Mara Brenner shares her experiences of her first IADMS conference

Author: Mara Brenner, Founder and Director of Gabriola Dance and Pilates

...Now, 25 years later, I have attended my first IADMS conference. I watched throughout the years as it toured the world and when it landed in my home town I seized the opportunity. Living in a remote town (like my teacher before me), accessing hands-on learning is difficult, so what a treat for me to attend an IADMS conference!

The Language of Eating Disorders: Are you helping or harming? Part 1

Author: Monika Saigal

Research confirms that the prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating (ED/DE) is significantly higher among dancers than the general population, with especially high rates of ED/DE among ballet dancers.[1,2] Without proper detection and intervention, ED/DE can have devastating effects on a dancer’s performance, career, and physical and mental health, but fortunately these serious issues are preventable and treatable.

Interview with 2019 Dance Educator Awardee – Nico Kolokythas

Dr Nico Kolokythas, Performance Enhancement Coach at Elmhurst Ballet School, was the 2019 recipient of the Dance Educator Award. Here Nico talks about the challenges and successes of implementing strength and conditioning training within a vocational dance school.

How are dancers coping with quarantine? Perspectives from the Houston Ballet

Author: Carina Nasrallah on behalf of the IADMS Promotion Committee

I’m Carina, Houston Methodist Athletic Trainer for Houston Ballet and a member of the IADMS Promotions Committee.  We were proud to have Houston, Texas as the location of the #IADMS2017 Annual Conference.  As part of the Helping Dancers Help Themselves initiative, I wanted to share some perspectives from within our Houston community as to how we are adapting to the COVID-19 quarantine.

Healthy Dancing for Every Body

Authors: Rebecca Barnstaple, Lucie Beaudry, Sylvie Fortin

IADMS has recently expanded its mandate to include a focus on Dance for Health (DfH) with the aim to promote and validate dance as a life-long partner for health and well-being for all publics. The development of innovative research related to a variety of healthy dance practices is a key aspect of this initiative. In this brief report, we present core aspects behind the rationale for this new direction of IADMS, followed by a description of a substantial DfH research collaboration in Montreal, Québec, Canada, host city of IADMS 29th Annual Conference.

Helsinki in Retrospect: Movement Session/Partner-Based Bodymind Warm-up

Author: Meredith Lyons on behalf of the Dance Educators’ Committee

In preparation for #IADMS2019 in Montreal I was excited to reflect on a presentation I did with Betsy Miller last year in Helsinki at #IADMS2018. Movement sessions provide an important venue for hands-on application of research and group feedback.

Heels Down During Jumps…Technique or Physics?

Author: Samantha Panos on behalf of the IADMS Dance Educators' Committee

As dancers, we have all been told at one point to put our heels down when we land our jumps. As teachers, we may feel like we are constantly nagging our students to put their heels down. But why is preparing and landing from jumps with heels down important? Is it just good technique or does it play a larger role in performance capacity? 

Identity Matters

Author: Lynda Mainwaring, PhD, CPsych

Who am I? Who am I now that I am injured? Who am I when I am no longer a dancer? Who am I, if I am not recognized in the way in which I perceive myself? Dancers may ask themselves these questions along their career paths. The questions relate to how we perceive ourselves, how we describe ourselves, how we value ourselves, how we perceive our identity, and how we are perceived by others and the way in which that influences us.

The Effect of Age on Spinal Range of Motion - A brief overview of the literature

Author: Janine Bryant on behalf of the IADMS Dance Educators’ Committee

The learning objectives of this article: To share a brief overview of the literature on spinal range of motion and aging, to consider how aging affects dancers but also how dancers, as exercisers, can have a built-in advantage over the aging process, and to focus on the mechanism of aging with regards to collagen and skeletal muscle.

IADMS Infographic Competition - 2019

An infographic can be used to display dance science concepts in an interesting, visual way that makes it easy to quickly understand. Infographics provide an interesting way to share evidence-based information with other members of the dance science community. Infographics can be very useful ways to communicate information. In an effort to promote the more widespread use of these visual displays of data, IADMS has developed an infographic award competition. Submit your infographics to promotion@iadms.org by August 1, 2019!