IADMS Australie 2007   [retour sommaire Catégorie]
IADMS 2007 - Abstract #34 - Dancers? perceptions of pain and injury: a qualitative study   [lire la version anglaise]
  IADMS 2007 - Helen Thomas

Dancers? perceptions of pain and injury: a qualitative study

Thomas, Helen LAMC, BAHons, PhD, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, London, United Kingdom; Tarr, Jennifer BAHons, PhD, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, London, United Kingdom

Purpose:

The paper presents findings from a current large-scale research project. It investigates how dancers make sense of pain and injury in their working lives and the consequences this has for their performance career and the dance industry. 

Two central research questions are addressed:

How do dancers distinguish between ?pain? and ?injury?

How does the visual representation of pain and injury through body scanning and mapping contribute to understanding and interpreting these injuries.

Methods:

200 self-selected adult dancers in England participated: staff/students in conservatoires and universities; company/independent dancers; teachers/community dancers; former and older performers. Targeting strategies included: advertising/mailing/posters; Dance UK, BAPM; website  HYPERLINK "http://danceinjuries.org" http://danceinjuries.org; snowballing. A body scanner is used to scan the dancers and gain a 3D image of the respondents? bodies. The following techniques are employed:

Questionnaire 

Semi-structured narrative interview 

3D body scan followed by respondent mapping sites of pain and injury on to the scanned images.

Questionnaire and interview data are analysed using SPSS and NVivo software. Body scanning and pain mapping are experimental research tools, used here for; a) triangulation b) a therapeutic tool for identification/interpretation of pain and injury. 

Results

Preliminary data analyses show consistent patterns of behaviour in relation to dancing with pain and through injury. Despite efforts to promote the healthier dancer (Dance UK 1996; 2005), injures have not reduced significantly. Whilst dancers know they should not dance when injured, all but four have done so. The reasons given also fall into patterns. They point to a culture of pain and injury, which dancers buy in to. This appears to level out with age and experience.

Conclusions

Initial findings suggest that interconnections between pedagogical practices, psychology of performance and the dance industry play a role in levels of dance injuries. 

(300 words)
SITE MEDICAL DE LA FONDATION RUDOLF NOUREEV - consacré à la Médecine de la Danse à destination des Danseurs et des Professionnels de santé.