Developing Talent in Young Dancers

An interdisciplinary longitudinal research project

Imogen Walker, MScPhD Candidate

Sanna Nordin-Bates, PhDResearch Fellow

Emma Redding, PhDPrincipal Investigator

Research in the wider context

Helen Laws

Healthier Dancer Programme Manager,

Dance UK

Outline

• Introduction to dance science

• Why research talent?

• What we know so far

• Methods and findings

– Physiology

– Psychology

• The wider context

• Questions

IADMS enhances the health, well-being, training, and performance of dancers by

cultivating educational, medical, and scientific excellence.

International Association of Dance Medicine and Science Mission Statement (IADMS), 2008

What is dance science?

What is dance science?

Examples of studies:

• Relationships between muscular strength and injury incidence

• Performance anxiety experiences of professional dancers

Biomechanics

Psychology

Physiology

Somatics Dance Science

Why Research Talent?• Recent research indicates that by taking a systematic,

scientific approach we might better understand

– What talent is

– How it is best developed

• Talent models and research common in sport and

some in music: e.g. increased

– Recognition of the role of psychological and social factors in

addition to traditionally emphasised physiological factors

– Emphasis on the role of specific forms of deliberate practice

over innate talent

Talent in Dance

• Dance: talent is much talked about & sought after, but definitions of what & how important it is are– Varied

– Lacking in research / systematic evidence

– Traditional dance talent ID based on:

• Technical skill

• Physical characteristics (limb lengths, slenderness) & control

• Other dance-specific criteria: artistic/creative

– Sanders‟ Gifted and Talented Dancers: A Resource Booklet for Teachers deals largely with 2 factors:

• Psycho-behavioural characteristics

• Dance-specific criteria: artistic/creative

Talent in dance

• Physical characteristics

• Practice

• Talent development stages

• Psychological characteristics

• Social aspects

Physiological indicators

• Flexibility and hypermobility

• Anthropometry and body shape/type

• Aerobic fitness

• Muscular strength and power

• Motor skills

• Perceptual skills

e.g. Hamilton et al., 1997; Kadel et al., 2005; Laws, 2002; McCormack et al.,

2004; Singer & Janelle, 1999; Williams, 2002; Wyon & Redding, 2005.

Physiological factors

Overall, favourable inherited characteristics

combined with higher responsiveness to

training may advantage some dancers over others(Singer & Janelle, 1999)

Over time…

• Performance improvements

– In sport – Olympics (Ericsson & Lehman, 2004)

– In ballet (Daprati et al., 2009)

• Deliberate practice:

– 10-year rule/10,000 hours (Simon & Chase, 1973;

Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Römer, 1993)

– Structured practice with goal of improving

specific skill

– Not necessarily enjoyable (Ericsson et al., 1993)

– Technique class

Deliberate practice

• Evidence against 10,000 hours „rule‟

• Quality vs quantity

• Cannot be sole cause of expertise

• However: relationship between practice

and skill development undeniable

– implies that early specialisation should take

place to get enough practice hours in

(Baker & Horton, 2004; Baker, Côté & Abernethy, 2003; Howe, Davidson &

Sloboda, 1998; Singer & Janelle, 1999)

Early diversification or specialisation?

• Early diversification generally associated with more enjoyment, better peer relationships, and greater community exposure (Côté et al., 2009)

• In sport has been associated with adherence and success (Baker et al., 2003; Fraser et al., 2008)

• Early diversification transferable skills (Baker, 2003)

• In some domains, early specialisation may be required (Williams & Ford, 2008)

Sport talent development stages

1. Sampling years

• Deliberate play; sampling activities

2. Specialising years

• Deliberate play and deliberate practice

3. Investment years

• Deliberate practice; commitment

(Côté, 1999)

Physiology: Measures

To succeed in dance, dancers may need:

• Self-confidence

• Passion

• Psychological skills

– Imagery, goal-setting,

mental preparation, relaxation,

self-talk, coping skills

Psychological characteristics

e.g. Brassington & Adam; Fox & Wilson, 2008; Hanton, Neil & Mellalieu, 2008;

Macnamara, Holmes & Collins, 2008; Mageau et al., 2009; Mellalieu, Neil & O‟Brien,

2004; Morris, 2000; Nordin et al., in press; Vallerand et al., 2003.

Psychological factors

Most relevant to talent development – most can

be trained

Artistic: Expressive ability

• Talented performing artists need both technical

and expressive skill

• Technical expertise can help to play with

structure, rhythm etc. (Sloboda, 2000)

• May be developed through life experience (Schnitt &

Schnitt, 1987; Critien & Ollis, 2006)

• Imagery could help

– Elite dancers use imagery more frequently (Nordin &

Cumming, 2006)

Artistic: Creativity

• Generally not “light bulb” moments

– Requires much knowledge of field, trial and

error (Csikszentmihalyi , 1996)

• Self-confidence

– Risk-taking

– Expression (Watson, 2009)

• All dancers have creative potential but

may not be displayed at audition (Sanders,

2006)

Significant others

• Parents

• Teachers

• Friends

• Other family

members?

Parental influence in development

1. Sampling years• Introducing child to domain

• Noticing „special ability‟

• Encouraging child to practice

2. Specialising years• Encouragement

• Financial and emotional support

3. Investment years• Financial and emotional

support

Bloom, 1985; Côté, 1999; Ferreira & Armstrong, 2002; Fraser-Thomas, Côté &

Deakin, 2008; Kay, 2000; Weiss & Weiss, 2006

Teachers: Motivational climate

Task-involving Climate Ego-involving Climate

Focus on mastery Focus on outdoing others

Self-referenced Other-referenced

Cooperative Rivalry

Effort over success Success over effort

Ames, 1992; Newton, Duda & Yin, 2000.

Motivational climate: relationships

Carr & Wyon, 2003; Duda, 2001; Ntoumanis, Vazou & Duda, 2007; Quested & Duda,

2009; O‟Donoghue & Jones, 2007; Smith, Smoll & Cumming, 2008

Task-involving Climate Ego-involving Climate

Enjoyment Anxiety

Autonomy Perfectionism

Perceived competence, self-esteem

Emotional and physical exhaustion

Well-being Dropout

Talent in dance? Individual and environment

Physical factors

Creativity

Psychological skills

Expression/

dramatic

abilityDancer

ParentsPeers

Teachers and

motivational climate

Practice

Anything else?

• Roles of

– Societal values and culture

• Dance

• Gifted and talented

– Chance/luck

– Other talent areas in dance

• Portfolio career

Introduction to CAT project

Talent is a huge but under-researched area

in dance

Recognising a need to progress work in this

area, the nationwide CATs worked with

Laban to create a research project

• Profile & track CAT dancers

Research Questions:

1) What are these talented young dancers like?

2) How do they develop?

CAT Research Project

Interdisciplinary

Physiology

Adherence

CreativityInjury

Psychology

Aims• Track CAT dancers twice per year for 3 years,

examining which factors in their

– Background, training

– Physicality

– Psychology

• Are related to

– Well-being (injury, health)

– Performance outcomes

– Adherence/dropout

– Creativity

… so that eventually, we may better understand

how to best develop talent in young dancers

Measures

Background Psychology Physiology InjuryPerformance-

related

Demographics Self-esteem Balance Type Adherence / Dropout

Hours of dance &

other activitiesAnxiety Upper body strength Body area Graduate destinations

Dance experience Perfectionism Flexibility Location Reasons for leaving

Health & injury

backgroundEating attitudes Hypermobility Severity

Teachers‟ perceptions

of talent

Performance

experienceMotivational Climate

Anthropometry,

growth

Interruption to

dancingCreativity

Passion Aerobic fitness Treatment

Turnout Perceived causes

Jump height

So far…

Data collected from 8 Centres:

Winter 08 347 students

Summer 09 332 students

Winter 09 381 students

Summer 10 328 students

Project findings so far

• Overview of physical findings

• Overview of psychological findings

• In-depth physiology analysis

• In-depth interdisciplinary analysis

Methods and Findings: Physical

• Dance Aerobic Fitness Test (DAFT)

• Grip strength

• Flexibility

– Hamstring

– Turnout

• Balance

• Hypermobility

DAFT: Aerobic Fitness

• Significant decrease in heart rates over time =

increase in aerobic fitness

94

114

134

154

174

194

214

234

Stage 3 Stage 5

Heart

rate

, in

beats

per

min

ute

Winter 08

Summer 09

Physical measures

Significant increase over Year 1 in most

measures:

– Grip strength

– Active and passive hamstring flexibility

– Turnout

– Balance

Injury

• Around 25% of dancers reported current injury

50 100

Winter 08

Summer 09

23

27

77

73

Percent

Injured

Not injured

Psychology: Methods and Findings

• Self-esteem

• Anxiety

• Motivational climate

• Passion

Self-Esteem

• Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (1965)

• 10-items

Strongly disagree

Disagree AgreeStrongly

agree

1) On the whole, I am satisfied with myself

1 2 3 4

2) At times I think I am no good at all

1 2 3 4

Self-Esteem

• Scores relatively high

• Stable over time: not affected by day-to-day events

12

17

22

27

32

37

Winter 08 Summer 09

Self-E

ste

em

Score

Psychological measures

Stable levels in other psychological

measures:

• Passion

– 79% passionate about dance

– Relatively high scores

• Anxiety

– Relatively low scores

Motivational Climate

• Perceptions of Motivational Climate in Sport

Questionnaire-2 (Newton, Duda & Yin, 2000) modified for dance

• Teacher-created psychological atmosphere

• 2 types:

Task-involving Climate Ego-involving Climate

Focus on mastery Focus on outdoing others

Self-referenced Other-referenced

Cooperative Rivalry

Effort over success Success over effort

Motivational Climate in CAT

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Task Perceptions

Ego Perceptions

Boyce et al., 2009; De Bruin et al., 2009; Kip & Amorose, 2008; Norfield & Nordin, 2010; Quested & Duda, 2009, 2010; Reinboth & Duda; 2006; Weiss et al., 2009

Motivational Climate in CAT

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Task Perceptions

Ego Perceptions

Boyce et al., 2009; De Bruin et al., 2009; Kip & Amorose, 2008; Norfield & Nordin, 2010; Quested & Duda, 2009, 2010; Reinboth & Duda; 2006; Weiss et al., 2009

Motivational Climate in CAT

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Task Perceptions

Ego Perceptions

Boyce et al., 2009; De Bruin et al., 2009; Kip & Amorose, 2008; Norfield & Nordin, 2010; Quested & Duda, 2009, 2010; Reinboth & Duda; 2006; Weiss et al., 2009

Motivational Climate in CAT

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Task Perceptions

Ego Perceptions

Boyce et al., 2009; De Bruin et al., 2009; Kip & Amorose, 2008; Norfield & Nordin, 2010; Quested & Duda, 2009, 2010; Reinboth & Duda; 2006; Weiss et al., 2009

Motivational Climate in CAT

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Task Perceptions

Ego Perceptions

Boyce et al., 2009; De Bruin et al., 2009; Kip & Amorose, 2008; Norfield & Nordin, 2010; Quested & Duda, 2009, 2010; Reinboth & Duda; 2006; Weiss et al., 2009

Results: motivational climate

1

2

3

4

5

Winter 08 Summer 09

Clim

ate

Sco

re

All CATs: Task-involving

All CATs: Ego-involving

Significant increase in ego-involving perceptions

Summary

• Increases observed in physical variables

• Many psychological variables stable but

– Increases in ego-involving climate perceptions

• Longitudinal work will yield further results

Note

• Results presented here are averages for entire CAT cohort

• Findings and relationships may have changed during the second year and again during this final year

• Results can be affected by age, sex, hours of training, other physical activity... etc.

– Part of longitudinal analyses

In-depth studies

Highlighting physiological and psychological

research within the larger project

Can demographic variables and dance styles

predict indicators of fitness in dancers?

Measures: demographic variables

Demographics

Sex (m/f)

Age (yrs)

Injured/non-injured

No. of hrs dancing in

particular styles

Measures: physical variables

Physical

Flexibility

Passive and active straight

leg raise

Active and passive lateral

hip rotation

Muscular Strength Hand Grip

Dynamometer

Aerobic fitness Dance Aerobic Fitness Test

(Wyon et al 2003)

Balance Stork test

Who is stronger?

Dancers who were:

• older

• male

• spent more months in the dance programme

• more hours per week in contemporary dance

Who is more flexible?

Those with greater turnout:

• female

• more hours in ballet

• fewer hours to creative dance

Those with greater hamstring flexibility:

• female

• more hours in ballet

• more hours in contemporary

Who jumps higher?

Dancers who were:

• male

• older

• more hours in hip hop

Demands and impact of dance styles

Contemporary

– upper body strength

– hamstring flexibility

Ballet

– turnout

– hamstring flexibility

Hip hop dance

– jump height

Support for supplementary fitness training (Wyon, 2005)

Summary

Indicators of fitness are predicted by a

combination of innate and trainable factors

• Physiological factors:

– Males are stronger than females

– Females are more flexible than males

– Strength increases with age

• Demands and impact of dance styles

Does passion relate to indicators of

psychological and physical well-being?

Harmonious Passion Obsessive Passion

Flexible involvement Rigorous adherence

Fits with other activities May clash with other activities

Can stop if facing negative consequences (e.g. injury)

Struggles to stop even if facing negative consequences

Identity formation from several sources

Identity and feelings of self-worth derived only from passion activity

Dualistic model of passion (Vallerand et al., 2003)

Harmonious Passion Obsessive Passion

Positive affect Negative affect

Well-being Chronic injuries

Flow Guilt

Work satisfaction Rumination

Dualistic model of passion (Vallerand et al., 2003)

Carbonneau et al., 2008 Mageau et al., 2009; Philippe et al, 2009; Rip et al., 2006; Vallerand et al., 2003; Vallerand et al., 2007; Vallerand et al., 2008.

Are the two types of passion related to:

– Self-esteem

– Anxiety

– Injury

Results

Those who had sustained an injury in the past year reported

significantly greater levels of OP than those who had not

HP not related to injury incidence

3.8

3.9

4

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

Injured Not injured

OP

sco

re

*

Results

Anxiety

• HP negatively related to anxiety

• OP not related to anxiety

Self-esteem

Dancers with the highest self-esteem are:

- younger

- less anxious

- report greater HP

- report lower OP

Recommendations

HP and OP related to indicators of physical and

psychological well-being in dance

• OP related to injuries sustained in past year, HP

not related (similar to Rip et al., 2006)

• OP: rigid persistence, continuing to dance when

injured

– Education

– Encourage dancers to seek treatment

Recommendations

• Self-esteem: greater HP, lower OP, lower worry and lower age related to higher self-esteem

• Anxiety: negative relationship with HP; no relationship with OP

A task-involving motivational climate could:• Enhance development of HP (Mageau et al., 2009)

• Reduce anxiety (Smith et al., 2008)

• Boost self-esteem and perceived competence (Kim & Duda, 1997; Quested & Duda, 2009)

Summary

• Research is telling us about young people‟s

development through training

• So far, this has resulted in:

– Eating disorders policy created in collaboration with

all CATs

– Yearly reports providing information to managers

and teachers

– CPD days (e.g. motivational climate)

– Sharing information (conferences, journals and

magazines)

– Information sheets on psychological issues for the

Foundations for Excellence website

The wider context

Significance of this kind of research to:

• The dance profession and dance

medicine and science fields

• Participation in all contexts at grass roots

• YDE‟s Ten Year Vision

Significance for professional

dancers and DMS fields

• Injury prevention

• Performance enhancement– Research qs responsive to artists

• Requirements of dance

(psychological and physical)

• Helping maximise „return on

investment‟ – participants

and funders

Significance for the general public

This kind of research helps us to understand

the effects of dance on:

• Health

• Fitness

• Wellbeing

• Risk of injury at different

levels (beginners – elite)

Informing government and the NHS

YDE‟s Ten Year Vision

• Workforce development

• Improved access to appropriate dance

programmes

• Engagement

• Dance spaces

Workforce development

Skilled teachers and practitioners needed

Teacher training covering:

• Safe practice

• Age and context specifics

• Performance enhancement

• Life enhancement!

Access and engagement

• Identifying barriers

– Range of entry points

– location

• Why people dance

• Keeping them dancing

– Right opportunities – e.g. CATs

– Injury prevention / effective treatment

Dance Spaces

Wider dance science

research:

• Effect of environmental factors on dance

injury… and motivational climate?

• The ideal dance floor(s)

• Mitigating risk in non ideal circumstances

Summary

Interdisciplinary longitudinal research and scientifically sound evaluation key to:

• Art form development

• Art form sustainability

• Making the case for support

– Evidencing effective use of

resources to achieve desired

outcomes

– Case studies and statistics

Photo credits: Tim Cross, Belinda Lawley & Mark Pepperall, Eric Richmond, Rick Senley, Bill

Cooper, Andrew Eccles, Mandy Tickle & Andrew Ross

Thank you for your attention!

Questions?

Imogen Walker: i.walker@trinitylaban.ac.uk

Helen Laws: helen@danceuk.org

This project is funded by