Tips for Safely Executing Lifts

Partnering in dance requires trust, coordination, and adaptability. Whether lifting, being lifted, or working in counterbalance, dancers must navigate shared weight, timing, and physical connection. The demands can vary widely—catching a partner midair in a contemporary duet, initiating a fast-moving spin in ballroom, or sustaining balance through a classical pas de deux all require distinct skills. But across styles, the fundamentals of lifts in partnering remain the same: strength, control, and clear communication. Dancers and experts from three disciplines share insights on how to prepare for the challenge.

Finding Common Ground

Partnering begins before the first movement, says Eduardo Permuy, Atlanta Ballet répétiteur. “Communication—that’s the first step to not only preventing injury but also becoming a strong partner.” Open dialogue between dancers, including the ability to ask questions, is foundational for building the trust to work through intricate choreography, for refining coordination, and for making necessary physical adjustments. “Even be analytical when a lift goes well,” says Permuy, who encourages dancers to try to understand how their partner experiences the movement so that both dancers can work toward consistent success in lifts.

While clear communication lays the groundwork, physical awareness between partners is crucial. Before rehearsing complex choreography, dancers need to develop a sense of timing, shared weight, and spatial awareness. Karl Watson, company manager and director of education at Whim W’Him, recommends an improvisation-based warm-up to ease into lifts and partnering work. “With a partner, I always found it helpful if our first moment of contact wasn’t during rehearsal, when the choreographer expects us to start working,” he says. “Maybe it’s a simple task—finding a point of contact and applying gentle pressure, or leaning into each other’s weight.” For dancers working in highly structured styles, early moments of physical connection aren’t always built into class or rehearsal. But whether through a dedicated warm-up or the first exercises of the day, taking time to tune into a partner’s movement can help establish responsiveness and stability before tackling more complex choreography.

Core Values

A strong core is essential for successful lifts, and not only for the person doing the lifting, advises ballroom dancer and instructor Edyta Śliwińska, who’s performed with her husband, Alec Mazo, on “Dancing with the Stars.” Śliwińska says that while Mazo could lift an amateur with a similar body type to hers, it can be dangerous and lead to injury, whereas lifting a professional dancer even multiple times causes no discomfort. A weak core that does not hold a strong, compact position in the air can make the lifter’s job significantly harder, she explains.

When overuse issues arise in rehearsals, it’s important to find the right recovery and cross-training techniques. An ice pack or a moist heat pad may alleviate soreness from partnering work, says Watson, noting that lifts often exaggerate asymmetries, particularly when one side of the body repeatedly absorbs impact. “If you’re catching people on the right side of your body over and over and over again, maybe don’t [cross-train] those parts as hard,” he says.  “Maybe do a couple extra sets of lunges on the left side or chest-press on the left side if you’re having to push with the right, making sure that you stay balanced.”

Not all core exercises effectively support the demands of lifts, however. While they are great for a warm-up, Watson cautions against making static abdominal workouts, such as some Pilates and plank exercises that focus on immobile core engagement, the sole focus of your cross-training. “Kinetic energy can’t pass through if it’s hitting a wall,” he says, adding that if you are doing a lift in which you’re receiving another dancer’s weight and you’re locked through your core, the movement can’t pass down through the pelvis, legs, and into the floor to help transition into the next movement. Instead,­ Watson recommends full-body, fluid warm-ups that emphasize weight transfer from one leg to another and from the upper through to the lower body, and vice versa. For cross-training, he recommends using resistance bands, as they require a similar adaptability to partnering work.

Śliwińska agrees that fluidity, rather than brute strength, makes lifts successful. “ When you can use momentum, when you can spin into it or use your breath work and timing together, any body type can do a simple lift,” she says. Opposing motions, such as deep pliés before an upward movement, and breath timed with the peaks and valleys of the choreography, can make lifts more effi­cient and effortless.

The Fourth Party in the Room

At times, the choreographer or coach can feel like a complicating third party in a partnership. “It can be easy to get bogged down in the specifics of what was choreographed or what you think it’s supposed to be,” says Watson. In those moments, all parties may need to refocus on the larger picture, adjusting a grip or making other small changes to achieve the desired movements or shapes in a lift.

“ We’re all in search of this fourth party, which is the movement,” says Watson, who echoes Permuy’s sentiment about the importance of communication. “Figure out how to get to a place where you don’t just retreat to something that’s comfortable,” says Watson. “Build that trust, where you can try something new and it might not work out at first, but you can build towards it together.”

Partnering Transits

Launching into a rehearsal session without having done any partnering for the day, says Karl Watson of Whim W’Him, is when bodies can feel tense or sensitive to digging fingers in partnered lifts. He suggests warming up together with “partnering transits,” different pathways to change your points of contact with another person. Start with no weight bearing, then gradually increase the range of motion unti­l you are fully sharing or transferring your weight with your partner, building rhythm, trust, and comfortability for bigger lifts. These concepts were imparted to Watson by Shumpei Nemoto and Fernando Melo.

1. Sliding: For example, start with your right hand on your partner’s shoulder and then slide your right hand through to your right forearm to the right elbow, and then slide that elbow down your partner’s right foot through a connected pathway.
2. Rolling: Start with your palm as the point of contact, then roll onto the back of your hand, your arm, your shoulder, all the way through to turn around until you are back to back with your partner.
3. Bridging: Move from one point of contact to another with no physical connection between the points of contact. Start with a hand lifting away from your partner’s body and come back in contact with your forearm, your shoulder, your hip, knee, etc.