by Jennifer Heimlich | Sep 25, 2012 | Company Life
You’ve always suspected that you’re different from your civilian, non-dancer friends. It turns out that science can back you up. According to a study published in PloS Genetics, dancers show consistent differences from the general population in two key genes. One...
by Nancy Wozny | Sep 23, 2012 | Company Life
The day after she tore her calf muscle, Lindsi Dec woke up in a state of denial: She thought her body was still healthy, and planned to go to rehearsal. Then her husband had to carry her to the bathroom. “Once I realized how bad it was, there was a lot of...
by Jennifer Heimlich | Sep 19, 2012 | Company Life
Blisters are like irritating little sisters. While they aren’t truly traumatic or career-threatening, for ballet dancers, they can be an almost constant annoyance, continually nagging at your toes with pinches of pain. So what’s a bunhead to do? Toe...
by Josie Garthwaite | Jul 29, 2012 | Company Life
Sally Turkel never had a problem with her feet. Tape on her big and little toes was all she needed before slipping on her pointe shoes. But when she joined Colorado Ballet, the new demands of company life took a toll, and blisters became a constant enemy. “I...
by Josie Garthwaite | Jul 23, 2012 | Company Life
Sally Turkel never had a problem with her feet. Tape on her big and little toes was all she needed before slipping on her pointe shoes. But when she joined Colorado Ballet, the new demands of company life took a toll, and blisters became a constant enemy. “I...
by Jennifer Heimlich | May 22, 2012 | Company Life
Caffeine is everywhere. There are Red Bull energy drinks, 5-hour Energy shots, Foosh energy mints, Sheets energy strips that dissolve on the tongue, even AeroShot “breathable caffeine” that gets sucked in like an inhaler. Most of us assume we should feel...
by Jen Peters | Mar 15, 2012 | Cross-Training, Health & Body
Ballet naturally creates strong legs. Arms, however, are another story. Many dancers are relatively weak in their upper bodies. They struggle with messy, floppy or stiff port de bras—or the dreaded “chicken wings.” The good news? Targeted cross-training...
by Kathleen McGuire | Jan 17, 2012 | Audition Advice, Nutrition
Alexandra Hughes remembers she was too nervous to eat before one of her first company auditions. She entered the studio on an empty stomach—and quickly realized she’d made a mistake. “I felt like my brain was telling me what it wanted me to do, but...
