Under the Weather? Here’s How to Decide Whether You Should Dance or Not
At the height of Nutcracker rehearsals this year, Charlotte Junge, a company artist with Madison Ballet, came down with a bad cold. She knew skipping rehearsal would mean extra work for her alternate, who was already juggling multiple parts. But she didn’t want to get everyone else in the company sick or exhaust her own body so much that the cold would get worse. “There’s a lot of guilt that comes with missing a rehearsal, especially in a small company,” she says. “But it can quickly turn into a downward spiral if you don’t take that initial break.”
Sometimes it’s tricky to figure out whether you should dance or not when you’re under the weather. “It’s often a little bit of a gray area,” says Monique DeLuca Watson, DPT, a physical therapist at Johns Hopkins Rehabilitation Network. Maybe you just have some sniffles, or your stomach doesn’t quite feel right. It comes down to a dancer’s own best judgment about whether it makes sense to push through. Here’s what to keep in mind as you make your decision.
The Dangers of Dancing While Sick
There are a few ways that showing up sick to the studio can backfire. For starters, you’re at an increased risk of injury. “When you’re fatigued, the way your muscles and your body respond, your reaction time, those things can be impeded,” DeLuca Watson says. It’s especially easy to hurt yourself if you’re experiencing symptoms like dizziness, severe pain, or dehydration, adds Lauren Elson, MD, director of the dance medicine division at Spaulding Rehabilitation and Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
You could also set back your recovery. “The less energy your body has to fight the infection, the longer it’s going to linger,” Elson says. Even if you’re just dealing with a minor cold, pushing through rehearsal will take up energy that your immune system could be using to help you get healthy again.
But you’re not the only one you put at risk. “The last thing we want to do is spread something through an entire studio and ruin a show,” Elson says. If you’re potentially contagious—a runny nose, fever, or cough can all be red flags—she suggests staying home so you don’t spread what you’ve got.
How to Figure Out If It’s Still Okay Dance
When you’re deciding whether to dance, DeLuca Watson suggests thinking about how you’re feeling on a scale of 0 to 10. “If you’re in the top 30 percent, feeling quite good, proceed as you normally would,” she says.
If you’re feeling closer to a 4 to 7, she suggests heading to the studio but pulling back a bit so that you don’t overtax your body. “Consider marking, or consider staying flat instead of going on pointe, or maybe limit the number of jumps,” Elson recommends. (She also suggests wearing a mask to protect everyone around you if you have something like a runny nose or cough but are not contagious and otherwise feel well enough to dance.) Junge says she’ll prioritize the rehearsals where she knows she most needs the practice, and sometimes save her energy by doing her own warm-up barre rather than taking company class if that means she’ll get more time to sleep.
And if you’re feeling a 3 or below? Just stay home and focus on getting better.
Note: This scale can also be useful for dancers with chronic illnesses. Although being contagious isn’t an issue, there are definitely days that feel better than others. “There’s sometimes flares that periodically go up and down,” DeLuca Watson says. If you’ve got a chronic illness, you’re probably somewhat used to dancing with a certain amount of discomfort, but DeLuca Watson warns that you still need to be careful to take things easy in order to get past a bad flare-up. It’s best to stay in close communication with your health-care provider to determine how much you can safely do.
Why It’s So Hard to Take a Sick Day—and How to Cope When You Do
Ballet culture isn’t always the most forgiving when it comes to taking time off for illness. Dancers may be afraid of missing out on a role, letting down their colleagues, or being seen as “lazy.” This pressure is only heightened when it’s a performance day—especially among professional dancers. “Depending on the culture, if they just have a little bit of a cold, they’re still probably going to be expected to perform,” DeLuca Watson says. But, as Elson points out, that doesn’t make them any less infectious. “If a professional dancer has the flu and they give it to the entire company, then there’s no show,” she says.
When you do have to stay home, Elson suggests focusing on getting lots of rest, good nutrition, and plenty of hydration. If you feel up for it, a little gentle movement like floor barre or restorative yoga can help get your blood flowing, which can encourage healing. And if you’re worried about missing important rehearsals, she recommends listening to the score, watching videos, or going through the choreography in your head. “There are some studies that show that mental work is extraordinarily beneficial,” she says.
Junge also recommends using the time off to swing by your doctor to get checked out. “You never know what’s going on because dancers’ bodies are so strong, you might not realize there’s something more to what you’re feeling,” she says. It’s also important to stay in constant communication with your artistic staff just like you would if you were injured, she adds. “Within dance, we put a lot of our focus towards injuries, but overall health is just as important,” she says.
