Saturday Matinee

i ran across a really interesting article in the LA times, thanks to a link on one of my favorite websites, thewinger. USC is opening a new center specific for “dance medicine”, which I think is a fascinating idea. It’s designed to target populations of dancers of all expertise, ice skaters, and cheerleaders. this population encompasses two of my favorite hobbies, dance and ice skating! Not cheerleading, I’m afraid , unless it’s cheerleading members of my lab for their experiments to work.

i’ve been thinking a lot about my future and which specialty i should accomplish as a doctor. I’m currently watching my med school classmates go through the residency match hell right now, and it’s disappointing when people end up with their 10th choice, or don’t match at all, leaving them for the dreaded scramble. it really makes me think about picking a good residency in which I’ll do what I love, as well as avoid living in places like the Appalachian mountains or Detroit. My ultimate dream would be to somehow work with dancers – I don’t think I could survive being surrounded by orthopaedic surgeons for the duration of residency, but maybe something else? I know it’s hard to do anything else and not feel like a pawn of the orthopods, but if it meant that I could work with dancers, it might be worth it.

for some reason, the past few days i’ve been running across multiple stories of injured dancers lately. they struggle through a tough time in such a short span of their professional career, where time is really of the essence, and often the resources are scarce. these stories really inspire me to do something to change and to help the system. a few stories here – a funny one here, and three dancers on thewinger.

the article also mentions how they made doctors don leotards and try a dance class. hilarious. i would pay money to see some of my classmates (fred? hehe) and some of my medical school professors do this.

“Pfeffer’s passion for dance medicine grew from his experience as a junior member of the cardiothoracic team involved in famed choreographer George Balanchine’s heart surgery nearly three decades ago.

“I held George Balanchine’s heart in my hand,” he said. “My job was to hold his heart very, very still while the main surgeon did the bypass surgery.”

Afterward, Pfeffer and Balanchine talked in the intensive care unit.

“One night, he was comparing doctors and dancers and how they express their knowledge in different ways,” Pfeffer recalled. “He said, ‘Never minimize the intelligence of a dancer who uses his or her body to teach us such great things.’ I remember thinking, ‘One day, I’m going to take care of dancers.’

Sounds “corny,” he mused, “but there are some things in life that play out that way. ”

article here

i often wonder, do i ultimately want to be a dance doctor so i could get free dance tickets? that would be a nice perk.