While she was a teenager studying at Boston Ballet School, ballet teacher Olivia Hartzell underwent two surgeries in the same year. She was suffering from os trigonum syndrome, or pain caused by an extra bone behind the ankle. (Many people born with the extra bone don’t even know it’s there, but for dancers, it can […]
Fitness trainer, professional dancer and cross-training expert Sebastian Grubb weighs in on why it’s essential for dancers to build their upper-body strength. A balanced body is a healthy body. When a dancer maintains equilibrium between her upper and lower halves, she increases her athleticism and physical adaptability. “Most dancers have strong legs and strong balance,” […]
“If you don’t have strong abdominal muscles, you sag into your lower back, your pelvis usually tips and you’re hanging out and slumped into your hip joints,” says Deborah Vogel, movement analyst, neuromuscular expert and co-founder of the Center for Dance Medicine in New York City. “It just has this whole chain reaction.” The effects […]
The pressure for female dancers to be slim and feather-light is often at odds with their need to be strong. This contradiction is especially misleading in partnering. “Sometimes, a woman who has more muscle mass may weigh more but is actually easier to lift because she’s stronger,” says Matt Kent, associate artistic director of Pilobolus. […]
A qualified personal trainer can help create a workout regimen that meets your body and classroom needs.As a teacher, you already know you need to look outside the studio for regular workouts. If you’ve trained primarily as a dancer, however, establishing a gym routine beyond using aerobic machines can be intimidating. It’s tough to know […]
When Florida State University professor Tom Welsh arrived in Tallahassee in 1991, dance science was uncharted territory. “Mostly, it was technique teachers who were looking for ways to keep their dancers dancing,” he says. “It was just a field people imagined could happen.” He immediately set to work building the university’s dance science program from […]
Biking develops strength in the quadriceps and glutes. Working at a lower resistance will enable dancers to avoid building bulky muscles. An elliptical gives you an intense cardio workout without the impact on your joints. Adjustments to the incline and resistance can add variety to the workout. Pilates stabilizes the core and targets specific muscle […]
“I think I pulled a muscle.” We’ve all said it, but what does it mean? There are many aches and pains that accompany a dancer’s daily practice, but there are important differences between muscle soreness and a strained or “pulled” muscle. While both require a balance of rest and carefully planned exertion, a strained muscle […]
Steph Lee, a dancer with Renegade Performance Group in New York City, spent more than 10 years of her dance career fighting recurring injuries. It wasn’t until she added CrossFit—the heavy-lifting, loud-grunting, specialized gym workout that has taken the world by storm—to her cross-training routine of Pilates and yoga that she found some relief. “Nothing […]
Our hips are overachievers. They are the main source of turnout and the axis of all leg movement. Dancers work them hard. No one knows this better than Heather Heineman, physical therapist at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at NYU Langone Medical Center. She treats all kinds of hip injuries in dancers, frequently from […]