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Marisa Hollingsworth – Presenting Denver

June 4, 2026

Pain in Dance Training: What’s Normal and What’s Not

May 21, 2026

Pain in dance training is often normalized. Many dancers grow up believing that discomfort is just part of improving—but not all pain is productive or safe. Dance involves effort, challenge, and at times discomfort. However, pain is not always a sign of progress, and pushing through it is not always the right choice. Understanding how to interpret pain in dance training can help dancers avoid injury, improve performance, and build a more sustainable career.

This post brings together perspectives from dance medicine clinicians, researchers, and educators who have been guests on our podcast, Dance Med Spotlight, including insights from this month’s episode. Their perspectives help clarify how pain fits into dance training—and how interpreting pain more accurately supports dancer health, performance, and longevity.

1) Why pain in dance training is often misunderstood

Many dancers are taught to push through discomfort. Over time, that message becomes part of training culture. As a result, pain is often ignored instead of evaluated. This mindset can make it difficult to recognize when something is actually wrong. It also reinforces the idea that stopping, modifying, or asking for help is a weakness.

Alexandra Beller argues that dance culture often rewards “pushing through,” and that rest and recovery should be valued as part of training—not treated as weakness.

That doesn’t mean dancers should fear all discomfort. It means we need better language and better guidance, so dancers can tell the difference between “this is hard work” and “this is a warning sign.”

2) How pain in dance training can be misleading

Dancers often describe having “high pain tolerance.” That can be true. But it can also make it easier to miss patterns that matter (especially in high-volume training).

According to Bethany Shum, chronic pain isn’t defined by how “tough” someone is—it’s defined by time and persistence. She notes: “If you live with pain three months, it doesn’t go away. That is a chronic pain condition in itself.”

She also describes how beliefs shape perception: if someone believes “no pain, no gain” is simply part of performance life, they may push through pain even when it’s no longer healthy for tissue.

A practical takeaway here: instead of only asking “how bad is it?”, dancers (and teachers/parents) can look for patterns:

When did it start?
Is it changing?
Does it rise after training or the next day?
Does it limit range or function?

Those answers are often more informative than a pain number.

3) Fatigue and pain in dance training

A big reason dancers struggle to interpret pain is that fatigue blurs the signal. When dancers are exhausted, sore, and under-recovered, everything feels “louder.”

According to Leah Bueno, the cost of high-volume training isn’t just performance quality—it’s injury risk. She says, “if you’re exhausted, you will not perform your best. If you’re exhausted, you are going to have more injuries, your body is going to break down.”

This matters for teens, competitive dancers, and pre-pro schedules especially: the body may not “fail” in one dramatic moment—it may just slowly stop recovering well, then start hurting more often.

4) When pain in dance training gets dismissed as “just tightness”

One of the most common patterns across dance and circus conversations is the “I’ll just stretch it” loop—especially when pain starts subtle.

According to Emily Scherb, this is exactly how certain injuries stay around for years. In her words: “Cause they’re like, oh, I’ll just stretch it. It feels really tight. And then three years later they’re like, why does my hamstring still hurt?’” She follows it with a clear recommendation: “If… it’s not getting better, go get care.”

This is such an important performer reminder: if something persists or keeps returning, it’s worth a check—even if it’s not a dramatic injury.

5) Nervous system sensitivity can amplify pain (especially in hypermobility)

Pain isn’t only about tissues. It’s also influenced by the nervous system—sleep, stress, hydration, and the overall “volume knob” of the system.

According to Mandy Blackmon, people with hypermobility are often more sensitive, and chronic pain can become part of the pattern because the body is working overtime to create stability. She explains: “their muscles are working on overtime, trying very hard to hold their joints together and to give them some kind of stability.” This can contribute to chronic pain patterns.

This isn’t meant to label dancers as fragile. It’s meant to help dancers and teachers understand why pain sometimes doesn’t match the “size” of an injury—and why quality rehab often includes both strength and nervous system regulation.

The simplest rule that keeps coming up: “If in doubt, just check it out.”

Even with better awareness, there will be times where it’s not clear what a pain signal means—and uncertainty alone can change how a dancer moves.

According to Bethany Shum, the most practical approach is simple: “If in doubt just check it out.”

Getting something checked doesn’t automatically mean stopping everything for weeks. Sometimes it means:

reassurance
a modification plan
a few targeted exercises
preventing compensation patterns from building

What dancers (and the people supporting them) can do this week

For dancers

Track patterns (start time, duration, next-day response), not just intensity
Notice function changes (range, stability, coordination, “I can’t do what I usually can”)
Treat persistent pain like information—not a badge

For teachers/studio owners

Normalize early check-ins (before pain becomes a crisis)
Reinforce that rest and modification are professional skills, not weakness
Help dancers build language beyond “it hurts / it’s fine”

For parents

Ask about patterns (“When does it happen? What changes it?”)
Give permission to modify (especially during heavy rehearsal blocks)
Support recovery basics (sleep, fueling, hydration)

Closing thought

Dance training will always involve effort. But pain doesn’t have to be a rite of passage.

The more dancers learn to interpret pain clearly—and the more the culture supports those conversations—the more likely dancers are to train consistently, recover well, and stay in dance for the long term.

Bethany Shum – Flexibility Matters

May 9, 2026

Conditioning for Dancers: Why Dance Class Isn’t Enough

April 16, 2026

Many dancers spend hours each week in class, rehearsals, and performances, yet conditioning for dancers is often assumed to come entirely from dance class alone.

But across conversations with dance science researchers, strength and conditioning professionals, and dance medicine clinicians, a consistent message comes up: time spent dancing and how the body is challenged physically are not the same thing. Understanding that difference helps dancers train more sustainably. It can also reduce frustration, fatigue, and injury risk over time.

This post explores why dance class and conditioning serve different—but complementary—roles in dancer training, and how understanding that difference can support long‑term health and performance.

Drawing on conversations with dance medicine clinicians, researchers, and educators who have been guests on our podcast, Dance Med Spotlight—including insights from this month’s episode—this post brings those perspectives together.

What dance class trains very well

Dance class is incredibly valuable, building skills that are central to performance, including:

coordination and timing
musicality and expression
style‑specific movement vocabulary
sequencing and cognitive demand
technical refinement within a given aesthetic

These qualities are not easily replicated outside the studio, and they’re a big reason dancers train the way they do. It also involves physical effort, often at a moderate intensity, repeated across long periods of time.

Where confusion can arise is assuming that because dance is physically demanding, it automatically provides all forms of physical preparation a dancer needs.

Why physical demand and physical preparation aren’t the same

Dance places meaningful stress on the body, but the body does not adapt the same way to all types of stress. This distinction comes up often in dance science discussions.

In a conversation with Dr. Matthew Wyon, he explains that dancers don’t need to train like power athletes, but they also don’t benefit from relying on dance class alone for physical preparation. He describes this using an “engine size” analogy: dancers often need only a modest increase in capacity to better tolerate their workload.

According to Dr. Wyon, “We need to see a slight increase in engine size… but we don’t need to get up to what I call grunt sports.”

In other words, dancers don’t need extreme conditioning. They need targeted support that fills gaps dance class doesn’t always address.

Volume doesn’t always equal stimulus

One reason this topic can feel confusing is that dancers often train at very high volumes. Multiple classes, rehearsals, and performances can add up quickly.

But high volume doesn’t automatically mean the body is receiving a strong conditioning stimulus. Dance class frequently emphasizes:

precision over fatigue
repetition over progression
skill acquisition over load adaptation

Dr. Wyon also points out that meaningful conditioning benefits can occur with surprisingly small additions when training is intentional. He notes that even “two half‑hour sessions… one hour a week” can make a difference.

This perspective can be reassuring for dancers who already feel maxed out. Conditioning doesn’t need to be extensive—it needs to be specific and consistent.

Why ballet class alone was never designed to condition the body

One reason the distinction between dance class and conditioning can feel uncomfortable is that ballet class, in particular, is often treated as a complete training system. But historically, that was never its original purpose.

In a recent episode of Dance Med Spotlight, former professional ballet dancer and coach Shane Wuerthner explains that what we now recognize as ballet class is actually a relatively recent development in dance history. Early ballet training was not built around a fixed barre‑to‑center structure, but rather around rehearsing movements that would appear in performance.

Shane points out that many of the structures we rely on today were formalized in the mid‑19th century—and have changed very little since—despite major advances in our understanding of anatomy, biomechanics, and sports science.

As he notes, while ballet class does include elements of strength and coordination, it trains the body in very specific, repeated patterns. Over time, that can leave gaps—particularly when dancers are exposed to high training volumes without complementary conditioning that challenges the body in different ways.

This helps explain why dance class alone, even when taken for many hours each week, may not adequately prepare dancers for the physical demands of modern choreography. Conditioning fills in what class was never designed to address. Understanding how ballet class developed helps explain why additional conditioning isn’t a failure of training. Instead, it responds to the demands dancers face today.

What “conditioning” actually means for dancers

People often use the word conditioning loosely, which can add to the confusion. For dancers, conditioning generally refers to training that prepares the body handle repeated effort and fatigue over time, not just execute steps.

For example, conditioning might mean preparing the calves and feet to tolerate repeated jumps across a full rehearsal week, or training the trunk to maintain stability as fatigue sets in—rather than only accessing strength in a single, fresh repetition.

In conversations with Dr. Rosa Pasculli and Dr. Emma Faulkner, they draw an important distinction between doing “more dance” and intentionally training different movement patterns. Conditioning challenges the body in ways that dance class may not—by design.

They emphasize that cross‑training or conditioning isn’t meant to replace dance. Instead, it supports dancers by improving strength, control, and resilience so that technique and artistry can be expressed more consistently. Conditioning should not function as a punishment or a replacement for class, or simply “more dance with resistance”—it is intended to complement the work dancers already do in the studio.

Why dancers often default to dance‑adjacent training

When dancers look for conditioning options, they often choose activities that feel familiar: more dance styles, Pilates, yoga, or floor barre. These can absolutely be valuable, especially for awareness, recovery, and coordination. For some dancers, choosing familiar movement also feels emotionally safer—raising less concern that needing conditioning somehow means they are “doing dance wrong.”

However, dance medicine providers frequently observe that these options don’t always address common gaps related to:

joint stability under load
repeated single‑leg demands
fatigue management across long rehearsals
upper‑body and trunk capacity for partnering or floorwork

Drs. Pasculli and Faulkner describe conditioning as training that intentionally looks different from dance—because the goal is to support what dance already does well, not duplicate it.

“Something beats nothing”: a realistic entry point

One barrier to adding conditioning is the belief that it has to be extensive to be effective. This is where a more realistic mindset can help.

Kendall Baab often encourages dancers to think in terms of a minimum effective dose. She notes that “Even if it’s 30 minutes once a week, great. If it’s twice a week, even better.”

That framing works well for:

busy teen dancers balancing school and training
adult dancers managing work and family responsibilities
studio owners introducing change gradually
teachers who want to encourage supportive habits without overload

Consistency matters more than intensity, especially when dancers already carry high training loads.

Why anatomy‑informed training helps conditioning translate to dance

Conditioning is most effective for dancers when it connects clearly back to movement demands. This is where anatomy‑informed approaches can make a difference.

In her discussion of Relative Motion’s work, Cara Dixon describes how dancers often try to solve technical challenges visually—by copying shapes—without fully understanding how their body produces the movement.

She emphasizes that effective training is not about gripping or forcing, but about learning how to activate, lengthen, and generate strength in ways that support efficiency. For dancers, that understanding often bridges the gap between working hard and working effectively.

What this looks like in practice

Conditioning doesn’t need to be complicated to be useful. In real‑world settings, it often looks like:

Dancers

one or two short sessions per week
focused movement patterns that repeat over time
gradual progression rather than constant novelty

Teachers and studio owners

normalizing conditioning as support, not correction
aligning cues so strength concepts reinforce technique
offering simple recommendations rather than rigid rules

Parents

understanding that conditioning supports longevity
encouraging patience—strength adaptations take time
supporting recovery through sleep and fueling

Across dancers, teachers, and parents, the goal is the same: supporting the body so dancers can continue showing up to class, rehearsal, and performance with consistency. Understanding conditioning also sets the stage for clearer conversations about rest, recovery, and training load—topics we’ll continue exploring.

Closing thought: conditioning supports longevity, not replacement

Dance class remains essential. It builds the skills, artistry, and expression that define dance.

Conditioning serves a different role. It helps dancers tolerate the demands of training, recover more effectively, and access their technique more consistently—especially over long seasons and careers.

Recognizing that dance class and conditioning serve different purposes isn’t about doing more. It’s about training smarter, so dancers can continue doing what they love with greater confidence and sustainability.

Shane Wuerthner – Athletistry

April 2, 2026

Strength Training for Dancers: Rethinking Dance Conditioning

March 19, 2026

Rethinking Strength Training in Dance

Strength training for dancers has a long and complicated history in the dance world. Many dancers grow up hearing concerns about flexibility, aesthetics, or whether strength work belongs alongside technique training at all.

This post brings together perspectives from dance medicine clinicians, researchers, and educators who have been guests on our podcast, Dance Med Spotlight. Their expertise will help clarify what strength training can look like in dance today—and why it’s increasingly considered part of dancer longevity and performance support.

What we mean by “strength training” in dance (and what we don’t mean)

When dancers say “strength training,” they sometimes picture bodybuilding, heavy lifting only, or training that competes with technique. In practice, dancer‑relevant strength work is usually about building capacity and control—so dancers can meet choreography demands, maintain alignment under fatigue, and reduce overuse risk.

In the episode with the Dance USA Task Force on Dancer Health, Dr. Rosa Pasculli and Dr. Emma Faulkner emphasize that the biggest barrier is often not the value of strength training—but the myths and misunderstandings that keep dancers from using it effectively.

Why the myths persist (even when evidence and experience have moved on)

Many dancers inherit ideas that were never grounded in physiology—just tradition. As Dr. Pasculli puts it: “The myths about cross-training and strength training for dancers, they need to go, it’s 2025.”

That doesn’t mean teachers or parents are “bad” for repeating them—many were taught the same things. But it does mean that if we want healthier, more sustainable careers (and fewer preventable injuries), we need updated language, updated expectations, and better tools.

Strength training doesn’t make a dancer “bulky” overnight

The “bulky” fear is one of the most common reasons dancers avoid strength work—especially in adolescence. But Dr. Pasculli addresses the gap between fear and reality clearly: “Why are we still telling our dancers if they pick up a barbell, they’re going to walk out of the gym looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger?”

She also points out what it actually takes to build significant muscle size: “Bulking up… takes a lot of food, a lot of rest, supplements, tons of protein… specific training parameters. ” The practical takeaway for dancers, parents, and teachers is this: dancer‑appropriate strength training is typically not designed for mass gain. It’s designed for strength, stability, coordination, and repeatability—especially under fatigue.

“Will I lose flexibility?” (A more helpful way to think about it)

A common experience for dancers starting strength training is temporary tightness—especially when new loading patterns are introduced. That sensation often gets interpreted as “I’m losing flexibility,” when what’s really happening is that the nervous system is adapting to new demands and learning control.

The Dance USA conversation directly pushes back on the idea that strength automatically costs flexibility. Dr. Pasculli notes that early sensations can change as adaptation happens, and that strength and flexibility can coexist when training is structured well.

A dancer‑friendly way to reframe it is: it’s not just about having range; it’s about owning range. Strength training can support flexibility by improving active control, stability, and confidence at end range.

“Dance class should be enough.” (Why it often isn’t)

This is where dance science becomes especially helpful. Many dancers train high-volume, but the intensity and stimulus profile of dance technique is not the same as targeted strength and conditioning.

In the conversation with Dr. Matthew Wyon, he explains this using an “engine size” analogy. Dancers don’t need to train like power‑sport athletes. They often need only a modest “upgrade”: “We need to see a slight increase in engine size… but we don’t need to get up to… what I call grunt sports.”

He also emphasizes that meaningful gains can happen without huge time commitments: “We’ve seen benefits of doing two half hour… one hour a week session a week.”

This matters for scheduling, especially for teens and pre‑pros. If your week is already packed, the goal is not “add three more hours.” The goal is small, targeted work that supports what dance alone doesn’t fully train.

A practical minimum: “something beats nothing”

If strength training feels intimidating or overwhelming to add, it helps to start with a minimum effective dose. Kendall Baab gives a simple and realistic benchmark: “Even if it’s 30 minutes once a week, great. If it’s twice a week, even better.”

That framing is especially helpful for:

busy teen dancers balancing school + training
adult dancers balancing work + dance
studio owners trying to introduce change gradually
teachers who want to encourage strength without overwhelming students

The goal is consistency, not perfection.

Strength training is not “extra”—it’s preparation for choreography demands

One of the most persuasive shifts for dancers is connecting strength work to what choreography actually requires. In the Dance USA episode, Dr. Emma Faulkner gives a clear example of why “light weights only” doesn’t match real demands: “You’re going to have to pick up a woman over your head… I can assure you every one of our dancers… is going to weigh more than 40 pounds.”

She also emphasizes that dancers need to respond to unpredictability: “Dumbbells don’t move. People do.”

This is a powerful point for teachers and directors: strength isn’t only about whether a dancer can execute a lift once—it’s about repeatability, adaptability, and safety across rehearsals and performances.

“Cross‑training” vs “conditioning”: why words matter

Dancers often choose dance‑adjacent training (more dance styles, Pilates, yoga), which can absolutely be valuable. But it doesn’t always fill the gaps that dance medicine providers commonly see in injury patterns.

Drs. Pasculli and Faulkner describe cross‑training as training the body in different patterns, not simply doing “more of the same.” They also describe building resources that dancers can use anywhere, including structured follow‑along workouts designed to be realistic within a dance schedule.

This is a helpful educational point for teens and parents: if the goal is resilience and injury reduction, it often requires at least some training that looks different from technique class.

Why anatomy-informed training helps dancers “access” strength

Strength training isn’t just “work harder.” For dancers, it’s often about learning how to recruit the right systems for the job.

In Cara Dixon‘s discussion of Relative Motion’s approach, she describes a common issue: dancers try to “figure it out visually,” copying shapes instead of integrating body awareness.

She also emphasizes a useful distinction: “We don’t want you to grip… We want you to activate… lengthen, elongate, find space… but also make that muscle powerful enough to really accomplish what we’re asking.” For dancers, that difference is everything. It’s the bridge between “I’m working hard” and “I’m working efficiently.”

What this looks like in real life (simple implementation)

Here’s a practical, dancer‑friendly way to implement this without overhauling everything: