Dancer Screening

While dancer screening is not a direct link to injury prevention, its long term educational effects and data gathered can be of great benefit to both dancers and teachers. Here is an abstract from a forthcoming article for the Research in Dance Education journal by my colleague Dr Berg and I on the topic.

“Traditional ballet classes teach dancers how to perform long-established vocabulary and choreographed roles within a time-honoured hierarchical structure that provides constant direction and methods for physical training. When the dancers proceed to professional companies, some of this structure remains in the form of daily ballet classes. However, the autonomy that the dancers are expected to have, with reference to their own physical and mental health, may challenge some young professional dancers if they are not educated in self-care or do not have individualized conditioning programs. Findings in this study with a Toronto-based professional ballet company, align with recent qualitative studies and literature supporting the physical and psychological benefits of screening including dancer education, optimizing performance, and developing rapport between dancers and physiotherapists/health care teams.”