Daan van den Akker has been working as a physiotherapist at taZ and Bachelor Contemporary Dance since August 2023 and is part of the Health, Excellence and Career Development (HEC) team. He also teaches Anatomy and Strength & Conditioning. In February 2024, Nuno Ferreira joined as Strength & Conditioning Coach to further expand and strengthen the team.
Daan van den Akker reflects on his work during the first few months at the ZHdK.
What does it mean to you to work at ZHdK Dance?
To me it is a great honor to play a small part in supporting the development of our young talents. I lost my heart to dance, danced myself, and I have always kept that passion.
What tasks / focus points do you see as your priorities?
The goal to give young dancers the skills and tools they need to become independent, self-caring, resilient individuals that can confidently thrive in the dance world. At the ZHdK we aim to provide a safe environment for our dancers to explore their limits and to develop a deep understanding of what it means to be healthy.
What would you like to pass on to the students?
We would like to motivate our students to be in control of their own health, to trust their bodies and minds, and to realize that they are always stronger than they think they are. All the while respecting their limits and - most importantly - to always take care of themselves.
What would you like to achieve with your training/physio treatment?
Our strength & conditioning concept revolves around a transfer of knowledge so that each dancer can continue their development independently after their education ends.
S&C also aims to give a solid physical base that reduces injury risk, on which each dancer can build and refine their art. A broad development of movement skills and development of strength, power, and endurance adds to resilience and to performance.
Physiotherapy centers on the person, not the injury or complaint. We consider the complete picture to better understand and balance the issue at hand. The intricacies of the human body and mind are complex, but by keeping it simple and evidence-informed we can make the biggest impact.
Where do you see the greatest potential for improvement?
Integrating health into training is one of the things that we can focus on more. Being healthy is not something you do on the side. It can be a mindful approach to work in each class and for every performance, without it distracting from the ultimate aims. Rather, it enables reaching individual goals and takes care of the human being who is the dancer.
What is your favorite moment in the daily life at your work?
The best moments are the daily conversations I have with students. In listening to the person, you hear how they are all different, intelligent, interesting and have something to say, which we then see back in their performances. We are lucky to have such a great and diverse student body.
What have you learned since starting at ZHdK Dance?
The ZHdK is a professional and ambitious organization, which has taught me to aim high to get the most out of it for our students.
What is the advantage to be directly on site as a physiotherapist / strength coach, what are the benefits for the students?
Trust is an important factor in healthcare because health can be a delicate matter. Being in-house means we can be a constant factor the students can rely on, which is a huge advantage. It also keeps the threshold low to reach out, speeds up the diagnostic and therapeutic process, and ultimately makes it easier for a student to take care of themselves.
What are your goals and what do you see as your biggest challenge in your work at the ZHdK?
As healthcare and research never stop developing, neither should we. We will continue to evaluate, improve, learn, and share. The dance world can be very dispersed, but our program could prove to be a central force in dancerโs health management and education.