The power of dance: applications of dance cross training for athletes

Mild, Cortney, BFA, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States 

In 1984 Roni Mahler gave the Cleveland Brown football team twelve weeks of ballet classes. The team?s medical advisor John A. Bergfeld noticed a significant decrease in groin injuries (Howard). Coaches have required their athletes to take dance classes to gain a competitive edge over opponents. Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann credited years of dance training for improving his body control, balance, sense of rhythm, and timing (Transcripts).

 Existing scientific and medical research has demonstrated the effectiveness of dance as cross training for athletes. According to Dr. James A. Nicholas? findings, ballet ranked first out of sixty-one sports tested for neuromuscular and physical factors such as strength, endurance, agility, speed, and accuracy (Patrick). Upon reviewing this body of research, I must question why athletic coaches have not used dance to a greater extent. Why does the sports community not consider dancers to be athletes?

I do not ascribe to Geraldine Dimondstein?s reductionist model of dance education. She claims that placing dance in the same category as physical skills or athletics reduces the essential expressive, communicative function of dance to the level of physical mastery. Persuading the sports community of the power of dance will not only improve athletes? performance, but also establish the physicality of dance, garner appreciation for dance, and increase interest in dance medicine among the sports medicine community.

Dimondstein, Geraldine. The Place of Dance in General Education. Journal of Aesthetic Education. 19.4 (Winter, 1985). 77 ? 84. 

Howard, Rachel. Without Dance They?d Just Be?. Dance Magazine. Jan. 2004: 92 ? 93.

Patrick, Pamela. Ballet as Sport: Athletes on Pointe. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 3.1 (Spring, 1978): 20 ? 21. 

Transcripts. Time.com. 17 Feb. 1999. Yahoo! Chat and Time. 19 Feb. 2007. <http://www.time.com/time/community/transcripts/1999/021799swann.html>.