How many injuries will a ballet dancer suffer during her training?

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Question:

Hi, I basically want to present a list of the hard training a ballet dancer needs to go through in order to be an accomplished dancer!. Something along the lines of "20 hours a week training, 10 sprained ankles, 3 broken toes etc"

I don't have any idea about ballet so if anyone could provide some suggestions - is it likely a ballet dancer will break toes/ankles etc but keep dancing etc - that would be great!.

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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

As a young dancer in training, I studied anywhere from 15-20 hours a week!. During summer intensive programs, those hours jumped to 20-25 a week!. As a professional dancer with a company, we'd start morning class at 10-11:45, have a 15 minute break, then start rehearsals from 12-1:30, take a 1/2 hour lunch break, then start rehearsing again from 2-5:30!. This was our schedule 5 days a week!. I was one of the lucky ones to have a fairly injury free career although i had a predisposition for neck, lower back and hip problems, and I did suffer a stress fracture in my 2nd toe, all of which I danced through!. I have known dancers to repeatedly sprain their ankles, some have had multiple knee surgeries, strained backs, broken fingers (by partnering), and a good friend of mine had broken his back early in his career!. All of these dancers continued dancing either while they were dealing with the milder injuries or after therapy or surgery!. Here's an article that might give you some perspective on the dancer's mentality when it comes to injuries!.

http://www!.sfweekly!.com/2008-07-23/news/!.!.!.

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Hmm some dancers are lucky and get no injures!.!.but ankle, knee, and hip injuries are common!. I dance 18 hours a week, not including rehersal ect!.!.!.and I have had one major injury!.!.!.tore my acl!.!.!.had surgery!. also, I have sprained my ankle several times!.!.but that didn't stop me for long!.!.!.in dance a lot of time!.!.you have to ignore pain!.!.but it is critical to get properly treated or it may ruin your career!.

Dancing is really hard, pain is normal, but that how you get where you want!. My injury put me off about 6 months total!.!.i had reconstructive surgery!.!.and i had ptherapy so i could get bak in asap!.!.i still recieve cortosone shot!.!.to help w/ my knee!. I plan on audtioning for a company this upcoming year, and if I do not get accepted into one them i am going to be attending a pfart high school until i can get in one!.
I take private lessons, and group lessons!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

I take 3 different ballet classes a week!.!. when I was younger, I took more!.

If you have proper trainining, then you really shouldn't have all that many injuries!.

When I was first learning however I had one sprained ankle!.!.!. and I do get a couple of bruises from time to time, but my main problem is just soreness after class, but that's just because I work really hard at it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Thats what i call a training!.!.!.!.you wont be strong if there is no broken bones!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Your question (and sub-question) is based on the wrong premise!. There is nothing about injuries that is necessary for becoming a dancer!. You are posing your question with words like "WILL suffer" and "NEEDS to go through," as though injuries are PART of the training, rather than an unfortunate consequence of the training!. The luckier a dancer is, the fewer injuries they'll get and the further they're able to go in their career!. Injuries are the #1 career-stopper!. They are not a career promoter!.

The premiere resource in all the world for Dance Medicine is the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries, an arm of the NYU School of Medicine!. They host a web site of "Common Dance Injuries," all 43 of them!.
http://www!.med!.nyu!.edu/hjd/harkness/pati!.!.!.
Knock yourself out reading them!. But understand that by "common," it doesn't mean "inevitable!."

"Hard training," includes 10-12 years of dance classes before you're 18, going at LEAST 15 hours a week (not counting rehearsals) by the time you graduate during the school year; many more hours per week at summer dance intensives!. Pain IS inevitable, along with bloody blisters and often toe nails that take weeks to fully fall off!. It means dancing full-out when you're totally exhausted and many times when you're very sick with things like the flu and strep throat!. It means getting kicked when another dancer gets too close, dropped when your partner messes up, and twisting your ankle when you slip on a pile of fake snow flakes!. It also means many teachers and directors who ignore you or even yell at you, fellow dancers who shun you and mess with your stuff out of jealousy, boyfriends who break up with you because you put dance first, and having to dance with a smile even when your father is dying from cancer!. Then you go off to live in a cockroach infested apartment, but you're hardly there because you're dashing around the city taking classes, going to auditions, and working until 11 pm at a restaurant and you barely have time to eat one whole meal a day!.

But then, if you're very, very lucky and very, very talented, the big day comes when you make it into a ballet company, where the median income is $20,000!.
http://query!.nytimes!.com/gst/fullpage!.ht!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com