Raising the Barre - The Royal Ballet - The Observer Magazine
Raising the Barre - Behind the scenes at the Royal Ballet - The Observer Magazine
At the Royal Opera House in London, home of the Royal Ballet, art is fusing with science to revolutionise the way dancers prepare. In the glass-panelled healthcare suite, ballerinas are standing on high-tech force platforms which analyse their leg power, and gripping barbells fitted with linear encoders to track their lifting velocity. This is how modern dancers fortify their joints and boost the dazzling height of their grands jetés. With their hair in buns and pink pointe shoes poking out of their gym bags, the ballerinas shift weights with such power that staff have installed padding to spare the nerves of the costume department below.
Principal dancers Marianela Nuñez and Alexander Campbell glide past. More arrive in white tutus, fresh from rehearsals for Swan Lake; a graceful, giggling wave of youthful energy, chatting about barbecues and Instagram. Some complete bespoke cardio drills, calibrated using oxygen-uptake tests, to get fit for quick-tempo allegro routines. Others strengthen their soleus calf muscles, which on-site electromyography (EMG) analysis suggests can help stabilise their ankles. Every workout is uploaded to Smartabase, a data-analysis platform also used by the US military. Meanwhile, fatigued dancers apply Game Ready leg wraps, which harness Nasa space-suit technology to deliver tissue-repairing cold therapy, and learn how adding omega-3-rich anchovies to their salads can reduce muscle inflammation.
The Royal Ballet is rich in tradition, but the company’s 97 dancers are now supported by a 17-strong team of sports science and healthcare experts. “Our facilities are now similar to those of a Premier League football club,” explains Gregory Retter, clinical director of ballet healthcare. “Strength, jumping, force attenuation, cardiovascular fitness, psychological wellbeing and nutrition; all support the dancer to be free to create artistic excellence. This is a completely new concept in dance.”
Many of the Royal Ballet’s innovations are inspired by a wave of game-changing new research overseen by the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science (NIDMS). Launched in 2012, this collaboration of UK dance institutions and universities examines everything from dancers’ ankle mechanics to performance anxiety. Professor Emma Redding, head of dance science at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in south-east London, is a founding partner of NIDMS. “Dance has always been based on tradition and anecdote, but we started using words like ‘measure’ and ‘evaluate’, which are frowned upon in the arts world,” explains Redding, a former dancer. “People thought science might dilute the art. But we started asking, can’t we get dancers’ bodies and minds even stronger? Or even extend their capacities?”
Trinity Laban’s Dance Science lab features wireless EMG equipment and face masks that can measure dancers’ muscle activity and oxygen uptake; an Optojump system, which uses infrared LED lights to analyse jumps; and a Tekscan pressure sensor, which gauges postural sway during pliés and pirouettes. This is where many ballet innovations are tested. “We have worked with choreographers like Wayne McGregor, but if you are paying to watch a professional ballet, you don’t want to see people with masks on,” smiles Redding. However, her findings are disseminated through journals and conferences to companies such as the Royal Ballet, which joined NIDMS last year. Research by current guest lecturer Kim Hutt, supervised by Redding, has shown how eyes-closed training can boost a dancer’s proprioception – a kind of “sixth sense” which helps them understand the relative position of their limbs on darkened stages.
“Our challenge is to apply these new insights into a busy company,” says Retter, guiding me into a light-drenched rehearsal studio at the Royal Opera House where principals Sarah Lamb, Yasmine Naghdi and Federico Bonelli are painting elegant arcs with their bodies to the sound of a live piano. Dancers face relentless workloads, with a 75-minute class and five to six hours of rehearsals every day, six days a week, and typically three to four performances every week. That’s why Retter’s main priority is to reduce injuries. Dancers suffer an injury rate comparable to American football, with a mean of 6.8 injuries per year. “The guys suffer shoulder, patella [knee] and Achilles injuries from the lifts and jumps, and the females suffer foot injuries from pointe work, but generally 60-70% of injuries are below the knee. We’re working to protect them from this huge workload.”
To achieve this, Retter’s team combines external insights from NIDMS with in-house research. Strength coach Adam Mattiussi opens his laptop to show me a series of charts. “We are starting to quantify ballet,” he explains. “What are the dancers’ physical requirements? How many jumps will they do? What are their rest intervals?” As well as force platforms, EMG units, oxygen-uptake masks and heart-rate monitors, extra tools are accessible through their partnership with St Mary’s University, London, including a Vicon motion capture system used in Hollywood special effects studios. Data is allied to “difficulty scores” for each role, provided by the artistic staff.
The mission is to build a digital bible of the Royal Ballet’s entire repertoire, enabling dancers to tailor their physical training for upcoming roles. The data has already yielded surprises. In The Nutcracker, Clara must complete 196 jumps, while Hans-Peter executes 18 lifts. Some male dancers land with 6,000N of force – the equivalent of eight times their body weight. These stats are now transforming the way dancers prepare. “The biggest change is the strength training,” explains Royal Ballet sports scientist Gregor Rosenkranz, pointing out the barbells, kettlebells and heavy sandbags. “It helps dancers attenuate those landing forces and avoid muscle injuries. But squats also influence jump height and balance, which helps create buy-in from the dancers.” A study by NIDMS confirmed that a year of conditioning can slash the injuries suffered by female dancers from 4.14 per 1,000 hours of dancing to 1.71.
Dancers’ career longevity and post-retirement health are also factors. Research suggests 36% of professional dancers retire due to a musculoskeletal injury, with 91% suffering pain in later life. Dancers are also more prone to low bone-mineral density, which is linked to osteoporosis. The strength-training sessions help to boost bone-mineral density and reduce muscle injuries. But Redding speculates that dancers’ growing scientific education may even influence choreography in the future: “The culture of ballet is that you don’t ask many questions, but when a movement isn’t good for them they may start to say something.”
Retter had to “convince and cajole” dancers when the suite first opened in 2013. “Dancers see themselves as artists whose job is to perform complex choreography and convey emotion to the audience and I am trying to gently say, actually, you are athletic artists,” he explains. “If we make dancers jump higher and land more softly, they should perform better aesthetically, too.” One study published by NIDMS confirmed that strength, aerobic and power training can increase dancers’ aesthetic performances by developing better timing and rhythmical accuracy.
First soloist Claire Calvert’s knee surgery in 2013 was her catalyst for experimentation. “A year off can send you into a black hole, but I thought about how I wanted to come back even better,” she says. “Suddenly, if I wanted to spend eight hours in the gym, I could.” At the peak of her rehab her squat one-rep max was 100kg. “It is my claim to fame,” she chuckles. That gives her a higher strength to weight ratio than 6ft 7in, 111kg England rugby star Courtney Lawes, whose one-rep max is 180kg.
“Ballet’s old-school regime didn’t cater for the type of dancers we have become,” she explains, citing the relentless programme and high scrutiny. “Now we have higher demands of physicality, a more diverse repertoire, so many shows, and little recovery time. On stage, I now have the strength and confidence to keep pushing through and perform steps better. When productions return every few years I realise they feel easier.”
First artist Gemma Pitchley-Gale once deadlifted 97.5kg. “I was shocked when the staff said, ‘You know it is not normal to lift more than double your bodyweight.’ But the squats and deadlifts have alleviated my back and hip pain and I find jumps much easier.” During workouts between shows, the dancers lift lower weights but the maximal figures reveal their huge physical capacity: most can lift 2.5 times their bodyweight using just their calf muscles.
Dancers are artists, not gymnasts, and value emotional storytelling over raw athleticism, but science is supporting their aesthetic endeavours in surprising ways. Tests have shown how dancers can soften their landings by ironing out muscle imbalances. EMG analysis has even suggested technical improvements. “By priming their leg muscles in the ‘flight phase’, dancers can attenuate landing forces using tendons and muscles, instead of relying on bone and cartilage, which causes stress and injury,” says Rosenkranz. Fitness tests also revealed that dancers’ heart rates never got as high during rehearsals as in front of audiences, when adrenaline kicks in. “If you only dance, without extra fitness sessions, you can’t perform at your best,” insists Rosenkranz. Dancers now bolster their fitness with bespoke cardio drills on rowers and stationary bikes. “I am no longer afraid of running out of breath,” says Campbell.
Finding the time is not so easy. “We have to be respectful of rehearsal because this is where the real artistic excellence is created,” says Retter. His team uses strategic planning to avoid interfering with the sacrosanct work of the choreographers and artistic staff. “We map dancers’ workloads and do tests throughout the year to identify how best to use our limited time,” says Mattiussi. “We might say: let’s use that six-week gap before The Nutcracker for some big training, then back off during the shows.”
The relentless schedule also plays havoc with the work of dietitian Jacqueline Birtwisle. “For dancers, it’s a constant battle between quality, bulk, availability and speed of digestion,” she says, shaking her head in mock-horror at the challenges. “And, of course, aesthetics are important. They work in front of a mirror all day and in front of an audience at night.”
Drawing on nutritional science, she encourages dancers to drip-feed their bodies with easily digestible fuel, such as softened bircher muesli with milk and berries for breakfast; a tuna salad for lunch, eaten at intervals between rehearsals and topped up with snacks of rice cakes, popcorn or malt loaf; and a light risotto before a show. Dancers eat oily fish to fight muscle inflammation and use flaxseed to take in fibre without the bloating caused by heavier foods like potatoes. They also supplement with vitamin D, which research by NIDMS has shown can boost jump performances by 7.1%. Nutritional science is proving popular. “Federico [Bonelli] quizzes me all the time and Yasmine, Frankie Hayward and Sarah Lamb are very diligent,” says Birtwisle. Dancers can also download an app which enables her to give live feedback on their food choices.
Ballerinas have long been vulnerable to the “female athlete triad” of anorexia, amenorrhoea and osteoporosis – interrelated conditions caused by insufficient calorie intake – but Birtwisle says this is normally the result of “unintentional underfuelling”, and improved awareness is reducing the threat. Retter has noticed a cultural shift: “When I arrived, the nutritionist was seen as the person you visited if you had a disordered eating issue. Now she is the person dancers ask about how best to fuel their day.”
Professional ballet is riddled with pressures and anxieties, which is why occupational psychologist Britt Tajet-Foxell likens her work to The Princess and the Pea. “A psychological issue may be hidden under a hundred mattresses but it’s my job to find it,” she says. “I tell dancers, you get goblins in your mind that chew and get fat, but you can have warfare with them when you know how.”
Injured dancers learn to create a mental video reel of positive associations – memories of good performances, safe places, or positive colours like red or yellow – to break negative reinforcement loops and boost self-esteem. “The subconscious says, ‘I will miss that role in Swan Lake, people think I am unreliable.’ Those dysfunctional thoughts wear you down. I collect those shattered fragments of confidence and create a positive framework to tap into.” Nervous performers learn to change focus, like switching camera lenses: “You must focus on the here and now, not ‘I hope I don’t wobble on that pirouette.’ Consequence-land is not a good place to be.” Tajet-Foxell also rewires signs of perfectionism – a trait linked to disordered eating and anxiety. “A perfectionist’s mindset is: ‘I must do it perfectly.’ That’s not possible. But if you say: ‘I am pursuing excellence,’ you always have somewhere to go.”
Other wellbeing services range from expert tuition in the pilates studio to massage therapy in the recovery suite. Science is making its mark here, too, with those Nasa-inspired leg wraps, as well as Recovery Boots, which use sequential pneumatic pressure to squeeze out metabolic waste after exercise. An advanced system of pulleys known as a Gyrotonic station helps develop flexibility through fluid, dance-specific movements. Thanks to this mix of expertise and innovation, performance time lost to injuries has fallen over the past four years. And skilled ballet rehab coaches are getting dancers back on stage quicker than ever. “One dancer is jumping in the gym four weeks post-op, whereas 10 years ago he would still be on the sofa,” says Calvert.
Performance science is even quietly shaping how some dancers manage their bodies on stage. Pitchley-Gale now combines her intuitive ballet mind, honed over decades of disciplined training, with detailed anatomical thinking. “The lower-leg footwork in Swan Lake makes you fatigue rapidly but – thanks to the squats and deadlifts – when I am jumping I now use my more dominant glutes and hamstrings higher up the chain to alleviate the strain on my lower-leg muscles, so my feet last longer,” she says. During pointe work, she consciously activates her core to optimise her posture and reduce the pressure on her foot bones. This example of aesthetic instinct underpinned by intelligent athleticism is, in many ways, the ultimate expression of Retter’s project: “Gemma is an amazing dancer who absolutely gets that this is all about freeing her to produce a brilliant artistic performance.”
Days later, I watch a performance of Swan Lake, attended by 2,256 spectators at the Royal Opera House and beamed to 1,084 cinemas in 29 countries worldwide. Memories of EMG graphs and pneumatic boots dissolve from my mind as the dancers enchant the audience with their ethereal talent, every gesture electrified with raw emotion, every limb flowing like shimmering silk. Science may be silently ushering ballet into the future, but dancers’ centuries-old talent for conjuring movements of impossible beauty with such effortless grace will forever remain ballet’s grand, unquantifiable mystery – and its greatest gift.
(C) The Observer
Weblink: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jul/15/raising-the-barre-how-science-is-saving-ballet-dancers