What does it take to become a professional dancer? A combination of physical gifts, proper training, and a lot of hard work for starters. But when the time comes to exit stage left, what does it take to then become a professional health care provider? We find out by talking to two extraordinary women who reached the top of two different fields. Listen as Yasi and Steven talk with Doctors Becca Rodriguez Regner, DO, FAOASM, and Kirsten Roberts, PT, DPT, CPT-PMA about the difficulties of a professional dance career, newer theories in dance training, the importance of nutritional support, developing resiliency, and so much more.
For more about the AOASM, go to http://www.aoasm.org
For Athletes and the Arts: http://athletesandthearts.com
For the American Physical Therapy Association: http//apta.org
For the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science: http://www.iadms.org
Instagram:
Kirsten Roberts: @drkroberts
Becca Rodriguez Regner: @sdolympicdoc
Yasi Ansari: @yasiansarinutrition
Steven Karageanes: @stevenkarageanes
Dr. Becca Rodriguez Regner, DO, FAOASM: A former professional commercial dancer, Dr. Rodriguez is the current president of the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine. Dr. Becca Rodriguez Regner graduated from KCOM and is board certified in Family Medicine and Sports Medicine. Dr. Rodriguez serves the USOPC as a Team USA physician and was on the medical staff at the Olympic Training Site in Chula Vista, CA as team physician for 10 years.
She served on the USOPC Physician Advisory Board and USA President’s Council Science Board, as well as the Medical Director for the high performance center for Team USA at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. She was Team USA physician at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, and team physician for both USA Women's Waterpolo and USA Rugby. She is the head team physician for the major league rugby team, the San Diego Legion and company physician for the San Diego Ballet.
She is passionate about improving quality healthcare and helps make policy for many national organizations. She continues to work with ACOFP and AOASM and will be Assistant Program Director for the new Sports Medicine Fellowship at Temecula Regional Hospital in 2022.
Dr. Kirsten Roberts, PT, DPT, CPT-PMA: Kirsten received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of St. Augustine in 2010. While completing undergrad and grad school, she danced professionally with San Diego Ballet for 8 seasons as well as performing in the Urban Nutcracker in Boston for a season. She has also guested with Southern California Ballet and many others over the years. As a dancer, Kirsten had much exposure to Pilates growing up, but only really started pursuing it after PT school when she found APPI (the Australian Physiotherapy and Pilates Institute). Kirsten is now a certified Pilates Instructor and Master Trainer for APPI and an avid presenter. She is passionate about education and teaches courses all over the States and abroad. She has presented at the AOASM (American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine) for Performing Arts conference, at IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine and Science) conference, and at APPI’s One Goal One Community conference in London.
She has always specialized in treating dancers from the beginner to the professional levels and is currently one of the Physical Therapists for Texas Ballet Theatre in Fort Worth, TX.
She is the Chair of the Dance Department for the California State Summer School for the Arts, where she teaches ballet, pointe, variations, injury prevention, anatomy, Pilates and nutrition. She has her Associate Teaching Certificate in the Cecchetti Method of Ballet and has passed her Final Cecchetti Diploma Examination. Kirsten is passionate