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Research from sport - Is specialisation benefitting kids?


drdance

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I've just seen an interesting infographic on Facebook from the American National Strength and Conditioning Association and it got me thinking whether this would apply to those young dancers who are advised to focus on ballet alone, or another dance form, at the expense of participation in other sports or activities. I'd like to hear from parents of DC's who have gone onto successful careers and what the balance of their DC's training was. 

 

NB I am not making any judgements about dance training, merely considering whether this research could apply to dance training.

infographic-implications-for-training-in

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I'm curious to read the full research article but I'll respond to your question.

DD was a keen/competitive cross country runner throughout primary school, the only  other sport outside of school sport she did was swimming at swim club once a week in the Summer. Prior to 14 years of age her dance training (predominately ballet) was not more than 10 hours per week. This was on the advice of a dance physiotherapist. After 14 her dance hours significantly increased to around 18-20 hours per week and she also had a private 1 hour pilates class. She didn't participate in any other sports but did occasionally go for a run and still competed in the school cross country competitions. At the age of 17 she commenced full time ballet training (35+ hours per week) and kept up her aerobic fitness by cycling regularly and running occasionally. She also took a pilates class at least once per week. Since going professional this year she has tried to maintain her fitness and overall health by continuing to cross train within the demands of the company schedule. When she isn't performing or on a break she runs, swims, cycles in addition to a series of flexibility exercises that she does everyday. 

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I would say that DS was similar to Lucinda's DD partly because he didn't really do ballet at a particularly advanced level until 14 - so up to 14 probably did swimming more than anything (although also at various times did tae kwondo, fencing, cycling to get about, diving and a bit of gym- his ballet was never more than 3-4 hours a week and he didn't do any other kind of dance). The sport he has mainly kept up with is swimming - he's never really lived anywhere where running was a realistic option and anyway has rather (special snowflake alert) delicate feet which are prone to injury... He was delighted to track down a swimming pool soon after arriving in St Petersburg (even having to endure being randomly made to join a swim team's training session by the Russian coach didn't deter him!) and now swims once or twice a week when he has time (often he is in rehearsal from lunchtime until 8 or 9pm so doesn't honestly get that much free time in the week...). I have fairly consistently nagged him about cross training after reading various articles about dancer stamina and injury rates (probably posted by Dr Dance tbh!),

 

It would be useful to follow on this finding with research about which kinds of sport are compatible. I have often heard for example that gymnastics and ballet require such different technique and musculature that after a certain point it's 'one or the other'. It is easy when you hear this kind of thing to end up worrying that your DC shouldn't be doing sports because they may be detrimental- perhaps this is behind a lot of kids giving up sport unnecessarily. Plus- and I commend your daughter's diligence and tenacity Lucinda- but many kids would find it prohibitively hard to do more than one thing (if doing it at elite level) because of the time required... 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Specialisation is minefield to be perfectly honest. 
If we look at team sports and invasion sports we can often see trends that are transferable such as movement patterns, aerobic conditioning, proprioception, spacial awareness, acute reactive strength properties and agility. These skills are specialised within themselves, however, they are transferable between sports such as running, rugby, soccer, hockey etc. However, gymnastics and ballet are contain movement patterns and finite skills that need to acquired from a young age. Even though generally speaking ballet is a closed activity and is pre planned and coordinated, the fundamentals of the movements do require early specialisation. Transferable skills and attributes from gymnastics can be applied. However the trend for early specialisation in Dance is generally driven by the pre puberty development of range movement, flexibility and fine movement. 
Although it is controversial I am a fan of early specialisation however I would say that I am a some "Neo" advocate of this as I believe that this early specialisation should still follow a Long term athlete development (LTAD) system. The reason I say this is that I believe in the early development of dance related skills and attributes as they are less attainable in the latter teenage years HOWEVER I prefer to develop my dances (in strength and conditioning terms) in alignment with lots of other sports which does not take children to the extremes and monitors their progression in a very measurable and safe fashion. 

 

As such kids and teenagers should work along side Strength Coaches, Doctors and Young athlete development specialists in order to prevent burn out, injury and boost importantly to keep young people interested in the discipline or sport they have chosen. 
 

If a teenage is well accustomed to the demands of both sport and Dance and continues their athletic development then there is no harm in playing sport as well however it depends how much time you DD or DS wants to devote to the sport or discipline. 

 

I firmly sit on the side that full time vocational training from the age of 11 is not necessary in order to have a career in Classical Ballet. Having worked with a number of Dancers that went to high school and danced part time until 16 then went vocational colleges I can firmly say that it is not limiting. I would encourage to young Dancers to find a good teacher and school part time and then assess for vocational training at 16. This would encourage engagement and hunger for the art and allow for specialisation to take place but with out the intensity of lots of other factors. 

I am not suggesting vocational training from 11 is bad!! I am simply saying that vocational training is not essential for a career in Ballet and a long and prosperous one at that.
 

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