dance.
MENTAL SKILLS TRAINING
Mental skills training has the potential to positively impact wide ranging groups of people. On this page you can find a summary of our new research project on mental skills training in dance. ​
Dancers often need to navigate major challenges in their careers. A scoping review found that factors like pressure to succeed in auditions, rehearsals and performances but also major life events, financial concerns, injury and strained, professional relationships can take a toll on dancers’ physical and mental well-being.
However, dancers can do something to address these challenges. By systematically using techniques that build mental skills and mental characteristics, dancers can not only protect themselves against the challenges they encounter, but also reduce several risk factors that might jeopardise their mental well-being.
To date there are no established and applied mental skills training programmes for dancers. Inspired by valuable insights and experience gained in our previous projects, we will seek help from dancers and different dance specialists to develop a sustainable, meaningful, and efficient mental skills training programme for dancers.
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You can check out the published protocol for our systematic review on the characteristics of mental skills interventions in dance here.
