ABSTRACT
Dancers would seem to be among the fittest of athletes. Yet strength1 and endurance2deficits abound, despite their “almost pathological hyperflexibility.”3 For some dancers, becoming—or staying—fit is a question of finding the time and other resources to do so.4Technique class by itself cannot provide the conditioning needed for optimal fitness and injury-free performance. Dancers need “supernormal” strength to perform demanding choreography, lift another dancer, or whip out turns à la seconde (with the leg lifted to the side) for 16 measures of music, not to mention the flexibility needed to achieve the aesthetically desired line of many ballet or jazz movements.5
