“Fantastic communication is at the heart of dancer care. This pop-in time is so important,and dancers are always supervised in their programs. Our physios rotate around the gym;exercises are reviewed frequently,so they don’t become monotonous and stay rigorous.”
As a result,Rio says,reporting of serious stress fractures,ankle and foot pain has reduced in number and severity.
Some of the benefits of this preventative/educative model are psychological too:“I am so much more in tune with my body now,” Bemet says.
One of the newest lines of research coming out of the La Trobe and The Australian Ballet partnership is a focus on mental wellbeing,and how this can avoid injury in dancers. “Mental fatigue may predispose dancers to injury or make it more challenging to learn new choreography,” Rio says. “Ballet dancers are extraordinary in the amount of training,learning new choreography,rehearsing and performing they do,all in one day.”
“They are athletic artists,not artistic athletes,” Mayes says.
Demands upon the dancers extend beyond the physical;they are often training,rehearsing and performing six days a week. La Trobe trialled an app to allow the dancers to scale their wellbeing. “Many of the dancers scored high on mental fatigue and lack of sleep and physical injury less highly,” says Mayes. “We’re looking at this research and how we might recommend adaptation to the dancers’ training and schedules,for example spending shorter,more focused periods on choreography and allowing more time for rest.”
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While much of the research is positive,Mayes points to one area of concern. There has been a rise of stress fractures very recently,since COVID lockdowns. “The dancers were locked down,unlike the sports athletes,for long periods of time in Melbourne,” says Mayes. “They could only practise in the confines of their home,and it limited the range of their preventative injury programs. Subsequently,some of the dancers’ bone density may have deteriorated,so we’re seeing the impact of that now,and this may take a year or two of rehabilitation to correct.”
Overall,the partnership is delivering results to feel optimistic about. As recently as five years ago,the approach to dancer health was remedial. Now,however,it’s about stopping problems before they start,to support a generation of physically and mentally more resilient and happy dancers.