#Verified: Dr Emma Redding

Full disclosure: Emma Redding is somewhat of a role model for the Dojo. She's successfully done for dancers what we're working toward doing for actors. So successfully, in fact, she received an MBE for her pivotal role in developing dance science.

Now based in Melbourne as head of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Emma has covered a lot of ground in her career. Before co-authoring the first-ever MSc Dance Science degree, Emma both danced and taught around the world.

Here, we speak to Emma about the perks of coming to dance late, insights from her time in Hong Kong, and what we can learn from Formula One racing.

You've said that you started late in dance – at age 11. What habits or traits do you credit for the success you experienced nonetheless?
Emma Redding: I think the fact that I started late was an asset. I was on the back foot, which meant I developed a work ethic. I knew that I had a lot to catch up on. It made me curious about what my strengths and areas for improvement were. I needed to tap into those more quickly because others had been going for longer. I remember quite early on going, "What do I need to do? How does my body work? How do I retain and learn movement?"

Now we have a much more diverse group of students who come with individual needs and abilities, so I hope as a teacher, I'm better equipped to respond to and teach different kinds of dancers.

During your dance career, how did you manage the inevitable challenges and setbacks you faced?
ER: In dance, you learn quite quickly to turn things into positives. Like when a teacher gives you a negative comment, you have to turn that around. Or if you come off stage and think, "That was rubbish", you've got to start self-talking your way into thinking, "Actually, there were some good things about that. Let's build on the positives". Then, hopefully, if you build on enough positives, it takes care of those negatives.

[At the time] psychological skills training wasn't something teachers knew about. I just learned all those things intuitively. Of course, there's something to be said for intuition and learning on the job, but I think that if we can teach more systematically and methodically and quickly, we mightn't lose so many dancers along the way. We might keep more people dancing for longer.

1000%. From your perspective as a teacher and researcher, have you noticed any common threads your most resilient students share?
ER: The most resilient dancers, or the ones that have had successful careers, often aren't consistently at the top of the class. They're sometimes the number twos or the ones that struggle a bit. There's something about that that gives them work ethic, determination, and curiosity. Those that have been successful aren't always the ones you think immediately will be.

[Another] characteristic is that they really listen and respond to their own needs. Rather than relying on teachers or coaches or choreographers to tell them what they should be doing, they have the confidence to say, for example, "I need a rest", "I need a break", or "I need to go to Pilates". They're not flippant about their training – they're very dedicated – but they have the confidence to make decisions about their own needs.

Can you recount to us the moment that the concept of dance science entered your world?
ER: There were a couple. And I should say, the emergence of dance science isn't due to any one person. There were people who I really admired who hadn't developed dance science degrees but were very much advocating for the science of dance. People like Glenna Batson, Janice Plastino, Jan Dunn, Martha Myers...

When I was working in Hong Kong [at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts] as a teacher, I had quite a lot of freedom. We didn't need to be in the studio doing technique every day. I noticed that by taking my dancers swimming once a week and sometimes going down to the running track, they looked like they had more stamina. Ordinarily, they would get tired after ten minutes of dancing [Merce] Cunningham, even though they were great Cunningham dancers. When I started doing fitness training with them, I noticed they looked great throughout the whole 20-minute piece.

When I got back from Hong Kong, I did a Master's in Sports Science and tried to understand why what I did worked. After my Master's, I was at Trinity Laban, and the principal at the time – she was one of those pioneering people that threw more responsibility at you than you can almost handle – said to me, "Why don't you write a new Master's degree that brings dance and sports science together?" I was only in my late twenties. I thought, "That feels massive but actually quite exciting". So I got a bunch of people around the table – sports scientists, dancers, dance teachers – and I said, "How can we develop a higher education program that allows teachers and dancers to understand more about the science of dance?" That's how it all took off. We just wrote the first ever MSc Dance Science degree.

Dance science is still a relatively new field, but do you have a favourite "a-ha moment" from your research so far?
ER: In terms of my research, a big moment was showing through the data that there's a discrepancy between the intensity of training and the intensity of performance. Because that meant calling into question the training we're doing and the extent to which technique classes give dancers everything they need for the stage. It might seem small, but actually, it's pretty impactful. Or it should be impactful because we should all be modifying our training – every school, every college, every university, every conservatoire.

The other is in the work I've done with psychologists, looking at the climate in the studio and the way dancers should be nurtured. Teachers and coaches have been notorious for offering more negative feedback in the past – less so now – and the idea of trying to "break" the dancer so those who survive are strong. But meanwhile, you've lost a whole load of talented dancers because they've been crushed. The talent study I was involved in for three years supported the idea that dancers have a higher sense of well-being and confidence if they're in a more nurturing environment. They're [also] more likely to take risks and be creative.

Like you, we've experienced some resistance to introducing science to actor training. How have you overcome this?
ER: I remember using an analogy, and I still use it a lot: think of dancers the same way we think of Formula One racing. The drivers now have personal trainers, psychologists, nutritionists – they're fit – and they're only driving a car around a corner.

The sceptics would say, "Dance is going to become too safe, too diluted. If we add too much science, we're going to lose the spark and creativity". And I would say, "Look at Formula One. They're going faster than ever; they're not going slower. They're still breaking records, and they're still really exciting. They're pushing boundaries. The difference is that they're not crashing and dying anymore. It's safe, but it's also fast".

If we think of dancers in that way, science is actually going to give them more possibilities.

That's an awesome way of framing it. If you could implement a change to performer training across the globe, what might you choose?
ER: There are two things. The first – probably the most important – is to teach psychological skills. I think psychological skills should be in every dancer's training. It should be in the timetable as a discrete lesson and also embedded across the curriculum.

And then fitness. So many dancers still get injured, and most of those injuries are due to fatigue and a lack of recovery. If dancers were fitter – they don't need to be marathon runners – but if they were a little bit fitter and looked at their physiology as well as their artistry, we'd have stronger, more durable dancers who would have longer careers.

Emma's qualifications: BA (Hons) Dance Theatre, Master of Science (Sports Science), Doctor of Applied Biological Sciences (Dance Physiology).

Big props to Emma for her time. You can learn more about Emma's work here and say hello on Twitter. If you do, let her know you’re from the Dojo 👊