I Have to Keep Moving

The Story of a Broken Dancer

By: Giovanni Pinto
JOUR 370 - News II: Advanced Journalism
Fall 2015

Always two inches more

BRISTOL, RI __ The room is dimly lit. Stage lights bounce off the walls constructed of
mirrors creating a halo affect in the room. Fifteen dancers are sprawled out on the floor
in various positions. All are wearing some sort of moveable workout clothing. Sweats.
Leggings. Leotards. Tanks. Long sleeves, or sweaters over the tanks. The dancers stretch
their long limbs to either side of their bodies. Toes pointed. Then flexed. Ankles crack.
Toes crack. Hips pop. Dancers show relief from the cracking and popping coming from
their limber bodies. They stretch their hamstrings. Legs straight. Back flat. Touch the
toes. In the midst of the stretching, Prof. Michael Bolger struts into the room. A tall, thin
man with lanky, swaying limbs walks to the front of the room as he is greeted by the
elastic dancers on the floor.
Bolger, an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University, has an MFA in
Interdisciplinary Art. At RWU, he teaches two dance courses. Intermediate Modern and
Jazz, and Ballet. This is his Ballet class. Having started ballet as a child, it has a
significance in Bolgers life. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy modern dance, Michael says
to the class. But, ballet is home for me.
Michael glances over to the right side of the room at the baby grand piano. Behind it sits
another artist. A musician. His name is Michael too. This Michael plays the piano for the
class during their exercises. The Michaels look at each other and nod in synchrony.
Okay get to the barre, class is starting, Bolger says.
All 15 dancers stand and walk over to the barre that surrounds the perimeter of the
room. Unlike a regular bar, in ballet, it is spelled barre to keep its French roots in the
practice. Each dancer knows ahead of time where their designated barre space is.
Scattered around the room, each barre space has a correlating mirror slab allowing the
dancers to check themselves out and adjust positions cleanly.
The barre is wood. About an inch in diameter, the barre fits any sized hand with ease. All
15 movers in the class hold the stained, wooden barre. Their left hands delicately grip
the barre while their right facing the center of the room. Their professor gives them
instructions. Trot, plis, then tondus. He claps, and the piano man begins a soft tune.
The dancers now face the barre. They stare at their own reflection inches from their face.
They begin.
These exercises are performed at the start of every class period. No matter how
advanced the class may become throughout the semester, Bolger likes to begin class
with the basic fundamentals of ballet. It helps them get into their bodies, and feel
where they are at that day, he says. Once completed with the first exercise, the dancers
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pause. Their professor does not need to address any errors in performances, so they
move on to the following two exercises.
There is a relaxed feel of the room. The relationship between the professor and students
is a strong one. This is not always the feel of other ballet classes. Students tell stories of
how in classes back home, teachers would yell if the smallest error was made. This is not
the attitude Bolger takes with the class. I cant be like that, he says. At my other job, I
work with three and four-year-olds, if I yell they cry. His lack of yelling does not display
any lack for critique however.
Exercise after exercise. Left. Then right. Bolger paces around the room, observing all of
his dancers. Visible errors being made are corrected by addressing the student and
showing a resolution. At the end of each exercise, he states what he saw in their
movement. Errors. Triumphs. Bolger points out the mistakes in the room, but also gives
compliments. Compliments mean that a dancer is showing great form. Critiques are
given to those breaking form. You guys need to focus on your form, Michael says to the
class. When you get sloppy, it shows.
Michael stresses to the class that form is important to assure that the exercise and
movement is done eloquently. Nothing about how bad form can result in a serious
injury. The stresses on all of Michaels critiques are about making the performance
better. Look, Michael says to the dancers watching. There is a difference between,
Dying Swan, and Giselle. This comment directed toward the reportedly sloppy rond
de jambe exercise.
Forty-five minutes go by. The dancers have stripped down to their bottom tank. Sweat
beads glisten on their foreheads. The dancers are on their last barre exercise, grand
battement before moving to center work. The dancers stand tall. They listen to the
piano man for a count of eight. Their weightless, featherlike right arm floats above their
head, slightly bent. Right leg straight. Kicks straight up. Then down. This is repeated
twice more front. The arm then transitions to the side, second position. Right leg kicks
to the side. Three times, like the front. The final transition to the back, for the same
three kicks. The performers then switch sides and do the same on their left legs.
The exercise ends. Eyes around the room all peer toward their professor who
disappointingly shakes his leg and bites his lip. Both legs need to be straight, and you
need to kick high for this exercise, Michael says with a harsh tone. Your legs should be
like arrows, and if you think youre kicking high, there is always two inches more.
Nothing in Bolgers critiques stated that if legs arent straight, especially the standing
leg, the dancer risks falling back into the hip socket. This creates unneeded tension to
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the hip and knee, which could result in a torn meniscus, cartilage tear in the knee, a
common athletic injury. His critique also brings to light how dance teachers are
obsessive over the height of the kick rather than the control. If told to force a leg higher
than it can controllably go, form becomes disoriented. This, however, is not a teaching
pattern that only Michael follows. It is followed by many ballet instructors around the
world.
In this class alone, there are already two dancers who have sustained an injury and are
still in the healing process. One stands on the right side of the room. Grace Nevin stands
at the barre with a brace on her right knee. Having hypermobility syndrome, Nevin has
hyperextended knees, or knees that swoop back. An abnormality glorified by the world
of ballet. When in a modern dance class, Nevin says she is constantly reminded to not
lock her knees. But, when put in ballet, If a teacher knows my knees swoop back, they
tell me the opposite, Grace says.
On the opposite side of the room, in the front of the studio, stands Maggie Sabella. She
appears to be all healed with the absence of her medical boot, but Maggie is still healing
from a broken foot. After being told to leap higher in rehearsal at her studio back home,
Sabella landed the wrong way on her foot and broke it. This left her in a medical boot
from June until the first week in October. During that time, I wanted to do nothing
more than dance, Maggie said. In class, Maggie still cannot do any jumping or leaping
and has to sit out while the class performs.
When moving across the floor, or in center work, the exercises are mobile and move.
The exercises in this portion of the class involve more focus on maintaining turnout. In
ballet, turnout is a rotation of the leg which comes from the hips, causing the knee and
foot to turn outward, away from the center of the body. This rotation allows for greater
extension of the leg, especially when raising it to the side and rear.
The movers are asked to perform an exercise. They stand in fifth position. One foot is
placed in front of, and in contact with the other, with the heel of one foot aligned with
the toe of the other foot. There are two fifth positions, depending on which foot is in
front, for the start of this exercise; the right foot is in back. They move through first
position. The feet point in opposite directions, with heels touching. Then close the right
foot front in fifth. The left foot now replicates that movement. The right foot goes
straight out to the side. The dancer does a pli. The legs then straighten. Left foot points
and closes front. The right foot steps back. Prep. Then, a single turn.
Michael, sitting in front of the class, makes the same look as before. He shakes his leg
and bites his lip. The dancers stand and look at the ground nervous of making eye
contact with the dissatisfied professor in front of them. You are not remaining turned
4

out, Bolger calmly says to the class. Your heels need to be forward, and you cant roll
into (pronate) your feet because you will hurt your ankles and knees. Injury is now a
topic in the class.
It is evident that teachers know what causes injuries and what prevents them. Dancers,
in this case, who are anywhere between 18 and 21, are retold to always have perfect
lines, preferably hyperextension. Become as flexible as possible; force your joints into
poses. And, kick as high as imaginable, even if its unnatural. But, when an injury
occurs, the vocabulary alters. The perfect lines, extreme flexibility, and high kicks, now
have derogatory meanings. These practices that can cause injury are glorified and
idolized in the dance world. It isnt until a dancer sustains an injury that these practices
are then frowned upon.
If this is being reinstalled in adult dancers, how are children first being addressed?
Children, especially the three and four-year-olds, Michael teaches, are too young to
begin structured dance like ballet, so they start with basic movement classes to blow off
steam and become infatuated with dance. It isnt until around the age of eight that
dancers can become truly serious about a structured dance class. Even at the age of
eight, dancers are too young to understand and comprehend what bad form could do to
their bodies. They are unaware of the consequences that can come with hyperextension.
They are unaware of the consequences that can come with extreme flexibility. They are
unaware of the consequences that can come with forcing their mobile bodies into forced
positions. This makes them perfect specimen to mold.
Starting structured dance at such an age allows the body to mold itself to the
movements. Adolescent dancers may not be aware of them, but their bodies begin
altering operational factors to make dance easier. This can mean that a dancer acquires
hypermobility syndrome. This can mean that a dancer has a natural turnout. This can
mean that a dancer has an always erect back. They may not be aware of it, but it
becomes pertinent in the latter years of dance.
Now, at the ages of 18 to 21, dancers, some of which have been dancing for 17 years have
reaped the benefits of ballet. Looking around this studio space, dancers are sitting up
pin straight. There necks do not dip below their chin-line. Even during long periods of a
seated position, you can expect perfect posture. Some dancers display their extreme
flexibility. Even before a warm-up. This is what creates the cracks and pops in the room.
Finally, there are the dancers with hyperextension standing with swooped knees. One
with an apparent injury.

It seems as though there should be some type of obvious solution to injuries in dance.
Stopping bad form. This is a problem, but not the main issue. Going back to the
fundamentals of dance and what is glorified and idolized is the source of the problem.
This idea of what is beautiful creates a desire for attainment. Dancers desire what they
believe is the perfect body for dance. It is not a perfect body. It is one that causes injury.
It is one that causes unnatural aspirations. It is the balletic body.
The Broken Dancer
A girl, no longer seen in an RWU ballet class, sits at a table in the Universitys Global
Heritage Hall. She has sustained far more injuries than the young, hopeful dancers in
Michaels class. She is 20. Alissa McGeehan is petite. At 5-foot-3, On a good day, her
body shape superficially appears to be comparable to that of the traditional ballet
dancer. She; however, has sustained four major injuries that have left her thinking about
whether or not dance is for her.
I started dance at three, like the typical little girl story, Alissa says with a giggle. I just
really enjoyed dancing around and moving.
Alissa felt at home with the comfort of a dance floor underneath even her adolescent
feet. It wasnt until she was in fifth grade, when Alissa took multiple classes a week, that
she started to take it serious. The next level for Alissa was auditioning for the preprofessional ballet program at her school in Winchester Massachusetts. This program
offered different levels for the students as they progressed with age. So, the younger kids
started in the lower levels. Hands down, ballet is my favorite style of dance, Alissa
says. I love how technical and clean it is, it is just a beautiful thing to watch.
Alissa kept with dance. She loved it. It was her passion. In eighth grade, she began doing
summer programs with professional ballet companies. Her following two summers were
spent at the Boston Ballet. The first time around, Alissa wasnt in a position she
preferred to be in. Weeks prior to attending Boston Ballet for the first time Alissa
sustained a sprained ankle. This left her in a walking boot for a healing period of six to
eight weeks. In the time she focused a lot on her upper body movement and strength
training. The instructors at Boston Ballet were very helpful, Alissa said. They taught
me how to maintain a strong healthy body with an injury.
In the following summer going into her junior year of high school, Alissa did a program
with festival ballet in Providence. In this program, Alissa was performing a variation of
Paquita, a ballet based on a gypsy girl who saves a nobleman and discovers that she too
is of noble blood, so they are able to marry at the end of the performance. During
rehearsal, I was jumping and landed the wrong way on my foot, Alissa said. I am used
6

to being in a little pain when dancing. Ignoring her pain, Alissa performed the piece at
WaterFire. During the performance, she noticed that her ankle started swelling up. Her
ankle was sprained again. Another six to eight week healing process. Alissa clunked
around in another boot.
Alissas final summer program, with Joffrey Ballet was her favorite. It offered more
information than she ever expected. I got to live right in the heart of the financial
district, says Alissa. We had dance classes Monday thru Friday, and on Saturdays and
Sundays we could tour the city and do whatever we wanted. Alissa was thrilled. She was
doing exactly what she wanted. It was not without hard work though.
We had your typical eight hour day, Alissa said. We had a set schedule from nine to
five that changed each week. Her alternating schedule revolved around different
workouts. Different dance styles. Different performances, ten of them. Different
choreographers. The day started light. By the end of it, they were sweat soaked and
ready for nothing more than to lie horizontally in their beds and get the stress gravity off
of their aching and quivering limbs. Alissa was enjoying the hectic world of dance. She
was not fazed. She was thrilled.
Rehearsals like this can be straining on the body. All day dancers are using every muscle
in their body to hold poses. Hold extensions. Hold that perfect line. It is exhausting.
During a rehearsal on one of Alissas many eight-hour dance days, she performed a leap.
In mid air, she pointed her foot too much and she felt a pop. I knew I had injured
myself again the second I heard the pop, Alissa said. I mean I got injured in mid air,
which is kind of weird and cool. Alissa wasnt given a medical boot this time. She had to
use crutches around New York City for a week as she waited for an appointment with a
specialist.
Alissa was able to get an appointment with the Dr. Hamilton, the MD for the New York
City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. He knew exactly what I had after I
explained to him all the injuries I had sustained, Alissa said. I have hypermobility
syndrome. I was relieved that there was something physically wrong with me and I
wasnt just clumsy or a bad dancer. This means that Alissas joints can move past the
normal movement range. This is where hyperextension stems from. The hyperextension
seen in Graces swooped back knees. The hyperextension seen in many dancers. Alissa
was not the first to be diagnosed.
On his website, Dr. William G. Hamilton writes that, Hypermobility syndrome is what I
diagnose dancers with the most. Foot and ankle problems are of particular concern
because they are frequently misdiagnosed.

Alissa is not alone, and she knows that. When you walk into his office, you see all these
signed headshots of Prima Ballerinas, Alissa says. It is really amazing to think that
even the best of dancers get injured by having this. It may give us perfect lines, but it
makes us more susceptible to injury.
Hypermobility syndrome, although in most cases is hereditary, can also be formed after
being an active dancer for an extended period of time. The body, particularly young
bodies, are like minds, and absorb information and adapt to perform tasks at a higher
level and with more ease. Ultimately, a dancers body can shape around the movements
that are repeated almost daily. The doctor never told me specifically if my case was
hereditary, Alissa said. But, dancing so much and the amount that I did didnt help
especially considering dance is such a high demand art.
The syndrome and current injury would not slow Alissa down. I would go to Physical
Therapy everyday after dance, Alissa said. I knew I needed to get back to being really
strong so that I could dance in college. The injuries would not alter Alissas mind. The
syndrome would not alter Alissas mind. She was determined to continue her dream and
dance in college, making a career out of her passion.
Origins
Dance has been a part of the earliest forms of human life. It is something that began
with the first steps of man. When people ponder this idea, confusion sets in. How could
people dance before barely walking? People have a set idea in their minds that dance has
not changed throughout history. They believe it is like most other forms of art that have
stayed constant through wars, massacres, immigration, and time. Dance, on the
contrary, has undergone a great deal of change throughout history.
The original styles of dance were seen in rituals, ceremonies, and entertainment prior to
mass human populations. Archaeology delivers traces of dance from prehistoric times
such as the 9,000 year old Bhimbetka rock shelters paintings in India and Egyptian
tomb paintings depicting dancing figures from c. 3300 BC. These discoveries of tomb
art not only portray dance in its earliest forms, but also show how dances were passed
down through generations (Lansdale & Layson, 1994).
Rituals and ceremonies were important in the earliest civilizations, so passing them
down through generations was a vital aspect of dance. It is also difficult. As Jack
Anderson writes in his book titled, Ballet & Modern Dance A Concise History, Dance is
the most perishable of the arts. Dance is forever in danger of vanishing from society.
Many choreographers do not attempt to preserve their dances. Most perform their piece

a few times, and then move on to the next. Today, we have film, and like the tomb
paintings of ancient civilizations, we have written notation.
Usually, dances are preservedif they are preserved at allonly in the memory of
the artists who perform them. But memory is fallible, and steps can easily be
changed or forgotten (Anderson, 1992)
Dance, although the most perishable of the arts, as Anderson states, has maintained a
sort of constant art form in societies across regions and changing times. It, along the
course, has adapted and altered in many ways. Being influenced by people, societal
issues, other forms of art, and a constant change of what is aesthetically pleasing.
One of the biggest influences on bringing dances into the Royal Courts was Catherine de
Medici. Originally from Florence Italy, Medici moved to France to marry Henry II.
Arriving in France, Medici brought with her an Italian aesthetic that changed the
culture. This new aesthetic focused a lot on appearance; she brought cosmetics, face
powder, mirrored walls, which lit up the room, and a love for dance. Medici changed
history when she planned a royal wedding, bringing with her a musician and dance
master to choreograph for the event. His name was Beaujoyeulx, and he was known as
the first choreographer. After that wedding, Catherine de Medici became known as The
Mother of Ballet Comique (Anderson, 1992).
Ballet comique became a royal favorite. Performers would come to the palaces of the
royal families and perform in their great rooms. Observers would watch from above.
With this aspect, the dancers focused more on geometric shapes and patterns, rather
than jumping and leaping, to make the performances more appealing to the onlookers
above. The performances were full of personal and political references, and lasted for six
hours at a time. This was the most famous style of dance in the 16th century (Anderson,
1992).
The 17th century brought a change in the dance world. A change led by Louis XIV, or the
sun king. Art, performance, and life became a fused event as Louis opened his private
chambers up so statesmen could observe his daily rituals, one of which was dancing. The
popularity of dance sharply rose with the kings eminent passion for dance. Louis even
partook in dancing, and his instructor, Pierre Beauchamps, was the kings highest paid
servant. It was Beauchamps that then created the mere foundation of ballet, turnout and
the five positions of the feet. Both of which were derived from a fencers stance.
With this new profound love for dance, there was also a shift performance wise.
Performances were shifted out of ballrooms and into the proscenium stage, allowing
both group and solo actions. The scenic possibilities changed3D aspecta different
9

use of levels to symbolize heaven, earth, and the underworld. The new use of the
proscenium stage initiated careers in dance. The observers could not participate
anymore; they had a strict audience role. This boosted professionalism in dance because
the mediocre noblemen were no longer the center of attention. Louis also became an
initiator in the professionalism of dance when he opened the Paris Opera House, the
first set school for dance education (Anderson, 1992).
Ballet began to undergo a rapid change in the upcoming centuries. It began a
transformation from the more ballroomesque style to one more similar to the ballet
known today. Catherine The Great brought a new form of ballet to imperial Russia.
Catherine The Great did similarly to what Louis XIV did in the sense where they made
ballet something the nation should be proud of. She created ballet schools for the
dancers that became a melting pot for everyone, no matter their social or economic
status. Children were being enrolled into these schools at adolescent ages in hopes that
one day they would become Principal Dancers. This highly popularized ballet to the
extent where a male dancer was observed as highly as one enlisted in the military.
Stylistically, Catherine The Great brought innovative ideas to the world of dance, ideas
that are still used today. With imperial ballet, she brought this new aesthetic of lines,
and began using pointe shoes more often than before. The idea of a perfect line is that
when a dancer is on relev, standing on his or her toes, there should be a straight line
from the tip of the head, all the way through the toes. This idea of a perfect line was the
beginning to many changes including pointing toes when dancing, and altering
costumes. Before, female ballet dancers wore long tutus reaching their ankles. Imperial
ballet shortened the tutu to reveal the legs, showing of the perfect lines that were so
heavily sought out (Anderson, 1992).
Idolized
Today, we are bombarded with photos of dancers in extreme positions. Now more than
ever, dancers are being used for their tremendous capabilities and talents.
Advertisements like Under Armour display Prima Ballerina, Misty Copeland,
performing in their fitness clothing. The series of commercials show Misty on pointe as
the camera focuses on the dancers muscularly defined figure. She then begins dancing
across a stage showing off just how much strength, flexibility, and control goes into
being a dancer.
Social media has also become a high-demand location for dancers. Hashtags like #dance
and #dancer offer over 25 million posts on Instagram alone. These posts allow dancers
to show off their perfect lines and flexibility. The posts with thousands of likes require
high, straight legs with spines that can bend in every which direction. Accomplished
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dancers themselves admire extremes of flexibility and strive for it. And, like Barbies
negative effects on adolescent girls, these perfect dance photos rub off on young dance
students, who struggle to emulate the seasoned professional. Teachers too can be
seduced by the drive for flexibility, without due respect for how it is achieved, or how too
much natural hypermobility requires understanding and very careful training. This
becomes a vicious circle where what is viewed as perfect can gravely injure dancers
without the correct training or attention to natural restrictions.
There is a whole spectrum of inherited flexibility to consider. One is the tightly bound,
limited physique (short muscles and bony limitation of joints), which is unsuited for
dance and especially ballet. Another is the extreme flexibility of the dancer who is weak
and uncoordinated, but full of potential. Those dancers with a natural (inherited)
global hypermobility are believed to have an abnormality of their connective tissue that
allows for joint laxity. This natural talent is associated with advantages and
disadvantages. Many of these physiques are drawn to dance because of the ease with
which they achieve extreme positions, the encouragement they are given, and the
aesthetic appeal of the hyperextended (swayback) knee and hypermobile ankle. They
have connective tissue stretchiness in the joints of the fingers and elbows as well as
knees, spine, ankles and feet, indicating how uniquely this physique is held together.
Connective tissue is the living material that binds the body together: ligament,
tendon, capsule, cartilage, labra, fat pads, disc, bone and even skin. Generally,
connective tissue is composed of cells and fibers suspended in a matrix. In
ligaments the fibroblast cells produce dense, parallel- arranged masses of
collagen and elastin fibers. These proteins, aligned along the lines of stress, give
ligaments and tendons their powerful resistance to axially loaded tension forces,
but allow some stretch (McCormack, 2010).
This sense of hypermobility allows dancers to extend their joints past the normal range
of motion. In the dance world, this is admired and viewed as perfect. Hypermobility
allows a dancers joints to always be more than straight, to the point of hyperextension.
It is so widely admired for the ease of a perfect line. When standing, a dancer with
hypermobility syndrome will have hyperextended knees that resemble a similar shape to
an archery bow. The knees will swoop back past neutral, making the kneecap disappear
into the leg creating a seamless line.
Although this is idolized, it can cause many problems for a young dancer. In the first
years of dance, if not properly strengthened a hypermobile dancer will have difficulty
with control. If allowed to lock back into its full extension when weight bearing, the
muscles that control it relax, the control of turnout is lost, and the student could face
injury. Another challenge is landing. Hyperextension may give a seamless appeal, but
11

when landing, if a dancers joint is past neutral, they could tear or rupture that joint,
which could end a dance career. The Royal Ballet School in London found that the
number of hypermobile dancers decreased with rising professionalism due to serious
sustained injuries.
We found that 74 percent of girls and 82 percent of boys in the lower school (11
16 yrs) were hypermobile. The incidence in the 1618 year olds was 94 percent of
females and 83 percent of males. In the professional company the incidence was
95 percent of females and 82 percent of males. These figures suggest that a
physical type is most definitely selected. Interestingly, the incidence of Joint
Hypermobility Syndrome in the Lower School was 47 percent in girls and 45
percent in boys. In the 1618 yrs it was 46 percent in females and 35 percent in
males. However, in the professionals it was 26 percent in females and 36 percent
in males. The decrease in numbers in the company suggests that hypermobile
dancers who have also been injured are less likely to progress into the profession
(McCormack, 2010).
Form becomes at risk with hypermobility as well. Dance, particularly ballet, requires
errorless form to help avoid injuries. The dancer must be stacked meaning each section
of your body being used in a movement must be perfectly on top of the other. This
creates balance, which correlates with the control of dance. Turnout is another
important factor to form. It creates a more mobile dancer that can glide across stage and
requires an increased range of flexibility and control. When hypermobile, dancers are
found to sink into their hips, losing a stacked body. They may also lose control of
turnout when their joints are locked in a hyperextended position, which naturally
releases the muscles.
The foot in all dancers bears the stress of incorrect alignment above it. In the excessively
flexible foot and ankle, the many small joints of the midfoot are easily compromised.
Each joint is bound by ligament and capsule, and further supported by intrinsic muscles
of the foot. If the arches are stressed in the rolling pronated foot, the medial arch
flattens and the foot may never recover. Pronation of the foot means that when
standing, the feet roll in toward each other. Non-dancers call this being flat-footed.
This can be a challenging fix for a dancer because the foot carries the weight of the
entire body. When landing from a leap on a pronated foot, all of the dancers weight,
momentum, and gravity is not distributed through the natural foot arches, instead it all
rolls in toward the ankle causing problems with the dancers ankles, Achilles, and knees.

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The high demand art

Title IX is another component in the dance injury world. According to www.justice.gov,
Title IX is, A comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of
sex in any federally funded education program or activity. This was a groundbreaking
policy that helped create equality for womens athletics. Over the past few years
however, Title IX has had an abundance of criticism toward their criteria.
On the Title IX website, in a section named, Before Title IX, it states: Things were
different. The primary physical activities for girls were cheerleading and square dancing.
Only 1 in 27 girls played high school sports. By this statement, and others throughout
Title IX, the committee is claiming that dance is not a sport.
According to the federal rules, dance is not considered a sport because it needs coaches.
It needs set practices. It needs competitions during a defined season. It needs a
governing organization and competition as the primary goal. But, dance does not have a
season. It is a year-round event. It is an activity that requires its competitors to be in
shape, train, and condition all year long with minute, or no breaks. And, because of this,
institutions cannot claim them as sports. Title IX will not give the institutions credit for
dance.
These Title IX requirements seem to miss the essence of dance and all the work. Sweat.
Blood. Tears. Injuries. And hardships that go into the activity. Dance is, as Alissa says,
such a high demand art. Even she, a dancer, of 17 years has been brainwashed to
believe that the activity she partakes in is not considered a sport and merely just art.
Dance is an expressive form of artyesbut it is as strenuous on the body as most if not
all other activities considered sports under the Title IX guidelines.
A University of Washington Ph.D., Ronald Smith, did a study on dancers and how they
sustain injuries as badif not worsethan other professional athletes. Smith discusses
in a UW publication how comparable dance injuries are to that of most professional
athletes. We think ballet dancers are as vulnerable as athletes because ballet is a very
pressure-packed activity with a tremendous amount of competition, said Smith, who
has worked for the Houston Astros organization as a psychological consultant. Ballet is
physically grueling and the fact that other dancers are competing with them adds to the
physical stress. The level of precision required is comparable to that of an Olympic
gymnast.
Smiths new publication Anxiety, Stress and Coping, said that, The injury rate for
ballet dancers over an eight-month period was 61 percent. This is comparable to rates
found in other studies for athletes in collision sports such as football and wrestling. The
13

average time lost because of a ballet injury was 10.5 days, with the actual time loss
ranging from one to 87 days. An injury was defined as a medical problem that
restricted participation for at least one day beyond the date of the injury.
Dancers have an aspect to their injuries that becomes mental. They get into their own
heads. They psych themselves out. They become their own worst enemies. A dancer will
train for months at a time on a single piece. They will rehearse for hours. They perfect
every movement. They make sure their bodies are in the right places at the right time.
They make sure that the night of their performances goes flawlessly. After the extensive
training and preparation for a piece, a dancer becomes susceptible to injury. But, if an
injury is sustained, they dont mention it until after the performance. Dancers often
perform hurt, Smith says. They are afraid that after all the hard work, someone will
take their place. So, dancers perform injured and worsen their condition. This leads to
a constant cycle of physical therapy.
After Alissas multiple injuries, she found herself in physical therapy almost every day
after she left dance. I went to physical therapy to really get myself stronger, and started
taking it more seriously, Alissa said. Everyday after dance I would go to PT and do
these crazy workouts. After hours of dance, Alissa subjected her body to more intense
workouts and stretching to help assure no more injuries from her hypermobility
syndrome.
In PT, Alissa focused on working the hardest she possibly could to assure she would
dance in college. Alissas workouts consisted of different aspects of working out. I
would have to jog and bike a few miles before even starting my PT workouts, Alissa
said. She was able to work on physically making herself stronger, but dancers dont
always sustain external physical injuries.
Smiths studies focused on not only the physical stress performers endure throughout
their training, but also the mental and emotional stress they go through. This is another
aspect of how dancers become their worst enemies. They fight for these top spots. No
one can be better than they are. Even their closest performance partners. They must be
the lead role. Their name must be first in the programs on show day. When a dancer has
this mindset, they push themselves physicallyyesbut often times mentally too.
Many dancers have eating disorders, Smith says. And they lead very, very stressful
lives.

14

Mental
In a small kitchen in RWUs Bayside apartments, Alexandra Townsend prepares dinner.
She is in workout clothing. A pastel, mint green, long sleeve shirt. A pair of light gray
leggings that stop halfway down her muscular calves. A matching pair of gray and green
New Balance sneakers adds an inch or two to the girls 5-foot-6 height. She paces the
floor searching through the cabinets in her miniscule kitchen. She grabs a box of whole
grain pasta and places it on the table. She reaches below the counter and grabs a small
cooking pot. She fills it halfway with water. She places it on the stove and turns the heat
to high.
While she waits for the water to boil, Townsend reaches above her refrigerator and grabs
a Pyrex-measuring cup. The highest amount it measures is one cup. She levels it on the
table. She pours her whole grain pasta into the measuring device until it reaches the
solid red line indicating a single cup. This is the only amount she will allow herself for
this meal. The water reaches a boil. The cup of brown, grainy pasta is added to the
scalding water.
Townsend now reaches into the refrigerator and grabs a container with a green dewy
substance inside. It's broccoli. Five pieces of broccoli are plucked out of the container
and put on a plate. The plate is placed in the microwave for a minute. This is the only
amount she will allow herself for this meal. The remaining pieces of the pungent
vegetable go back into the refrigerator.
It has been eight minutes. A wooden spoon stirs through the pasta and scoops one up.
She tries it. She shuts off the stove and strains the cooked pasta in the sink. She adds it
to her bowl as steam accumulates like smoke above both foods. One cup of whole grain
pasta. Five pieces of broccoli. She now cuts up the green vegetable and adds it to the
pasta along with a teaspoon of oil. She mixes it all together. This is the only amount she
will allow herself for this meal. A glass of water waits for her at the end of the table while
she eats her dinner.
I went for a run today, after going to the gym, Townsend says with a spoonful of pasta
and broccoli. So I get to have a little extra today. This girl, a dancer at RWU, worries
about her shape constantly. She worries about the size of her waist. She worries about
the size of her arms. She worries about her muscle definition. She has pushed herself to
a point where she will not eat certain foods, or drink certain things because of the fear of
excess weight.
She now looks at, Nicole Fischetti, her roommateanother thin girland asks what she
is up to for the night. The roommate tells of plans of going out for dinner to get a burger.
15

You can see disgust in the dancers eyes. As if a burger instantly adds a lifetime of weight
and sorrow with the initial bite. Fischetti catches on and gets defensive. The dancer
subsides only to end the argument. She feels as though her friend is making a mistake.
This girl has reached an extreme mental state. One that is unhealthy for her, her mind,
and her body. She has reached a point where she will only eat the suggested daily food
consumption values. She doesnt take into consideration dancing for six hours of the
day. She doesnt take into consideration working out on top of dance. She doesnt take
into consideration the stress that comes with daily life. She has reached a point where
she is only concerned about how she looks when she dances.
Looking back into the dimly lit dance studio on the northern side of the RWU campus,
ballet professor Michael Bolger remembers back to his days as an undergraduate
student at SUNY Purchase. The Dean would send us little letters in the mail when we
would leave for break, Bolger says. And, if a dancer had gained some weight, the letter
would say, hope to see less of you when you return.
A thinner body means better lines. More muscle means more extreme poses and
flexibility. All that matters is how she will look on stage. This girl has only become
another statistic in the dance injury world that Smith discovers. The statistics stating
that, eighty-three percent of dancers met lifetime criteria for an eating disorder, a
number that shows the demands of dance. A number that shows how as a community,
dancers struggle with mentally preparing themselves for the stress, pain, suffering, and
disappointment that comes as a tag team with dance. Many in this community are even
unaware that they meet the criteria of having an eating disorder because of its
prevalence in the dance world. This is what makes mental dance injuries so problematic.
This percent only shows how dance injuries include more than just the physical injuries
sustained by Alissa. She is lucky. She hasnt let dance get into her head. She hasnt let
dance mangle her thoughts. She hasnt let dance control her life. Alissa, in the past, has
worried of others taking her roles in performances, but never to the extent of mental
insanity. Sure, I got stressed out because of dance many times, especially after my
injuries, Alissa says. I was always able to take something positive away from every
dance class though and use it as a de-stressor.
Time, energy, and effort are just a few requirements that go into every piece of dance
works. It is not an activity that you can just physically train for. It is not an activity
where if you get hurt out on the field, then can get subbed out to rest and heal on the
bench. It is not an activity that you can take time off of. Dance is, such a high demand
art. You have to be able to get into an Olympic style mindset that will not let any form
of stress alter your performance. If you get hurt in the middle of a performance, you
16

have to continue the piece as if there is nothing wrong, or you ruin the routine. You have
to dance as often as you can in order to maintain skill and flexibility. You have to fight
for the top spot, assuring your name is listed first in the performance program. You have
to battle with the mental challenges that stalk a dancer like prey. These are the
requirements for dance. The high demanding art that is not a sport.
I have to keep moving
Lights slowly fade in, and a single girl is seen moving on a stage. This is the start of a
performance. Franz Schubert's Ave Maria is playing. The loud, soprano voice echoes
through the studio. Each word seems to accent the movement of the dancer. She is on
her knees and fans her arms around in a sequential pattern. This pattern accumulates
an extra movement each time she resets the movements to repeat. Slowly, she
accumulates movements with one leg. Then comes to a standing position. She continues
moving through the dimly lit space.
She wears her hair in a messy bun. She wears black flowing pants. She wears a black
blouse. Bare feet. Simple. As she continues moving, and time progresses, the music
changes. What was the strong vocals of an opera now becomes the sounds of the famous
Australian didgeridoo. The change in music brings more dancers to the stage space. Five
are now present in the space, and Alissa McGeehan is one of them. Her dark hair up,
like the original dancer. Her clothes similar. Her movement pattern is similar.
The dancers alternate between simultaneous movements and separate ones. At one
moment, Alissa and the group all move the same. Some then trail off and the movement
is broken into groups, and sections. Alissas thin demeanor glides her across the floor
with ease and grace. She moves effortlessly. Her leg kicks high to the right. No
resistance. She turns around herself. One fluid movement. Alissa displays her talent for
the other dancers, and audience.
The performance is 31 minutes long. Alissa is in the majority of the piece. At times she
runs off stage and has a minute or two to catch her breath before reentering the
performance space. She has been preparing for this piece for months now. After a call
from her dance teacher, Lorraine Chapman, Alissa was offered this part in a
monumental piece Chapman called, The Solemn Moment.
On November 4, the day of the performance, Alissa arrived at her studio for 2 p.m. for
the performance at 7 p.m. She would be prepping for the dance for almost the entirety of
the day. Running through choreography one last time. Making sure every movement is
how Chapman envisioned it.

17

By this point in her life, Alissa had performed many times over an 18-year span, but she
was still nervous about the performance. I have performed plenty of times before,
Alissa said. But, this was the first time I was performing with a professional company.
Alissa warmed up her body. Refreshed her mind. Marked through the choreography.
Made sure her costume was unflawed. She performed her breathing ritual backstage to
shake the nerves. She was ready to perform.
I went out on my cue, Alissa said. I was now performing with a professional
company.
Alissa followed the choreography. Step for step. Kick for kick. She was on time with her
movements. Sharp when need be. Sustained too at times. Five dancers occupied the
stage in a circle-like shape. Constantly rotating across the floor, the dancers were
constantly in motion.
Alissa kicked up her leg in unison with the other performers. Each moved with ease.
From the kick, the dancers turned to the ground and Alissa was confused by a sensation
coming from her right foot. I kicked up, turned to the ground, and felt extreme pain,
Alissa said. I thought that my toe fell off, which is a weird sensation to have, but thats
what it felt like.
Alissa didnt lose a toe. Instead, she ruptured her joint capsule. Often a ruptured capsule
is a degenerating piece of tissue. These are the breakdown products of which cause
inflammation and scarring within the joint capsule. In Alissas case, her big toe
separated from her foot.
Her big toe was now a separate entity of her foot. It stuck out to the side. It added an
abnormal amount of space between her big toe and the remaining four. She was now on
the ground, in the middle of a performance with five other dancers, and still seven
minutes remaining in this section of the piece. Going through Alissas mind was a single
thought.
I have to keep moving.
This is what dancers do, Alissa said. This is what I was trained to do, and I had to just
push through it.
Alissas face bore no pain. Unknown to the audience, she was broken. The next series of
movements involved all five dancers to get into a circle while on the ground and push off
one another with their feet. The ruptured toe was not spared. She pushes off once. Rolls

18

to her right. Pushes off again. Rolls to her right. Pushes off a third time. She comes to a
standing position.
For another seven minutes, Alissa turns. Leaps. Jumps. She moves until her section is
completed. She runs offstage and notices her toe succeeding from the others. I thought
to myself oh this will go back, Alissa says. She spent her two-minute break backstage
attempting to reposition her toe. I kept trying to push it back, Alissa says with a giggle.
But, it was definitely not getting fixed before I had to go back out for the finale. For the
final five minutes of the 31-minute piece, Alissa danced through the pain, thinking to
herself, I can do this. In that moment she was still unsure as to what was wrong with
her.
Immediately following the performance Alissa calls her mother and with a joking tone
says, Mom you arent going to believe what I just did. Her mother assumed an injury,
which was what Alissa also thought considering her foot was numb. I went home and I
cried, Alissa said. This just kept recurring to me and at the worst times.
That following day, Alissa was supposed to audition for one of the universities she was
looking at, RWU. Not being able to perform, she arrived at her audition in a medical
boot far too familiar to her already. She explained her situation to the spectators who
were sympathetic and admired her dedication to the practice for even showing up for an
audition knowing there could be no performance.
In the following days, Alissa went to the doctors who told her that if wearing the medical
boot and taping her toes did not fix the problem, then surgery would be the next option.
Alissa saw no progression with the boot alone and she was scheduled for surgery. This
left Alissa on crutches for a few weeks, followed by another few weeks of having to use a
medical boot. To Alissa, this was now a routine. A routine that she knew far too well. A
routine that worried her. A routine that got her thinking about her future. I started to
realize that I could not go to a school that was just for dance, Alissa said. I couldnt
make a career out of something I wasnt able to do because of constant injuries.
After receiving an acceptance letter from the RWU Dance Department, Alissa decided to
move forward. She liked the dance program. She liked the school. She liked how
sympathetic the spectators were to her when she was injured. So Alissa enrolled as a
full-time dance student for the RWU class of 2017.
As time progressed, Alissas thoughts of injuries and career choices resurfaced. There
was a constant worry in the back of her mind that if she was ever injured, she could be
out of work as a dancer. She went through a constant state of self-interrogation, which
added more stress to her decision. My thoughts to no longer look at dance as a career
19

were reaffirmed when I came to Roger, Alissa said. After completing a semester as a
dance major, Alissa said goodbye to what she was so sure of for so long.
After dropping dance as a major, Alissa decided to change her focus of study to PR with
a minor in dance. To me, this made the most sense, Alissa said. I may not be able to
dance for a company, but now I could represent one if I wanted. Even if not directly in
the studio, dance to Alissa meant too much to just drop completely.
Today Alissa finds herself dancing in slightly less traditional ways. As she buckles down
into the final weeks of her first semester as a junior at RWU, Alissa feels the pressure of
her courses and other obligations. I am always doing something for either class, or
PRSSA [Public Relations Society of America], Alissa says. I really do wish I had time to
be able to join the dance club and join a piece or two that I would like.
Currently, Alissa is taking a dance history course, which although doesnt require
movement, keeps her roots in dancing. As part of a required course for her studies,
Alissa gets to sit back and watch dance develop through time. She gets to learn about the
origins of dance. She gets to be introduced to the names of the greats who popularized
dance. She gets to watch her passion go through history and develop into what she
knows it as today. She gets to admire her craft even if she is only watching.
Leaving her dance history class, Alissa is reminded why she loves dance so much. It's
just a beautiful and technical form of art, Alissa says.
In and around her Bayside apartment, Alissa finds herself constantly doing dance
related tasks. I dance in my room a lot, Alissa says with a laugh. My roommates will
get back from class and I'll be doing homework while stretching with my leg on the bed
and they will just look at me and laugh.
Her apartment also sees a lot of improvisation, or improv as Alissa calls it. If I ever
get really stressed out, I can just turn on music and improv around the apartment,
Alyssa says. This form of art in some cases is what can push Alissa through. It is what
can help her persevere and succeed at a stressful task. Dance is more to Alissa. More
than just movement.
Dance allowed Alissa to be expressive and be something that may not be who she always
is. On stage, Alissa has the spotlight, all eyes are on her and she can be as eccentric as
she wishes. She can embody another character, or an alter ego, someone that may be too
hectic for everyday life. On stage, anything goes.

20

Alissa recalls being extremely shy, and always afraid to be the star in situations, but
dance has helped her break out. Improv really made me be more outspoken, Alissa
says. It just forces you to do whatever comes into your head no matter how ridiculous
you look. Alissa finds dance as a character builder, something that can do more for
people than they may even believe. Its something that affects others. It's something that
is both influenced and influential.
Dance is not something that is easily explained. Dance is not something that just anyone
can put a definition on. The power of dance is that it is discretionary. Dance to one can
differ exponentially to dance for another. Dance is the reason she is the woman she is
today. Eighteen years. Countless training hours. Four injuries. Challenging decisions.
These were the aspects of dance that shaped Alissa.
Dance has been a huge component in my life, Alissa says. Without dance, I wouldnt
be as disciplined as I am. I wouldnt be as passionate, or motivated to want to succeed. I
wouldnt strive to be the best that I can be. Thats what dance did for me.

21

Works Cited
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Hamilton, William G. "Dr. William G. Hamilton ." Dr. William G. Hamilton . N.p., n.d.
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2015.
"Health Issues in American Football." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Oct. 2015.
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"History of Dance." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2009. Web. 16 Nov.
2015.
Lansdale, Janet, and June Layson. Dance History: An Introduction. London:
Routledge, 1994. Print.
McCormack, Moira. "Teaching the Hypermobile Dancer." The IADMS Bulletin for
Teachers 2.1 (2010): 5-8. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Schwarz, Joel. "Ballet Dancer Injuries as Common, Severe as Athletic Injuries." UW
Today. N.p., 11 Oct. 2000. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
The Solemn Moment. Chor. Lorraine Chapman. Massachusetts, Winchester. 25 Sept.
2015. Performance.
Wainwright, Steven P., Clare Williams, and Bryan S. Turner. "Globalization, Habitus,
and the Balletic Body." Sage Journals. N.p., 2007. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
"10 Key Areas of Title IX." TitleIX.info. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

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