Nutrition, Weight Management, and Diet for Dance

Diet is critical to good performance and to a long dancing career because food is the main source of fuel for muscles, body fluid replacement, and the other nutrients needed for fitness and health. An inadequate diet may trigger injuries¹ and prolong rehabilitation.² While many dancers are concerned about diet and nutrition, those with disordered eating are obsessed by it. In pursuing ill-conceived diets, some dancers eat too much of certain nutrients —too much protein, too much fat—while depriving the body of much-needed carbohydrates.³ Iron, calcium, folic acid, and vitamins C, B₁₂, D, and E are some of the essential nutrients that dancers commonly lack in their diets.⁴ This self-deprivation is in line with a belief in “success at any cost.”⁵