Dance Science Behind Our Classes
We at BCMCD take our roles as arts educators seriously and we offer programming that we believe reflects our values. Much of this is reflected in our teaching style, the types of classes we offer, and how our studio classes are formatted. This page shares some professional sources reflecting our values and methodology as an arts education institution.
Impacts of Competitive Dance
& Early Specialization
Competitive dance has become a popular form of training in the past few decades. Like any training approach, there are positive and negative impacts imprinted on dancers through competitive dance environments. One element to consider is the impact of early sport specialization associated to competitive dance. Early sport specialization has been discouraged in many sports for a wide variety of reasons including the frequency of overuse injuries, anxiety, and burn out due to the extensive imposed time commitments, physical, and cognitive demands. Suggested instead is that young children participate in a variety of activities to develop a wide range of physical and cognitive skill sets. The skills developed in all of their experiences can then be transferred into a selected sport of specialization later in the child’s development. As a result, children are seen to be more engaged, engage in sport longer, avoid psychological burn out, and have less overuse injuries.
Also noted for many sports is that competition should not be integrated until the child’s skill development and psychological level of readiness meet a certain point. In many instances, dance studios begin entering children as young as four years old into competitions. However, the recommended age to begin where dancers are ready to tackle the physical and psychological demands of competitive dance is between the ages of 9 and 12. Some positive qualities that competitive dance can teach dancers are the importance of teamwork, commitment, and how to be proud of accomplishments regardless of winning or losing. In contrast, some elements of competitive dance can have negative impacts on the dancer’s psychological development of the ego, body image, and financial anxiety.
In an effort to guide our young dancers on a physically and mentally healthy dance journey, we educate our dancers and their families of the impacts of competitive dance and only provide competitive dance options for advanced students over the age of 12 in our Intermediate and Senior Technique/Choreography program. Along with this, we prepare and encourage these dancers to attend summer dance programs, workshops, and auditions to provide them with different training and performance environment experiences. To foster qualities such as the importance of teamwork, commitment, and how to be proud of accomplishments regardless of the outcome, we have an optional recital in June annually where each class learns a piece of choreography and performs it in the show at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in Peterborough.
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Here are some articles that assess the impacts of competitive dance and early specialization of sports:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36353394/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871410/
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232874938.pdf/
https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/e-Research/vol3/iss2/3/
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Our Use of the Mirrors
At BCMCD we use a mirror as a learning tool for technical corrections only. We have one mirror at the back of the room that we use with dancers for visual feedback if the instructor believes it may be useful in that circumstance. Many dance studios have large mirrors at the front of their studios being used as a learning tool. However, research shows that using a mirror for this purpose is not as beneficial as originally believed.
New studies show that dancers are able to perform choreography with more confidence without the use of a mirror as a visual tool during the learning process. Dancers must trust themselves when rehearsing without a mirror as there is less visual feedback to rely on. Much of dance is engaging and focusing on outwards into the space as a way to connect with the environment. Taking away a mirror allows the dancers more freedom to experience this.
Similarly, dancers when learning technique must rely of the feeling associated to correct technique when not dancing in front of a mirror. Too often dancers abuse mirrors in class by using it as visual reassurance or confirmation of their technique. Dancers only using the mirror to address technical concerns outside of performing exercises are better able to transfer the skills they have acquired into performative settings and situations.
Research also shows that dancers that do not use the mirror for all of class also have better mental health related to body image.
Here are some articles that shares impacts of mirrors in dance studios:
https://iadms.org/media/3586/iadms-resource-paper-mirrors-in-the-dance-class.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4102331/
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Martha Graham Technique Training as Overuse Injury Prevention for
Ice Hockey Goalies
A commonality observed in ice hockey goalies is the frequency of overuse hip and groin injuries (Wörner et al., 2019). A 2019 study reported that 69% of all elite Swedish ice hockey goalies in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League, Swedish Hockey League, and Hockey Allsvenskan experienced hip and groin issues in a single season (Wörner et al. 2019). The butterfly technique is suspected to be a primary cause for these injuries in goalies due to the repetitive, extreme range of motion demands using internal rotation of the hip joints (Harrington et al., 2024; Whiteside et al., 2015; Worner et al., 2021). To combat overuse hip and groin injuries, two recommendations are combination training of both agonist and antagonist muscle groups in alternation (Baker & Newton, 2005; Materko et al., 2024; Robbins et al., 2010), and the development of underused muscles in the torso and around the pelvis (DeBlaiser et al., 2019; Leppänen et al., 2024; Sharma, 2015; Short et al., 2021; Whittaker et al., 2015). This could be achieved by Martha Graham modern dance technique training, which is centred around the use of core muscle strength and active flexibility using external rotation of the hip joints (Giguere, 2014).
For Miss Caroline's Master’s thesis with York University, she positions a supplemental training program based on the Martha Graham modern dance technique to prevent overuse hip and groin injuries in hockey goalies. In this study, she uses existing published research to evaluate the current methods of hockey goalie training, how the Martha Graham technique pertaining to the needs of goalies could prevent overuse hip and groin injuries, and proposes exercises to do so.
Visit the link to the published article here:
https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/937c7858-0ab2-4da6-b706-fc75831a5502
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