Seven years ago, Emily C. Harrison, MS, RD, LD started the Centre for Dance Nutrition at Atlanta Ballet and now runs Dancer Nutrition LLC: Nutrition for Great Performances. Emily is a registered dietitian who specializes in nutrition, health, and meal planning for dancers. She is a former professional dancer herself and has been a dance teacher for 22 years. In addition to her dancing experience, she has both an undergraduate and master’s degree in nutrition.
It is Emily’s belief that the name “Nutrition for Great Performances” really sums up the core work and values that she has as a dietitian and dancer. She believes that good nutrition can make a tremendous difference in performance, muscle strength, balance, fatigue, and injury rates. She also believes that working with a registered dietitian who personally understands the demands of these unique performing athletes is the first step in improving performance, achieving a strong healthy weight, and reducing injuries.
In Emily’s opinion, the dance world is a competitive environment in which dancers are expected to perform at high levels of physical fitness and choreographic demands continue to increase as this art form becomes progressively more demanding. She believes that there is too much misinformation out there about nutrition that can be damaging and being competitive in the dance world takes educated nutrition expertise and knowledge about how and what to eat.
There are many great dietitians out there, there are some good books on nutrition, but there is just not much that is specific to the dancer’s art form. However, Emily knows firsthand how it feels to spend 8-10 hours a day in a studio in tights and a leotard and she knows how it feels to have tremendous pressure on your shoulders to perform day after day. She knows how it feels as a dancer when you fuel the body right and when you do not. She knows how it feels as a teacher to worry about a student who is struggling with her weight. So her DVDs and Nutrition Resource Book for Dancers, Teachers, and Directors was created with all that in mind.
Emily is proudest when she has a client meet her or his weight or health goals and go on to get a job because they are performing their best. She has been so honored to be trusted with helping some of the best in the ballet world get back on stage after an injury or after a difficult time. She is so grateful for all of the professional dancers who have shared their inspirational words and recipes, meal, and snack ideas for the book so that young dancers can see that “Real Dancers Eat”.
One thing that Emily believes senior dancers know that younger dancers do not know is that “REAL DANCERS EAT!” Too many young dancers fall into the trap of unsustainable and unhealthy eating patterns. Once you get to a point in your career where you are trusted with leading the show that night, you know that your body has to have the right kinds of food to be strong and energetic. In Emily’s experience, it is the veteran company dancers who actually sit down to a real lunch in the dancer’s lounge. It is the newbies who just grab a coffee and think they are going to make it through the day.
Emily’s goals for her program this year is to get the Nutrition Resource Book and DVDs in the hands of as many dancers as possible. She had originally designed it for teachers and directors but surprisingly it has been the parents who have been the most responsive and bought the most materials. As far as long term goals, she would like to expand the book to include more recipes, meal plans, food shopping lists, and real life examples of what professional dancers eat and how to make it. Right now it contains thirteen dancer specific nutrition handouts and 50 recipes and quotes.
Emily is a former professional dancer with four United States ballet companies and I’m not a registered dietitian who specializes in working with just elite level dancers. I work one on one with dancers in nutrition counseling but I also created the Nutrition Resource Book for Dancers, Teachers, and Directors as well as the Nutrition for Great Performances DVD and the Real Dancers Eat DVD.
In order to make the book, DVDs, and nutrition counseling better, Emily needs real life dancers, teachers and directors to tell her what they want in nutrition resources. She genuinely wants to fill a need and she needs more feedback in order to do that. She asks that people please do not hesitate to reach out and tell her what they and their dancers need from a nutrition standpoint. She wants to work together with dancers, parents, teachers and directors to create a healthier dance community.
If you would like more information about Emily Harrison and her Dance Nutrition program, books and DVDs or to order her products, visit her website Nutrition for Great Performers at www.dancernutrition.com, email them at emily@dancernutrition.com.
Anyone who has worked with Emily Harrison or used her program is invited to comment on our blog.
“. . . senior dancers know . . . ‘REAL DANCERS EAT!
