Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

There are increasing calls for culture change in aesthetic activities such as ballet, gymnastics, and figure skating. To date, however, the term culture is used in numerous different ways and has rarely been the main focus of an investigation in these activities. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore perceptions and experiences of culture among elite female aesthetic performers. Eight professional ballet dancers and international-level aesthetic athletes aged 22-46 and active in seven European countries participated. In-depth semistructured interviews were followed by reflexive thematic analysis, member reflection interviews, and an expert consultation. Results are presented as four themes: (a) We have some problems here: on traditional culture, (b) there is a way forward: on culture change, (c) who can say? on the subjective nature of experience, and (d) what does it take? on facilitators of progress. Overall, it is clear that the performers perceive their culture as traditional in many ways: Specifically, it is described as hierarchical, selective, and as valuing performance above all else. When such traditional aspects are pronounced, abuse appears more likely; indeed, all interviewees give examples of abuse. Notably, they also describe several aspects of progress regarding culture change and give a range of recommendations for how greater progress can be made. These recommendations focus on leadership and include real commitment to change, stronger education requirements for leaders, and better support for basic psychological needs. Overall, our findings may provide helpful considerations and suggestions for culture change in aesthetic activities.

The world of ballet education is steeped in a tradition of discipline and established hierarchy. The authoritarian pedagogical approach to ballet education and its negative consequences have been well documented in the dance-specialized literature. However, research on emotional abuse in dance is scarce. In sports, emotional abuse has been extensively researched, and the concept of psychological safety as applied to sports has been developed to protect athletes from such abuse. The present study investigated ballet students’ perceptions of psychological safety and their recommendations to reach it. Their recommendations focused on respecting students’ abilities, individualities, and increasing communication on all levels of interactions. Particular importance was also given to avoiding comparison and competition. Through the recommendations given to teachers, fellow students, parents, and school directors, the participants help us understand what is needed to increase psychological safety in ballet education and provide a healthier psychological environment for future dancers. 

Despite the suggested risks concerning lower enjoyment and dropout, early specialization is said to be beneficial for high-level performance in aesthetic sports. In this study, we investigated in what ways early-specialized aesthetic athletes reflect upon their motivation throughout their training history. Ten Swedish high-level athletes who specialized early (two figure skaters, three artistic gymnasts, and five team gymnasts), age 18-24, participated in semistructured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results are presented as three themes whereby one foundational theme, sustained autonomous motivation, underpins the other two themes: early engagement and intensified engagement. The results indicate that the interviewed athletes maintained autonomous motivation throughout their early specialization and their continued athletic career. This autonomous motivation remained despite experiences of external and introjected motivation during adolescence. As such, our results support a multifaceted profile perspective of motivation.

Freelance dance artists face a range of challenges that might negatively impact their mental well-being. To address these issues, research indicates that mental skills training (MST) could be beneficial for freelance dance artists, but no recognised manualised programme currently exists for this group. Prior to developing a MST programme, more knowledge is required on freelance artists’ use of mental skills. This protocol outlines a qualitative interview study to investigate: a) what mental techniques, skills and qualities freelance dance artists perceive to be beneficial in negotiating challenges and enhancing their wellbeing; b) gain insight into mechanisms underpinning the process of MST; and c) determine crucial characteristics (e.g., duration, teaching techniques) essential to a feasible and meaningful MST programme for freelance dance artists. Embedded in a person-based approach (PBA) to intervention development and underpinned by a pragmatic stance, the study will employ snowball sampling to recruit 8 freelance dance artists and 8 psychologically informed practitioners for semi-structured interviews. Data will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication in a scientific journal.

Although “making it” in dance has long been associated with a performance career, few dancers solely perform and many also pursue choreography and/or teaching. Considering these many ways of being a dance artist, the aim of this study was to understand (a) the psychological characteristics which are perceived to be facilitative of engagement and well-being in dance, and (b) the experiences that dancing itself provides that encourage engagement and well-being. Eight dancers in vocational ballet training and 17 professional dance artists, all of whom had performed and/or taught and/or choreographed, participated in semi-structured interviews which were analyzed using thematic analysis. Key themes of a) intrinsic motivation to dance, b) psychological characteristics in the dancer, and c) basic psychological need satisfaction in dance were found. It is important to equally nurture intrinsic motivation across dance training, performance, choreography, and teaching to promote engagement and well-being across the training and career span.

OBJECTIVES: Mental skills training (MST), which systematically uses techniques to build mental skills, is a popular intervention approach that may benefit dancers. However, information presented in existing MST interventions in dance is dispersed, making it difficult to offer evidence-based recommendations. To address this, the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) can improve transparency and replicability in intervention reporting, thus supporting researchers in assessing existing evidence and enhancing future intervention design. Guided by this framework, the aim of this mixed-methods systematic review was to provide an overview of existing MST interventions in dance and examine (1) the characteristics of effective MST interventions in dance and (2) how the reporting of these interventions aligned with the 12 TIDieR items.

DESIGN: Mixed-methods systematic review.

DATA SOURCES: PsycInfo, Medline, Embase, SportDiscus, Web of Science and the first 30 pages of Google Scholar were searched from database inception until August 2024.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods approaches investigating MST interventions in which dancers used mental techniques, developed mental skills or enhanced mental qualities to improve physical and mental well-being.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two reviewers independently screened identified studies in Covidence. Using the TIDieR framework, one reviewer extracted data while a second checked 30% of studies for accuracy. A convergent integrated synthesis was conducted.

RESULTS: Findings from the 21 included studies indicated that intervention effectiveness was determined by characteristics relating to both recipients and deliverers. While TIDieR items describing intervention content were most reported, few studies described fidelity.

CONCLUSION: Future MST interventions in dance should consider multiple aspects of effectiveness and involve dancers and deliverers in mapping needs, values and outcomes. Structured reporting tools like TIDieR may enhance reporting clarity and intervention replicability.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42024537249.

Performance anxiety is a major issue for performing artists. This qualitative paper extends our recent mixed-methods collective case study showing the beneficial effects of psychological interventions for managing performance anxiety, tailored in individual coaching settings. Here, we report on participants’ experiences of being coached, their understanding of how and why the interventions were effective, and the researcher-coach's experiences. Ten performing artists received five individual coaching sessions and were interviewed about their experiences pre- and post-intervention. A qualitative synthesis of transcripts of sessions and interviews, and of the coach's field notes and journal entries, was conducted. Findings suggest that change mechanisms have to be understood in the context of participants’ enhanced self-awareness during coaching, and the process of co-creating solutions and building a coaching relationship through mutual understanding and appreciation. While disentangling mechanisms and effects may not always be possible, we discuss useful strategies in coaching performing artists to manage performance anxiety. 

In this small-scale study we investigated ballet teachers’ views and experiences of autonomy and autonomy support. For this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six ballet teachers in a prestigious pre-professional ballet school in Europe. Findings indicate that when and how autonomy was provided seemed to be impacted by whether a teacher either challenged or adhered to ballet ideals. By using the Circumplex Model of motivation, three different levels of autonomy support could be identified: high autonomy support, moderate autonomy support, and controlling approaches. The findings present a nuanced picture of ballet teachers’ views, experiences, and teaching styles and suggest that dance educators move on a continuum of autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors.

Despite the intense and long-standing interest surrounding early sport specialisation, scholars still debate its nature and implications. Previous researchers have also identified the need for further research relating to the psychological aspects of early specialisation such as lower quality motivation, dropout and burnout. To help guide future research it is important to build upon the quantitative literature concerning such psychological aspects of early specialisation. The specific aims of this paper are to provide an overview of research results of quantitative studies that set out to explore relationships between early specialisation and psychological aspects, and to critically examine the designs of such studies. As such, study design characteristics including participant demographics, the psychological aspects represented, and the research questions and results are explored. Data searches were conducted in PubMed, SportDiscus, and PsychINFO using search terms such as "early sport speciali*". Twenty-one relevant papers met the inclusion criteria. The results highlight that the published papers in this area are broad in some respects (variety of sports, performance levels, and gender), but narrow in others (North American dominance, few psychological aspects explored, and few papers per psychological aspect). Many of the studies are based on cross-sectional and retrospective self-reports. Overall, this paper serves as a foundation on which to design future research studies in this area.

INTRODUCTION: Dancers are expected to navigate major challenges in their careers that might take a toll on their physical and mental health. To address underlying factors that might increase dancers' mental and physical health difficulties, research suggests the systematic use of techniques to build mental skills that can reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors against the challenges dancers encounter. However, existing mental skills training interventions in dance present a lack of consistency in design, content and duration, making it difficult to provide evidence-based recommendations. Hence, dance researchers and practitioners would benefit from a mixed methods systematic review (MMSR) of the why, what and how of these interventions. Adopting tools such as the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) can aid this endeavour by describing replicable aspects of interventions, thus offering dance researchers suggestions on how to understand, appraise and report intervention characteristics and processes in dance. Therefore, this protocol outlines a MMSR that will employ TIDieR to identify and assess characteristics of mental skills interventions in dance.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A systematic search will be undertaken in Psycinfo, Medline, Embase, Sportdiscus, Web of Science and the first 30 pages of GoogleScholar. Following the search, two reviewers will independently screen identified studies in Covidence. One reviewer will extract data using the TIDieR framework and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for quality appraisal, while a second reviewer will check a sample of extracted studies for accuracy. A convergent integrated synthesis will be conducted where quantitative and qualitative evidence will be integrated by qualitising the quantitative data into textual descriptions.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: There is no requirement for ethical approval for this systematic review as no empirical data will be collected. The findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication in a scientific journal and presentations in several different forums (eg, a dance psychology network, at scientific and applied conferences).

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42024537249.