Latin Partnered Social Dance and Well-Being in the Qualitative Literature: A Framework-Based Scoping Review

Latin partnered social dance is aesthetic, artistic, and creative and carries with it a distinct Latinx cultural identity. We have previously explored this popular form of social dance in a qualitative fashion and have described its engagement from a health-oriented perspective. Previous relevant reviews on dance-based well-being have embedded quantitative values in their summarisation of largely quantitative Latin and non-Latin dance primary studies. Accordingly, we believe a rigorous mapping of the qualitative health-oriented research activity on this topic area is due. We followed the health and social research-oriented PAGER framework to guide us in our scoping review of Latin partnered social dance and flourishing. Our interpretation of flourishing is aligned with the PERMA model of well-being. Of the 1275 records initially identified from our search of seven bibliographic databases, following screening, 11 full-text studies were included in our work. Within this literature, we interpreted patterns of shared meaning that centred around: a community of meaningfulness and belonging; a merger of self, body, and music leading to multisensory engagement; interrelated experiences of positive emotion; an embodied and fulfilling dance practice facilitating personal growth and accomplishment; and a reimagined space for global dance participation that emphasised meaning making and interpersonal relationships.