DIS-TANZ DIARY #16

AN ANALYSIS

Apr 21, 2021 in DIS-TANZ-SOLO

Sports Science & Dance Online Survey Analysis Page Title Photo

When I kicked off my project on sports science and dance earlier this year, it was clear to me that I wanted to do a wide-ranging survey within the professional dance community as a first move. I wanted to have a better understanding of how fellow dancers assess their current situation in regards to training and conditioning, preventative methods and awareness, and rehabilitation processes. My goal was to see to what extent my own views and observations coincide with those of other dancers, to create a better basis for deciding in which form I could most usefully apply my own learning, but also to create a pool of information for interested colleagues.

The survey ran from mid-January to the end of March. Once again, I sincerely thank all friends, colleagues and institutions who shared the call for participation with their own networks of dancers. I am insanely happy that together we managed to collect 469 responses and thus present fairly representative results.

So here is the analysis of my online survey. I hope it will be a useful basis for a lively exchange, many interesting discussions and exciting follow-up projects.

Since survey participants could of course skip questions that did not apply to them or that they did not want to answer, you will find the respective number of answers received below each question.

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

HOW OLD ARE YOU?

469 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Although a wide range of responses were collected from dancers of all ages, the majority of survey participants were in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties (63% overall).

WHAT IS YOUR GENDER?

468 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
167 participants answered male and 297 answered female. 2 participants indicated non-binary, 1 participant indicated both male and female, and 1 participant indicated trans in response.

WHAT IS YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
As expected, a large proportion of the responses came from Europe (95%) with a full 42% from Germany, 14% from France and 7% from Italy. These results reflect my own work environment and network quite well and should therefore hardly come as a surprise. Although it would certainly have been nice to have an even more representative group of participants, it was nonetheless gratifying to see dancers from a total of 37 different countries taking part in the survey.

ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING AS A FREELANCER OR AS AN EMPLOYEE?

463 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
About two-thirds said they worked freelance while about one-third said they worked as permanent employees. If a combination of both options applied to respondents, they were asked to check the option that was taking up the majority of their work time at the time of participation.

IN WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING FIELDS DO YOU CURRENTLY WORK?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

One of the conditions for participating in this survey was to be actively working as a professional dancer at the time of submitting the survey response. Nevertheless, only 415 of the 465 participants stated that they were currently working in the field Performance / Dance. Whether these results are due to a misunderstanding of meeting the participation requirements, or whether some of the respondents consider themselves active professional dancers but currently have a different work focus (e.g. as a result of the corona pandemic) remains unclear. Assuming that all survey participants read the explanatory introductory text and provided their information to the best of their knowledge, the responses of the 50 people who did not check Performance / Dance in the results were nevertheless included.

With regard to the question of how sports science concepts can be integrated into the daily work of dancers, it is certainly interesting that almost half of all respondents (48%) work also in the field Education / Teaching.

WHAT IS YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND?

466 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
The ratio between dancers who have graduated from state universities and those who have received their education in private training programs is fairly even. The group Other contains all answers that could not be clearly assigned to one of the remaining categories.

DO YOU HAVE AN ACADEMIC DEGREE (DIPLOMA, BACHELOR OF ARTS, MASTER OF ARTS, DOCTORATE)?

466 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
79.4% of the respondents stated that they had an academic degree, while 20.6% answered this question in the negative. As it can be assumed from the scope of the survey that it is a fairly representative result, these figures clearly underline the high level of qualification of the professional dance community.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DANCING PROFESSIONALLY?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
The results of this question illustrate that this survey collected responses from a broad set of dancers from all experience levels. However, there was a slight trend toward more experienced dancers, with one-third of dancers working professionally for 1 - 5 years and two-thirds of dancers working professionally for 6 years or more.

II. TRAINING

WHICH METHODS DO YOU USE TO TRAIN YOUR BODY?

469 Answers

DANCE TRAINING

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

SUPPLEMENTAL TRAINING

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

SOMATIC PRACTICES

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
There are endless different approaches and methods when it comes to the training of dancers. In the end, it probably boils down to a combination of personal taste and individual needs. The following further analysis looks at whether there are nevertheless any apparent trends among the respondents.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Most used training methods by Popularity

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Most used training methods by Regularity (Sessions per month)

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

While contemporary dance classes were the most widespread training method among survey participants, things look a little different when it comes to regularity and intensity.

Review of the corresponding results showed that yoga and ballet were the most used training methods, with an average of 7 sessions per month, followed by contemporary dance classes and bodyweight strength exercises, with an average of 6 sessions.

In order to better compare the average training times, a value of one training session per month (i.e. 0,25 training sessions per week) was set as the basis for calculation for the option Irregularly.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Most used training methods by Regularity (Sessions per month) - Excluding irregular trainings

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
If one now wants to assume that irregular training does not play a decisive role in the conditioning of dancers and one removes the corresponding values from the calculation, only minor changes can be seen. In that case, yoga with 7 sessions per month ranks ahead of ballet, contemporary dance classes, and bodyweight strength training with 6 sessions each.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

AVERAGE NUMBER OF TRAINING SESSIONS PER WEEK (by Gender)

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

AVERAGE NUMBER OF TRAINING SESSIONS PER WEEK (by Type of Employment)

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

AVERAGE NUMBER OF TRAINING SESSIONS PER WEEK (by Age)

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

There were no significant differences between male, female, and other participants, nor between permanently employed and freelance dancers. Even though the value for non-binary / trans-identifying dancers is significantly below average, this group is too small to derive a meaningful conclusion, accounting for only 0,85% of all participants.

It was noticeable, however, that the number of training sessions per week steadily decreased with advancing age. On average, dancers between the ages of 18 and 23 reported training 15 times, while the group of dancers between the ages of 24 and 29 averaged only 11 training sessions. The numbers drop further to 9 workouts per week for dancers in their thirties and as low as 7 workouts per week for dancers in their forties.

WHEN LOOKING FOR DANCE CLASSES, WHICH FORMATS ARE YOU INTERESTED IN?

462 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Not surprisingly and in keeping with the large percentage of freelance dancers in this survey, the most popular formats were open dance classes (73%) and extended workshops (65%), followed by company classes (56%). 1-day workshops and online classes were not particularly popular among respondents, with survey scores of 29% and 20%, respectively.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN ASPECTS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN A DANCE CLASS?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Although guided impro classes (Gaga, etc.) have become an ever-increasing component of studio and company training programming in recent years, it is still striking that creative research lands at the top of the surveyed dancers' list of priorities at 75%. Working on one's own technique ranks close behind with 72%.

It is further notable that less than half of the respondents indicated that they consider maintaining or improving their physical fitness to be an important objective.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Is supplemental training a common substitute for dance classes when it comes to improving fitness levels?

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

As a result of the above data, the following question arose: if only one out of two dancers prioritizes working on their fitness within a dance class, do the remaining dancers build supplemental training into their work schedule instead?

Of the 237 survey participants who stated they did not work on their fitness level within dance classes, 41% reported doing supplemental endurance training on a regular basis, 28% reported doing supplemental strength training with weights on a regular basis, and as many as 57% reported doing supplemental strength training with their own bodyweight on a regular basis.

When looking at the percentage of participants exercising a minimum of 2 times per week, these values drop further to 23% for endurance training, 15% for weight training, and 35% for bodyweight training.

Angioi, Metsios, Koutedakis & Wyon's systematic review (published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine in 2009) might be a good start for everyone who is interested in further investigating questions such as the assessment of the general fitness level of contemporary dancers, the extent to which the workload of a dance class and the rehearsal process differs from the workload of a dance performance, and whether supplemental training is a useful way to improve dancers' performance.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between male and female identifying dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
The importance of specific key interests in dance classes does differ quite a bit when comparing male-identifying and female-identifying dancers. Fun and fitness seem to play a more important role among male-identifying respondents, while exchange with the community drops significantly in the list of priorities.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between Freelancers and Permanently Employed Dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
There was no shift in priorities when comparing freelancers and permanent dancers. It is nevertheless noticeable that the aspects exchange with the community and networking are by nature significantly more important for freelancers than for their salaried colleagues.

IN TERMS OF USEFULNESS, PLEASE RATE THE FOLLOWING ASPECTS OF ONLINE DANCE CLASSES:

457 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
As expected, the percentage of those who rate certain aspects of online classes as very useful is relatively low. About a quarter of all respondents made such a statement regarding overall fitness, creative research and exchange with the community. Only about one in eight survey participants saw a great benefit in terms of training their dance technique.

III. INJURY PREVENTION

WHICH SELF-TREATMENT TECHNIQUES DO YOU USE TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY?

467 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Stretching was by far the most common form of self-treatment with 89% of participants stretching regularly. Self massage (61%), self-myofascial release (53%), and meditation (43%) were also among the widely used methods regularly employed by dancers.

It is perhaps interesting to note that a full 100% of respondents reported performing some form of self-treatment, with as many as 95% doing so on a regular basis.

WHICH KIND OF THERAPIST DO YOU SEE FOR PREVENTATIVE TREATMENTS?

436 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

By far, the most popular practitioners among the 436 respondents who provided information about their preventive treatments were osteopaths (60%), physical therapists (51%), and sports massage therapists (39%). Responses that resulted in a score below one percent were not included in the above chart.

In addition to the 33 respondents who did not provide information on this question, 11 specifically indicated that they did not seek any preventive treatments. It is worth mentioning that 3 respondents stated that the reason they do not seek any preventative treatments is because there are no good therapists close to where they live, while 3 others stated that they simply cannot afford it.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SEE A THERAPIST FOR PREVENTATIVE TREATMENTS?

467 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

One in three dancers surveyed sees a therapist once a quarter for preventative reasons. About one in five dancers interviewed sees a therapist annually or monthly, respectively. Every tenth dancer sees a therapist weekly, while every seventh does not seek preventative treatments at all.

On average, dancers see a therapist every five and a half weeks for preventative treatment.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between Freelancers and Permanently Employed Dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Remarkably, but perhaps not entirely surprising, the frequency of preventative treatments differs greatly between permanently employed dancers and freelancers. While 53% of permanent dancers have monthly or even weekly treatments, only 22% do so among freelancers. On average, permanent dancers have a preventative treatment every 3,5 weeks, while freelancers have a treatment only every 8 weeks.

IV. INJURIES & REHABILITATION

HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU SUFFERED WORK-RELATED INJURIES IN THE LAST 3 YEARS?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
79% of all dancers surveyed had been injured at least once in the past 3 years, 54% a minimum of two times. The most commonly reported frequency was 2- 3 injuries with a percentage of 42%.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between different age groups

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Although there were some variations within the different age groups, no clear trend regarding the risk or frequency of injury could be identified from the available data.

WHICH PARTS OF YOUR BODY HAVE SUFFERED WORK-RELATED INJURIES DURING YOUR PROFESSIONAL CAREER?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Consistent with the state of research regarding injuries among dancers (e.g. van Winden et al.), the most commonly reported injured body parts were the lower extremities (Ankles / Feet 56%, Knees 54%) and the lower back (43%). Other vulnerabilities appear to be the neck (30%), shoulders (30%), and the pelvis / hip area (32%).

WHICH KIND OF WORK-RELATED INJURIES HAVE YOU SUFFERED DURING YOUR PROFESSIONAL CAREER?

452 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

The most common types of injuries among respondents were bruises / contusions, strains (overstretched, torn, or twisted tendons or muscles), and sprains (overstretched, torn, or twisted ligaments).

When comparing male and female respondents as well as freelancers and permanent employees, there were no significant deviations with regard to the frequency of certain injuries. The criterion of whether the dancers surveyed performed regular supplemental training did not produce any decisive differences either.

WAS YOUR LAST SEVERE INJURY THE RESULT OF A SINGLE INCIDENT OR DID IT OCCUR GRADUALLY?

450 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
56.9% of the reported injuries happened gradually, 43.1% resulted from a single incident.

IF YOU ANSWERED "SINGLE INCIDENT" IN THE PREVIOUS QUESTION, HOW SOON AFTER DID YOU RECEIVE TREATMENT?

204 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Just over half of all injured dancers (53,9%) received initial treatment the same day or the day after the injury occurred. Another 29,9% received initial treatment within the same week.

The number of respondents who report having experienced initial treatment only within one month is relatively high at 16,2%. It would be interesting to investigate in a further study whether this is due to the fact that the injury was not initially considered particularly serious or whether the community lacks the necessary resources to ensure rapid treatment.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between Freelancers and Permanently Employed Dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Comparing permanent and freelance dancers, it is noticeable that on average, permanent dancers received initial treatment earlier than freelancers. While 63% of permanent employees received treatment the same day or the day after the incident, only 51% of freelancers did so.

WHICH KIND OF DOCTOR / THERAPIST DID YOU SEE?

430 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Of the 424 respondents who provided information about their treatments, about half sought help from a physical therapist (54%) or osteopath (49%). A third saw an orthopedist (33%), and about a quarter saw a sports massage therapist (27%) or general practitioner (24%). Responses that resulted in a score below one percent were not included in the above chart. In addition to the 39 respondents who did not answer the above question, 6 respondents reported not seeking any kind of treatment after their injury.

WERE YOU CONFIDENT THAT YOUR DOCTOR / THERAPIST HAD SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE REGARDING YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS AS A PROFESSIONAL DANCER?

440 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
It was certainly reassuring to see that a majority of 80% of all respondents were more or less satisfied with the medical care they received. In fact, a full 43% were completely convinced by the competence of their doctors and therapists. Only one out of five respondents stated that they did not believe that their doctor or therapist had enough knowledge regarding their professional situation.

WERE YOU FORCED TO TAKE AN EXTENDED BREAK FROM WORK?

447 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
The ratio of dancers who had to take an extended break due to injury to those who did not is fairly even. A small majority of 52.1% were able to continue working without a major injury break.

HOW LONG WAS IT BEFORE YOU RETURNED TO THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT?

292 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Although the most commonly reported injury-related break from work was just 1 week (22%), a total of 40% of all dancers were absent for at least one month. The average period of sick leave due to work-related injuries was about 7 weeks.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between male and female identifying dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Based on the responses, one can see that male identifying dancers seemed to recover more quickly or at least took shorter breaks from work than their female counterparts. While the average injury lay-off among male dancers was 6 weeks, it was two weeks longer for female dancers. And while only 1 in 10 male dancers had to take a break of more than 3 months, 1 in 7 female dancers had to do so.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between Freelancers and Permanently Employed Dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
While there was no very clear trend when looking at the data sets regarding differences between permanent dancers and freelancers, it is noticeable that the percentage who took a break longer than 6 months doubles among permanent dancers. It is at least reasonable to assume that this is due to the greater financial security of permanent employment.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE UNTIL YOU WERE FULLY RECOVERED?

427 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
By far, the most common response to the question about the time frame in which full recovery was achieved was more than 6 months (28%). However, the average recovery time among survey participants was 16 weeks.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Differences between male and female identifying dancers

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Differences between different age groups

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis

Similar to the previous question, it can be seen that female dancers reported a significantly longer recovery time than male dancers. At 31%, the proportion of female dancers who reported a recovery time of more than 6 months was 10% higher than that reported by their male colleagues.

Comparing the different age groups, at least the proportion of lengthy injuries seems to increase significantly with increasing age.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Discrepancy between rest time and recovery time after injury

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
If we compare the average recovery time with the information on the average duration of time off work due to injury from the previous question, we notice that these two are extremely out of sync. While the average rest period among dancers is only 7 weeks, the average time until full recovery is a solid 16 weeks.

V. SPORTS SCIENCE IN DANCE

WHEN IT COMES TO BASIC BIO-MOTOR ABILITIES, HOW EQUIPPED DO YOU FEEL FOR THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGES OF YOUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT?

456 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Although the percentage of dancers who feel very well equipped in terms of basic bio-motor skills is rather low, the figures indicating that dancers feel at least well equipped are above 50% for all skills. 68% of all survey participants feel well or very well equipped when it comes to strength, 59% when it comes to endurance, 53% when it comes to speed, 67% when it comes to flexibility, and even 79% when it comes to coordination.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Percentages of male vs. female identifying dancers who feel they are well or very well equipped

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
In general, male survey respondents were more likely to say they felt well-equipped than females. The only exception is with regard to coordination skills. Here, at a total of 81%, 6% more women than men said they felt well or very well equipped.

HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU CONSIDER THESE BIO-MOTOR ABILITIES FOR THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGES OF YOUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT?

458 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
All five basic bio-motor skills received very high scores when asked about their importance to the profession of dancing. When we add up the responses that indicate these respective skills are important or very important, all results are in the 83% to 98% range. Coordination tops the list, followed by strength, endurance, flexibility and speed.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Discrepancy between the degree of importance and the assessment of one's own skills

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Now, if we compare the proportion of dancers who consider these skills to be very important with the proportion who consider themselves to be very well equipped in terms of these very skills, we see a rather large divide. Interestingly enough, we see the biggest disparity in the very skills that are ranked as the three most important.

PLEASE RATE YOUR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
In terms of the five sports science topics queried, participants appear to have the greatest knowledge regarding anatomy and exercise physiology. This is followed, in decreasing order, by nutrition, injury prevention & rehabilitation, training science, and sports psychology.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Percentage of respondents who rate their level of knowledge as good or very good

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Although all of the above topics are certainly relevant, especially for freelancers who are self-reliant for both strategically planning their individual work schedules and maintaining their physical fitness, less than half of all dancers surveyed rated their knowledge of injury prevention & rehabilitation, exercise science, and sports psychology as good or very good.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE FOLLOWING TOPICS REGARDING YOUR WORK AS A DANCER?

465 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
When it comes to rating the importance of these sports science topics, injury prevention & rehabilitation is clearly at the top of the list. 72% of survey respondents saw it as very important to their work. Anatomy & exercise physiology was rated as very important by 63%, nutrition by 56%, sport psychology by 43% and training science by 42%.

FURTHER ANALYSIS

Discrepancy between the degree of importance and the assessment of one's own knowledge

Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
As the previous question suggested, there is a drastic disparity between the proportion of respondents who consider the above topics to be very important in relation to their work and the proportion who consider their own knowledge of the respective topics to be very good. Even when grouping together respondents who rate their own knowledge as good to very good, the results (with the exception of the topic of nutrition) still fall short when compared to the stated importance.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN DEEPENING YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE AFOREMENTIONED TOPICS?

468 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
It appears that respondents are well aware that there are some gaps of knowledge concerning sports science related topics that may be of interest in regard to their work. In any case, it's great to see that a full 83,5% of survey participants are interested in deepening their knowledge. An additional 15.4% indicated interest under certain circumstances. This leaves only 1,1% of dancers who do not want to hear anything further on the subject of sports science & dance.

IF YOU ANSWERED THE PREVIOUS QUESTION WITH "YES", IN WHAT CONTEXT WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED TO LEARN ABOUT THESE TOPICS?

423 Answers
Sports Science & Dance Survey Analysis
A majority of 74% would be interested in a specific workshop exploring the intersection of sports science and dance. An equal share of dancers would be interested in having these topics integrated into their daily dance classes (57%) or presented via an online platform (58%). 48% of the survey participants can imagine doing their research completely independently.
Header photo by AnemStyle auf Shutterstock
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