This week we're making #selfaresaturday a thing!

On April 11 at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern Time, we're hosting a FREE Instagram livestream class! What will the class cover, you ask? This informative livestream will highlight dancer health and biomechanics in a session led by Dr. Dave Odom, a medical professional and physical therapist who has worked on tours with P!NK, Lady Gaga, and other amazing dance artists! Dr. Odom will be covering what he calls his "FLUX Self-Screen", a dancer movement screen that athletes can use to get familiar with basic self-diagnosing techniques. With this, Dr. Odom will walk through a series of exercises, while breaking down what dancers should feel as they are executing different movement. We will also dive deeper to understand why the exercises are important for a dancer's health.

Dr. Odom emphasizes the importance of dancers knowing how to take care of their own bodies, especially during this unique period of time when we are all mandated to stay at home and practice our dance training independently: "A screen allows [dancers] to self-diagnose areas that are weak or strong, tight or restricted, [and better identify] how [dancers] feel in [their] hips, feet, spine, etc. While doing this, [dancers] can learn some exercises to implement into their own warm-up/movement practice." Our goal for this livestream is for dancers to walk away with a strong sense of health science-based concepts like the "importance of physical therapy, warming-up, building strength outside of just dancing, ways to benefit from dynamic stretches vs. static, and so on."

So let's make Saturday one for both the books and self-care. A Yoga mat for the class is suggested, but not mandatory.

We cannot wait to see you on Instagram @danceplug -- let's get learning!