Even if you haven’t heard her name, you’ve almost certainly seen the work of commercial choreographer James Alsop. Though she’s made award-winning dances for Beyoncé (“Run the World,” anyone?) and worked with stars like Lady GaGa and Janelle Monae, Alsop’s most recent project may be her most powerful: A moving music video for Everytown for […]
A good personal trainer can coach you through a challenging, safe workout. A great one understands the unique demands dance places on your body and helps you correct specific weaknesses to make you an even stronger performer. Enter Joel Prouty. Before his passion for fitness took over, he was a member of the Royal Winnipeg […]
Every dancer is told to cross-train. But, the million-dollar question you should be asking is: Is it helping my dance career…or hurting it? Why It Matters: Cross-training can be a powerful tool to give you the physicality you need to compete in today’s dance world. However, if done wrong, it can also undo all of […]
At age 24, dancer and choreographer Caleb Teicher already has accolades beyond his years. But this week, the Bessie Award–winning performer adds another impressive feat to his resumé: His company’s Joyce Theater debut. Though tap is Teicher’s focus, he masterfully combines everything from jazz to Lindy Hop to hip hop in his fresh, clever choreography. […]
When Sarasota Ballet principal Danielle Brown began taking Gyrotonic classes two years ago, she had an epiphany: “I could feel the difference immediately in my dancing; I could feel my placement and every little part of my spine,” she says. Particularly, it helped her perform the company’s two dozen ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton. “Especially […]
Build a better pointe by strengthening underused foot and ankle muscles. Dancers obsess over their feet day after day. In a competitive art form focused on minute aesthetic details, every millimeter of articulation counts. So no matter what arch or instep they were born with, dancers never stop working to make their feet stronger […]
Last year’s Netflix hit “America’s Sweethearts,” a docuseries about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, displayed some maddeningly contradictory attitudes toward dancer health. One moment, performers were body shamed for failing to meet the team’s punishingly narrow standards; the next, they were scolded for not properly “fueling” themselves during practice. For many dancers, those scenes were all […]
When interventional spine doctor and Kuchipudi dancer Pranamya Suri was doing her medical residency, she had less time to dance than usual. When she did get the chance to practice, she noticed a persistent pain developing around and behind her kneecap. Suri identified this pain as a warning sign of patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) and […]