IADMS New York 2002   [back to the Category]

Of Boys and Men: A Comparison of Workload Demands Between Student and Professional Men Dancers   [read the french version]

Author :   Bonnie Robson, MD, DCP, DipPsych, FRCP(C)

Of Boys and Men: A Comparison of Workload Demands
Between Student and Professional Men Dancers

Bonnie Robson, MD, DCP, DipPsych, FRCP(C)
Quinte Ballet School
Belleville, Ontario, Canada

Marijeanne Liederbach, MSATC, MSPT, CSCS
Harkness Center for Dance Injuries, Hospital for Joint Diseases
New York, NY USA

This survey research takes a psychological, developmental look at the lifestyle and work patterns of the male dancer. Serendipitously, the authors working in two different countries and two separate fields of medicine discovered that their previous research samples indicated very different patterns between the male dance student and the male professional dancer, a disparity warranting further exploration. Such differences, if true, need to be made clear to teachers and medical professionals, so that programs can be devised to meet the needs of the dancer depending on the stage of development.

Subject Cohort (N) # Hours Daily Activity % More / (Less) than
Respective Female Dancers
Men Stu Dancers (37) 5.8 27%* *p<.05
Men Prof Dancers (20) 2.7 (61%)* *p<.05

Male dance students typically state that they work and are expected to work longer hours than the female students and that they take better care of their bodies through exercise, and good nutrition. By contrast, professional male dancers report training and working 61% less number of hours per day in a typical week than their women counterparts in the professional arena.

Additional work which takes a psychological and developmental approach to the lifestyle, work, exercise and injury patterns of male dancers would be useful for the formulation of programs to promote positive health and recovery from injury. Health professional need to understand the phases of physiologic, psychological and dance training development in order to assist dancers with their transitions from one level of development to another. It is only through such an integrated approach that student dancers can be helped to prepare safely for his performance career and for the professional performer to prepare the next phase in his development whether dance related or not.


Reference:
1. Robson BE, Adolescent Development: How Dancers Compare with the Typical Teen. J Med Probl Perform Art.16(3):109-114, 2001.