Prevention

Lightness, elegance, precision—what appears effortless on stage is actually hard work. A recent research project by Goethe University Frankfurt, in collaboration with the ballet company of Oldenburgisches Staatstheaer and Ballett Kiel, has revealed just how high the occupational strain on stage dancers is. Eileen M. Wanke, a surgeon, occupational and sports medicine specialist with many years of experience in dance medicine, and Wolfgang Heuer from the prevention department of the North Rhine-Westphalia Accident Insurance Fund, investigated the physical demands placed on dancers—thus providing a scientific basis that was previously lacking.

“We were finally able to prove that dancing is physically demanding work,” says Wanke, professor at the Institute for Occupational, Social and ...