Dance scholars!

Part of my module 2 feedback was to look more at dance scholars work on topics related to my inquiry to open up my view and prevent myself from working in a vacuum. I have begun drafting interview questions and topics for discussion and I can already see how it could be easy to become wrapped up in my own actions with my company and my inquiry rather than looking outwardly at other researchers and their discoveries. 

This is why I have decided to do lots of reading and try to do a brief literature review as I go along. On the Dance UK website I found an article called Strength and Conditioning in Dance: Power, performance and rehabilitation which is a write up of a conference at Elmhurst School for Dance where Dance UK’s Healthier Dancer Programme (HDP) and the National Institute for Dance Medicine and Science came together for the last ever Dance UK meeting. This training session was deemed very useful but what I found most interesting about reading this article was not what they did but what they learnt from it. Something that is very relevant to my professional practice and my inquiry was the theme that there should be more resources for independence dance artists who don't have the benefits of facilities and trainers. This can be directly linked to my working environment because as a touring ballet company we don't have a base studio or any dedicated area or allotted time for conditioning and supplementary training. Although we have time for warm up before class we don't have any facilities or equipment with us so if for example we wanted to use the cross-training before class this would be impossible. This triggered thoughts about alternative ways to gain the same effects of traditional exercise forms.  

'In particular, there is a need for more research tailored specifically to dance, and a need for more forums to share high quality research and best practice for experienced practitioners already working in this field.' I agree with this quote because as someone who is researching this topic it is difficult to find any sort of forum where ideas are being shared on this topic. 

At the end of the article it is stated that the most important message to arise from the day is understanding the individual dancer's workload and performance schedule.  


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I've found some interesting links on YouTube about the Royal Ballet and their physio Greg Retter.
They were very interesting videos and I think it is important for me to look at other forms of media rather than just articles. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlvJrXvTBrk


INJURY PREVENTION;

Unexpected - lifting heavy weights. Better strength 

Strength program, cohesive approach towards Pilates motor control through to strength train and good nutrition and physiological support and making sure dancers are fit and able to withstand the strain as possible.


INOVATION:


There's no good evidence about how much is a dancer loaded through a day, through class, through rehearsal and performances. How can we look at the program and start to predict when there might be injury spikes along the way. 

Quantify the loading characteristic across the repertoire of the royal ballet. Interventional strategies where there might be the risk of injury spikes.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0uVH62QPXo

Inside the Royal Ballet healthcare suite.


In the video with Greg Retter he talks about collaborating strength and weight training with Pilates exercises to form an effective training program for dancers.