One of My Dancers is Injured… Help!
Team dancers are some of the most intense, hard working performers in the industry. Not only are they dedicated to their craft, but they are also committed to their responsibilities as role models to younger dancers. True leaders, they do well in school, have active social lives and are in tip-top physical shape. They are perfectionists.
Perfectionism comes with a heavy burden, though. Even though these dancers somehow manage to squeeze everything in their packed schedules, it is not always easy. And even more importantly, it is not always healthy. Between school, practice and games, team dancers have a tendency to get burned out. When this happens, their growing bodies are especially susceptible to injury.
As a dance team coach, director or choreographer, it is of paramount importance to protect your students from injury. Prevention is key, but accidents happen. When they do, recognizing the severity of the injury can sometimes be difficult; some dancers may downplay their pain while others may exaggerate it. After you identify the problem, what’s next? What is the proper protocol when dealing with a possible injury?
Dancer spoke with two professional dance team coaches to get some firsthand pointers and tips.
Know Your Dancers
For Alicia Del Pizzo, choreographer for the Philadelphia 76ers Junior Sixers Dancers, familiarizing herself with the dancers’ personalities helps her to identify an injury and to gauge its severity. “By being with the kids during practice and other classes, I get a good sense of the kids’ demeanor and can tell when they are being lazy or actually hurt,” explains Del Pizzo. “If a dancer tells me something is hurting them during practice, my first reaction is to ask the intensity level of the pain. If it’s a pain that they can’t dance through then I allow them to sit for the rest of practice.”
Donni Frazier, talent coordinator for the Atlanta Hawkes Dance Team, says that being observant and asking questions helps her to identify an injury. “Some signs of injury that a coach or director should pay attention to are if your dancer isn’t dancing full out or doing one particular move full out,” she explains. “You should pay attention because at some point they will mention having a little pain, and from experience, that usually means it’s a big pain. So when they aren’t dancing full out or are avoiding steps in routines, start asking questions.”
Taking the time to get to know your dancers on a personal and individual level can make recognizing an injury much easier. “Each coach or director knows each dancer’s individual style and quirks,” says Frazier. “So whether they are a high energy dancer or a low energy dancer, you can tell if they are actually hurt…I keep a close watch on them.”
Focus on Prevention
Not all students will continue dancing, but some will go on to dance in college and others will enjoy professional careers. These dancers need a strong, technical foundation that focuses on injury prevention.
For Del Pizzo, it all begins with a solid warm-up. “One of the most important ways to prevent dance inquiries is to take the time to properly warm up the major muscles of the body,” she advises. “A proper warm up should consist of motor movements, stretching and strength training. By doing a strong warm-up with the above techniques, it will help the dancers become stronger and will reduce the risk of injury.”
Injury prevention also lies in proper technical instruction and execution. “Incorrect technique can lead to serious injuries along with placing unnecessary stress on muscles, bones and joints,” informs Del Pizzo. “During warm-ups and practice, it’s the coach’s responsibility to correct the dancer’s positioning and movements to ensure he or she is learning the correct technique.”
Frazier takes prevention a step further, emphasizing the need for an all-around healthy lifestyle. “Making sure your dancers are eating right and getting a good amount of sleep and exercise outside of dancing is important too,” she contends.
Tailor Your Practices
An injured dancer usually means an empty spot in a line or formation, which can be frustrating for a choreographer. But before having the student sit out, try allowing him or her to mark the routine or specific movements. “I usually tailor a practice to a dancer who is injured by having them do everything they can without having their injury bother them,” explains Del Pizzo. “If there are a few areas they can’t do during practice, I have them do stretches that will help the injured area heal.”
When the pain is more serious, Frazier recommends having the dancer participate in other ways rather than just sitting out. “The dancer can also help with critiquing routines or different tasks involving the team, so that they still feel like a part of practice,” she says.
It’s important to remember that even though students must know their own limits, the onus ultimately falls on the coach. “Coaches can push too hard at some points, but pushing too far can risk a dancer’s future,” warns Frazier.
Know When to Seek Medical Help
You can never be too careful, especially when a dancer’s health is in jeopardy. As an instructor, it is important to know when a student should see a doctor. Both Frazier and Del Pizzo agree it’s always better to be safe than sorry. “Make sure that the dancer, at the first sign of injury, goes to see a trainer or doctor to determine what and how serious the injury is,” advises Frazier. “It is the job of the dancer to follow up with the trainer to ensue the injury is healing properly.”
Del Pizzo always recommends first speaking directly with the dancer’s parents about the injury, even if it seems minor. When one of her students injured her hip during a practice, she made sure to speak with the dancer’s mother about seeing an orthopedist. “Her mom was fully aware of her daughter’s injury and was taking the necessary actions to get her child’s hip checked by an orthopedic doctor,” she recalls.
One of Frazier’s dancers sprained her ankle when she collided with another dancer in a routine. “I set up an appointment for her with our trainer,” she recalls. “Now she’s in physical therapy and should be back to practice and working games strong and healthy in the next few weeks.”