Dance Medicine Education Initiative

Dance Medicine Education Initiative Dance Medicine Education Initiative (DMEI) provides a rich set of continuing education opportunities

Last week’s PAMA conference offered a welcome opportunity to step away from the hamster wheel of day to day work and spe...
07/30/2026

Last week’s PAMA conference offered a welcome opportunity to step away from the hamster wheel of day to day work and spend time learning, reconnecting, and exchanging ideas with colleagues. Believe it or not, it was my first Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) conference, having attended only IADMS events before last week.

I loved the opportunities I had to reconnect with colleagues I know and meet several who I have admired from afar. I was also thrilled to support my fellow Westside Dance PT and Johns Hopkins Rehab Network colleagues who presented a poster on a shockwave case study and research on the effects of early specialization in dance.

The days passed quickly, and although I wasn’t able to catch up with everyone I had wanted to, I returned to the clinic on Monday inspired. Congrats to everyone who made this conference a success!

We’re almost ready for take off!!! 🛫 Creating the Finding Flight series and getting the third course ready has been a h...
07/22/2026

We’re almost ready for take off!!! 🛫 Creating the Finding Flight series and getting the third course ready has been a heavy lift but I wouldn’t have “jumped” Into this project with anyone else but the three of you.

Marimba Gold-Watts Wendy Reinert | Strength Coach Jennifer Milner Andrea Zujko

07/17/2026

Good morning everyone ☀️

The July newsletter is out.

Take a look when you have a moment and stay up to date with what DMEI has been up to this month.

I’m also introducing a new section in this edition called DMEI Field Notes.

This section is meant to create space for practical questions from the field: specific clinical situations, dancer-related challenges, teaching questions, footwear questions, return-to-dance questions, or anything else that feels relevant to the work we do with dancers.

I love digging into specific clinical situations to create dialogue, challenge our clinical reasoning, and collaborate with other professionals in the field as we think through dancer care.

Stay cool everyone 😎

🔗 in BIO

07/14/2026

Another awesome post from Wendy Reinert, one of the four collaborators of our upcoming course! Thrilled you are a part of the group. I have learned and continue to learn so much from you! 🙌

Repost from Wendy Reinert | Strength Coach
•
When you’re coming back from injury, there’s this point where the injury is technically healed, you’re back to taking class (but probably not fully yet) and feeling generally ready, but there’s still a gap before you’re back to peak performance.

You can probably tolerate *some* jumps, but not *all* jumps. Your coordination and patterning may still be lagging, but not enough to stop you from dancing.

For a dancer who is coming back from, say, an ankle sprain, who has already added back parts of class and has maybe done enough pliés and rélèvés and tendus that week, this exercise is a great way to prepare the WHOLE body to absorb the force of the landing, without putting *all* the onus on the lower leg.

We’ll be diving MUCH deeper into the hows and whys of exercise selection for dancers coming back from injury (and a whole lot more) in our workshop:

*Finding Flight: a return to jump protocol for dancers*
August 1, at Arrive Wellness
Co-taught by Dance Medicine Education Initiative (DMEI) , Jennifer Milner and Marimba Gold-Watts
This workshop for PTs, trainers, Pilates instructors, and other movement professionals who work with dancers. (Complete with continuing ed credits!!)

We’re so excited to be bringing this into the dance world, and we hope you’ll join us!! DM me with any questions! Link with more info and sign up is in my bio!

Return to jumping is not a single yes or no decision.During Return to Flight, the third course in the protocol, we are a...
07/08/2026

Return to jumping is not a single yes or no decision.

During Return to Flight, the third course in the protocol, we are asking whether the dancer is ready to begin managing dynamic loading with enough capacity, control, and consistency to prepare for what comes next.

That means looking beyond impact tolerance.

❔Can the dancer manage weight transfer?

❔Can they maintain hip-knee-ankle- foot organization?

❔Can they tolerate changes in tempo, repetition, impact, and coordination?

❔Can they recover well enough to repeat the work?

These are the kinds of questions Return to Flight: Build the Spring, a one-day course for clinicians & movement professionals helping dancers progress from basic recovery toward dynamic, dance-specific loading. We are intentionally starting in the middle of the Finding Flight series which will allow us to look back at the capacities that should already be in place and forward toward the demands of plyometric preparation.

Registration is open via 🔗 in BIO.

🗓️. August 1st

Return to Flight: Build the Spring course is for the practitioner working with the dancer who is improving, but not yet ...
06/23/2026

Return to Flight: Build the Spring course is for the practitioner working with the dancer who is improving, but not yet fully prepared for the real jumping demands of dance.

They may be stronger, less symptomatic, and be able to perform a jump in a controlled setting.

But dance rarely asks for one isolated effort.

It asks for repeated takeoffs and landings, shifting directions, changes in tempo, technical organization, fatigue management, class demands, rehearsal demands, choreography, footwear, surfaces, and recovery.

That is why a return to jumping plan needs more than a general “can they do it?” checkpoint.

In Return to Flight: Build the Spring, we look at dynamic loading through a more specific lens: load tolerance, movement quality, weight transfer, repetition, tempo, impact, recovery, and readiness to progress.

This course was created to help clinicians & movement professionals reason through that transition with more clarity.

Early 🐦‍⬛ pricing is available through July 3rd.

🔗 in BIO

The June DMEI Newsletter is out. 🌸This one feels like a full spring reflection, with updates from Module III at Johns Ho...
06/17/2026

The June DMEI Newsletter is out. 🌸

This one feels like a full spring reflection, with updates from Module III at Johns Hopkins Rehab Network, Module IV at Westside Dance PT, the June Mentorship Monday session and much more.

I’m also sharing what’s ahead for DMEI including:

➡️ Return to Flight: Build the Spring on August 1st in NYC

➡️ Module I: Introductory Concepts in Dance Medicine on September 19-20

➡️ Our next Mentorship Monday on September 28

If you are a practitioner, educator, or movement professional who care about dancers, clinical reasoning, and the ongoing work of building better support systems around dance training and performance, I hope you’ll give it a read.

🔗 in BIO

A dancer may be progressing well in the earlier phases of rehabilitation.They may be walking without issue, tolerating s...
06/15/2026

A dancer may be progressing well in the earlier phases of rehabilitation.

They may be walking without issue, tolerating stairs, improving strength, returning to modified class, and moving with better control through foundational patterns.

But dynamic loading changes the question.

Jumping asks whether the dancer can maintain movement quality as force, repetition, tempo, coordination, and fatigue begin to increase. It asks whether the trunk, pelvis, hip, knee, ankle, and foot can organize together under conditions that are more specific to dance.

That is why Return to Flight: Build the Spring matters.

This course is designed to help practitioners think more clearly about the bridge between basic recovery and the more demanding work of returning a dancer to jumping, class, rehearsal, and performance.

Visit 🔗 in BIO to register

We hope to see you there!

Andrea Zujko
Jennifer Milner
Wendy Reinert | Strength Coach
Marimba Gold-Watts

Snapping hip is common in dancers, but common does not always mean clinically simple. 🧐In this Mentorship Monday session...
06/10/2026

Snapping hip is common in dancers, but common does not always mean clinically simple. 🧐

In this Mentorship Monday session, we’ll look at snapping hip through a dance medicine lens, not just asking what structure may be snapping, but what the snapping may represent.

We’ll discuss how to think through location, pain, irritability, load, hip control, and when symptoms may warrant a deeper screen.

will open with the physical therapy clinical reasoning perspective, and .milner will follow with movement-based strategies to support more efficient pelvic-femoral control.

🗓️ Monday, June 15th

⏰ 7:30- 8:30 pm ET

Free virtual session

There are still a few spots left!

🔗 in BIO > Mentorship Monday

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