back to news Safety measures and dancesport Dancesport is becoming more and more dynamic, with the top exponents being extremely fit athletes. The top line is becoming more open, and more importantly the level of flight – the speed across the floor is increasing at an astounding rate, reaching speeds not even dreamed of 10 years ago. Because of this greater speed, the risk of serious injury from a collision is increasing exponentially. Scientists have calculated that a collision between two couples in quickstep has the equivalent impact of a pedestrian being hit by a car travelling at 27 mph! The risk of injury is therefore of great concern to the world of dancing. Analysis of video footage from last year’s Closed British Championships revealed that just over 88% of dance collisions involved one or more of the men dancing backwards. One solution suggested but rejected was to ban or severely limit the backward steps for men. This was rejected as this would destroy the character of the sport and to define a backward step would be next to impossible. However, technology has come to the rescue. Professor Adam Murray from TRL Woking is an expert in “Collision Behaviour Analysis” and a keen amateur dancer. He has developed a "movement proximity sensor’ (MPS) that will give the dancer warning of any impending collision. Two sensors are attached to the back of the tail suit approximately 30 cm apart, these plug into a slim control unit worn on a belt. When the dancer is within 2 metres of another competitor the unit emits a warning beep in the earpiece. This becomes a constant note if the dancer is within 1 meter of another couple. Stephen Arnold agreed to test the prototype MKII at the recent South of England Championships. “ Usually I rely on Gemma to tell me of anyone behind me and that works well” said Stephen, “But when I did the Reverse Wave in Foxtrot, it did give me that little bit more confidence to stretch out more.” The cord for the sensors feed through the tailsuit through a buttonhole located under the number. Stephen did encounter some problems however: “in the Viennese Waltz the MPS was so confused I had to take out the earpiece. “ he said “ The control unit seemed to generate a lot of heat and was becoming uncomfortably hot by the time we danced Quickstep” Stephen shows the control unit, the next model will be in black and white to complement the tailsuit Professor Murray assures us that these problems will be fixed in the MKIII version that is expected to go into production. “Viennese Waltz has 94% less collisions that the Quickstep, so the mark III will have a much more accessible on/off switch. The heat generation is caused by the large power requirements of some of the peripherals, but we will not be including these in the next model thanks to the feedback from Stephen” The cord for the earpiece will be flesh colour in the next version and have a spring section to allow for greater range of movement Regarding the peripherals, Stephen said, “The reversing light was a more trouble than it was worth. I had to remember to switch it on and off and after a short while, I forgot if it was on or not until it started to burn my neck” Gary Foster and Chris Vickers look on as Stephen uses the reversing light. The other feature not to make it to the next version will be the audible reverse warning: Gemma said “ because of the volume of the music, I was the only one who could hear it saying “warning this vehicle is reversing”, I’ve never been called a vehicle before!” The control unit of the MarkIII is expected to go into production in Autumn. It will retail for around £250 (after the 10% discount for EADA members). The unit is unlikely to become compulsory for all competitions until 2009. See another report published exactly two years previously more>> Submitted 1/04/2007