Purpose: Dance literacy refers to a comprehensive understanding of, and the ability to engage in, dance both physically and intellectually. This encompasses physical embodiment, critical understanding, and cultural awareness. This study aimed to compare and analyze research trends in dance literacy in Korea and the United States. The research questions are as follows: (1) What are the main themes in dance literacy research in Korea and the United States? (2) What differences and similarities exist between research themes in Korea and the United States?
Method: Data were collected from five academic databases—DBPIA, KCI, ProQuest, RISS, and Web of Science—covering research papers related to dance literacy published between 2000 and 2024. A total of 229 Korean and 241 American papers were selected using the keyword “dance literacy.” Text mining techniques, including frequency analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, were applied. Natural language processing (NLP) was conducted using Python’s NLTK library for data preprocessing.
Results: The primary research themes in Korea were learning through dance, multiple dance literacies, and dance education. In contrast, the main themes in the United States were learning through dance, multiple dance literacies, and dance alongside other literacies. Both countries share a common focus on learning through dance and multiple dance literacies. However, Korea placed greater emphasis on dance education, while the United States focused more on the relationship between dance and other literacies.
Conclusion: The findings reflect the educational purpose and cultural contexts of each country. This comparative study demonstrates that dance literacy research evolves and develops uniquely in each country, influenced by their respective educational systems and cultural values.