Ballet Science Blog

Professional ballet careers are incredibly rewarding… but they are also short. What happens when the curtain finally closes?

In this episode of the Ballet Science Podcast, I sit down with Aurora Dickie, soloist with Staatsballett Berlin and graduate student in dance science, to discuss one of the most important (and often overlooked) topics in ballet: preparing for life after a performing career.

Aurora shares her journey from Brazil to Washington Ballet and Staatsballett Berlin, explains how she balances a demanding professional schedule while earning a master’s degree, and discusses her fascinating research on retirement transition in professional dancers.

Whether you’re a dancer, teacher, parent, healthcare professional, or simply interested in dance science, this conversation offers valuable insights into building a healthier and more sustainable ballet career.

Can being too flexible actually increase your risk of injury?

Many dancers are praised for their flexibility, but hypermobility isn’t always an advantage. In this episode of the Ballet Science Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Linda Bluestein (Hypermobility MD and Bendy Bodies Podcast), physician, former ballet dancer, and internationally recognized expert in hypermobility disorders, to discuss what every dancer, teacher, and parent should know about hypermobility and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS).

Whether you’re a professional dancer, pre-professional student, adult ballet dancer, teacher, healthcare provider, or parent, this episode offers practical, evidence-informed advice for training smarter and dancing longer.

Kathryn Morgan is one of the most recognizable names in ballet education, but behind her successful career lies a story of resilience, advocacy, and overcoming a life-changing health diagnosis.

In this episode of the Ballet Science Podcast, Kathryn shares her journey from New York City Ballet to becoming one of the world’s leading online ballet educators. We discuss how thyroid disease affected her professional career, body image, and identity as a dancer, along with the lessons she has learned about self-advocacy, sustainable training, perfectionism, and finding purpose beyond ballet.

As someone who also experienced thyroid cancer during my own ballet career, this conversation became especially meaningful as we reflected on how thyroid-related conditions can affect dancers in ways that are often overlooked.

Whether you’re a dancer, teacher, parent, or healthcare professional, this episode offers valuable insights into dancer health, resilience, and building a long-term relationship with ballet.

Have you ever wondered what is actually happening inside a pointe shoe?

In this video, I sit down with Christine Fernandez and Kaitlyn Kumar, engineering students from Johns Hopkins University and co-founders of PointeSense, a wearable technology designed to provide real-time feedback during pointe work.

Using pressure sensors and motion tracking technology, PointeSense aims to help dancers, teachers, fitters, and healthcare professionals better understand pointe technique, alignment, shoe fit, and potential injury risks.

Whether you’re a ballet dancer, teacher, pointe shoe fitter, dance medicine professional, or simply curious about the future of dance technology, this is a fascinating conversation you won’t want to miss.

Can hypermobility help ballet dancers… or increase injury risk?

In this episode, we explore the science of hypermobility and its role in ballet training. Learn the difference between flexibility and hypermobility, why hypermobile dancers are often drawn to ballet, how conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) fit into the conversation, and why strength and stability may be even more important than flexibility.

Whether you’ve been told you’re “double-jointed,” struggle with hyperextended knees, or simply want to better understand how hypermobility affects ballet technique and injury prevention, this video is for you.

Can dance improve mental and physical health during menopause?

In this episode, we explore research examining the effects of dance interventions on perimenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal women. Researchers analyzed multiple studies involving dance styles such as Zumba, jazz dance, traditional cultural dances, sports dance, and dance movement therapy.

Whether you’re a dancer, healthcare professional, teacher, student, or simply interested in healthy aging, this episode highlights how movement and dance may support well-being throughout life.

Why do ballerinas destroy brand new pointe shoes before dancing in them? In this video, we explore the fascinating science, biomechanics, and artistry behind breaking in pointe shoes.

From bending the shank and crushing the box to darning, rosin, jet glue, and sewing ribbons with dental floss, professional ballet dancers completely customize their shoes to match their feet and performance needs. What looks like destruction is actually a highly specialized process that transforms a stiff, generic shoe into a personalized high-performance tool.

Whether you’re a dancer, ballet parent, teacher, or simply curious about the science of ballet, this episode reveals the engineering and anatomy behind one of ballet’s most iconic traditions.

What is it really like to train at one of the most prestigious ballet schools in the world? In this episode, I sit down with Joy Womack (the first American woman to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy) to discuss the realities of elite ballet training, injury, mental health, body image, performance pressure, and the physical demands of professional dance.

Joy shares her incredible journey from early training in the United States to studying in Russia at just 15 years old, dancing professionally across multiple countries and ballet systems, and eventually building a freelance career and nonprofit organization in France.

We also discuss:
🩰 The differences between Russian, French, and American ballet training
🧠 The mental health challenges dancers face transitioning into company life
⚡ Stress fractures, overtraining, and recovery
💪 Strength training and conditioning in ballet
🎭 Ballet identity and life beyond the stage
✨ What today’s young dancers need most

Whether you are a dancer, teacher, parent, healthcare professional, or simply fascinated by human performance, this is an incredibly insightful and honest conversation about the realities of ballet at the highest level.

Have you ever watched a ballet dancer perform a flawless pirouette and wondered how it’s possible?

In this video, we break down the fascinating physics behind ballet turns… from angular momentum and torque to spotting, balance, friction, and fouettés.

You’ll learn how dancers use the same physical principles that govern figure skaters, tornadoes, and spinning planets to create speed, control, and stability during turns. From the initial push-off to the iconic passé position, every pirouette is a masterclass in biomechanics and physics.

🩰 Topics Covered:

• Angular Momentum
• Moment of Inertia
• Torque & Push-Off Mechanics
• Spotting & Balance
• Friction & Fouettés
• Why Dancers Pull Their Arms In During Turns
• The Biomechanics of Pirouettes

Why are ballet dancers so flexible? Is it genetics… or training? In this video, we break down the real science behind flexibility. Learn how dancers develop incredible range of motion, why the nervous system plays such a major role in stretching, and how strength and flexibility work together in ballet training.

This video covers:
🩰 The science of flexibility
🩰 Static vs. dynamic flexibility
🩰 Why dancers need strength for flexibility
🩰 How the nervous system controls stretching
🩰 Why warming up matters before stretching
🩰 How long stretches should actually be held
🩰 Why oversplits are NOT the goal
🩰 Safe flexibility training for adults and beginners