This study aims to examine research trends related to the bodies of contemporary dance maors in South Korea and explore main research topics on body. As a research method, a text mining techniques, one of big data methods, was used to analyze the trends. As a result, it was found that the frequency of the term 'influence' was the highest, and N-gram connections related to 'influence,' 'dance,' and 'injury' were among the top findings. Topic modeling revealed themes such as 'dancers' body management,' 'emotional changes according to physical condition,' and 'the correlation between eating behavior and emotions in dance.' These results are expected to provide foundational data and direction for subsequent research.

The purpose of this study is to analyze papers on the dance motivations of dance majors in Korea and figure out the research trends in the area to establish a foundation for education for the dance motivations of dance majors and propose future research direction. For these purposes, the investigator selected total 64 papers published in Koreanstudies Information Service System, DBpia, Scholar of Kyobo Books, and e-Article from 2001 to December 2017. They were analyzed in terms of the academic journal of each year, subject, methodology, analysis of methodology, and research topic according to different analysis methods. The analysis results led to the following conclusions: first, there was a multi-angle distribution of the papers across 17 journals in the nation. As for research trends by the year, while there a single research in 2002, the research activities gradually had been expanded from 2006 to 2017. Second, the highest percentage of subjects among the papers were college students and graduate students majoring in dance. Third, as for methodology, quantitative researches were the most. Fourth, correlational research was adopted in most quantitative researches. Qualitative methods were also adopted in researches, but these researches were relatively meager. There was no literature study on dance motivations. Fifth, as for research trends by the research topic, researches on self-determination and regulation, an aspect of motivation, recorded the highest percentage. In short, researchers will need to employ a variety of methodologies and designs to prevent their findings biased in a direction in the area of dance motivations. Follow-up study will especially need to develop measuring instruments fit for the field of dance to investigate professional relations among variables related to dance motivations.