Shaping a Healthy Career with Beckanne Sisk

[00:11] Jennifer Milner: Welcome to Bendy Bodies with the Hypermobility MD, your podcast to learn all about the benefits and challenges of being bendy. This is co-host Jennifer Milner here today with Dr. Linda Bluestein. Before we introduce our incredibly special guest, a couple of quick reminders. Please subscribe and leave a review. This really helps get the word out because this podcast is for you.
[00:33] So today we have the great pleasure of speaking with Beckanne Sisk. Beckanne began her ballet training with Longview Ballet Theatre at the age of 5. At 13, she moved to Philadelphia to attend the Rock School for Dance Education on scholarship for 4 years. While there, Ms. Sisk won the Jerome Robbins Award in 2007 and competed at the Youth America Grand Prix from 2007 to 2010, placing first and third. She also won the bronze medal in the Beijing International Ballet Competition in June 2012 and was chosen for the 2012 Princess Grace Dance Fellowship Award. Adam Sklute invited her to join Ballet West II in 2010 at age 17, and after one year in Ballet West II, she joined the main company as a new artist in 2011 and then was promoted to principal in 2015. She's performed the female principal roles in Anna-Marie Holmes' Don Quixote, Adam Sklute's adaptations of Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, and John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet and Onegin, which was recognized by Pointe Magazine as one of the standout performances of 2019. Original principal roles have been created on her by many renowned contemporary choreographers, and she's a sought-after international guest star.

[01:49] Beckanne Sisk: Star.

[01:50] Jennifer Milner: In addition to her dancing, Ms. Sisk was featured on the CW's Breaking Pointe television show for 2 seasons. Beckanne, hello and welcome to Bendy Bodies Podcast.

[02:09] Beckanne Sisk: Hello, thank you for having me.

[02:13] Jennifer Milner: Thank you so much for coming on. So we are very excited, Linda Bluestein and I, to chat with you about hypermobility and sort of your experience with it. And I would love to know, how early in your dance training did you realize that you had more range of motion than most people? And did you feel like it was an advantage because you were able to make pretty lines, or was it a disadvantage because you couldn't tell when your arms were straight but not too straight? Like, how did it start for you in the early ages?

[02:46] Beckanne Sisk: I don't think that I realized that I was hypermobile and flexible until I was — I would say 12 or 13 is when I was like, oh wow, this is different. I always knew with my feet and ankles that they were hypermobile, but not so much my hips and my back. I didn't really notice. But the older I got, or I feel like in my teen years, I relied on my flexibility. I thought that that's what separated me from everyone and made me special. And at that time, I didn't realize that that's not all that it's about. So I feel like I really leaned into that and would not listen to my teachers when they said, you have to rein it in. And I feel like it took me some time before I realized that it was something very difficult that I needed to start focusing on and pulling in and not just letting it all go.

[03:47] Jennifer Milner: Mm-hmm. So that's interesting — even at that age, your teachers were seeing that and were saying to you, let's pull that back and let's gain control of it, and not necessarily pushing you into it, encouraging you to do bigger, bendier things. Is that accurate?

[04:05] Beckanne Sisk: Yes.

[04:06] Jennifer Milner: That's great. So how did your teachers help you learn how to get your hypermobility under control? Were there things that they did that were really helpful, or certain cueing or exercises? Like, how did they kind of help you come to that space?

[04:21] Beckanne Sisk: There was one teacher, Marilena Ruiz, at the Rock School, and she was also an extremely flexible hypermobile dancer. Growing up, going through those school years, I had trouble listening to people. Like I understood, but I didn't understand how to make changes necessarily. And when people were really hard and would tell me — cause some teachers were like, you can't do that arabesque like that, that's terrible, blah, blah, blah — for some reason I didn't like when people were mean about it.

[05:05] Jennifer Milner: Right.

[05:06] Beckanne Sisk: Luckily I had Marilena who took a different route because I think she could see that that wasn't necessarily working for me. She was more helpful in the way that she communicated — you know, you should try this, maybe this will look better. She took a more stand-back approach with that, and also would, I feel like, make me do things over and over to get strength and then throw in little strengthening exercises without being too aggressive about it. So I feel like she really helped me in that way, and she was easy to connect with because I knew that she had gone through it too.

[05:49] Jennifer Milner: Mm, that makes sense. And that's such an important theme for dancers with hypermobility — that slow and low-burn approach rather than hard and fast and aggressive. Doing a little bit really well and, like you said, repeating it as long as you're doing it correctly, several times, and doing little extra exercises, but really taking that long-term approach. And that's fantastic that you had her. She's an amazing teacher.

[06:18] Beckanne Sisk: She is.

[06:18] Jennifer Milner: She is. And that was a great meeting-up of her as a teacher and you as a student. And do you feel like that has continued as an adult? Like, you still kind of get that with the same approach from directors and choreographers, as opposed to the "that's wrong" versus the slow and low, nurturing kind?

[06:42] Beckanne Sisk: I feel like I have learned that in contemporary stuff I can let go and really go into the flexibility and kind of twerk things out — take it, make it longer, and then distort. Whereas in classical, I have learned to keep shoulders and hips pure, and then wherever my leg is, that's fine. I don't feel like, especially in a tutu, you want to be in a full développé side split. It's just not as pretty. So I have found that in classical, just a little above 90 degrees, unless I'm doing a penché or something, is sort of my goal. And then contemporary is when I can just let it go. And I have found that my coaches, director, and choreographers have all kind of understood that. They tell me if I should go further or if I should hold back.

[07:38] Jennifer Milner: So you can rely on the people that you work with —

[07:41] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah.

[07:41] Jennifer Milner: — to rein you in. And so you can just push yourself and let them tell you when to pull back. That's great. So was there a point during your pre-professional transition to your professional career that you sort of took ownership of your wonky body, or is it something that you've just instinctively done with Marilena's help along the way? How did that sort of adapt for you?

[08:10] Beckanne Sisk: Well, I feel like it was instinct, to be honest, because I got a lot of — in school, there were some teachers that I could tell just didn't know how to work with me and would just be like, you can't do that, that looks bad. And it wasn't in a helpful, "that doesn't look good, so let's try this" kind of way. It was more of just like, "that's bad and that looks weird," and I didn't know how to fix that. So I feel like over the years, having all the different kinds of teachers and having them feel different ways about my body, I just kind of put it all together and slowly figured out everything.

[09:00] Jennifer Milner: So do you find — or did you find — as you were kind of putting all of that together, that everybody thinks it's such a blessing to have hypermobility because you can let it all hang out, and they think, oh poor you, you have to learn how to hold it in? But along with that, there comes a lot of inherent weakness as well. So did you find that you were keeping up with the strength as you were learning to manage it, or did you actively have to seek out new ways to strengthen, like cross-training and that kind of thing?

[09:31] Beckanne Sisk: I had to seek out cross-training. I now love going to the gym — one of my favorite things is lifting weights. I just love it. It's something — I love that you can see your progression, right? The numbers are right there, you see it and you feel so good. But I found — and it took me until later in my career — that I realized that was what I needed to get a step up, because I feel like I had been kind of plateaued, and to really get better and be able to control my body, I needed to start doing something else. I realized that the gym and lifting weights and just really strengthening my whole body was what needed to be done.

[10:20] Jennifer Milner: So what does a typical week look like for you then as far as cross-training and other types of maintenance — stretching, meeting with a coach who really works on the small things, massage? What does that sort of look like for you?

[10:36] Beckanne Sisk: So we usually, if we're not performing, work Monday through Fridays and those will be about 7.5-hour days including class. I'll wake up in the morning, go to the gym at 8, get to the studio around 9:10 or 9:15, and then we have class for an hour and a half and then rehearse for 6 hours. Then at the end of the day, I will come home — I'm bad about staying at the studio, going to PT, and making myself do everything there. I just want to leave and get home. So I get home, if I feel like I need to ice, I'll ice usually my feet, do that, and then just kind of relax.

[11:25] Jennifer Milner: So you like to get your cross-training or your physical maintenance first thing in the morning?

[11:33] Beckanne Sisk: Yes. Yes. If I don't do it in the morning, it doesn't happen.

[11:37] Jennifer Milner: And that's something for a lot of dancers — where do they find the time without being exhausted and without overpushing themselves? So that's totally typical. So let me ask — I know a lot of people are gonna want to know — you have amazing feet, right?

[11:51] Beckanne Sisk: Thank you.

[11:53] Jennifer Milner: I cannot tell you how many times my students have sent me that clip of you in Giselle with the penché and then pressing up into that relevé. And they're like, look at her penché. And I'm like, who's looking at the penché? Look at that relevé afterwards. Linda, if you have not seen it, you should see it. It is the most amazing strength thing I have ever seen from feet like those. But with feet like those and ankles like those comes a lot of inherent instability. So do you do regular foot strengthening exercises? Do you do extra ankle strengthening stuff? What does that look like for you?

[12:30] Beckanne Sisk: I usually always before class do TheraBand exercises. So like flex foot, rotating in, out, pulling to point, all of that. And then also I just really try and focus when I put my pointe shoes on, rolling through. And even if, say, it's not happening at that time, as long as my brain is thinking about it, I feel like it's working my body, whether it's happening or not down there. As long as I have the mental thought of it, I feel that it helps a lot.

[13:10] Jennifer Milner: So you just do small little things mentally to stay on top of it and just basic warm-ups before class. Is it something that's always kind of at the forefront? Is it something that you worry about, like injury-wise, ankle stability, or are you just like, no, I'm on top of this, I got it?

[13:29] Beckanne Sisk: Oh, I feel like I twist my ankle a lot just walking — when I'm not in the studio, that's when I seem to hurt myself. But while I'm in the studio, I'm really not afraid of injury. I should knock on wood, but —

[13:46] Dr. Linda Bluestein: We'll all do it.

[13:50] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah. I feel like as long as mentally I'm just trying to work correctly and not push myself to do crazy stuff, I feel like you just have to take it slow, kind of just be thoughtful.

[14:08] Jennifer Milner: Yes, I love that. Speaking of taking it slow and being thoughtful, I know that a lot of dancers with hypermobility find that they have to listen to their bodies more than non-hypermobile dancers do, and they kind of have to stay on top of those little small things that they hear and feel because they quickly become big things. And the big things, like tendinopathies, tend to take a longer time to heal in hypermobile dancers. So does your hypermobility sort of shape how you approach your work weeks and how you try to sort of set out your schedule and acclimatize yourself to the work — the self-monitoring and pacing yourself? Does that change how you approach everything?

[14:57] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah, so I find that those of us that are more hypermobile than others get tighter because we're having to use our muscles more to control everything. So I feel like for us, stretching is huge. My calves and my feet, my arches are always cramping. Just walking around kills my feet and calves, and I feel like it's because I'm having to think so hard about how to do it correctly and control everything. So I feel like for us, we get a lot tighter and we're a lot more sore.
[15:38] Stretching throughout the day, whenever you have a chance — I stretch my calves constantly. Anytime I'm just standing on the side, I'm stretching my calves or doing like bent-knee pliés for my Achilles. But yeah, I think for us stretching is just extremely important because we do — even my back, my shoulders, everything — it's just like I'm constantly controlling with my muscles, so they do just get tighter.

[16:09] Jennifer Milner: And it gets mentally exhausting as well, just trying to mentally hold yourself together as you're walking down the street.

[16:17] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah. It's easier to let things go.

[16:21] Jennifer Milner: Right, and it's so much harder to restrain yourself. Yeah, absolutely.

[16:24] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Yeah, and that's so ironic because I think a lot of people don't understand that hypermobile dancers can be tight in their muscles even though their joints can be more loose and more hypermobile. So do you have any suggestions for younger dancers in terms of how you stretch your body in a way that's more safe? Because when you're hypermobile, you can stretch your body in a way that is not going to be helpful — you can end up overstretching ligaments and things even more than they already are. Do you have certain things that you've learned over the years in terms of safely stretching?

[17:02] Beckanne Sisk: So I have learned that warming up before I stretch is a big thing for me. For instance, I just do a plank on my forearms, a regular plank to kind of start the day, and I'll lift up my back legs one at a time in the plank. I feel like that just kind of warms up my entire body, and then I'll go into stretching — but not oversplits and stuff. It's very rare that I actually do my oversplits these days. Usually it's more of just warming up my body and doing strengthening exercises.
[17:33] But my stretching isn't necessarily — and I'm not saying that this is the right thing, I feel like everyone should stretch as needed. But for me, as a young dancer, I feel like maybe I overstretched too much, and sometimes it just made me hurt throughout the day. So I feel like, don't push it too far, especially if you're already flexible. Just warm up and stretch — do your splits, middle splits, warm up your back — but sometimes overstretching is not good.

[18:19] Jennifer Milner: Right. And we have had that conversation as well with other experts who've talked about how if you're hypermobile, we don't want to stretch you further, we want to give you the strength to hold what you've got. And it sounds like you're coming from that same place, which is so wise to me, because the benefit of sitting in an oversplit is really nothing compared to the benefit of finding the strength to hold your splits in your grand jeté, right?

[18:50] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah. And I feel like the oversplits — I have never done an oversplit and then been like, oh look, I can hold my leg up here now. It's more like when I do workouts to strengthen my muscles, then I can hold my leg up. It's not necessarily about stretching. It's strength.

[19:06] Jennifer Milner: Right. I agree.

[19:09] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Yes, yes, yes. And I love what you were talking about with the TheraBands, because with your hypermobile feet, I think it's so important for people to understand that when you use a TheraBand, that's not like lifting some big massive weight, but you're learning to control the movement all the way through the entire range of motion. With your beautiful gorgeous feet, I think it's so fabulous for dancers to hear that you're doing these kinds of exercises that might not be super exciting, but they get the job done. And I thought it was really interesting when you mentioned that you sometimes sprain your ankles just walking. Can you talk a little bit more about how that happens and how other injuries have impacted you?

[19:55] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah. I find that it's the second that I'm not thinking. In the studio, I feel like I'm always aware. But the second I take a step outside, I don't see a step, I don't see a hole — it's just things like when I'm not aware of everything, that's when it all goes down.

[20:15] Jennifer Milner: Yeah. And how do those injuries sort of affect you in class? Do you feel like you come back a little bit slower than everybody else? Do you know how to handle your body and how to kind of get back into it? Have other injuries that you've had changed the way that you approach coming back into dance and coming back into a season?

[20:39] Beckanne Sisk: So I have been so lucky — once again, I'm going to knock on wood. I have only had one injury that has taken me out of a show.

[20:51] Jennifer Milner: Everybody knock on wood right now, because that's fantastic.

[20:53] Beckanne Sisk: I know, right? But I had — and of course it was a weird one. It wasn't like I just twisted my ankle. Over time I noticed my right ankle — and I don't know, maybe this has to do with my hypermobility, I never really figured out what caused it — but over time all of a sudden my right ankle started feeling really stiff, and the more and more I did, I just quit being able to go on pointe. Rolling down hurt. And then all of a sudden I got this bubble on the top of my foot, and it was like fluid, and I was like, okay, this is weird, I need to figure this out. And it turns out I just had fluid in my ankle joint.
[21:40] So they had to go in and suck it out, which was honestly like a very easy — I don't even know if you can call it a procedure, to be honest. Just a tiny little needle and pulling fluid out. But it came back twice. So it just continued to fill up. And so now I'm kind of just waiting for it to happen again. But that's really been the only injury that I have had. I've been really lucky, and I hate to comment on injuries because I feel like I have just been very fortunate.

[22:23] Jennifer Milner: Well, I think that also speaks to the people like Marilena in your life who have sort of helped bring you along in a really healthy way, and to Adam for seeing your potential and not immediately throwing you into every single thing as a 17 or 18-year-old, but looking at it for the long haul and helping you gradually grow into yourself as an artist and also as an athlete. So you've been so fortunate to have some great people in your career that have kind of shepherded you along with that big picture in mind. That's fantastic.

[22:58] Dr. Linda Bluestein: And I would love to know about your working with a partner, and how your hypermobility might have impacted that. For example, do you have to be especially careful of your shoulder sockets — where your shoulder is in the joint and that kind of thing? When you're working with a partner, can you safely go to your full end range, or do you kind of have to be more careful because you have somebody else involved in those movements?

[24:24] Beckanne Sisk: You know, hearing this question out loud made me realize that I think the moment I started realizing that I needed to strengthen and rein it in was when I had to start partnering more. I think at first I was a very difficult partner because I mean, there was a lot going on. And I feel like sometimes for those of us that are hypermobile, when we're dancing alone, it's easy for us to find our center in a way — maybe we're probably not even on a real center, but it feels like it works for us.

[25:09] Jennifer Milner: Right, it works. We have our systems.

[25:11] Beckanne Sisk: Once I got with a partner, it was no longer just me dancing. I had to find my true center for a partner to be able to manipulate and help. So yeah, once I started partnering, my focus changes. I just try to be strong. I don't know if that makes sense — it's like an overall, just held quality.

[25:47] Jennifer Milner: So you feel like you have to do more — to give him what he needs to be able to work with. You can't just kind of let yourself go and make him responsible for cleaning it all up, right?

[26:04] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah, right, because they have no idea, right?

[26:12] Jennifer Milner: That's funny.

[26:13] Dr. Linda Bluestein: That is funny. And when you were talking about when you were younger and working with different teachers that maybe were phrasing things in ways that were challenging for you to incorporate into your body — do you think part of that is because over the years you've had to train yourself how to feel your body? I mean, you clearly now are really expert at that, and I think that's a huge reason why you've had such an incredibly successful career. That and tons and tons of hard work, of course. But do you feel like you really had to train yourself to be able to feel your body where it is in space, that you had to really work hard at that?

[26:50] Beckanne Sisk: Yes. And another thing that I feel helped me learn — okay, so hearing from teachers that going to your full flexibility looked bad, you don't really understand it. You're like, I think this is beautiful, I think this is great. You don't feel that it's out of whack, right? So I feel like the more I saw professional dancers and the more I watched videos and could see that a pure classical line was just beautiful, I was like, I understand. So it was more of a visual thing for me that helped. And then remembering all the things that my teachers had said, it all just kind of came together.

[27:44] Jennifer Milner: Mm-hmm. Did you feel when you were younger and you would dance that you looked one way and you occupied space in a certain way, and then you would see a video and be like, wow, that is not what it felt like at all?

[27:58] Beckanne Sisk: Yes, and I still do that. I still see videos and I'm like, ugh, I felt way better.

[28:00] Jennifer Milner: I think all dancers are critical of themselves on video, I do.

[28:12] Beckanne Sisk: I can't help it.

[28:14] Jennifer Milner: But with hypermobility, there's a lot of times a lack of proprioception. So I would think my arm was beautifully bent and see the video and be like, wow, that elbow was really whacked out there. Just not knowing where your body stops until you've practiced over and over again what that feels like to make that beautiful line.

[28:36] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah, and a lot of coaches that have come in — I noticed throughout my career they all want to work on my arms, and that's something I never thought of, because I always thought it was my hips and my legs that were the crazy mobile things. And then the more and more they said, no, what are you doing with your arms? I realized I was just going, whereas it's like, no, you have to hold your back. And then it made sense, but it took me a long time to kind of understand the arm thing.

[29:11] Dr. Linda Bluestein: I am so glad that you mentioned that because I think a lot of people think of arms as just from the shoulder down and don't think about the back and the rib cage and the importance of all of that. And if you don't have a stable shoulder girdle, then you can't support your arms in the way that you need to in order to do all the beautiful things that you want to do. So I'm so glad that you mentioned that.

[29:34] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah, I feel like that's another thing that partnering taught me — doing a promenade, I would just try to put my arm there, but then it's like, no, that comes from your back, right? And there's so much more to it. So I feel like that's what also kind of made everything click, that it's a whole body thing. You have to think about your whole body. It's not just one movement, which is your leg. It's everything. We're connected.

[30:04] Dr. Linda Bluestein: When you were younger, do you think that the whole strength piece — and I mean strength as in being able to control and have these beautiful fluid muscles — you mentioned maybe in your teens that's when you really started to realize how important that was? And I love that you go to the gym, because I think so many dancers — and now it's more popular than back when I trained — think, oh my God, I'm going to get big bulky muscles. Was developing the strength something that really came along over time?

[30:41] Beckanne Sisk: Well, when I was a young student, I had no strength. And honestly, I was like, I dance all day, I don't need to go to the gym. So it took me — I came to Ballet West at 17, and it took me a couple of years after I got here. Like slowly during my first two years, I would watch the other dancers and they were so strong. And I remember being like, okay, I'm missing something. And I feel like that's when it clicked — it took me a couple of years to realize it's the strength. I needed to do something besides just ballet. That wasn't going to do it.

[31:29] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Yeah, that's fantastic. And you've spoken up about having scoliosis and having to work with that as well. Do you feel like issues with hypermobility and flexibility, and the scoliosis, have made you a better dancer? Because you've had to really learn to work with these things — not just use the hypermobility, but actually work with it. Can you talk a little bit about that?

[31:58] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah, I am honestly so thankful. People, like you said earlier, think hypermobility is just lucky, which it is, it is lucky, but it takes a lot of work to control. And between that and my scoliosis, I feel like I wouldn't be who I am or where I am without the work that both of those things brought me.
[32:26] And honestly, when I started dancing, at the Rock School, I knew I had talent, but I thought that's all I needed — what I had. I didn't understand that it takes so much more. And I am so glad that having my setbacks with my back made me realize I have to do a lot more. I think it trained me mentally and really made me focus and work harder, because I totally rode on my facility for years. For years. And I'll admit that. And now I'm thankful that it took growing up to learn that you can't just ride on that, because you will not get to your full potential.

[33:26] Jennifer Milner: That's great.

[33:28] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Yeah, absolutely. And there are some roles you've talked about that really pushed you outside your comfort zone, like Balanchine's Rubies, and you talked about all the trunk stability that required. What roles do you gravitate towards and feel really good in your body in?

[33:48] Beckanne Sisk: Oh, this is hard. I always approach new things nervously — I'm always nervous when we're learning something new, and I never can see myself doing well. But it's not until I've learned something and start doing it that I'm like, oh wow, okay. I feel like there hasn't really been anything that I have disliked dancing, to be honest.
[34:16] But my favorite roles to dance, I have to say, have been Cranko's Romeo and Juliet and Cranko's Onegin. It's still classical, but it's a little different. It's not like Sleeping Beauty. I have to say Sleeping Beauty is probably my least favorite thing that I've done.

[34:42] Jennifer Milner: The truth comes out.

[34:43] Beckanne Sisk: There's something about being so free and having a character that you truly connect with — I feel like it just changes everything. It's so freeing.

[34:56] Jennifer Milner: Absolutely. I actually saw you do Rubies in Dallas when you came in for one of the gala things. And I remember hearing that you were going to do that, and I was thinking, okay, let's see that. Just because I know with your hypermobility, I was like, this will be interesting, because it's not classical ballet, but it doesn't give you the freedom of contemporary, so you can't go all the way into it. I was really interested to see it, and you did a great job of finding that center while also being able to go off of it and let everything else go loose.
[35:37] And it was really encouraging to me to see you do something like that, because what I had seen purely on videos was more of the classical ballet stuff or pure contemporary where you really dive in and let it all go. Do you dive into contemporary choreography differently than you might climb into a full-length ballet like Giselle?

[36:13] Beckanne Sisk: Yes. For a ballet like Giselle or even Rubies, it's more like I need to find my balance — I need to work on passé balances and just slow things, finding my center. But then for contemporary, it's more about weight transfer. So to warm up for something contemporary, I try to do weight transfer things — pushing off one leg to another, and also trying to move and then stand up and balance. So I definitely approach both things differently.

[37:04] Dr. Linda Bluestein: That's really interesting.

[37:06] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah.

[37:07] Dr. Linda Bluestein: And are there certain roles you haven't had the opportunity to do yet but that you would really like to do?

[37:14] Beckanne Sisk: Oh gosh, this is always the hard one because I feel like there are so many that I would like to go back and do. My first full-length was Don Q with Kitri and I had not figured everything out yet — that was my first time really partnering, so I feel like I was just learning the control that I needed. I would love to go back and try that again because when I look at videos, I'm like, I'm kicking my legs as high as possible — which Kitri does, it's okay in Kitri — but you can tell I'm not thinking, I'm just doing. I would love to give that a try again.

[37:57] Dr. Linda Bluestein: You probably now have a different sense about the quality of movement and things like that that you could give more attention to. And actually that's a perfect lead into my next question, which is what advice would you give your younger self?

[38:21] Beckanne Sisk: It would be: listen. Just listen to the people that are trying to help you. The strength piece — I remember so many people telling me, you need core strength. That was one thing I heard all the time, and I just didn't understand. I thought, you know, just 50 crunches before class would be enough. But there's just so much more — you have to work your entire core, and back strength is just so important. I just feel like your core and your back are two of the most important things, and I wish that I had known that and listened, because so many people told me, but it just didn't land.

[39:06] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Sure, sure. And what about other hypermobile young dancers — gangly hypermobile young dancers out there? What advice would you give to them?

[39:16] Beckanne Sisk: I would say do crunches, do sit-ups, and planks are the worst but they're the best. They really are the worst — I hate them so much — but they're so important. Just strengthen. Stop stretching so much and think more about the warm-up and strengthening.

[39:40] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Could you say that one more time?

[39:44] Beckanne Sisk: Yes. My advice for the young gangly dancers out there would be: stop stretching, just stop, and start strengthening. Do your sit-ups, do your planks. That's the most important thing — the strength.

[40:09] Jennifer Milner: Thank you. All my dancers listening, you don't listen to me, so hopefully you listen to Beckanne Sisk.

[40:19] Dr. Linda Bluestein: So Beckanne, could you tell us what we should be advising dancers when it comes to things like social media? They're seeing all kinds of accounts that are publishing lots of videos and images, and I think it's influencing a lot of young dancers. I would love to hear your take on that and what kind of messages they should be getting instead.

[40:49] Beckanne Sisk: All over social media you see people posting with their legs whacked out in crazy positions. But you have to just remember a photo is a second. And you want to be able to do those things, you want to be able to hold those things. So stop stretching and do exercise. It's all about strength. To be able to get your leg up there, whether you're contorted or not, it takes strength — not just a whack and then down. Strengthening exercises are so important, and I feel like maybe cut back on stretching and just think about exercises that you can do to build up your body to be able to hold those positions that you see in pictures you love on social media.

[41:38] Jennifer Milner: That's great, thank you. Yes, thank you so much.

[41:44] Dr. Linda Bluestein: And where can people learn more about you? I'm sure on the Ballet West website of course, but are there certain things that people can find on YouTube or wherever they might be able to go to see more videos?

[42:03] Jennifer Milner: Instagram account?

[42:04] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Yeah, that kind of stuff.

[42:04] Beckanne Sisk: Yeah, I would say I am most active on my Instagram, so if anyone ever has questions or anything, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm an open book for the most part. And I know through this pandemic it's been difficult, but I want to be able to communicate more with the young kids and my audience — just about my experience learning, because I feel like as a kid I had trouble listening, and that's something that I regret. And now that I've learned, I want to be able to tell people my story and help. I just want to help and give advice.

[42:46] Dr. Linda Bluestein: That's fantastic. And that's something that I think is such a gift that you're offering to young dancers, and I hope that they take you up on it because that's amazingly generous and kind. So, it's been so much fun chatting with you today. And y'all have been listening to Bendy Bodies with the Hypermobility MD. Today, our guest has been Beckanne Sisk, principal dancer at Ballet West and international guest star. And Beckanne, we are just so grateful to you for coming on the Bendy Bodies Podcast today and sharing so much information and sharing your story with us.

[43:24] Beckanne Sisk: Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun. I feel like I learned a lot, so this is great. I had such a good time.

[43:31] Jennifer Milner: Yes, thank you so much for coming on.

[43:31] Dr. Linda Bluestein: Thank you for listening to the Bendy Bodies Podcast. Please visit our website at www.bendybodies.org for more information and to access the show notes. If you are enjoying this podcast, please remember to subscribe and leave a review. For a limited time, you could win an autographed copy of the popular textbook Disjointed: Navigating the Diagnosis and Management of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders just by giving us a shout out on Instagram or Facebook and tagging @BendyBodiesPodcast.
[44:08] The thoughts and opinions expressed on this podcast are solely of the co-hosts and their guests. They do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of any organization. The thoughts and opinions do not constitute medical advice and should not be used in any legal capacity whatsoever. We'll catch you next time on the Bendy Bodies Podcast.