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Nutcracker is my favorite time of year because it helps you to gauge where you have made improvements from the previous year. Whether you are performing new or the same roles in your school’s or company’s Nutcracker the following tips will help prevent you from getting burned out and allow for successful Nutcracker shows. If you approach each role as just going through the motions this may show come stage time. If you approach the role with the energy and enthusiasm that you would use in a performance it will be easier to do so on stage (and even help with nervousness! ! ).

Dancers looking for a quick fix to something that takes time and in some cases is not genetically probable. So what do you do when you weren’t born blessed with circus freak flexibility? This doesn’t mean that you should stop stretching and working on your flexibility by any means. Look – the more attention you draw to your adequate flexibility, the worse you are going to feel and the more others are going to notice.

When I left home to join Ballet Austin at age 19, things changed. Needless to say, although my ballet technique was at an all time high, I started to put on weight. The wellness era had not yet started to boom and the uber thin look was still all the rage in ballet (luckily things have since changed) While you can’t tell your ballet teacher or company director that you won’t be showing up for rehearsal because you are tired, you CAN do your best to recover between rehearsals or from day to day through proper eating and rest.

I will never forget the first time that I “rolled” my ankle in the studio after a summer of Ballet Strength cross training preparation – my ankle rolled over to the outside of my foot, and immediately corrected itself back to standing due to the strength that I had created in my ankle, knee and hip. In ballet we tend to work hard on the muscles that hold our “turn-out” while neglecting stabilizing muscles that we use in “parallel” or daily life. Adding these two exercises to your strength training/cross training routine will help balance out your muscles, keeping you centered and strong. As always, be sure to consult with your physical therapist, physician, or Ballet Strength trainer before performing these or any cross training exercises.