Health and Fitness in Professional Dancers

• Published in: Medical problems of performing artists Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 23 - 27
• Main Authors: Koutedakis, Yiannis, Pacy, Paul J., Carson, Ray J., Dick, Fiona
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: HANLEY & BELFUS, INC 01-03-1997
• ISSN: 0885-1158; 1938-2766

For the purposes of the Healthier Dancer Programme, the responses to a comprehensive questionnaire from 102 male and 222 female UK professional ballet and modern dancers were analyzed for factors related to general health and fitness. Cigarette smoking was more common among the modern dancers than among the ballet dancers (p < 0.05). However, only about 25% of all the dancers admitted to smoking more than 5 cigarettes per day. Similarly, alcohol intake of both the ballet and the modern dancers was generally within accepted levels, although significantly more ballet dancers reported no alcohol intake (p < 0.005). Almost 50% of all the professional dancers reported 1 or more days off due to a musculoskeletal injury during the 12 months prior to data collection. Only 23% of the ballet dancers and statistically fewer of their modern counterparts (17%; p < 0.01) sought dietary advice from qualified dieticians. Popular magazines, TV programs, and other sources accounted for the majority of their information about diet: Finally, there seemed to be widespread ignorance among the dancers of the physical and physiologic benefits of cooling-down, as indicated by the very low number of dancers involved in this activity. The authors conclude that: 1) among dancers, there are areas of uncertainty regarding aspects of general health and fitness; and 2) further education and scientific research on physical and physiologic elements of dance are necessary.