By Alison Roach
Jana Jacques and Meredith Page believe that there is a definite lack of emphasis on body conditioning and strengthening in dance programs
Second year SFU Dance majors Jana Jacques and Meredith Page are to be recognized for their research in dance overspecialization and injury. Jacques, 31, and Page, 24, have been chosen as presenters for the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) annual conference, to be held from October 25 – 27 in Singapore.
After their study proposal was unanimously supported by the SFU Faculty of Dance, Jacques and Page did a directed study in the spring 2012 semester, exploring what they believe to be a key cause of injury in dance: overspecialization.
Jacques and Page believe that there is a definite lack of emphasis on conditioning and strengthening in dance programs, leading to extreme strain on dancers’ bodies. Jacques explained that, “Dancers are athletes, but they don’t train like athletes. . . . No one is taking responsibility for teaching dancers to condition themselves.”
To test this theory, the two designed a conditioning program based on Page’s experience as a certified personal trainer that had more focus on strength training and aerobic capacity, as opposed to most dancing training, which revolves around dance-move-specific classes. They offered this program to the entire dance student body, and ran classes three times a week for 14 weeks.
“We had fitness testing three times, at the beginning, middle, and end. We also had a questionnaire given to the students trying to figure out what the perspective is on conditioning, if there’s a perceived value,” said Jacques. They were pleasantly surprised with the results. The questionnaires showed that there was actually a very high value placed on conditioning and strengthening, going against the perceived stereotype of dancers striving to look like small, delicate ballerinas.
The issue of injury in dance is an important one. Professional dancers are known to hit what is called the “40-year wall”: around age 40 their joints simply get too worn out to dance at that level any more.
Jacques feels a personal connection to this research, since she was injured herself. After studying dance for 13 years, she injured her knee repeatedly and had to stop.
“I think it’s really devastating to be passionate about something and suddenly to be injured and not be able to do it,” said Jaques.
She would like to see some sort of boot camp program in place for new students, a two-week conditioning program that would be run before any intensive dance training.
It seems that things may be heading in this direction already at a professional level, as Jacques said, “The aesthetics for dancers are changing, they’re lean and they’re strong. I’m sure they’re expecting full athletic training, and I think that message needs to come to dancers earlier.”
Page and Jacques will now be presenting these findings at the Healthy Dancer Canada Convention in Vancouver on September 16, as well as at IADMS. For now, Jacques and Page are focused on actually getting themselves to Singapore. Estimating their costs at roughly $6,000 for the trip, the two have been granted $2,000 from the SFU Dance Department, through the Iris Garland Program Enhancement Fund.
For the rest of the cost, they will be holding a fundraiser on August 5 at the Anza Club in Vancouver; a screening of the Victoria documentary, “The Whale.” The 19+ event will include food, drinks, and a raffle with prizes ranging from decorated cakes to the top prize of a $1,500 film equipment rental package from William F. White. Jacques hopes that their research into this area will affect some change in the way dance programs are run.
In the study detail Jacques and Page presented, they state that “With our findings, we would like to propose that a conditioning class be added to the SFU dance program curriculum. . . . We think this would help prevent injury and missed classes due to injury, as well as increase the performance level of SFU dancers and create healthy habits that could extend their dance performance careers.”
