Research in Dance Medicine and Science
One Dance UK’s Healthier Dancer Programme (HDP) promotes, undertakes, and disseminates research that extends our understanding of the relationships between dancers’ health (physical and psychological), injury, training and performance.
Our Research
We have undertaken two national surveys of dancers’ health and injury, published in Fit to Dance? (1996) and Fit to Dance 2 (2005). These provide base-line information on the types and rates of injury suffered by dancers as well as information about key aspects of their health and well-being.
Research is one of three central strands of the work of the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science and One Dance UK is now proud to work with our fellow NIDMS partners to promote the importance of high quality research to underpin and provide a sound evidence base for best practice in dance training and clinical services. Each of the partner institutions has a track record in facilitating and carrying out dance medicine and science research, presently including 200+ medical/scientific conference presentations, 100+ peer-reviewed medical/scientific articles, 20+ professional articles, 4 dance medicine/science books and 5 book chapters.
Epidemiological research
Together the NIDMS partners have designed a large-scale, prospective, epidemiological research project, which is needed to fully understand the multi-dimensional causes of injury in different populations of dancers, and the best strategies for preventing and treating them.
This project will be the first of its kind on this scale in dance in the world and any companies and schools wishing to participate or just to find out more should get in touch with the NIDMS Manager.
Analysis of the data collected will enable the dance sector to develop optimal injury prevention and fitness programmes for dancers working and participating in a variety of contexts, helping to reduce the rate of injuries and get dancers back performing more quickly.
This is a major project which we are still fundraising for so if you would like to make a donation you can via our donate page.
We want to hear from you
At One Dance UK, we strongly advocate for and facilitate research of high quality and relevance in a whole range of areas, undertaken independently by researchers, in companies, in schools and with dancers of all kinds. We have acted, and continue to act when appropriate, as a broker, linking researchers with members of the dance profession. Our aim is to help ensure the most useful and relevant research takes place in a way that minimises undue demands on the dancer participants while providing meaningful results that can be fed back to the profession to aid in the health, training and performance of dancers.
We are always keen to hear from post-graduate researchers in dance health, science and medicine as well as members of the dance profession, to find out what your areas of research interest are and what you think we need to know more about. This helps us to maintain an overview of research interests in the UK and to bring people together who may have similar interests and questions they want answered.
Similarly, if you are conducting a research project and are looking for participants who are currently working in the dance industry we can post details of your study on our research participation opportunities page and promote this via our email and social media networks.
To discuss any research ideas or proposed dance specific projects contact the Healthier Dancer Programme.
Interested in studying dance medicine/science?
See the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) Student Committee page for links to careers information, a list of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs, student discussion forums, and more.
For more information on dance science career opportunities, read these FAQ’s prepared by The International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS) and The Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at the NYU Langone Medical Center.