DIGITAL: Weekend Workshop: Everything They Don’t Tell You About Being Injured with Being A Dancer

Saturday and Sunday, Dec 5-6

with Being A Dancer – Wendy Reinert, Macy Sullivan, & Marimba Gold-Watts (Guest)

About the Workshop

What if being injured wasn’t so scary?
What if your injury was the best unplanned thing that ever happened to you?
What if you could approach being injured with confidence?

Your body is the only one you have, so join us for a weekend of demystifying injury!!! Through Pilates-based movement classes*, injury-prevention exercises, open dialogue, and life-lessons from dancers who have ‘been there,’ you’ll gain a stronger understanding and appreciation for effective professional and self-care. You’ll leave with YOUR roadmap for navigating injury, full of the skills and self-awareness that makes taking care of yourself easier and less stressful.

*Pilates for Dancers: This class will use strengthening and releasing techniques from pilates, Christine’ Wright’s Fundamentals, and physical therapy to address common issues often found with dancers. It will focus on improving alignment, maximizing range of motion in a healthy way, and increasing proprioception. Marimba’s goal is to create stronger and more articulate bodies.

About Being A Dancer

Both freelance dancers in NYC, Wendy and Macy bonded over shared (positive and negative!) professional experiences. With a foundation for honest conversations about their hopes for the future of dance, they joined forces and are now officially partners under Being A Dancer. Passionate about filling gaps in artists’ development, they have presented both in private and public settings and offer one-on-one sessions for individualized guidance. Being A Dancer strives to build a dance world where EVERY dancer feels fully supported and encouraged and is given the skills and tools they need – beyond technique – in order to THRIVE.

Wendy Reinert is a professional dancer, aerialist, life coach, personal trainer, and world traveler whose mission is to provide dancers much-needed emotional and professional support. She holds a BFA from NYU-Tisch and has danced for nearly 20 years with dozens of companies small (Peridance Ensemble, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers), and large (Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group). Her freelance career and multiple devastating injuries led her to become a Certified Professional Coach in 2016. Wendy founded Being A Dancer in 2017 and has been hosted by NYU-Tisch, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Irvine Valley College, Marymount Manhattan College, and Steps NYC.

Macy Sullivan (Camas, WA) is a NYC-based artist on faculty with Together in Dance and Dance for Parkinson’s Disease and has helped to develop programs for The Juilliard-Nord Anglia Performing Arts Program, Lincoln Center Kids!, and NYC DOE’s Middle School Boot Camp. Sullivan currently works as a dancer, rehearsal director, and dance editor for Caleb Teicher & Company (percussive, jazz-based forms), prior performing extensively with Dance Heginbotham (modern dance). She has also assisted on creative and staging processes across dance and theater works, for artists including Michelle Dorrance, Caleb Teicher, John Heginbotham, Chase Brock, and Tyne Rafaeli.

Marimba Gold-Watts is a former dancer, and has performed with Ailey II and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, amongst others. After a serious ankle injury forced her to retire, she began teaching pilates with an emphasis on injury-recovery and cross-training. Her clients include professional and pre-professionals from NYCB, ABT, Broadway, SAB, and many former dancers.

Marimba is a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher and a Registered Certified Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist®. She graduated from Barnard College (BA in Art History.) She has taught Horton technique at the Ailey School since 2005 and in Italy for the Television series Amici and Tecniche Di Danza Moderna.

About Gibney’s Training Program

Through the cultivation of an inclusive and positive space, our offerings make space for exploration, risk-taking, personal and artistic growth, connection, and fun. It is our priority to listen to and support our community and to empower the future leaders of the field. Learn more

Wendy Reinert Photo By Chris Comfort