IADMS Miami 2000   [back to the Category]

Medical Care of the Professional Modern Dancer   [read the french version]

Author :   David S. Weiss, M.D.

Author: David S. Weiss, M.D., Harkness Center for Dance Injuries, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NYU Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

This paper will review the author’s experience with the medical care of professional modern dancers. The demographics of the modern dancer and the injuries sustained will be reviewed. The subjects are the sixty-three members of four professional modern dance companies for whom the author serves as “Company Orthopaedist.” Additional anecdotal information will be provided from other modern dancers in the author’s private practice, including dancers from companies for whom the author is “Orthopaedic Consultant,” and from freelance modern dancers.

In general, professional modern dancers are older and have more formal education than ballet dancers. They start working with the major modern dance companies at a later age than the ballet dancer, usually after graduation from college or university, and usually after working for several years for a small company, or often several small companies simultaneously. They often continue to perform into their late 40’s. As a result, the “average” modern dancer tends to be more knowledgeable about their own health, and more responsible for self-care.

For the four professional modern companies, the dancers’ work year consists 40 to 42 total weeks of work: A one or two week local season, 10 to 21 weeks of rehearsals (including the creation of new works by the company artistic director) and 16 to 28 weeks of national and international touring and residencies. There is little, if any, time for an “off-season” to rest or recuperate from injuries. Whilst some ballet companies have reported that as many as one third of their dancers may be sidelined with injuries at any one time, the small size of modern dance companies necessitates that all dancers be available at all times. Therefore, modern dancers often perform with injuries. Major injury, illness, or surgery cause significant disruption and usually necessitate the hiring and rehearsing of a replacement dancer.

For professional modern dance companies, injury prevention programs utilizing physical therapy are difficult and expensive to implement, since most of the year is spent away from home. All four companies contract with a physical therapist to provide treatments at the theatre during the local seasons; two companies contract with a physical therapist to provide preventative sessions during rehearsal periods; one company employs a physical therapist who travels with the company for a portion of each tour.

This is the abstract of a paper presented at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, held 27-29 October 2000 in Miami, Florida, USA. All rights are reserved by the individual author(s).