Although the roots of NYU Langone’s Harkness Center for Dance Injuries lie in treating dance injuries, our primary goal is to prevent them in the first place. For this reason, we offer educational programs and services that promote wellness and injury prevention for the dance community worldwide. These include workshops, lectures, and educational materials for dance schools, dance companies, dance service organizations, universities and colleges, civic groups, and groups for parents of dancers.

Injury Prevention Workshops

Injury prevention workshops are available for professional dance companies, dance students and their parents, dance educators, choreographers, directors, and other groups. We can tailor a workshop’s content to participants’ needs, genre of dance, and specific, individual goals. Typically 60 to 90 minutes in length, workshops are held on-site at NYU Langone locations, off‐site at dance schools and studios, and virtually. Topics may include the following:

• anatomy and kinesiology for dancers
• progressive, dance-specific strength and flexibility training
• understanding and preventing common injuries in dance
• dynamic warm-up: rationale and sequence
• nutrition: impact on performance and practical matters
• biopsychosocial health (wellness in the physical, sociocultural, and psychological domains)

Dance Educator Intensives

We offer dance educator intensives for university dance programs, conservatories, conferences, keynotes, and more. We tailor intensives to educators’ needs, based on the style or styles of dance taught, the dance education setting, and the students’ ages and skill levels. Topics may include any of the above, plus the following:

• understanding dance injury etiology and the recognition, management, and prevention of dance injuries
• addressing biopsychosocial considerations related to dance injury and to dance educators’ self-care
• debunking common myths about dance training
• teaching methods that promote career longevity
• reviewing precautions and special training considerations for adolescent dancers
• assessing pointe-readiness
• examining workplace safety

To schedule an injury prevention workshop or dance educator intensive, or to request additional information, email harkness@nyulangone.org or complete our request form.

Other Wellness and Dance Injury Prevention Programs

Launched in early 2018, the Harkness Center Healthy Dancer Initiative provides subsidized movement sessions and free wellness workshops to professional dancers who have financial need. Learn more about this program and the other dance injury prevention programs we offer.