JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

As a parent of a dancer, it can be difficult to know where the line is between challenging your dancer to grow and asking their body to handle more than it is prepared for.

Knee pain is common in active teenagers, and it is sometimes dismissed as “growing pains.” But persistent knee pain deserves more attention than that. One of the most common causes of knee pain in adolescents is patellofemoral pain (PFP)—pain around or behind the kneecap. It can affect both teenagers and adults, and unfortunately, it doesn’t always disappear with age.

Cheerleading demands an incredible combination of strength, power, flexibility, balance, coordination, and body control. Athletes may spend hours perfecting tumbling passes, jumps, stunts, and choreography, often performing highly technical movements at speed and under significant physical load.

Figure skating is one of the most demanding sports in the world. It combines incredible athleticism with artistry, requiring strength, power, balance, flexibility, endurance, and precision, all while performing on a thin blade moving across the ice.

A dancer's feet do far more than point beautifully at the end of a leg. They absorb impact from every landing, create power for every jump, provide stability for every balance, and serve as the foundation for every turn.

For decades, dancers have been told that strength training will make them "bulky" and negatively affect their lines or flexibility. As a result, many dancers avoid resistance training altogether, relying solely on technique classes and repetition to improve performance.

Many young dancers spend countless hours in the studio working on technique, flexibility, choreography, and artistry. While these elements are essential to dance training, one important component is often overlooked: strength training.

In dance and artistic sports, flexibility is often one of the most celebrated physical traits. High extensions, deep backbends, oversplits, and dramatic lines are frequently associated with strong technique and advanced ability. But flexibility and mobility are not the same thing and understanding the difference can completely change how dancers train.