Post-Hire Health Screen for Professional Dancers

In the winter of 2005, the Dance/USA Managers Council requested that the Task Force on Dancer Health explore and make recommendations on preventing injury and illness in professional dance. Over a series of meetings, the Task Force unanimously concluded that the most important step that companies can take to improve dancer health is to screen dancers for risk factors that contribute to injury and illness, and to counsel each dancer and recommend interventions based on the screening information. Health screening at appropriate stages in life is a universally accepted practice and is the heart of preventive medicine today. Since professional dancers are at high risk for physical injury, emotional stress and nutritional imbalances, the Task Force urges professional companies to incorporate this preventive strategy into their annual routine.

The Primary Purposes of the screening should be mandatory and are:

To detect potentially life-threatening or disabling medical or musculoskeletal conditions that may limit a dancer’s safe participation.
To detect medical or musculoskeletal conditions that may predispose dancers to injury and/or illness during their season.

The Secondary Purposes of the screening are essential and are:

To determine the general health of the dancers
To assess the fitness level of the dancers
To counsel the dancers and make recommendations based on the screening information.
To use a standardized screening tool and associated protocols to assess dancer health.
To introduce new dancers to the company’s health care team and the health resources available to them.

It is essential that the dancers have confidence in the privacy and confidentiality of the information gathered in a health screening. The Task Force on Dancer Health has created a set of guidelines ensuring privacy and confidentiality and strict adherence to these guidelines is mandatory. These guidelines are based on the Privacy and Security portions of the Federal HIPAA regulations. At all times, information learned and collected as part of the screen is confidential and is defined as Private Health Information.

Learn more about the Screening Project.

View information for health care providers who want to participate.