Understanding how fascia contributes to movement—and restriction—in the body can help dancers improve flexibility and potentially reduce pain.

Throughout the dance field, artists are proving that early retirement is no longer an inevitability. “The myth that you have to stop dancing once you hit your 30s is pretty much gone,” says Julia Iafrate, founder of the Columbia Dance Medicine clinic in New York City. However, staying healthy requires consistency and hard work. Caring […]

Briar Nolet’s “My Prerogative” routine on NBC’s “World of Dance” last season encompassed every crowd-pleasing acrobatic move you could imagine—and not imagine: aerial forward rolls and walkovers that seemed to come out of nowhere; leaps, turns and tumbles all stitched together in well-crafted, surprising ways. Nolet’s body looped, bent and threw itself through impossible-looking sequences […]

It’s hard to find a dancer who doesn’t want to increase their flexibility in at least one part of their body. So one of 2019’s biggest fitness trends caught our attention: Dozens of stretch studios have been popping up across the country, from boutique companies like LYMBR and Stretch*D, to the national franchise StretchLab with […]

My artistic director suggested that I get surgery to fix my average flexibility if I want a company contract. Yet he casts me in nice roles even as an apprentice. I don’t know what to do. —Anonymous Getting surgery to improve your flexibility does not work and would be a waste of your time and […]

When it comes to flexibility, more isn’t always better. Donna Flagg says that many of the dancers who show up at her Lastics Stretch Technique classes at studios like Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway are already hypermobile. “They’re so loose,” she says, “they just yank their legs as far as they can.” That’s […]

It’s been three months since I pulled my hamstring while working extra hard on my flexibility in hot yoga. I’ve done physical therapy every week. But even though it’s now healed, I feel pain as soon as I try to dance. Why can’t I get over this? —Meghan, New York, NY Dealing with a lingering […]

Dancers are always trying to find more flexibility in their bodies. But what’s the best way to do it? We asked former dancers Ann and Chris Frederick, creators of Fascial Stretch Therapy, which targets connective tissue rather than isolating individual muscles. They recommend following these five principles to find the greatest range of motion within […]