Professional Ballet Company Research Articles

Psychological Aspects of Fatigue-Related Injuries in Dancers

The purpose of this study was to review 500 dance injury reports submitted by 644 participating dancers over a two-year period to determine if patterns emerged that might shed light on behavior and/or work conditions linked with injury occurrence. Injury report forms that ascertained conditions surrounding the injury such as workload exposure, floor surface, costume, temperature, dieting behavior and menstrual status were collected by an on-site physical therapist from three different settings: a university conservatory; an urban, hospital-based outpatient orthopaedic clinic specialized in the evaluation and treatment of dance injuries; and a professional ballet company. The university and professional ballet dancers were screened at the beginning of the study for injury risks, including eating attitudes using the Eating Disorders Inventory 2 (EDI-2), and mood using the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Psychometric data from these screening inventories were evaluated by sub-groupings of dancers who had reported an injury during the subsequent study period and of those who had not. Fatigue was indicated as a significant injury factor in several data items, including injury form self-report, POMS scores, exposure hours on day of injury occurrence, time of injury, stage of season or semester, and work intensity at time of injury occurrence. EDI-2 scores for body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimic tendencies, and perfectionism were significantly higher in injured than in non-injured dancers. It is concluded that self-reports of fatigue, increased exposure to work, work of a highly intense or monotonous nature, and/or changes in mood or diet may provide strong clues to increased injury vulnerability.

The injury panorama in a Swedish professional ballet company.

We performed a combined retro- and prospective study of injuries in a Swedish professional, classical ballet company during 5 consecutive years. There were 390 injuries incurred by 98 dancers over a 5-year period, i.e., 0.6 injuries/1000 dance hours. Most injuries were considered to be due to overuse. The median sick leave was 2.3 weeks per injury. The foot and ankle region is vulnerable in classical ballet dancers, and overuse injuries can result in long periods of sick leave. Of the dancers employed for more than 1 year 95% were suffered injuries during the study period. We found considerable differences in the injury profile between male and female and between younger and older dancers. Male dancers suffered more frequently from acute injuries to the knee joint. Traumatic injuries were seen most frequently in male soloists. Female dancers more often suffered overuse injuries, especially to the foot and ankle region. The younger dancers more often suffered traumatic injuries, for example, ankle sprain, and also stress fractures.

Moderator Effects of Cognitive and Somatic Trait Anxiety on the Relation Between Life Stress and Physical Injuries

Among the processes thought to mediate relations between life stress and injuries in physical performance settings are physiological arousal and cognitive interference. Such processes are known to occur with greater frequency and intensity in people who are high in dispositional performance anxiety, suggesting that trait anxiety may constitute a vulnerability factor. In an 8-month prospective study of ballet injuries, an adaptation of the multidimensional Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) was used to measure somatic and cognitive ballet performance anxiety. Relations between recent stressful events, trait anxiety, and subsequent injuries were studied in a professional ballet company. In moderated multiple regression analyses, the Somatic Anxiety, Worry, and Concentration Disruption scales of the SAS all exhibited significant moderator effects, enhancing a positive relation between minor stressors and subsequent injury time loss. Results are consistent with current cognitive-affective models of stress and with the hypothesis that cognitive and somatic trait anxiety both constitute injury vulnerability factors.

A Pro-Active Screening Program for Addressing Injury Prevention in a Professional Ballet Company

A Pro-Active Screening Program for Addressing Injury Prevention in a Professional Ballet Company

The Nutritional Status of Female Ballet Dancers 15-18 Years of Age

The demand for ultra-leanness imposed on today's ballerina has evolved over primarily the last thirty years, and did not characterize the traditional classical ballet that dominated the field during its preceding four hundred years. Evolving public taste has tended to prefer increasingly slender figures, and the more Olympian levels of performance dancers must now exhibit further reinforce the demand for extreme leanness.The author's forty years of dance education experience and performance of classical ballet have made her aware that excellent training has become ever more widely available to the younger members of our society. Their rigorous training— continued well into the high school years—supports the achievement of a high level of technical and aesthetic perfection. Today's elite classical dancers are trained to make ever more revolutions in ever more complex and faster paced turns, and to do quicker and more intricate allegro work. They are trained to execute more complex jumps with greater elevation, and to sustain their balances with less preparation time. Furthermore, as the quality and quantity of professionally-oriented ballet schools have increased dramatically, today's dancer is facing an exponentially increased level of competition.Increasingly demanding techniques and more intense levels of competition require today's dancers to meet what are, in the author's view, extreme standards of leanness. Each year among the hundreds of beautifully trained dancers who audition for the few vacancies available in professional ballet companies, many are rejected on sight because they do not project the proper, or ideal, body image: long legs, long arms, long neck, oval shaped head; a body of excellent proportions; and, perhaps of greatest importance, a “bone-thin” frame. Ballet masters recognize that extreme leanness enables the dancer to become more energy-efficient, physically articulate, and agile; it facilitates partnering and pointe dancing; and projects an aesthetically pleasing athletic, or sylph-like, image to the public that subsidizes the art.

Scoliosis and fractures in young ballet dancers. Relation to delayed menarche and secondary amenorrhea.

In a survey of 75 dancers (mean age, 24.3 years) in four professional ballet companies, we found that the prevalence of scoliosis was 24 percent and that it rose with increases in age at menarche. Fifteen of 18 dancers (83 percent) with scoliosis had had a delayed menarche (14 years or older), as compared with 31 of 57 dancers (54 percent) without scoliosis (P less than 0.04). The dancers with scoliosis had a slightly higher prevalence of secondary amenorrhea (44 percent vs. 31 percent), the mean (+/- SD) duration of their amenorrhea was longer (11.4 +/- 18.3 vs. 4.1 +/- 7.4 months; P less than 0.05), and they scored higher on a questionnaire that assessed anorectic behavior. The incidence of fractures was 61 percent (46 of 75 dancers), and it rose with increasing age at menarche. Sixty-nine percent of the fractures that were described were stress fractures (mostly in the metatarsals), and their occurrence had an even stronger correlation with increased age at menarche. The incidence of secondary amenorrhea was twice as high among the dancers with stress fractures (P less than 0.01), and its duration was longer (P less than 0.05). In 7 of 10 dancers in whom endocrine studies were performed, the amenorrheic intervals were marked by prolonged hypoestrogenism. These data suggest that a delay in menarche and prolonged intervals of amenorrhea that reflect prolonged hypoestrogenism may predispose ballet dancers to scoliosis and stress fractures.

Music in Scottish Secondary Schools: Towards a New Vision

This is the story of a remarkable change in approach to musical education which has taken place in Scottish secondary schools during recent years.Readers will bear in mind that the system of education in Scotland is independent of, and different from, that established in England. It is administered locally by education authorities which, together with head-teachers, are responsible for the curriculum taught within the schools. The Secretary of State for Scotland, nevertheless, retains an overall responsibility for the structure and balance of the school curriculum, which he fulfils by providing education authorities and head-teachers with general advice and guidance on curriculum matters. He is advised on these matters by HM Inspectorate of Schools (Scotland) and by the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum. The Consultative Committee on the Curriculum, in turn, is advised on musical matters by its subcommittee, the Scottish Central Committee on Music. Two external examinations, Ordinary and Higher Grades – taken at ages 16 and 17 respectively – are the responsibility of the Scottish Examination Board.Scotland has a population of some five and a half million people. It has four professional orchestras – two with international reputations – professional opera and ballet companies, national youth brass and wind bands, and orchestra. There are over four hundred secondary schools. Instruction in music has been a feature of Scottish schools for centuries.

Hypermobility and injuries in a professional ballet company.

A study was conducted on members of the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) professional ballet company to determine the prevalence of hypermobility and to document the injuries sustained over a ten year period. If forward flexion, which is acquired through training, is excluded as a parameter the difference in hypermobility between dancers and controls is not statistically significant. Considering the stresses imposed on the musculoskeletal system, the number of injuries was surprisingly low. Ligamentous injuries about the ankle and knee were both common and accounted for the major morbidity. There were minor differences in the nature and severity of injuries in the male and female dancers. Back injuries, fractures and osteoarthrosis were uncommon and shin splints was not recorded in any of the dancers.

Joint Laxity and Proprioception in the Knee.

In brief: Twelve members of a professional ballet company were evaluated for laxity of the knee joint. They also underwent a test of knee joint position sense. A group of 12 healthy, active, age-matched controls were similarly tested. All of the dancers met the criteria for loose joints, while only one of the control group had loose joints. In the test of joint position sense the dancers did consistently worse than controls (p <.03) and showed a significant tendency to overestimate the angle to which their knee joint had been passively moved. The authors concluded that decreased position sense may indicate below normal protective reflexes, which may increase the chances of acute or chronic injury.