Why Dancers Need Adequate Nutrition for Whole Body Health

Dance is a demanding activity that uses intermittent bursts of anaerobic energy – an activity that’s short in length with high intensity – to create artistic movements. Compared to traditional team sports, the artistic and athletic nature of dance makes it not only a unique sport, but one that requires proper nutrition. Below, our sports medicine experts highlight the importance of proper nutrition, bone health and hydration for dance athletes to achieve their best health and performance.

Dance nutrition and energy intake

Food serves a dancer’s body as a source of fuel and enjoyment. Eating enough of each food group throughout the day leads to proper energy intake for performance, growth and development.

Dancers often feel pressure to maintain a thin body, and performance anxiety or not wanting to feel full before rehearsals can lead to too little food intake. These factors often cause under-fueling. Research shows that dancers tend to have low energy intake — around 70% to 80% of their expected nutritional needs, which can lead to:

• Lower metabolic rates
• Menstrual dysfunction or amenorrhea
• Lower bone mineral density
• Increased risk of injury

Ensuring athletes are eating enough food and meeting caloric needs improves a dancer’s overall health including metabolism, hormone health including a regular menstrual cycle, gut health, mental health, more efficient muscle recovery, cardiovascular health, endurance and greatly reduces the risk of injury. Although portions may differ based on the dancer’s age and size, most athletes need three meals and two to three snacks daily.

Dancers should have a meal two to four hours before practice and a snack 30 to 60 minutes before their activity. For practices after school, the dancer may have lunch at noon and a snack a half hour before practice. If rehearsal goes from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the weekend, eat breakfast between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., have two to three snacks during practice and eat lunch right after rehearsal. This type of fueling during rehearsals provides much needed support for dancers to perform their best.

Snack ideas for dancers

• Keep these snacks handy at home or on the road:
• Fruit with cheese
• Yogurt with fruit and granola
• Bagel with cream cheese or peanut butter
• Energy bites (recipe below)
• Granola bar
• Trail mix with nuts and fruit
• A fruit and yogurt smoothie
• Edamame (fresh or dried)
• Hard boiled eggs and crackers
• Cheese and crackers
• Hummus with crackers and veggies

Daily meal and snack examples for dancers

Our experts have provided some meal and snack ideas to help fuel dancers throughout the day.

Moderate activity meal example

Training length and intensity vary from day to day and week to week, as do competition and performance schedules. So, coordinate your meals based on how hard or easy that day may be. Below is an example of a plate for a single meal on a day of moderate training, or one low to moderate intensity practice. You can use this as the baseline from where you adjust for an easier or harder day.

Strenuous activity meal example

As exercise time increases and your dancer grows, their energy and food needs also increase. A hard day includes at least two demanding workouts or a lengthy performance. A plate that incorporates more grains ensures that as rehearsal time becomes longer or more strenuous, athletes have enough fuel. Use a plate like the one below to plan meals for those hard training days.

Nutrition and bone health

Ensuring your child meets their nutrition and energy needs is the first step to strong bones, especially in dancers. If they’re not eating enough or eating foods that are not rich in bone-building ingredients, bone growth slows, and they will have increased risk for low bone mineral density and bone injury. In addition to meeting energy needs, dancers should meet their calcium, vitamin D and iron needs.

Iron is also an essential nutrient for dancers that carries oxygen to the brain and muscles. Although we don’t recommend taking iron supplements unless prescribed by a doctor because it can stay in the body and cause toxicity, incorporating iron rich foods like the ones below can help performance. Consult a sports medicine doctor if you’re concerned about iron or any other deficiency that may require a supplement.

Hydration for dancers

In young athletes, fluid makes up 60% to 70% of their entire body weight, and is extremely important for nutrient delivery, waste removal and temperature regulation. Dehydration can not only be dangerous but reducing fluid in the body by only 2% of body weight can negatively impact performance. Dancers know they’re well hydrated when they need to use the bathroom every 2 to 3 hours and have plenty of pale-yellow urine, indicated by shades one, two and three below.