May Dance Health Month Features Free Programs

With health and wellness a constant priority in the dance community-particularly given the current circumstances surrounding the spread of COVID-19-See Chicago Dance (SCD), the dance industry's nonprofit service organization, is presenting Dance Health Month, a series of free programs and articles, in May.

SCD is partnering on these programs with Chicago Dancers United, which works to improve the lives of dance professionals through holistic wellness programs and provide financial support in times of critical health need through The Dancers' Fund.

"We originally were planning to expand last year's Day of Dancer Health as part of this year's Chicago Dance Month," said SCD Interim Executive Director Surinder Martignetti. "Although we can't gather for a day-long event at this time, we nonetheless want to offer dancers, choreographers, administrators, designers, technicians, and anyone who works in the dance community the opportunity to hear from experts on maintaining and strengthening their health and well-being."

The schedule of programs to date (via Zoom), each of which will be captioned, is as follows:

• Taking Care of Your Mental Health During a Pandemic, Tuesday, May 5, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Erica Hornthal, a board-certified dance/movement therapist and founder and CEO of Chicago Dance Therapy, leads a discussion on mental health for dancers during the pandemic. She commented, "Movement is crucial for managing anxiety and stress. As dancers, it is even more important that we learn to use our bodies for self-expression." Registration is available here.

• Dancing Through Quarantine, Tuesday, May 12, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Athletico physical therapist Chelsea Root offers health tips, management strategy, and effective exercises to stay performance-ready during this virtual world. Root provides on-site rehearsal and performance coverage for Visceral Dance Chicago and Steppenwolf Theatre Company and is a member of Athletico's Performing Arts and Pediatrics specialty programs. Registration is available here.

The remaining programs will be announced shortly. Topics under consideration include nutrition, insurance, financial well-being, somatic practices, social wellness, and marketing. Updates will be available at seechicagodance.com.

To complement the virtual gatherings, SCD will publish a series of articles on its website and social media pages beginning May 1. Topics include:
• May 1: Dance movement therapy
• May 4: Five ways to connect without going online
• May 11: Five ways to up your cross-training game at home-or not
• May 18: Pantry-salvaged recipes: comfort, waste-nothing meals you can totally make
• May 25: Five ways to chill with at-home restorative bodywork
• May 27: SCD Summer Reading List

For updates and more information, visit seechicagodance.com.

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