By: Christina Ricucci

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year…the start of competition season! Everyone is so eager to be back in the studio learning new choreography and training for the New Year.

The most important thing is to not overwhelm yourself with too many rigorous hours. Make a schedule, listen to your body, (because no one knows it better than you) and plan it out accordingly. This way you don’t burn yourself out in the beginning of the year. We want to be able to have energy to do our best at nationals!

One thing I always love to start my dance season with, are several strong ballet classes to slowly get my body back into shape. Ballet is your core foundation, so when you’re beginning a new year, it’s always good to come back to the basics and remind your body of the proper technique you work so hard for. If your ballet technique/ability is strong, every other style will feel like a breeze!

Sometimes when we start back up into class, we push ourselves extra hard in the beginning because we are just so excited…this may lead to a potential injury. Always be sure to warm up and cool down every time you dance to help prevent this! Even if that means you arrive to the studio several minutes earlier and leave just a little later. We want to have healthy bodies to last us all season long.

I can’t wait to get back into the studio and apply all of these things. I hope you do the same. And have FUN doing it!