“Wounded warriors”: Royal Danish Ballet dancers train repatriated wounded soldiers in Pilates

Abstract

Dancers have been using Pilates as a rehabilitation method for decades. However, Pilates was actually originally created during World War I, where the founder of the system, Joseph Pilates, used his method to rehabilitate injured soldiers. Pilates used his experience in physical training, to work with soldiers to undertake back exercising on a daily basis, by reworking the structural aspects of the old style hospital bed frames, removing and reattaching springs, therefore, allowing the patient to apply movement and resistance to muscles. The results informed the development of Pilates work. It was reported that the soldiers experienced far speedier recoveries, as well as significantly improved body alignment, increased core strength, and more refined coordination and balance. This article reports on an innovative program developed by Royal Danish Ballet Foundation and its dancers to assist both in physical and in mental rehabilitation of soldiers wounded in action in Afghanistan and provide insights into how it was conceived and developed. Reflections from participants are included.

Keywords::

• dance and movement
• Pilates
• military
• Veterans
• Ballet

Additional information

Funding

The author wishes to gratefully acknowledge the following private foundations for financial contributions toward the project: The Soldier Foundation (Soldaterlegatet); Helse Fund (Helsefonden); The Otto Sandgreen Fund; Bevica Fund (Bevicafonden) and the Jascha Fund.