No matter how many times you’ve rehearsed a dance in the studio, getting onstage can feel like the air has suddenly become thinner. Between the nerves and adrenaline likely boosting your heart rate and the size of the stage demanding you to travel further than you’re used to, it’s normal to find yourself huffing and puffing by the time the curtain closes.

A deep, juicy plié isn’t just delicious to watch. “It’s how we absorb shock,” says Elisa LaBelle, a physical therapist who works with dancers at NYU Langone’s Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. “It’s our spring, our power.” And it forms the basis for everything from dynamic jumps to smooth transitions to safe floorwork. But achieving […]

“Being upside down is important to me,” says Pavan Thimmaiah. After all, an image of an upside-down dancer in a freeze is the logo for his New York City–based PMT House of Dance studio. And yet, when Thimmaiah was younger, he was so unsure about being upside down that his mother, attempting to help, would […]

Dancers often strive to stand out from the ensemble. But dancing together—matching other dancers in movement style, timing and energy—is an equally important and equally challenging skill, and one that, after months of training at home, might need a tune-up. “Group work is very human,” says Denise Vale, senior artistic associate at the Martha Graham […]

A dancer’s face can be a powerful tool to convey personality, emotion or character, and it’s often the first thing noticed by the audience. Yet dancers sometimes forget about it entirely because they are so focused on the rest of the body. Making better use of your face can add nuance to your roles, and […]

There’s a healthy dose of repetition in your dance education—whether it’s those same fundamentals you’re asked to practice over and over as you deepen your technique or the many run-throughs it takes to polish a piece of choreography. But teachers also see the same missteps and issue the same reminders from student to student, perhaps […]