Putting on a Conference: An Interview with IADMS Day for Teachers organizer Brenton Surgenor

A Day for Teachers is an important part of the annual IADMS programme. This popular event evolves year by year depending on where it is and who is organizing it. To find out exactly how the programme is developed I sat down with this year’s organizer, Brenton Surgenor, to find out what makes A Day for Teacher Hong Kong unique.

Putting on a Conference: An Interview with the IADMS Program Committee Chair Alexander McKinven

Alexander McKinven is the IADMS Program Committee Chair and works year-round to prepare for the IADMS Conference. Here are his answers to a few questions we had about what goes into planning a conference.

Getting ready for the conference: Students and Young Professionals

The annual conference is fast approaching and it’s time to start making plans. This year the exciting city of Wanchai, Hong Kong will be on the map as the second Asian location for the meeting to be held. Here are a few things we’ve been thinking about in preparation for heading to the tropical paradise in a cosmopolitan city, which happens to have the highest density of 7-Eleven shops in the world AND the world’s largest collection of skyscrapers…

From Student to Professional: Raising the next generation of IADMS – cheers to the next 25 years: A recap of student events at the 25th Annual Meeting

Author: Carina Nasrallah on behalf of the IADMS Student Committee 

Students from all over the globe had the opportunity to interact with colleagues and professionals alike at a variety of student-oriented events at this year’s Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The evening prior to the start of the annual meeting, students mingled at a local Pittsburgh bar, catching up with old friends and making new acquaintances. Later during the weekend, Dr. Jeffrey Russell from Ohio University spoke to students about the process of publishing research in a peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science. He encouraged students not to be daunted by the prospect of publishing research but to view it as an opportunity to contribute to the expanding body of dance medicine literature and show pride in their hard work. A quote that stuck out from his talk was, “if you produce excellent work, people will notice,” which was encouraging students to continue to produce high quality research and writing over a span of time, and excellence can be achievable.

25th Annual Meeting: A Live Update!

Author: Hannah Etlin-Stein 

Another year, another IADMS Annual Meeting - this one celebrating the 25th anniversary of IADMS! 

Learn, Share, Develop: The IADMS Clinical Experience Raffle

As summer fades, as the leaves drop from the trees, and as the nights draw in (well, in the northern hemisphere anyway) this is one of my favourite times of the year. Not because the winter is coming or that one starts planning end of year festivities but because it's the time for the annual meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science. To facilitate ... sharing of knowledge, 14 clinical experiences have been sourced with internationally respected clinicians offering to spend quality one on one time with lucky individuals.

Student Events at the 2015 Annual Meeting

The 25th Annual Meeting is fast approaching and the Student Committee is hosting and facilitating many exciting events for student members this year. The Student Social is an informal event, which will allow for students (21+) to connect in a relaxed environment the night before the Annual Meeting begins. A session for anyone interested in publishing is also on the schedule, hosted by the committee and presented by Jeffrey Russell (PhD, AT, Athens, Ohio, USA). Dr. Russell will be talking about his personal experiences with publishing research, highlighting specific challenges and discussing strategies to overcome each. As a part of our mission to drive connections between students and professionals, a Networking Session is one of our most anticipated events for the meeting. Students will have an opportunity to interact with many professionals in a variety of areas of Dance Medicine & Science including physiotherapists, educators, physicians, and researchers.

A Young Dancer's Guide: What every young dancer needs to know about injury prevention and rehabilitation: Video from the 2014 Annual Meeting

Presented by Bobby Bernstein 

Dance today is an athletically strenuous art form and many young dancers suffer from injuries. My co-author, Nancy Kadel, MD, and I have many insights into why these injuries commonly occur and how they can be prevented. The focus of this blog is on cross training for young dancers, one of the most important topics we discuss in “A Young Dancer's Guide: What every young dancer needs to know about injury prevention and rehabilitation”.

Creating the Annual “picture”

The Annual Meeting is the highlight of the IADMS calendar. The Program Committee (PC) has the complex task of piecing together the various jigsaw puzzle pieces in order to produce a scientific conference that is both educational and enticing. The committee is made up of four long standing IADMS members: Ginny Wilmerding, Marika Molnar, David Weiss and Alexander McKinven. The mix of professions, nationalities, backgrounds and personal interests means that each of us has a unique perspective on how the Annual Meeting should evolve. Every Annual Meeting has its own character, with many variables, but the PC strives to develop each one and make it even better than the last.

Dancers - More Power To You!: Video from the 2014 Annual Meeting

Presented by: Jatin P. Ambegaonkar 

Watching a dancer perform can be breathtaking and fun. Being a dancer is hard! This is because dancer’s movements often involve jumping and landing. To safely perform these explosive movements, dancers need good power in their lower body (Lower Body Power - LBP). Understandably, 70% of all dance-related injuries are to the lower body. Dancers are also supposed to have better balance than non-dancers. In athletics, sprinters with better strength and power and balance have better performance. In modern dance, aesthetic performance and jump ability are positively correlated to each other. However, research investigating potential interrelationships between LB power and balance among dancers is lacking.