Unit 11: Dissertation

UNIT 11 DISSERTATION: Faith

A research study on the prevalence and causes of anxiety in dancers.

Within the performing arts industry, there are obvious struggles like technique or looking the right way for a certain part including those that dancers face daily that aren’t visible. When you think about performing it’s often forgotten that dancers can have mental health issues too. I’ll be exploring what the main causes of anxiety are for dancers and performers and explore ways  which can be used to help cope with anxiety.

Stress is a main factor in the development of anxiety, which is why it’s common in dancers, as they’re pressured to pursue perfection and are always, performing which piles on a great amount of stress. “Anxiety is an irrational sense of fear that pairs perfectly with perfectionism.” (Pointe, 2019)

To uncover how common anxiety is with dancers I created a survey asking my dance classmates and friends whether or not they have suffered or suffer from anxiety and what the causes are and if dance helps to relieve or add to the anxiety. I asked five dancers I've worked with to respond to the survey and all five answered ‘yes’ to suffering with anxiety. This demonstrates that many, dancers are victims of anxiety and that it’s something that should be more focused on. When you compare it to anxiety in young people generation the rate is one in six people suffering from anxiety, this is much more likely. “Most, if not all, ballet dancers will feel anxious from time to time. In fact, the psychologists we spoke to said it is one of the most common reasons dancers come to them for treatment.” (Pointe, 2019)

There are five different types of anxiety that people can face but can experience differently:

1. Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)- exaggerated worry and tension with little or  no provocation.

2. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)- reccurring thoughts, repetitive behaviours performed to prevent  obsessive thoughts and completing these behaviours as a relief to anxiety where not doing them increases the anxiety.

3. Panic disorder- unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear followed with physical pain such as chest pain, heart palpitations dizziness and more.

4. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)- a disorder which develops after a terrifying experience where grave harm has occurred or been threatened.

5. Social anxiety- excessive self-consciousness in everyday situations . Could happen in more than one situation, such as every time a social interaction needs to made.

(HHS.gov, 2019)

Now if we put these different types of anxiety in the context of how a dancer could struggle with them it will be easier to understand the reasons. When a dancer suffers from GAD or social anxiety it leads to the dancer feeling insecure and having low self-esteem, for example, worrying about choreography and/or performance. In the case of OCD in order to relax the dancer would feel the need to repeat choreography over and over, for example, to avoid thoughts of failure. PTSD and panic disorders are linked to dancers, in the case of, for example, a experience like falling on stage or forgetting choreography which they are reminded and overwhelms them, bringing on a panic attack.

I then looked at symptoms of anxiety and what to look out for if a person is suffering with anxiety:

“panic, fear, uneasiness, insomnia, not being able to stay calm, cold; sweaty, numb or tingling hands or feet, shortness of breath, racy heart, dry mouth, nausea, tense muscles and dizziness” (WebMD, 2019)

These are the general symptoms of anxiety, and it can help to recognise if someone is suffering by you looking out for these signs. These symptoms create a drained effect on the dancer, which can lead to a mediocre performance. Spotting symptoms can be hard, as dancers like putting on a mask, as they don’t want to show vulnerability and want to appear normal. Also if showing that vulnerability and anxiety increases the chance of not getting work then it’s not worth the risk.

“‘Fight or flight’- sweaty palms, breathlessness, dizziness and heart palpitations are indicators of anxiety, but also are reactions to the fight or flight response. The adrenaline produced from this response can turn into  panic attacks. These can be frightening and the sufferer may believe that they will stop breathing” (Dancers' health information, support and advice, 2019)

This is another example of some potential symptoms and thoughts of a dancer going through a panic disorder type of anxiety, known as a panic attack. When there isn’t something we can fight or run from physically, we let all this adrenaline build up leading to a panic attack.

When reviewing the responses from my survey I noticed that for the majority of the dancers that I interviewed, dance isn’t the main reason they are anxious but it is an enhancer, which doesn’t take away from the fact that they are still feeling anxious about dancing and that dance is contributing to this anxiety. Some of the responses were: “I think I have anxiety because of certain people and also how I view myself in society and think my anxiety is a mix of dance and society”and “Dance in and of itself doesn’t affect me, the surroundings are what adds to my anxiety.” (Dancers and Anxiety Survey, 2019)

I’m going to discuss examples of the struggles that dancers face. The first one I’m going to talk about is body image. When it comes to body image, every dancer wants to be skinny and have long limbs, and this unfortunately creates the insecurity of not being the right shape or not creating beautiful lines. These body image issues can also lead to more severe illness and anxiety which leaves the dancer questioning themselves and experiencing low self-esteem. This corresponds to this dancer's survey answer; “I already have social anxiety without dance, which makes partner work hard and the mirrors during class make it very easy to pick apart yourself and dance clothes hide nothing and we are our worst critic.” (Dancers and Anxiety Survey, 2019)

The next is the expectations we want to fulfil and achieve, as we are always working to improve and impress but with that comes pressure and stress. When you work so hard at something and the pressure builds, it can turn what you love doing into a burden which decreases motivation. This can affect the dancer’s mood and raise the risk of them giving up. This is shown through this dancer’s response, “it unfortunately has made me feel like I’m not good enough to be a dancer, that I’m not going to achieve anything and made me put a lot a lot of pressure on into myself.” (Dancers and Anxiety Survey, 2019)

Anxiety is also caused by teachers and fellow dancers, due to comparisons they make with others. This is not only teachers comparing you, but dancers themselves making comparisons to other dancers. Thoughts that occur maybe – you aren’t good enough or you look stupid next to… or you may be told “you’re standing out in a bad way”, and it’s thoughts like these that constantly replay in the mind and can make dancers feel inferior to others- this dancer’s response relates to this struggle; “Dance used to be a way of coping with my mental health difficulties but when I ended up with dance teachers who constantly undermined me and made me feel useless among other students then it definitely raised my anxiety and made me lose interest in dance.” (Dancers and Anxiety Survey, 2019)

The effects of these struggles are strong but there are ways to lessen the effect, through various coping methods. It’s important to know how to counteract a panic/anxiety attack if you or someone else is experiencing one and to prevent these attacks from happening in the future. There are many ways to cope such as:

“1. Focus on strengths as much as your weaknesses, 2.  understand your capabilities, 3. control the controllable and let the rest go.” (Pointe, 2019) - Keeping these in mind can help keep a dancer in a balanced mindset by not focusing too much on the negative, and by understanding what they can and can’t do. I think that this is a great way for a dancer to be less doubtful of themselves as identify points for development and growth.

Another article mentions the importance of not having to control everything; “control what you can- prepare for your performance in every way possible. Give yourself enough rehearsal. Assemble everything you'll need for the show, from your favourite sports drink to extra bobby pins, ahead of time. Develop a go-to warmup routine that gets you in the zone” (Dance Magazine, 2019) – These are  great ways to ease anxiety for dancers as they allow the dancer to feel they are fully prepared. By developing a pre performance routine, the dancer can develop habits it becomes a habit which stick and therefore lessen the amount of fear they have about not being prepared. This is also positive as you can set small personal goals to achieve bigger ones, allowing the dancer to take things step by step and leave them feeling prepared and that everything is under control.

In a TEDtalk on anxiety the presenter, Olivia Remes, mentioned a quote by G.K Chesterton “anything worth doing is worth doing badly the first time” (How to cope with anxiety | Olivia Remes | TEDxUHasselt, 2017) - I think this is a positive quote to remember as it reminds the dancer that it takes time and practice to get things right and that it’s good to learn from the mistakes you make. Getting regular help from a therapist or a councillor can also help get worries off the dancer’s chest and clear the mind where needed.

Is there a reason why so many dancers don’t talk about their anxieties and is this another reason why they have them? If a dancer talks about a mental health issue, they are deemed to be hard to work with or potentially as ‘crazy’ and may be thought less of. “I feel as though I’m not justified enough to be talking about my issues when others make out as though they are going through much worse and it makes me feel as though I’m being insensitive” (Dancers and Anxiety Survey, 2019) This dancers statement shows that talking about anxiety may  worsen the situation. Mental health is considered irrelevant in the industry.  “the dance world has changed since I left it. Nutrition discussions are moving from low-fat to eating whole foods. Cross training is the norm and new styles of movement and body types are slowly finding their place. But this taboo remains, and it is too important to ignore.” - (Dance Magazine, 2019) This demonstrates that although approaches to physical problems are improving, the psychological side is still often disregarded.

Overall, I think the reason why dancers suffer from anxiety is because dance has factors that contribute to its development. As there are many different types of anxiety and numerous ways which one can experience that anxiety, it’s possible to say that it’s very easy to become a victim, because of the amount of stress and pressure that is put upon dancers to be perfect. Although there are ways to help calm a dancer’s anxiety, I feel it needs to be addressed more in the industry. This study has helped me understand more about anxiety and ways to cope with it and I hop to take this information to help improve my own morale when it comes to dancing. I also hope these techniques can also help other dancers who also suffer from anxiety, so they can find a way to understand themselves more.