Injuries in Dance

In the world of dance, injuries are a very common thing. Anything from bruises to pulled muscles to sprained ankles and everything in between. Injuries are definitely something that dancers try to avoid like the plague because it could mean the difference of being able to perform or having to watch from the wings. However, every once in a while an injury will spring itself upon a dancer.

A lot of injuries that tend to occur are related to knees, ankles, and feet. What a shocker, dancers get injuries that involve their legs. Some common injuries that appear are bruised toe nails, blisters, pulled muscles, and sprained ankle/ foot. In fact, I recently experienced an injury that couldn't have come at a worse time.

About a week and a half before my big RAD exams were coming up. During a class of mine we were doing our across the floor exercises and long story short I ended up landing a leap wrong and hurt my foot pretty severally. At first I didn't think anything of it because I had landed wrong before, but I was fine after a couple of minutes. However, this time the pain didn't really go away. So when I got home I iced it and did everything you were suppose to. I continued that for the next five days, but my foot was showing to progress. I was getting really scared especially as my exam date was approaching. I continued to ice it and elevate it up until the hour before my exam. My foot still showed no progress. So long story short, I had to take my hour and a half exam where we had to jump, balance and perform a few pointe exercises, with a foot that was in pain. It was definitely not a pleasant feeling, but I needed to do it.

That is another thing about injuries in dance. Often dancers will perform with injuries. I was watching a short documentary about a dancer with the Bolshoi, that severely hurt her foot right before a huge performance that would ultimately determine her career. As time went on her foot wasn't getting better, so she ended up performing with her injury.

Although no dancer ever wants to have an injury, it is something that we face sooner or later. The best thing a dancer can do is to be safe in the first place to avoid injury and if you still happen to get injured, just give it the proper care right away. 

Blog 18: Interview 4 Prep

1. What is the best way for a dancer to prepare for the RAD exams?
2. What are the two most important factors a dancer should have when going into an exam and why?
3. How would you define personal style in dance?
4. What kind of style would you say you have?
5. Do you think it is important for students to study multiple genres of dance? Why?
6. Aside from ballet, what are three of the most important dance styles to study? And why should students study them?
7. Aside from knowing the syllabus what is the most important thing a dancer should know when entering an exam?
8. What do you think is the most important style of dance and why?
9. What made you start dancing?
10. What was it like dancing in a company and what was the most memorable moment?
11. How is modern dance different from ballet and why does modern vary so much from person to person?
12. Why is it important for a dancer to learn modern?
13. What are different ways a dancer can convey emotion through their dance?
14. Which method of conveying emotion would most help in an RAD exam?
15. What is something you always do while performing and why?
16. Which style of dance would you say is the most expressive and why?
17. What is something you always make sure you do when dancing and why do you always make sure you do it?
18. What are college dance programs like?
19. What is some advice for a student going into a dance program in college?
20. Why did you become a dance teacher?

Blog 17: Answer 3

EQ

• What is the best way for a dancer to prepare for the RAD Exams?

Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*

• The best way that a dancer can prepare for the RAD Exams is to have have proper technique and training and a strong foundation in ballet.

3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

• My mentor requires all the dancers at her studio to take at least one ballet class a week before taking any other genre.
• In all three of my interviews, when asked what is the most important dance style, all three interviewees responded with ballet.
• In the book, Basic Principles of Classical Ballet: Russian Ballet Technique , the author also states several times throughout the book that ballet is the foundation for a lot of other genres of dance.

The research source (s) to support your details and answer

• Vaganova, Agrippina Ja. Basic Principles of Classical Ballet: Russian Ballet Technique. Transl. from the Russian by Anatole Chujoy. Incorp. All the Material from the 4th Russian Ed. Inchiding Vaganova's "Sample Lesson with Musical Accompaniment" Transl. by John Barker. New York: Dover Publ., 1969. Print. 25 Sept. 2014.
• Interviews 1,2, and 3
• Copeland, Misty, and Charisse Jones. Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina. New York: Touchstone Book, Published by Simon & Schuster, 2014: 23-28. Print. 14 Nov. 2014.

Concluding Sentence

• Having a strong ballet foundation can not only help a dancer with their exam work, but also help them become stronger dancers in other genres.