IADMS Madrid 2001   [back to the Category]

Breathless!: Results of a long term study of an integrated endurance....   [read the french version]

Author :   Eileen M. Wanke, MD

Breathless!: Results of a long term study of an integrated endurance training in professional dancers

Eileen M. Wanke, MD, Bremen University, Center for Dance Medicine, Bremen, Germany

Between the initial statements of dancers such as: “We are artists not sportsmen” or “We are fit enough” and the admission “I have more power now” lay exactly four weeks of a dance specific endurance training integrated in the daily class of a professional dance company. During this period the effects of a modified training were observed and evaluated.
The aim of this follow-up study is now to investigate the effects of a dance specific endurance training during an entire ballet season. It will focus primarily on the changes of the physical and psychological condition in dancers and on the possible reduction of injuries by this type of modified training. Furthermore, it will show whether there is a realistic practicability and a possibility to integrate an endurance training in the program of a professional dance company.
Methods: In cooperation with the University of Bremen all dancers of a ballet company (n = 16 ) were investigated at regular intervals during a ballet season. By measuring heart rates and lactate acid in a special load test the effects on the physical condition in dancers were examined and an efficiency profile produced. Specific questionnaires were regularly completed not only by the dancers but also by the ballet management to supplement the results.