The Pregnant Dancer

Is there a ‘good time’ to fall pregnant as a freelance dancer?

Chloe Hillyar, a PhD candidate at Queen’s University Belfast, seeks to establish the first best practice charter of dance-specific physical activity that defines an upper-safe limit for pregnant, professional dancers in the context of contemporary dance training and performance in the UK and Ireland dance sectors. Here, she offers an insight into some of her research findings.

The Research

Pregnant and parent dancers face many challenges when planning a family. Parents are forced to consider the timing of rehearsals, performances and future auditions and pregnant individuals must also factor in the financial implications of taking time away since paid maternity leave is uncommon. The problem is particularly pronounced for selfemployed dancers, who will usually enter maternity leave without a job to come back to.

Such challenges deter dancers from having children during their performative years, despite it being the period of optimal fertility (Szumilewicz et al., 2022). As a result, pregnancy and parenting remains largely absent from the dance sector (Kirk, 2022).

The Assumption

As a former dancer, I have approached my PhD with certain assumptions: some evidence-based (i.e. the well-established benefits of prenatal physical activity1), some anecdotal (i.e. the sacking of dancers who fall pregnant during a contract), and some tacit (i.e. the implicit bias towards thinness). These assumptions have been both confirmed and challenged throughout data collection. Most interesting to me are the assumptions made by my research participants about what pregnant dancers should or should not do. Thus far, the majority of research participants believe that pregnant individuals should adopt a cautionary approach to physical activity, with a small minority perceiving dance as a risk to the foetus. Whilst the impact of dance-specific activity on the pregnant body is unknown, studies investigating danceintensity equivalent activities during pregnancy (i.e. athletics) suggest that engaging in high intensity physical activity does not produce adverse foetal outcomes (RANZCOG, 2020). This suggests that the assumptions made by research participants are potentially un-evidenced.

These assumptions are understandable, especially considering the lack of research investigating dance and pregnancy in tandem. Current prenatal physical activity guidelines do not account for the high levels of training dancers may wish to sustain, or make dance-specific recommendations. As such, the absence of physical activity guidelines relevant to pregnant dancers results in arbitrary perceptions of pregnancyappropriate activity that stigmatise prenatal exercise (Davenport et al., 2022). Not only does this diametrically oppose the literature, but pregnant dancers are perceived to be less employable as a result.

The Ambition

The lack of research and evidenceinformed policies leaves dancers feeling vulnerable and unsure about whether they could or should participate in dance during pregnancy. Research in dance and maternity is important for improving physical wellbeing and challenging un-evidenced societal assumptions. My research serves as one of the only studies to recognise the physiological requirements demanded throughout a professional dance career in tandem with the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood. I aim to demonstrate how dance-specific activity can be safe and beneficial during pregnancy, whilst highlighting the social significance of employing maturing female dancers throughout pregnancy and beyond.

[1] A reduction in the occurrence of gestational diabetes mellitus (Aune et al., 2016; Russo et al., 2015; Tobias et al., 2011), gestational hypertension disorders (Magro-Maslosso et al., 2017), macrosomia (Pelaez et al., 2019; Barakat et al., 2016), excess weight gain (DiPietro et al., 2019), as well as shorter labours (Barakat et al., 2018) and improved mood (Kołomańska et al., 2019).

Further information

Are you a pregnant/parent dancer? Are you interested in contributing towards improving maternity care, parental provisions and career longevity?

If so, please contact Chloe to find out how you can get involved in her pioneering research: chillyar01@qub.ac.uk

References

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