Finding Balance

Finding Balance is a book full of information on fitness, training and health for a lifetime in dance, and written by Gigi Berardi. It holds advice in all the important areas of dance health on the mental approaches in coping with the challenges dances poses – the demands, injury and treatment, technique and training, keeping fit and conditioned, nutrition, weight management and diet, and finding balance in order to succeed. Berardi, has sourced information from her own experiences and the research of many other physicians in a similar field including professional dancers themselves. Mental and emotional health seems to be a huge contributing factor towards finding this balance for a lifetime in dance.

Emotional growth (Pg 40-45)

This section mainly talks about the emotional development of a young training dancer. However a lot of these principles could apply to professionals, as emotional growth should always be maintained.

Teaching is the base, and right training is key to the development in a dancer’s ‘dendrites, synapses, neural networks.’ This links to the challenge of maintaining technique. If a dancer is taught in the most effective way, it helps the growth of these structures in the brain-“Emotions affect learning in significant ways. Positive emotions promote the growth and functioning of brain structures.” (Berardi G 2005, p. 42)

The same for a professional, as with the right training it could help with motivation and keep up a positive approach and thoughts towards their technique.

Learning from mistakes

An important stage for youngsters (and probably professionals) as to not develop a false impression of perfectionism, especially when it comes to having an ideal look. Examples of negative effects from the ‘ideals’ would be ‘depression, a sense of hopelessness, loss of self-esteem...’

Injuries

Injury is by far one of the toughest and most common adversities ballet dancers will all have to face. Yet, and from my own experiences and observations, dancers most often don’t treat their injuries to the full extent because it is so tough to overcome mentally. Maybe the biggest factor is this sense of identity and belonging ballet gives a dancer.

“Psychological factors are perhaps equal in importance to the physical processes in injury rehabilitation.  The image many dancers form for themselves  (i.e., their personal and cultural identity) , is often defined by their work, so that anything that stops them from dancing is a threat to their identities. Thus, healing should also include time for self-reflection, perhaps with outside psychosocial services and intervention.” (Berardi G 2005, p. 46)  

The support, from teachers, medical practitioners (physiotherapist, biokineticist, sports doctor), is vital in creating a good path to recovery. As it creates:

·      A sense of certainty and belief

·      Support system

·      Reassuring for the unknown

·      Good positive thoughts

“Healthcare teams need to support training that encourages establishing high but healthy expectations, and goal setting and attainment.” (Berardi G 2005) 

An example of creating new opportunities:
"For Cabeen, injuries provide an opportunity, making her ' better dancer because it gives me an opportunity to work on my technique…I become aware of alignment and it puts my ego in check.' (Cabeen, C. 2005, p. 196)
Such a calm, rationale approach to dealing with a potential set back in one's career is critical to achieving longevity in dance performance." (Berardi, G. 2005, p. 196)

Berardi, G. 2005, Finding Balance- Fitness, Training and Health for a Lifetime in Dance, 2nd edn. Routeledge, New York.