Date of Award

Spring 2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Exercise Science

Director of Thesis

Jennifer Deckert

Second Reader

André Megerdichian

Abstract

Purpose: The objectives of this research were to examine the effectiveness of a pre-semester workshop in encouraging strength training behaviors and identify commonly experienced barriers to strength training for collegiate dancers.

Literature review: Dancers have reservations surrounding strength training due to unfounded fears of interference with artistic elements and aesthetic aspirations embedded in dance culture. As physical demands of new, innovative choreography continue to escalate, implementation of strength training in a dancer’s cross training regimen can significantly help reduce risk of injury, increase metrics of power and flexibility, and allow dancers to focus on artistry. Collegiate dance programs must equip their students with the knowledge of how to supplement their dance training with safe strength training form and principles.

Methods: This research was deemed exempt by the institution’s IRB review board. The workshop lasted two weeks; programming consisted of two upper body days, two lower body days, and one plyometric day. Four collegiate dancers who attended the pre-semester workshop consented to participate in surveys over the course of sixteen weeks. Data was exported and analyzed at the conclusion of the semester.

Results and Discussion: Results of the four case studies were analyzed independently, but several trends were observed including the inverse relationship between dance exposure hours and number of strength training sessions, desire for motivation through community, and intention to continue strength training. All four dancers described benefits of strength training in their responses to the open-ended questions. Time, fatigue/soreness, academic obligations, and social obligations were cited as the four most prevalent barriers to strength training.

Conclusion: An expansion of this pre-semester workshop into a semester-long, credit-bearing course may mitigate several of these barriers, especially time and academic obligations, as well as provide motivation of community. Further research with a larger and more gender diverse sample is needed to generalize findings to all collegiate dance programs. By seeking to understand dancers’ hesitations surrounding strength training, changes can be made at an institutional level to best prepare collegiate dancers for the professional realm.

Comments

This thesis was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the South Carolina Honors College for the degree of Bachelor's of Arts and Sciences (BARSC) in Dance Science.

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© 2024, Ella Sanders

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