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Should dancers be encouraged to dance with injuries?! Is it really something that is unavoidable?


dancerbabe82

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Perhaps the vital thing is not to dance if it going to aggravate the injury/illness and possibly cause long-term or permanent damage.

 

The problem is that this may require hindsight. Always err on the side of caution.

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I think it's all very well to say the dancer knows their own body and to dance through an injury if it's only mild is ok but I worry about the message it sends to impressionable kids when they see "it's ok if so-and-so does it" - and as Anjuli says, it needs hindsight. How does a dancer really know if it's NOT going to aggravate or make it worse? Pain is the bodys way of saying something is wrong....

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In the past, when my dd has been injured or felt too ill to dance, she has begged to go to her local class just to watch. I always check with her teacher who is happy for dd to do this. That way she doesn't feel that she's missing out on anything. Can be a good compromise if it's nothing infectious. :-)

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I would just like to add that whilst dancers do know their own bodies and dont dance when injured, some companies, if a dance has a recurring or prolonged injury will put that dancer on notice. Usually the dancer will be paid while not dancing and the company will pay for treatment, physio etc but once the notice peroid is up and if the dancer is still not fit, the contract will be terminated. If a company feels a dancer is prone to injury a no injury contract may be given, which means the company does not pay for injury time or treatment. Obviously then a dancer may want to cover up an injury if they are desperate to stay in work.

 

edit for typo

Edited by assemble mum
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In the past, when my dd has been injured or felt too ill to dance, she has begged to go to her local class just to watch. I always check with her teacher who is happy for dd to do this. That way she doesn't feel that she's missing out on anything. Can be a good compromise if it's nothing infectious. :-)

 

dd's local dance teacher always recommended this approach. She said you could learn almost as much from watching a class as from doing it! (OK probably not strictly speaking true, but you can certainly learn different things). When dd was at Northern Ballet School, if you were injured were still expected to attend and watch class and rehearsals. It was only if you had some sort of infectious illness that they didn't want you.

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I would just like to add that whilst dancers do know their own bodies and dont dance when injured, some companies, if a dance has a recurring or prolonged injury will put that dancer on notice. Usually the dancer will be paid while not dancing and the company will pay for treatment, physio etc but once the notice peroid is up and if the dancer is still not fit, the contract will be terminated. If a company feels a dancer is prone to injury a no injury contract may be given, which means the company does not pay for injury time or treatment. Obviously then a dancer may want to cover up an injury if they are desperate to stay in work.

 

edit for typo

 

That's dreadful. No wonder dancers dance with injuries then... they ought to have support from the company to help with injury prevention rather than being liable to being fired!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know that injury in life is not entirely unavoidable, but I do worry that there is a mindset among dancers saying "don't whine about having an injury because it's part of what goes on" and more concerning, the message sometimes being sent out by being positive about those who 'soldier on' as though it's something to be proud of - which sends mixed messages to young dancers.

 

Too true. Didn't they say on the Northern Ballet documentary that something like half the dancers in the company were carrying injuries? Mind you, there are injuries, and injuries. There are niggles which can be controlled (although even they might well be better rested), injuries which you might be able to carry on dancing through, and injuries which definitely require you to stop and rest. The problem is to recognise them for what they are, which is easier said than done, especially in the relatively early years. I've lost count of the number of senior professional dancers I've heard say something like "If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have stopped dancing and let the injury recover", but the trouble is you don't know "then".

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  • 4 weeks later...

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