For dancers, strengthening acting ability can enhance not only artistry and confidence but also storytelling onstage. After all, there is a lot of overlap between the two art forms. “Acting is mostly listening and being present,” says Isadora Wolfe, the associate artistic director of Sleep No More and a teacher of the Acting for Dancers class at The Juilliard School. “Dancers have those skills. That’s what we’re doing all the time: listening in a million different ways.”

Growing up, whenever Bala Devi Chandrashekar was feeling under the weather, her mom would make her jeera rasam, a traditional Indian cumin-and-pepper soup. Chandrashekar did the same for her two sons, and continues to swear by the dish’s healing powers.

Much of the Western dance world prizes youth. But some dance traditions, including classical Indian dance, flamenco, and tap, value the gifts of the older dancer. Unlike contemporary dance and ballet, which tend to prioritize skills that erode as we age—extreme flexibility, buoyant jumps—these practices enlist skill sets that develop and deepen over time. And their communities support long performing and teaching careers.

Visualization can be a powerful tool for dance artists.

Cultivating dexterity in your digits—and harnessing the choreographic meaning it can instill—can benefit dancers of all styles and genres.

Paris-based Tamil dancer and choreographer Usha Jey took the world by storm when her #HybridBharatham series went viral on social media. Featuring duets and trios in which dancers switch between hip hop and the Indian classical dance style bharatanatyam, the videos are set to tracks by rappers such as Lil Wayne, Jack Harlow and DaBaby.

Ashwini Ramaswamy boldly explores what seemingly disparate genres of dance can do when performed side by side. Invisible Cities, which will premiere this month at the Great Northern Festival in Minneapolis, features 12 dancers who specialize in distinct styles.

Shoba Narayan, who plays Princess Jasmine in Broadway’s Aladdin, just so happens to also be an award-winning bharatanatyam performer and teacher, as well as a classical violinist and trained ballet dancer.