Examining workload in dancers: How much and how hard are dancers working?
Date
2023-01-13
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Abstract
As artistic athletes, dancers participate in long hours of training, increasing their risk of injury. Workload, which describes how much and how hard dancers work, can improve our understanding of dancers’ training and lead to the development of effective injury prevention strategies. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to investigate dancers’ workloads across all dance genres and dance levels of participation, examine how wellness factors influence dancers’ workloads, and explore dancers’, dance teachers’ and dance parents’ attitudes and current use practices of wearable technology in the dance studio environment. In Chapter Two, a systematic search of the literature identified that the most common tool used to quantify dancers’ workload was ‘hours’, although it does not account for the intensity of dance training. The observed trend in dance workload research is moving from capturing only exposure or intensity of training, to capturing workload where both the volume and intensity of dance training is considered. In Chapter Three, longitudinal monitoring of female undergraduate university dancers’ workloads and wellness found that the dancers’ workloads were not significantly associated with any of the seven wellness factors examined. In Chapter Four, dancers’ external workloads were quantified using wearable technology and video movement analysis. Dancers’ external workloads were higher than 70,000AU in a session, and were larger in classes than rehearsals. In a typical dance session, transitions were the most commonly performed dance movement, followed by floor rolls, and jumps. In Chapter Five, dancers, dance teachers, and dance parents reported modest attitudes towards wearable technology and high self-efficacy of using wearable technology. Prevalence of using wearables in the studio was approximately 50%, with smartwatches and wristband activity trackers being the most common devices used. Identified barriers to using wearables in dance included dance studio rules, not having a device, and lack of interest in wearables. In conclusion, a wide range of tools and devices can be used to monitor dancers’ workloads, allowing for prospective workload monitoring, and paving the way for the workload-injury association to be examined in dance.
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Keywords
dance, workload, wearable technology
Citation
Volkova, V. G. (2023). Examining workload in dancers: how much and how hard are dancers working? (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.