Dance and Sports Science- Gjuum

I thought I'd share a video I came across on youtube whilst searching for different techniques Dancer's use in their training. This is a documentary which was shown at the 2014 Prix de Lausanne Ballet competition and it evolves around Patrick Rump, a Sports Scientist, and his practice 'GJUUM'.

Founded in January 2014, GJUUM is a clinic that collaborates a team of sports scientists, physiotherapists, sports psychologists, social workers, conditioning coaches and ballet masters who offer the innovative advances of sports science and medicine to dancers across the world.
The practice offers specific training methods to improve a dancer's performance, strength and overall confidence, particularly when they have returned to dancing after an injury.

Tamara Rojo, Artistic director of the English National Ballet, states in the documentary that she strongly believes Dance science should be incorporated into every national ballet school. She believes that if this tool was available to her at her younger age, many of her injuries sustained in her career would have been avoided. 

William Forsythe, Artistic director of The Forsythe company, said that: " Sports Science is like the secret weapon that we didn't know we had."

I find this so interesting, could sports science be integrated into the curriculum of vocational dance schools in the future? When I was injured at ballet school I didn't have any kind of therapy support or the facilities like the GJUUM practice available to me, I was only advised to do some pilates, watch class and to be honest, left to my own devices. 

The most compelling aspect for me from this documentary was the fact that Patrick Rump instilled a confidence in the dancer's throughout their rehabilitation process, so they could come back to dancing stronger than ever.

Here's the link to the documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLLc4mHRUGY

Katrina x