hi, I'm a product design student at the University of Cincinnati, and I'm designing an easy to use kit to make ballet a safer and more enjoyable experience for young dancers, particularly before and after class.
- by providing educational and motivational tools to address mental/emotional needs (i.e. logs and checklists)
- providing forms to aid in stretching exercises after class (ie. In car)
- exploring a holistic metaphor of inner/outer health to inform the inside and outside design of the kit

It would be really helpful to me if dance students could fill this survery out for me! If you want to fill this out, you can either post your response back onto the forum or email them to me at mollyv11(at)gmeil(dot)com. Thanks!

Your age: Sex:

At what age did you begin to dance?

How many days a week do you attend dance class?

How do you get to dance class? bus carpool parent drives drive self (circle as many as apply)

What do you do on the way to/from class?

What do you normally bring to dance classes?

Have you ever been injured from dance? Yes (if yes, please explain) No

What do you do if something hurts after class?

Why do you take dance classes?

What is your favorite part of dance?

One word to describe dance to you:

Welcome to CriticalDance...

I am going to move this down to our student's forum where it is likely to be seen by dance students as opposed to dance fans.

Cheers
Kate (moderator)

Sounds like an interesting project!

A few comments...

You might want to define an injury a bit more specifically, because I suspect there is hardly anyone who has not been hurt in some way during class or performance. I don't remember a class where something hasn't been at least a bit sore or achy.

Also, since many of the students who post here may also do other things besides ballet, you might want to find out about outside activities, both other sports which might also be contributing to injuries and strengthening activities like Pilates/Yoga/Weight lifting which may help to prevent them. In addition, it might be worthwile to know if people have been through physical therapy before because that can change their attitude and/or improve their knowledge about exercises to prevent injury.

Kate