As an exemplary centre of classical ballet training, The Royal Ballet School excels at nurturing strong, healthy, resilient young dancers. In particular, the School’s pioneering Healthy Dancer Programme helps students aged 11+ enhance their performance and minimise injury risk through on-site support from a team of 20 healthcare professionals.
The healthcare team works closely with the School’s Artistic staff and provides medical insights that inform the School’s unique System of Training. By gathering data on student performance and reviewing research, the healthcare team continues to drive the future of classical ballet healthcare and highlight further research opportunities in the pre-professional ballet field.
What Makes the Royal Ballet School’s Healthcare Team Unique?
The Royal Ballet School’s Healthy Dancer Programme ensures that each young dancer can learn to look after their health and well-being, optimise their performance, and prepare for demanding careers on the stage.
A team of multidisciplinary staff oversees students’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being and manages the Healthy Dancer Programme. These healthcare professionals include:
- A healthcare manager.
- Physiotherapists.
- Sports physicians.
- Counsellors.
- School nurses.
- Rehabilitation ballet instructors.
- Performance nutritionists.
- Strength and conditioning coaches.
- Pilates instructors.
- A clinical psychologist.
While students receive mental health support through counselling and psychological services, the physical health and physical development teams implement strategies to mitigate injury risk and help students improve their performance.
The Royal Ballet School’s healthcare provision is unique in that the entire healthcare team works on-site and partners with the Artistic staff, who guide students’ creative training. This is unusual, as many other organisations have healthcare staff working in different buildings or departments from the dance instructors.
As they work together to support the School’s aspiring young dancers, all healthcare and Artistic staff create a nurturing environment that focuses on serving each student to the best of their professional abilities.
How Does the School’s Healthcare Team Reduce Injury Risk?
The Royal Ballet School’s healthcare team strives to reduce the risk of injury for young dancers wherever possible. As part of the Healthy Dancer Programme, all students undergo termly screening and profiling exercises, and the results of these exercises enable the healthcare team to compile tailored conditioning programmes to support each student’s training.
The health screening and profiling also allow the healthcare team to gather important research data. The Royal Ballet School, The Royal Ballet, and Birmingham Royal Ballet collate students’ and professional dancers’ data through a research database called Smartabase. This database enables the Royal Ballet School’s healthcare team to gain invaluable insights into pre-professional ballet training that also benefit the wider dance community.
An integrative review of the existing research in the field has identified key areas that may influence injury risk for pre-professional ballet dancers. Conducted by the School’s Physical Development Lead Niall MacSweeney, the major themes of injury risk that emerged from the review are:
- Age and maturation status.
- Anthropometric and body composition.
- Strength and power.
- Joint mobility and range of motion.
- Specific dance function.
- Cardiorespiratory fitness.
MacSweeney’s study confirms the focus areas for risk mitigation that the School’s healthcare team prioritises, such as growth and maturation. Understanding that young dancers are at a greater risk of injury during growth spurts helps the healthcare team plan how to reduce the risk of injuries occurring.
Protecting the health of students as they go through physical changes can keep them free from injury while still allowing them to push the boundaries of their talent development.
MacSweeney hopes that his future studies can examine key areas of injury risk in greater depth. With ongoing research, the healthcare team can continue providing the best possible support to students of The Royal Ballet School and share valuable findings with the wider community.
What Happens When a Student Sustains an Injury?
Notwithstanding the healthcare team’s significant risk mitigation practices, the challenging and intensive nature of classical ballet training means there is always some risk of injury, however small.
When a student sustains an injury, the first healthcare professional to assess the situation might be one of the school nurses or physiotherapists. A more serious incident may require the student to go for a scan to determine the specific nature of the injury. The School’s doctor will examine the student and determine optimal rehabilitation support in line with the prescribed physiotherapy work.
Doctors then coordinate the physical development staff, psychological staff, nutritionists, and nurses to provide thorough multidisciplinary support while the student recovers.
What is the School’s Approach to Rehabilitation?
The School offers an exceptional rehabilitation process, underpinned by the understanding that if a student gets injured once, they have a higher likelihood of sustaining further injuries.
To avoid the risk of repeated injuries at all costs, the School cultivates a holistic, supportive environment where physiotherapists and other members of the healthcare team get involved throughout a student’s recovery process. Members of the healthcare team regularly communicate with one another to closely monitor an injured dancer’s progress.
MacSweeney explains that, as with all professional athletes, injuries are a normal part of every dancer’s career. However, rather than view injuries as a negative experience, the School’s healthcare team considers them opportunities to switch focus and foster good habits that last throughout a student’s professional career.
MacSweeney emphasises that students can still advance their training while recovering from an injury. Students may work on other aspects of their training, such as turnout work with the Pilates instructors or upper body work with the strength and conditioning coaches. He notes that, according to a review that appeared in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2018, strength training can reduce injuries by 66%.
Students who have sustained an injury also work closely with the School’s rehabilitation ballet coach. This coach ensures any injured young dancers retain their ballet technique, especially if the students are unable to take part in a full ballet class with their year group.
How Does the School Help Young Dancers Achieve their Best?
The School’s ultimate goal is to keep students safe and maximise their talent potential. When a student sustains an injury, the young dancer becomes unable to continue training consistently or perform at their usual level. Not being able to practise aspects of their training for a prolonged period could ultimately influence their performance.
By providing exceptional, comprehensive support and conducting ongoing research into the pre-professional ballet field, the healthcare team empowers students to make the most of the opportunities the School’s Artistic team provides and reach their dance potential.
Learn more about The Royal Ballet School’s Healthy Dancer Programme.
About The Royal Ballet School and Its Cutting-Edge Facilities
Since 1926, The Royal Ballet School’s enduring mission has been nurturing and training exceptional dancers for careers with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and other leading dance companies across the globe.
The School offers a broad dance and academic education along with extensive pastoral and healthcare provisions to help students thrive. During their full-time training, students encounter a range of dance styles, including classical ballet, character, contemporary, and English folk dance.
The Royal Ballet School’s cutting-edge facilities cover two main sites: White Lodge in Richmond Park, for students aged 11 to 16, and Upper School in Covent Garden, for students aged 16 to 19.
A £22 million redevelopment has extended White Lodge’s facilities to include two new dance studios, accommodation for over 120 students, and a new dining hall. Now extensively refurbished, White Lodge offers six studios, an indoor heated pool, sports pitches and courts, and a common room filled with games and entertainment.
Upper School students make the most of the site’s six air-conditioned studios, Pilates studio, healthcare suite (including a gym and physiotherapy treatment area), education suite (with classrooms and an art studio), and common room. Upper School students also have access to The Royal Ballet in Covent Garden via the Bridge of Aspiration.
