Ah, feet—we point, stomp and crack them (and everything in between). And though dancing all day makes them strong, they need special attention to help prevent injury. DS spoke with former professional ballerina and conditioning expert Rachel Hamrick, who recommends these four exercises to keep your feet in tip-top shape—and improve their overall look, from […]
Biscuits no more! Rachel Hamrick takes you through three exercises to help strengthen your feet and improve their overall look. Your browser does not support the video tag.
You’re at a checkup with your doctor, and she asks you to roll down and touch your toes. When you straighten up, she tells you there’s a curve in your spine—she thinks you have scoliosis. Don’t panic! Having a curvy spine, or even wearing a brace, is rarely a reason to stop dancing. Case in […]
Are you a super-bendy dancer? Support your core with these four stabilizing exercises.
Ear-grazing développés, 180-degree turnout and a back that folds in half are items on every ballerina’s wish list. But hyper-mobile dancers know extreme flexibility comes at a cost: It takes an incredible amount of strength to keep their joints within a safe range of motion. “You see a lot more hyper-mobile dancers at the student […]
As dancers, we talk a lot about “finding our centers”—but what does that actually mean? It refers to the invisible pole of support in your core that makes you feel like you could balance for days. Once you experience the freedom that sense of stability can provide, you’ll want to find a way to access […]
We’ve all heard it: the chorus of cracking joints that comes with the first plié of class. A lot of dancers treat barre as their daily warm-up, but a ballerina jumping into class cold is kind of like the Tin Man trying to move without his oil can. Conditioning expert and former professional ballet dancer […]
We’ve all seen her: that dancer whose jumps just seem to defy gravity. From suspended sautés to soaring grands jetés, she takes the audience’s breath away every time her feet leave the ground. What’s her secret? She’s got backup—of the gluteus maximus variety. Strong glutes can take your jumps to the next level, giving you […]