Physiotherapy Course at Bahiana starts partnership with TCA Ballet

An exchange between art and education. This is the proposal of the Physiotherapy in Health Extension program with the dancers from Teatro Castro Alves. The initiative, which began in 2016, is from the Physiotherapy course at Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública.

The idea was to take advantage of a large number of professionals and undergraduate students trained in Dance, especially in Ballet. The program is coordinated by the teachers of the Bahiana, João Amaro and Sandra Mendez.

The meeting was very rich, reports Prof. João Amaro. According to him, the receptivity and disposition of the dancers are contagious. It is already possible to perceive among the participants an expectation of improvement in health and quality of life with physical therapy monitoring. "The dancers have a highly trained body, but they have also suffered and injured by rehearsals and work demands", he says.

With this partnership, a work in stages was established with the body of dancers. First, meetings were held in order to find out about the group's demand and what each one expected from this contact with the Physiotherapy course. Only then was the extension program created. 

All dancers and TCA professionals underwent a physical therapy evaluation. "Students were very impacted by the dancers' stories of injuries and chronic pain, therefore, the work that has been developed is very rich and extremely relevant", points out teacher Sandra Mendez.

For Igor Alonso, an extension student, the experience is challenging. "I already have great expectations for the return of the extension in the next stage, with the intervention".