A Comparative Analysis on Work Ability and Influencing Factors among Professional Freelance and Company Dancers

Abstract

Introduction: There are similarities in physical and psychological demands, but differences in working conditions between professional freelance and company dancers. The purpose of this study is to examine the work ability of professional dancers working in both of these fields and to analyze influencing factors associated with each work model. Methods: A partially standardized survey was used to collect sociodemographic and dance-specific data. Work Ability Index (WAI) scores were also collected. The sample consisted of 247 participants (172 freelance and 75 company dancers). Differences between the subgroups were analyzed using Analyses of Variance (ANOVA), parametric and non-parametric tests. Factors impacting the WAI score(s) were determined by the employment of several generalized linear regression models. Results: The sample shows moderate to good work ability, and statistical analysis revealed no significant difference between professional freelance and company dancers (P = .984). There are significant differences between the subgroups of professional dancers in terms of age (P < .01), ethnicity (P < .001), predominant dance style (P < .001), weekly training hours (P < .001), number of workplaces (P < .001), and distribution of work content (P < .001). Regression shows that negative factors for WAI are female (RF = −2.438, P < .1) and non-binary gender (RF = −7.822, P < .5) and increasing number of workplaces (RF = −1.125, P < .05). Positive factors include work in commercial (RF = 6.399, P < .01) and jazz dance (RF = 6.503, P < .01). Conclusions: Professional freelance and company dancers generally demonstrate moderate to good work ability, which indicates that there is room to increase the proportion of those with very good work ability. Given that ability to work is influenced by multiple factors, special attention should be given to female and non-binary dancers, who are more likely to experience negative impacts on their work ability.