Tu-tu demanding: Dancing most physically challenging profession

Stamina, strength and precision? One could say a basketball player, an emergency room doctor, a roofer, or construction worker, even, might have the most physically demanding job.

Nope. Add flexibility, coordination and poise to that list and you get dancer.

That’s what researchers at InsuranceProviders.com found when analyzing data from the Occupational Information Network, a national organization developed through support from the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, Dance magazine reported Friday.

In determining the 20 most physically demanding professions, careers in hard labor — such as iron and steel workers, roofers, firefighters and construction laborers — accounted for 15 of the 20 professions on the list, the magazine reported.

But the data put dancers leaping to the top of the list, upstaging athletes and sports competitors, who came in second.