What I Wish I had in my Dance Bag

My dance bag is a Mary Poppins's bag. I have at least 3 pairs of shoes, three outfits, hair ties, bobby pins, hair nets, gel, two hair brushes, 5 socks, chocolate, Band-Aids, a golf ball, nail clippers, sewing kit, and a water bottle at any given time. My friends claim when the zombie apocalypse hits, they want to have me on their side with my survival bag. Dancer's bags are survival bags we have the needed resources to treat any injury or mishap. However, our bags do not have the tools to prevent injury.

      I wish my dance bag had a foam roller, so I could roll out tight muscles before I entered class. A couple of Thera-bands to work out when the studio is in choreography mode. Hot and ice pack to warm up my muscles before class and to cool down my muscles after. It would probably be a good idea to have food other than chocolate in my bag too. Ideally the studio would have these tools for their dancers to use. Sadly, most dancers learn to take care of their body once they are a professionals or after an injury. That's about 17 years that a dancer trains without asking why and dealing with pain. To prevent injuries studios need to encourage their students and teacher to talk about injuries. Dancers know that being injured means a loss in opportunities and parts, so they often don't mention their injury. If the studios discussed nutrition, conditioning, and injury prevention with their students early on, then they way dancers react to injuries will drastically change, making the studio a safer place.