As our full group moves into a restful Spring Break for the next week, you may be wondering: as professionals, why do we take a Spring Break?

There are many reasons as dancers that we need and our bodies crave rest. We have a big show coming up at the end of April, and taking adequate rest now will help us to be at our peak performance for the Auditorium Theatre. To answer your questions, though, I provide you with the following information on the benefits of rest!

1. Rest time = Recovery time. For all professional athletes, rest is sacred. Professional athletes in sports such as soccer, football, basketball, baseball, etc. have a whole season of rest. Even when they aren’t in their “off-season”, teams in the United States have BYE weeks in which they don’t have games. Being at your peak performance in practice, rehearsal, and then games/performances all of the time is physically exhausting. Without enough rest, athletes are driven to burnout and would not be capable of doing what they do best!
2. Cross-train and build muscle. Just like a professional athlete, us professional dancers cross-train. Each of us prefers something different, but when we are outside the studio we might run, lift weights, cardio or HIIT-train, or even do pilates or yoga to keep up our strength and endurance. A week off allows us to do more of these activities to support our movement as dancers, but it also allows us to rest our muscles to allow them to build up. Muscle builds during rest time, ironically!
3. To see family, friends, and maintain mental health. As dancers, we spend so much of our time in studio and also working other jobs. Kia prioritizes our mental well-being alongside our physical well-being and a week off allows many of us to see family and friends. Having good mental health allows us to be our best within the studio! Tons of us have family from out-of-state that we do not get to see often. This spring break season allows us to travel to them and enjoy time together!
4. Coming back better than ever! I find that each time after a break, I return to the space excited to see my co-workers, excited to work on the pieces we have in our repertoire, and ready to work harder than ever. It’s always my hope that a week break allows us to rest and recover and then push towards our communal goal of putting together the best show we possibly can!

We will see you after our well-deserved break! Until then, enjoy the sunshine wherever you are 🙂