The Healthy Dancer

Everyone wants to the be the best dancer they can, and it's important to help your body out in that endeavor by making sure you are the healthiest you can be.

Here are a few of our tips for staying healthy as a dancer:

1. Replenish Fuel - dancing burns energy and you need to make sure you replace it. Dance is physically demanding and your body needs refueling after dance. There are lots of tasty snacks you can eat after dance, but nutritionists recommend that you have something that combines complex carbs like bread, pasta or rice and some kind of protein like nuts, diary products or meat. These help your body to repair muscles as well as refuel your body.

2. Drink Water - it's so easy to forget but it really is the best thing for your body.

3. Warm Up - it's important to warm up your muscles before dance. Our classes always include a warm up or barre - both of which are designed to get your muscles warm, but it never hurts to warm up a little before class as well. Plies, tendus or sun salutations are great ways to do that.

4. Take Time to Relax - Life is busy - especially as a teenager, take time to relax and rest your body and mind too.

5. Listen to Your Body - Dancers are used to the odd ache and pain - especially if we go hard in class and work some new muscles a bit harder than usual - but if something hurts for longer than a week or gets worse see a physio or talk to your teacher about it. It's important to listen to your body - if it's tired make some time during the week to rest.