IADMS New York 2002   [back to the Category]

Mental Skills Distinguish Elite Soloist Ballet Dancers from Corps de Ballet Dancers   [read the french version]

Author :   Glenn Brassington, PhD & Al.

Mental Skills Distinguish Elite Soloist
Ballet Dancers from Corps de Ballet Dancers



Glenn Brassington, PhD; Maya Adam
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California, USA

Purpose: Although popular wisdom suggests that psychological attributes are associated with elite dance performance, no empirical studies have been conducted to determine whether mental skills and abilities are associated with professional dance performance. The purpose of this study was to determine whether psychological skills and strategies associated with elite athletic performance are associated with level of achievement in professional dance.

Method: Participants were 30 female and 24 male (M=26.59 years; SD=6.2 years) ballet dancers, representing 20 countries, from one of Germany’s largest professional ballet companies. Participants were asked to complete a slightly modified version of the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS), which is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure psychological skills and strategies used by athletes to enhance performance. The TOPS questionnaire yields 8 mental skills subscales related to performance and rehearsal: goal, setting, use of imagery, ability to relax, ability to activate/energize, use of positive self talk, emotional control, attentional control, automaticity (performing without thinking), and negative thinking. T-tests were computed to compare soloist, principle, and demi-soloist dancers (n=24) with corps de ballet dancers (n=30) on each of the TOPS scales.

Results: Soloist dancers had significantly more professional dance experience (M=11.5 years; SD=6.4 years) than the corps de ballet dancers (M=5.7 years; SD=5.0 years). Dancers in the soloist group had significantly higher scores on each of the positive TOPS performance and rehearsal scales (p’s < .001) with the exception of automaticity. Soloist dancers also reported engaging in significant less negative thinking during performance (p’s < .001) than corps de ballet (see table).

Conclusions: Soloist dancers were distinguished from corps de ballet dancers by the mental skills and strategies they employed to perfect their dance. These data provide one possible explanation for why some dancers progress to higher levels of professional ballet dance performance, while others may not. Future intervention studies should be conducted to determine whether implementing a mental skills training program could improve dance performance.
Glenn Brassington
Page 2
Sunday, 11:00 AM

Table: Means, standard deviations, t-tests for each of the Test of Performance Strategies for the performance and rehearsal scales for soloist and corp de ballet groups.

Soloists Corps de ballet
(n=24) (n=30)
M SD M SD t p
Performance
Activation 4.41 0.60 3.43 0.76 -5.21 0.001
Relaxation 4.12 0.72 3.18 0.84 -4.34 0.001
Imagery 4.06 0.41 3.20 0.73 -5.12 0.001
Goal Setting 4.12 0.90 2.87 1.04 -4.65 0.001
Self-talk 3.31 1.00 2.40 0.79 -3.89 0.001
Automaticity 3.12 0.77 3.02 1.16 -0.55 ns
Emotional Control 3.89 0.81 2.60 0.90 -5.47 0.001
Negative Thinking 3.90 0.74 2.84 0.69 -5.39 0.001
Total 30.96 3.02 23.50 4.58 -6.85 0.001

Rehearsal
Activation 3.47 0.54 2.58 0.58 -5.72 0.001
Relaxation 3.22 0.78 2.00 0.61 -6.51 0.001
Imagery 3.63 0.48 2.74 0.62 -5.81 0.001
Goal Setting 3.90 0.80 2.83 0.96 -4.39 0.001
Self-talk 3.31 0.80 2.27 0.75 -4.94 0.001
Automaticity 3.34 0.68 3.04 1.05 -1.22 ns
Emotional Control 3.61 0.75 2.59 0.77 -4.91 0.001
Attention Control 3.80 0.58 3.05 0.49 -5.17 0.001
Total 28.30 2.58 21.10 3.32 -8.71 0.001