When you think of strength training for dancers, you likely conjure images of a Pilates reformer, or some exercises with light weights. But for Tracy Shibata, a commercial dancer currently on tour with P!NK, strength training looks a bit different. You’ll often find Shibata wearing a full-body Katalyst suit, performing simple exercises as the suit […]

Onstage injuries can happen to even the most experienced performers. When they do, it’s important that dancers safeguard their health, balancing the “show must go on” mentality with proper care and expedient treatment.

Yang discovered artisan tinned fish at her favorite gourmet grocery store, Houston’s Central Market. She fell for the beautiful packaging first, and the contents second. “I was like, ‘I’d love to have these at home as part of the décor,’ ” she says. “There are vintage-looking ones, and sometimes I splurge on fancy ones.” (Her favorite brands are Fishwife, Berthe, La Barca, and José Gourmet.) Yang developed her pasta dish from there, explaining that the balance of carbs, protein, and healthy fats from omega-3s make it the perfect post-performance meal: “Even if it’s really late, and my legs are so sore I cannot walk one more step, the act of creating something really energizes me.”

Learning and retaining choreography and corrections can be challenging for any dancer. But certain mental health conditions—like anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, and PTSD, to name a few—can make it even more difficult to process and retrieve memories. Understanding how these conditions impact the brain, and finding ways to both address those changes and improve overall memory, can help dancers cope.

Feeling a pain in the low back, near the sacrum? Struggling to put weight on one leg? Experiencing discomfort while hiking, walking long distances, or climbing stairs? These symptoms could be signs of sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction. “In dancers, that area does take a pounding, and it can definitely be a pain generator more often than in the general public,” says Barry Sigrist, co-director of Production Physiotherapy, a UK-based physical therapy practice specializing in treating performers.

Navigating the death of a friend, relative, or partner is a profoundly emotional experience. Because grief also impacts the body on a physical level, the unique demands of a dance career can add additional challenges. “The way the body responds is such a huge part of dancers’ jobs,” says Olga Gonithellis, the founder of Creativity Mental Health Counseling, a New York City–based mental health practice that works with artists, performers, and other creatives. “Grief has physical symptoms that are wide-ranging.”

Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of thick tissue on the bottom of the foot called plantar fascia. It often shows up in dancers as pain in the heel, especially when doing weight-bearing exercise. Metzl notes that it’s often most painful first thing in the morning, and symptoms can ebb and flow throughout the day.

More than 500 dance medicine and education professionals gather each year, both in person and virtually, to share and learn how to better achieve health for dancers, and health for our communities through dance. The most recent conference, held in Columbus, Ohio, in October 2023, hosted 121 presentations and movement/interactive sessions and 22 poster presentations by practitioners from all over the world. Here is a small sampling of the remarkable breadth of work presented and topics discussed.