‘I’m still using my body’ – dancing with the lived musical body: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of embodied knowledge

Abstract The body acquires knowledge through interactions with the world. This knowledge resides in the body and shapes our physical, social and emotional experiences. Older adults possess extensive embodied knowledge, but its expression can be suppressed by environmental and social change, such as relocating to a residential care home (RCH). Dancing is more than movement; it is an embodied activity that involves complex interactions among the body, space, time and other people. Dance has been shown to benefit older adults, yet existing research often focuses on physical and cognitive outcomes, with limited attention to dance as an embodied lived experience, especially in an RCH context. This study explores six older adults’ lived experiences of dancing. Its interpretative phenomenological analysis reveals that participants possessed a vast reserve of embodied knowledge which emerged when they participated in synchronised seated dance. Two superordinate themes – embodied musicality and rekindled connections to the lifeworld – detail how older adults expressed embodied knowledge during dance, becoming connected with their body, space, time and others, nurturing a sense of self. Dancing also helped participants navigate the changes in their body and environment, enriching their living experience in an RCH. The findings contribute to the broader field of dance research, demonstrating how seated dance facilitates accessing and expressing embodied knowledge later in life, and to the limited research on dance in RCHs, positioning dance as a meaningful mode of self-expression and continuity for older adults, supporting their transition to these settings with rich emotional experiences.