by Kyra Laubacher | Jul 29, 2025 | Health, Health & Body, Pointe+, Wellness
In college, I was diagnosed with a labral tear in my right hip. My labrum, the protective tissue covering my femur head, had been shredded from an impingement and overstretching. The doctor gave me two options: 1) Stop dancing, and manage pain through physical...
by Stephanie Kramer | Jul 8, 2024 | Health & Body, Pointe+, Wellness
Since she was 5 years old, Josie Walsh, now artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet School summer intensives in Los Angeles and San Francisco, had her heart set on becoming a ballet dancer. But as a 16-year-old student, she was diagnosed with two fractured vertebrae...
by Gavin Larsen | Jun 26, 2023 | Health & Body, Pointe+, Summer Study, Training
Sarah Whitehead, now a dancer with Ballet Tucson, remembers the sinking feeling of getting an injury during a summer intensive. As a teenager hoping to land a spot in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s year-round Professional Division program, she felt pressure to dance to...
by Rachel Fine, MS, RD, CSSD, CDN, CEDS-C | Jun 21, 2023 | Health & Body, Nutrition, Pointe+, Wellness
An understanding of nutrition science is fundamental to a ballet dancer’s performance and, arguably, just as important as building technique and crafting artistry. But when it comes to learning about nutrition, most dancers don’t know where to start. To support your...
by Madeline Schrock | Oct 20, 2020 | Health & Body
Your partner accidentally drops you during a lift. You collide head-on with another dancer in rehearsal. Or you’re hit in the face while you’re spotting a turn. Even if you didn’t lose consciousness, you may have a concussion, which can occur from a...
by Kathleen McGuire | Jun 1, 2020 | Career, Company Life
Jordan Nicole Tilton had always wanted to dance in Balanchine’s Apollo, and in her second year with Diablo Ballet she got her chance. But during dress rehearsal, she landed a sissonne wrong, sustaining a catastrophic ankle injury that required surgery and put...
by Rachel Hellwig | Mar 16, 2020 | Profiles, Training
Classes, cross training, summer intensives, performing—we put our all into our ballet training. Yet, sometimes things just don’t go as planned. Injuries, prolonged emotional stress and audition struggles are just a few things that can make us feel like our...
by Katie Slattery | Nov 20, 2019 | Career, Health & Body
In fall 2012, New York City Ballet associate artistic director Wendy Whelan, then a company principal, was taking morning class when her foot slid out from under her, causing her to pull the very top of what felt like her right hamstring muscle. “It shocked me...