History
Dance screens have been conducted for many years by various organizations and
groups. Each screen has typically been labor intensive and generates a
great deal of data that needs to be analyzed for both the individual dancer as
well as group summaries. Historically, this post screen data processing
was done manually or with simple data processing tools.
The early beginnings of the Dancer Wellness Project (DWP) website was a simple
stand alone database application that provided rudimentary analysis of screening
data. This application was presented at the International Association of
Dance Medicine and Science conference in New York in 2002 and it was the subject
of great interest many many organizations. It was quickly determined that
the simple application was going to grow quite quickly and the application
needed to be re-engineered to utilize internet technology to support the wide
variety of organizational needs.
Since then the website has been developed into a robust system and is constantly
being refined and updated using the most current research in dance medicine and
science. The website assists by providing comprehensive analysis of
screening, injury, and exposure data to aid dancers, dance teachers, and other
professionals who work with dancers. Additionallly, by using current
internet technologies, the site provides access to online videos and anatomical
imagery through the unique, individualized, and secured profiles for each
dancer.
Today the DWP is used world wide as a valuable resource tools for those
interested in dance wellness, dancer health, preventive medicine for dancers,
research on dancer health, as well as those involved in dance medicine and
science. Specifically, it supports the dance screening, injury tracking,
and exposure tracking needs of the many project's
affiliates
through comprehensive data analysis not previously possible. Not only has the DWP sparked a great deal of interest amongst various organizations
but also been the subject of several presentations at international conferences.