Amateur Dancers Research Articles

Body image in female professional and amateur dancers

Body image is considered to be an obscure, mental representation of body shape, size and form which is influenced by a variety of factors that operate over varying time spans. Research has shown that professional female dancers may face preoccupations with their body image and weight. The present study aimed to investigate how body image was affected as a result of women dancers exercising in a professional and amateur level. The subjects were 115 female professional dance students and 85 females enrolled at amateur dance schools aged between 15and 30 years old. The participants completed the 69 items of the Multidimentional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). According to the results, dance status was found to be significantly associated with three out of the ten MBSRQ subscales with professional dancers having higher mean scores on fitness orientation (F=10.095, p<0.05) and body areas dissatisfaction (F=16.455, p<0,05) and lower mean scores on overweight preoccupation (F=9.83, p<0,05). Future research on dancers could: (1) examine both the body image concerns and their relevant eating attitudes; (2) focus on body image concerns that occur as the females get older; (3) compare professional dancers with non‐dancers, since this might provide for data at each end of the spectrum.

Dancing in the Diaspora: Cultural Long-Distance Nationalism and the Staging of Chineseness by San Francisco’s Chinese Folk Dance Association

This essay analyzes the history of a San Francisco Bay Area cultural institution over a period of more than four decades, and, applying to it the concept of "cultural long-distance nationalism," it attempts to tease apart the complexity of cultural practice in diaspora. The organization in question is the Chinese Folk Dance Association (CFDA), founded in 1959, a pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) troupe of amateur dancers and musicians playing Chinese instruments. As someone who was peripherally involved with the group in the mid-1970s and early 1980s and was a friend or acquaintance of a few members of the group, I became curious about the changes in its activities, its performance programs, its roles in the Bay Area community, and its self-perceived relationship to the homeland over time. I have examined the CFDA’s performance programs, photographs, and press coverage since the 1970s (earlier archival material was not available to me), as well as interviewed three of its key figures and spoken on several occasions with one of the three, the long-time executive director of the group and a friend from graduate school. What I have found is that the changes undergone by the group reveal the multiplicity of factors that go into the staging of Chineseness in diaspora and the challenges inherent in such a process. The challenges are especially acute given how rapidly the nation-state to which a specific cultural presentation is tied—the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—has itself been undergoing rapid and radical transformations.

Musculoskeletal injuries in break-dancers

Background Since no epidemiologic studies have been reported about musculoskeletal injuries in break-dancers, there are no data on the rates and patterns of musculoskeletal injuries in this population that clinicians can use to find ways to decrease injury rate. Hypothesis We believe that the incidence of injuries in break-dancers is higher than assumed and that injury rates and patterns differ between professional and amateur dancers. Study design Descriptive epidemiologic study. Materials and methods Of a total of 42 study subjects, 23 were professional dancers and 19 were amateur dancers. Injury frequency, site and type, along with the presence of supervised training, the use of protective devices and warm-up exercises done were recorded. Results Of the 42 study subjects, excluding two amateur dancers, 40 (95.2%) had had musculoskeletal injuries at more than one site. The mean number of sites per dancer was 4.60. The frequency of injury depended on the site and was as follows: wrist (69.0%), finger (61.9%), knee (61.9%), shoulder (52.4%), lumbar spine (50.0%), elbow (42.9%), cervical spine (38.1%), ankle (38.1%), foot (28.6%) and hip (16.7%). Sprain, strain and tendinitis were the most common injuries, accounting for the most cases. Of the 42 dancers, 13 (31%) had had fractures or dislocations. Eight (19.1%) learned break-dancing under supervised instruction, 17 (40.5%) used protective devices and 28 (66.7%) performed warm-up exercises before dancing. There were significant differences in age, dance career length, amount of dance training, mean number of injury sites and the presence of supervised training between professionals and amateurs ( P < 0.05). Conclusion Clinicians must inquire thoroughly into the nature of the activities that result in both unusual and common injuries in break-dancers and educate them about safety. Careful screening, instruction and supervised training of break-dancers will help to prevent injuries.

The cognitive structure of movements in classical dance

Aims This study was designed to elicit differences in the mental representations of two basic movements from classical ballet, the Pirouette en dehors and the Pas assemblé, stored in long-term memory of dancers of different skill-levels. Method The movements were demonstrated and explained verbally to professional ballet dancers, amateur dancers, and non-dancers. Subsequently, participants were assigned to a hierarchical sorting (splitting) task in which Basic Action Concepts (BACs) of the movements had to be sorted according to their functional relevance in movement execution. The task was presented as verbal labels on a computer screen. The responses were subjected to the application of a new analytical method, called SDA-M, which includes a hierarchical cluster analysis. The method enabled eliciting cognitive structures of the movements in the participants' long-term memory, and thus enabled comparing these cognitive structures in subjects of different skill-level. Results Participants of different skill-level showed movement-specific differences in their mental representation structures in long-term memory. A similar structure was noted in advanced amateurs and professionals for the Pirouette en dehors, which referred to the functional phases of the movement, and less functional representations were noted in beginners and novices. For the Pas assemblé, the experts' representation structure was different from that of amateurs and novices, pointing toward differences in movement execution. It is concluded that movement representations of this kind in long-term memory might provide the basis for motor control in skilled ballet movements in the form of suitably organized perceptual-cognitive reference structures. Implications The results point toward a unique mental representation as a function of skill-level and movement nature. Individual and group results obtained with the applied method can be implemented to support (mental) training methods in classical dance practice.

The Neural Basis of Human Dance

Human dance was investigated with positron emission tomography to identify its systems-level organization. Three core aspects of dance were examined: entrainment, meter and patterned movement. Amateur dancers performed small-scale, cyclically repeated tango steps on an inclined surface to the beat of tango music, without visual guidance. Entrainment of dance steps to music, compared to self-pacing of movement, was supported by anterior cerebellar vermis. Movement to a regular, metric rhythm, compared to movement to an irregular rhythm, implicated the right putamen in the voluntary control of metric motion. Spatial navigation of leg movement during dance, when controlling for muscle contraction, activated the medial superior parietal lobule, reflecting proprioceptive and somatosensory contributions to spatial cognition in dance. Finally, additional cortical, subcortical and cerebellar regions were active at the systems level. Consistent with recent work on simpler, rhythmic, motor-sensory behaviors, these data reveal the interacting network of brain areas active during spatially patterned, bipedal, rhythmic movements that are integrated in dance.

Maladaptive eating attitudes of elite and amateur Turkish dancers: are they at risk?

The aims of this study were to investigate whether Turkish dancers are at risk of eating disorders, and to identify any gender and elite vs. amateur differences. The study involved 100 participants (64 females and 36 males) divided into three groups: 6lite dancers, amateur dancers and controls. The elite dancers were the members of the State Conservatoire; the amateur dancers were university students attending university dance clubs; the control group consisted of university students who were not members of dance clubs. All of the participants completed the Eating Attitude Test and a questionnaire about eating habits. Both the elite and amateur dancers had more pathological eating attitudes than the controls. Females had more problematic eating attitudes than males. Both elite and amateur female Turkish dancers may be at risk for disordered eating. The implications for prevention are discussed.

Personological Studies on Dancers: Motivations, Conflicts, and Defense Mechanisms

Previous investigations carried out in different countries in the last four decades have demonstrated that intensity of achievement motivation is higher among dancers compared to nondancers. For this reason we hypothesized that the Type A behavior pattern, with some of its implications, should be relatively frequent among dance artists, in comparison with sedentary persons. Because the athletes' subculture also constitutes, in our society, a rewarding and promoting environment for personalities oriented toward achievement, competitiveness, control, etc., we also predicted a similar relative prevalence of Type As among athletes. Four hundred young adults (both genders) were examined in double-blind conditions with a booklet containing two different scales of the Type A behavior pattern (AATABS-3 and Framingham Scale) and other tests. Participants were classical ballet or modern dance professionals or amateurs, high-level or amateur athletes practicing different sport specialties for years, and comparable sedentary persons. Type As turned out almost two times more frequent among dancers and three times among athletes while Type Bs were proportionally more frequent among sedentary persons. Athletes did not differ from sedentary persons except on Type A frequency and scores. Dancers differed both from sedentary persons and from athletes, showing less hardiness, a higher tendency to control and deny negative emotions, and to avoid interpersonal conflicts, also at the cost of anger control, intrapunitivity and even self-sacrifice (“need for harmony”). These features look consonant with aesthetic sensitivity, severe continuous discipline and high social coordination that the art of dance and contemporary dance schools demand. Internal comparisons between subcategories (amateur versus professional dancers, or amateur versus high level athletes) showed remarkable homogeneity. This result contributes to proving the dominating influence of recruitment phases and methods, instead of specific training, in determining the typical dancer or athlete personality profile.

ILIOPSOAS SYNDROME IN DANCERS

1639 Iliopsoas syndrome (internal coxa saltans, iliopsoas tendinitis and bursitis) has been identified as a cause of anterior hip symptomatology in dancers. This is usually the result of repetitive active hip flexion with the hip in an abducted, externally rotated position. We are reporting on the incidence, clinical findings, treatment protocol and results of treatment of iliopsoas syndrome in a dance population. A retrospective chart review of 653 professional (370), student (186), and amateur (67) dancers evaluated for musculoskeletal injury or complaint was performed. Diagnosis of iliopsoas syndrome was made on the basis of characteristic complaints along with the specific clinical finding of pain and/or weakness with resisted hip flexion in a turned out position. Other hip pathology was specifically ruled out. Dancers with asymptomatic snapping of the hip were excluded. 7.5% (49/653) of dancers evaluated were diagnosed as having iliopsoas syndrome. The incidence in female dancers was 9.2% (43/465) compared to 3.2% (6/188) in male dancers. Although fewer in number, the 12.8% incidence (10/78) in dancers less than 18 years old was greater than the 7% (39/557) incidence in dancers 18 years of age or older(age range: 14-49). Student dancers had a higher incidence (14%) than either professional (4.6%) or amateur dancers (7.5%). Symptoms (pain, clicking, weakness) frequently occurred during passé developpé in a turned out position (active flexion, abduction and external rotation). Associated ipsilateral lower back pain was present in 44%. Clicking and/or snapping could be elicited in 78%, with a positive “iliopsoas test” (pain and/or weakness) in 100%. 73.5% of patients had pain and/or tightness upon passive hip extension. All patients underwent physical therapy, which included hip flexor stretching and strengthening, pelvic and peripelvic mobilization and soft tissue work, alignment exercises, and modification of dance technique or exposure as required. A follow-up via clinical evaluation and/or telephone interview was performed averaging > 2 years from initial evaluation. All patients responded well to conservative management. No patients required corticosteroid injections or surgical intervention. This is the largest series reported to date of iliopsoas syndrome in dancers, or any other subject population.

Pain in the posterior aspect of the ankle in dancers. Differential diagnosis and operative treatment.

A retrospective review was performed of the results of operative treatment of stenosing tenosynovitis of the flexor hallucis longus tendon or posterior impingement syndrome, or both, in thirty-seven dancers (forty-one operations). The average duration of follow-up was seven years (range, two to thirteen years). The results were assessed with use of a questionnaire for all patients, and a clinical evaluation was performed for twenty-one patients (twenty-two ankles). Twenty-six operations were performed for tendinitis and posterior impingement; nine, for isolated tendinitis; and six, for isolated posterior impingement syndrome. A medial incision was used in thirty-three procedures; a lateral incision, in six; an anterior and a medial incision, in one; and a lateral and a medial incision, in one. Thirty ankles had a good or excellent result; six, a fair result; and four, a poor result. (The result of the second procedure on an ankle that was operated on twice was not included.) The result was good or excellent for twenty-eight of the thirty-four ankles in professional dancers, compared with only two of the six ankles in amateur dancers.

Development and Validation of an Objective Measure of Locomotor Response to Auditory Rhythmic Stimuli

Abstract This study indicates that an objective measure was developed and validated which permits measurement of locomotor response to auditory rhythmic stimuli. This instrument is called a “Rhythmeter.” Results of the study indicate that when women from the general college population were compared with trained amateur and professional dancers, the scores achieved by the dancers were statistically superior. A comparison of scores received on the “Rhythmeter” with those made on a written sensory test indicates a very low correlation between these factors. It was found that sensory and motor responses are not similar either within individuals, or among groups.