Recently I have been talking about "hub sites" which the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science have been setting up through the Healthier Dancer Programme.
This video by the BBC shows a dancer talking about her experience at one of these Hub sites and how much it helped her to see a dance specialist who properly understood her injuries.
I previously blogged about my thoughts on whether dancers should be entitled to free specialist healthcare and discussed my opinions with a few students on the course. It is interesting to see that this is developing into an argument after collecting survey results from my participants who are spread over a wide range of professional dance companies all over the world. It is especially interesting to see that there is even a divide in the opinions from dancers.
Another point about the Healthier Dancer Programme is how little dancers seem to know about it, although this could be due to the network of dancers that I have. Many work abroad although they reside in England.
I think the National institute of Dance Medicine and Science would probably do well do advertise what they are doing further to gain more support.
Had you previously heard about the programme?
This is really interesting. What books have you come across about the subject. What did those people say?
ReplyDeleteAdesola
Hi Emily
ReplyDeleteI have heard about the NIDMS, it was launched in April this year. I heard about it in the dance journal, Dance UK and from Laban. I network with a dance colleague Sho Botham.
Sho's interest is in Dance and Health Education. She may have finished or has almost finished her Doctoral studies in Ethics and dance.
You may be interested in her blog page for further discussion;
http://cpdfordanceteachers.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/free-dance-specific-healthcare-for-dancers/#more-692
I'm not sure if I would be eligible for free specialist care as I'm a freelance teacher. I'm not sure if my GP is even aware of this service for dancers. I've been fortunate that my GP has managed to to get me seen by local specialists pretty quickly on the odd occasion that I've obtained injuries. I will certainly ask about this from my GP at my next visit.
Corinda
Thank you Corinda. I will take a look at your friends blog!
ReplyDelete