Alberta Ballet has in-house physical and mental-health care for dancers

A 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily schedule at the Alberta Ballet Studio is not for the faint-hearted.

For dancers, some as young as 18 years, it means hours of rigorous training, memorizing sheets of music and detailed choreography, to be perfected and performed within weeks to hundreds of audience members who have been waiting months to watch renditions of Swan Lake, Once Upon A Time, Romeo and Juliet, Nikinsky and other shows planned for the 2025-2026 season.

It also means sprained ankles, sore legs, muscle cramps and stress migraines. But the walk to the physio is short, just a few steps across the practice room to a nondescript door, behind which a cozy treatment space lies, replete with an exam table, a licensed professional and whatever else is required for patient care.

“Without the performances on the weekends, they’re so busy and the physical demands placed on them are absolutely incredible,” Dr. Alex Louder, a chiropractor with Peak Health, a Calgary-based team of multidisciplinary sports and injury clinics, said. “I don’t even think that NHL players train as far as they do.”

It’s why, as of six months ago, Peak Health offers in-house physio, chiropractic, massage therapy, nutrition and mental health care to the studio’s 32 dancers.

Detailed measurements were taken from each dancer at the beginning of the season to make risk assessments and assess what interventions to put in place to prevent injuries from happening.

“How far do their hips rotate one way versus the other way?” How far can they jump in one direction versus the other?” Louder said.

The clinic is available to dancers 16 hours during the week, during which they can book appointments, either in person or online.

“We’re really trying to give them as much access to us as possible, so that they can come in, or they can call us, and they can email us,” he said.

The clinic was immediately popular, with lunchtime appointments often booked full.

“I’ve seen up to eight dancers in two hours,” Louder said.

The range of asks is wide and includes aches and pains, sprains and more sprains, sore tendons and muscles,

“Hopefully no fractures, but those things happen too,” he said. “The amount of load that these dancers are putting into their ankles and their knees is incredible, especially dancers who go on pointe or dancers who jump,” he said.

Allison Perhach is a soloist pointe dancer, poised to take over the role of Queen of Hearts in this season’s rendition of Once Upon A Time.

“I use the clinic weekly, if not daily,” she said. “To have them on site… every single day has been such a gift. It just increases our ability to get treated. It helps us prevent injuries. It’s been amazing.”

Francesco Ventriglia, the ballet company’s artistic director, said he has seen injuries dropping dramatically since Peak Health began providing in-house care, and in turn, his dancers’ happiness improves.

“They push for more, they search for more because they feel protected, they feel safe,” he said.

It’s a step towards cultivating a culture of self-awareness within the dancers. “They ask you for more, but you need to know your body,” he said. “And you need to know where you can push, how long you can push me, how much you can push.”

Dancers, he said, must be treated as athletes.

“Because they are dancers and artists, we think differently than what we usually think … but at the end of the day, they do physically sportive activities and need to be treated likewise,” he said.

By prioritizing their health, he has seen their performances improve.

“They give me more in rehearsal because they know they can, they know they can run faster, they can jump more, they can turn more, because they’ve done the preparation beforehand.”

In a month, the company is set to begin their 2025-2026 season with a performance of Once Upon A Time, with shows set to continue until early May of next year.

“We’re really ready to fly high,” Ventriglia said.