ABSTRACT
Unlike most sport teams, dance companies have a series of performance blocks of between 1 and 6 weeks with up to 8 performances a week, accumulating in a total performance season of 24-32 weeks (the commercial dance world often
asks dancers to perform 6-7 shows a week for 40 weeks). Principal dancers within ballet companies have a less rigorous schedule, though the roles they undertake are physically more demanding than that of the dancers in the corps (Schantz and Astrand, 1984).
