. R. (2021). Reconsidering the push for digitized physical activity education in lieu of the intrinsic value of embodied action. In C. Steinberg & B. Bonn (Eds.), Digitalisierung und Sportwissenschaft [Digitization and Sports Science] (pp. 63-71). Academia. www.nomos-shop.de/isbn/978-3-98572-002-6
• Kosma, M., Buchanan, D. R., & Hondzinski, J. M. (2015). The role of values in promoting physical activity. Quest, 67, 241-254. doi: 10.1080/00336297.2015.1050117
• Kosma, M., & Erickson, N. (2020a). The embodiment of aerial practice: Body, mind, emotion. J Dance Educ, 20(4), 224-233. doi: 10.1080/15290824.2019.1622706
• Kosma, M., & Erickson, N. (2020b). The love of aerial practice: Art, embodiment, phronesis. Int J Kines Sports Sci, 8(1), 14-25. doi: 10.7575/aiac.ijkss.v.8n.1p.14
• Kosma, M., Erickson, N., Gremillion, A. (2023a). Physical theater class experiences: Mental health, play, and the love of movement. Int J Appl Sports Sci, 35(1), 10-27. doi: 10.24985/ijass.2023.35.1.10
• Kosma, M., Erickson, N., & Gremillion, A. (2023b). Positive psychosocial experiences of a physical theater class among college students. Int J Sport, Exerc Health Res, 7 (2), 39-45. doi: 10.31254/sportmed.7203
• Kosma, M., Erickson, N., & Gremillion, A. (2024a – online first). Positive effects of physical theater on body schema among college students. Quest. doi: 10.1080/00336297. 2024.2333570
• Kosma, M., Erickson, N., & Gremillion, A. (2024b – online first). The embodied nature of physical theater: Artistic expression, emotions, interactions. Res Dance Educ, doi: 10.1080/14647893.2024.2331128
• Kosma, M., Erickson, N., Savoie, C. J., & Gibson, M. (2021a). Skill development vs. performativity among beginners in aerial practice: An embodied and meaningful learning experience. Community Health Equity Res Policy, 41(2), 173-187. doi: 10.1177/0272684X20918053
• Kosma, M., Erickson N., Savoie, C. J., & Gibson, M. (2021b). The effectiveness of performative aerial practice on mental health and the love of movement. Res Dance Educ, 22(2), 210-227. doi: 10.1080/14647893.2020.1784868
• Lee, D. H., Rezende, L. F. M., Hee-Kyung, J., Keum, N., Ferrari, G., Rey-Lopez, J. P., Rimm, E. B., Tabung, F. K., & Giovannucci, E. L. (2022). Long-term leisure-time physical activity intensity and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A prospective cohort of US adults. Circulation, 146(7), 523-534. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121. 058162
• Merleau-Ponty, M. (2014). Phenomenology of perception (D. A. Landes, Trans.). Routledge. (Original work published 1945).
• Parviainen, J. (2003). Dance techne: Kinetic bodily logos and thinking in movement. The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, 27 (8), 159-175. doi: 10.7146/nja.v15i27-28.3073
• Rakshit, S., McGough, M., & Amin, K. (2024, January 30). How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-comparecountries/#Life%20expectancy% 20at%20birth,%20in%20years,%201980-2022
• Tuffour, I. (2017). A critical overview of interpretative phenomenological analysis: A contemporary qualitative research approach. J Health Commun, 2 (4), 1–5. doi: 10.4172/2472-1654.100093
• Xu, J., Murphy, S. L., Kochanek, K. D., & Arias, E. (2022). Mortality in the United States, 2021. NCHS Data Brief, no 456. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. doi: 10.15620/ cdc:122516