Measuring a Pirouette: Tackling the challenge of quantifying dance
Author: Catherine Haber on behalf of the IADMS Dance Educators’ Committee
Pirouettes are incredibly challenging for dancers to perform, but also for scientists to study! As we heard from January’s post, physical principles – such as torque, force couples, angular acceleration, and conservation of angular momentum – can help us gain better insights into performance. However, beyond these principles, there are a multitude of crucial elements that go into the performance of a pirouette.
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Introducing 'Dance for Health'
Authors: Clare Guss-West and Emily Jenkins on behalf of the Dance for Health Task Force
The forthcoming IADMS 2019 conference in Montreal will see an exciting development that reflects the evolution of the IADMS mission statement in the visionary field of Dance for Health (DfH). Capitalizing on IADMS Health for Dance (HfD) expertise, the Association enlarges the focus of its medical, scientific and educational research and activities to validate the role of dance in society and enhance the health of all dancing publics.
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Does dancing in heels hurt your knees? This may be why.
Author: Pamela Mikkelsen on behalf of the IADMS Promotion Committee
Dancers know that the shoes we wear impact how our bodies feel after dancing. I know that dancing full production shows in heels left my knees sore in ways that wearing flat shoes didn’t. Some of this soreness can be explained by differences in choreography demands but how much of the soreness could come down to the shoes?
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Can Physics improve your pirouettes?
Authors: Margaret Wilson and Jennifer Deckert on behalf of the IADMS Dance Educators' Committee
Successful completion of a pirouette (turn on one leg) can sometimes feel like an impossible task, but understanding more about the mechanics behind the turn may help you find more stability, produce more rotations and have better balance. There are several principles from physics that are useful in understanding the preparation and turning action in a pirouette.
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