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CREATIVITY
Caregivers require a strong knowledge and appreciation of their craft. and Science was formed by an international group of dance medicine
They are performing at the highest levels of human performance. practitioners, dance educators, dance scientists and dancers. Mem-
bership began with 48 participants and has grown to more than 900
One scientific study asked the question, what is the toughest, most members in 35 countries today.
difficult to master, most challenging sport? Researchers looked at 60
sports and rated them based on more than 20 performance criteria, The question, why you like to entertain with dance, is answered
including physical, intellectual and environmental. The conclusion in a poem in the ancient treatise on dance, “Natya Shastra:”
was that ballet was the most exacting physical endeavor. I am sure
that is true of Bharathanatyam and other dance forms, too. Yatho Hastas Thato Dhrishti: Where the hand goes there should
your eyes follow.
Another group of researchers sought to examine if dancers' beliefs
correlate with actual use of provider services when they are injured. Yatho Dhristi Thato Manaha: Where your eyes follow there should
Dancers perceived dance teachers to be first-line treatment providers be your mind.
(47.5 percent), followed by physical therapists (30 percent). Physi-
cians were ranked third (12.5 percent) and only marginally higher Yatho Manaha Thatho Bhavaha: Where your mind is there should
than a dance colleague (10 percent). The dancers expressed a strong be your emotions.
preference for nonsurgical rather than surgical physicians (87.5 per-
cent versus 5 percent), and among physicians, the majority of dancers Yatho Bhavaha Thatho Rasaha: Where your emotions are it elicits
preferred subspecialists (60 percent), namely nonsurgical sports med- a response in the Other, meaning the audience or “Rasika.”
icine doctors and physiatrists.
I dance to convey to you the joy I feel.
I have found it very difficult to convey the technical aspect of the
dance form to orthopaedic, sports or rehabilitation practitioners. The Rajam Ramamurthy, MD, is an adjunct professor
science has advanced much more for ballet and other Western forms of pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical School
of dance. In 1990, the International Association for Dance Medicine in San Antonio and senior guru at Arathi School of In-
dian Dance. She was BCMS president in 2004 and is
a member of the BCMS Communications/Publications
Committee.
visit us at www.bcms.org 23
