1017 Although ballet is considered a major division of the performing arts, ballet dancers and athletes experience similar levels of physical and mental stress during training and performances (Heil, 1993: Tajet-Foxell & Rose, 1995). Although the high prevalence of injury in ballet is well documented, no studies have focused on how ballet performers address pain. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify pain coping styles of ballet dancers in regard to skill level and gender. Following written informed consent, the Sports Inventory for Pain (SIP; Meyers, Bourgeois, Stewart, & LeUnes, 1992) was administered to 135 ballet dancers (mean age 19.2 ± 0.6 yrs; 114 females, 21 males). The SIP consisted of coping (COP), cognitive (COG), catastrophize (CAT), avoidance (AVD), body awareness (BOD), HURT (COP + COG − CAT − AVD), and OUCH (COP + COG − CAT). MANOVA and subsequent Wilks' Lambda criterion indicated no significant skill effect (F14,250 = 1.662; p = 0.064) among academy, pre-professional, or professional level dancers. There was a trend, however, for professionals to score lower (mean ± SEM) on COG (12.5 ± 0.5 vs 13.8 ± 0.5) and CAT (11.9 ± 0.5 vs 12.7 ± 0.5) subscales but higher on BOD (12.8 ± 0.4 vs 12.3 ± 0.4) than less-skilled participants. Interestingly, there was a trend for males to score lower in COP (23.6 ± 1.3 vs 24.4 ± 0.5), COG (11.8 ± 0.8 vs 13.9 ± 0.3), and CAT (11.8 ± 0.8 vs 12.8 ± 0.3) than female performers. Subtle differences between gender across all subscales collectively revealed a more positive overall pain coping style among females than males as observed in the composite scores HURT (11.0 ± 0.8 vs 8.4 ± 1.9) and OUCH (25.8 ± 0.8 vs 23.5 ± 1.8). In conclusion, ballet dancers do not exhibit pain coping styles similar to other sport performers. The nonsignificant differences in response styles between skill level may simply be attributed to greater psychological uniformity of individuals that are drawn to this type of competitive environment.