DMEI Guest Lecturers and Contributors

Mandy Blackmon

MANDY BLACKMON PT, DPT, OCS, CMTPT
& EMMA FAULKNER PT, DPT, OCS

Guest Lecturers & Contributors

Mandy Blackmon PT, DPT, OCS, CMTPT and Emma Faulkner PT, DPT, OCS have worked together in some capacity since 2013, when Emma was Mandy's student.  Mandy and Emma both graduated from Emory University in 2005 and 2015, respectively. They are the lead PTs at Atlanta Ballet and have treated dancers and performers from a variety of companies and studios across the Atlanta metro area. They are now business partners, having formed Atlanta Dance Medicine in 2018.  For the first two years, ADM focused on education, injury prevention, and performance enhancement.  They hosted their first Dance Medicine Essentials course in Feb, 2020, just before the pandemic hit.  Mandy and Emma just opened an adolescent dance medicine clinic inside a dance studio in the Atlanta, GA suburbs.  To our knowledge, this clinic is the first of its kind in the the southeast.  We are so proud to be leading a collaborative effort to provide dancers and performers with the care they need.  

Atlanta Dance Medicine has grown out of Mandy's desire to educate and mentor in dance medicine. Many of our PTs were Mandy's student in some capacity, either through a Dance Medicine Directed Study at Emory University, the entry-level PT program at Mercer University, or through the Myopain Seminars Dry Needling Training program.  Emma admittedly "stalked" Mandy for some time and their teacher/student relationship has developed into a successful partnership.  They enjoy collaborating inter-professionally as well and are active members and frequent presenters for IADMS, PAMA, and the Dance/USA Task Force on Dancer Health. 

Visit them at www.atlantadancemedicine.com and on FB and IG @atlantadancemedicine

ROCKY BORNSTEIN, PT

Guest Lecturer & Contributor

After 25 years of working in New York and internationally as a freelance choreographer, performer and dance educator, recipient of multiple grants and awards from the National Endowment and New York State Council of the Arts, among others, Ms. Bornstein turned to the profession of Physical Therapy to enhance her ability to address the rehabilitation and maintenance of an individual’s highest level of physical function. Rocky Bornstein began her work as a therapist at Westside Dance Physical Therapy, working there from 2001-2013 and is now an independent physical therapist working with a diverse demographic and specializing in dance rehabilitation.

AMANDA GREENE, PT, DPT

Guest Lecturer & Contributor

 Amanda Greene holds a BA in dance science from Goucher College and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Northwestern University. She is a licensed Physical Therapist, a Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedic Physical Therapy, and a Certified Orthopedic Manual Therapist.

Amanda has over 10 years of experience working extensively with performing artists including dancers and musicians from adolescents to professionals, including providing backstage coverage at Broadway musicals, professional ballet productions, and professional theater productions. Amanda is a physical therapist with Johns Hopkins Outpatient Rehabilitation Network where she opened a clinic onsite at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University to serve performing artists of all kinds. She treats performing arts, hypermobility, and oncology patients, serves on faculty for the Johns Hopkins Performing Arts Physical Therapy Fellowship Program, participates in injury prevention screenings, provides injury prevention education, and conducts performing arts research studies.

Amanda is an active member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and the American Physical Therapy Association and has presented at national and international conferences on the topics of performing arts medicine and hypermobility in dancers. She has published several research articles in various peer reviewed journals and serves as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science.

She has spent years developing an expertise in hypermobility and related conditions through her association with Dr. Howard Levy, MD, PhD, a member of the International Consortium on Ehlers Danlos Syndromes and author on the 2017 Ehlers Danlos Syndromes Diagnostic Criteria. She has lectured on this topic at multiple International Association of Dance Medicine and Science Annual Conferences, and she serves as a content expert in hypermobility at Johns Hopkins where she treats both performing artists and non-performing artists with various connective tissue disorders.

KRISTEN KURIE, PT, DPT

Guest Lecturer & Contributor

Kristen Kurie holds her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from New York Medical College. She is currently employed at Westside Dance Physical Therapy in Manhattan, which caters to the rehabilitation needs of the local community as well as professional and pre-professional performing artists. She is a member of the healthcare team for New York City Ballet and has toured with the company locally and abroad.  Kristen, herself, is also no stranger to dance injuries, which caused her to eventually abandon her pursuits of a professional ballet career in search of answers to physical injuries sustained by years of ballet training.

Prior to her academic career, Kristen studied classical ballet from age five to 25 at various schools including New Jersey School of Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Mercyhurst College, where she received her BA in Dance in 2003.

Armed with years of personal and professional study in ballet and physical therapy, she is passionately excited to provide current dance students with tools and tips to remain healthy and strong through lectures and movement labs.

Kristen currently resides in Manhattan with her wonderful husband, Ask la Cour Rasmussen who is an endless source of inspiration and support.

MARIKA MOLNAR PT, L.AC.

Guest Lecturer & Contributor

Marika is a graduate of Columbia University, where she obtained her graduate certificate in physical therapy. She also holds a masters degree in dance education from New York University, a certificate in nutrition from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and holds a masters in acupuncture from Tristate College of Acupuncture.

In 1980 Ms Molnar was the first physical therapist to be hired on-site at a professional ballet company to care for the dancers of the New York City Ballet. She is presently the director of physical therapy services to the New York City Ballet and also director of physical therapy services to the School of American Ballet in New York.

Ms Molnar is active professionally in a number of endeavors. These activities include clinical advisor to PhysicalMind Institute, rehabilitation editor of the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, and member of the Development Committee of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS). Her previous IADMS committee work includes being a board member from 1994-1999, president from 1999-2001 and Chair of the Education committee from 2001-2003. In 2015 Marika became a fellow of IADMS and in 2017 she received the Dance Magazine Award For Pioneering Dance Medicine.

Ms Molnar has lectured nationally and internationally for the past 28 years and has published in peer reviewed publications and also book publications related to rehabilitation of dance injuries.

MONIKA SAIGAL, MS, RD, CEDRD-S, CDN

Guest Lecturer & Contributor

Monika Saigal is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist, and former professional dancer. She is the founder and owner of ms nutrition, PC, a New York City based nutrition counseling and consulting practice specializing in eating disorders, disordered eating, and dancer wellness. In her 17 years in the field, Monika has helped thousands of clients develop more peaceful and nourishing eating habits, improve athletic and artistic performance, and heal their relationship with food and their body.

Monika is passionate about building a dance world that better supports and nurtures dancers’ health and well-being. She has extensive experience providing nutrition counseling to dancers and performing artists in her private practice and working with dance organizations—from small studios to world-renowned schools, conservatories, and companies. Monika currently works with the San Francisco Ballet School and Company and has been the dietitian for the American Ballet Theatre JKO School and Studio Company for the past four years. Prior to this, she spent eight years as a member of the Performance Nutrition team at The Juilliard School.

To better address the health needs of dancers, Monika created and regularly delivers the Head to Pointe® Workshop series, which includes workshops for dancers as well as specialized trainings for dance educators, staff, parents, and health professionals. Monika has been featured as a nutrition expert in various dance publications including Dance Magazine and Dance Spirit. She has presented on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders in dancers at multiple academic conferences including the International Conference on Eating Disorders, the Performing Arts Medicine Association International Symposium, and the past five Annual Conferences of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science. Monika is the author of the book Nourishing Dance: An Essential Guide on Nutrition, Body Image, and Eating Disorders, which was released in June 2024.

MARY CARPENTER

Guest Lecturer

Mary studied at CCM, the Cincinnati Ballet Company school; scholarship at the David Howard Dance Center, and holds a BA with high honors in dance from Butler University. She danced for The Metropolitan Opera Ballet at Lincoln Center; performed as a principal guest artist for Ohio Dance Theatre and Granite State Ballet, and as a soloist with Ballet Artists of Cincinnati, Maryland Ballet, Lexington Ballet, and Charleston Ballet. Mary was previously on faculty for Broadway Dance Center, The Ballet Hispanico School, Barnard College, and The New School University. She currently teaches at Ballet Academy East and the world-famous Steps on Broadway. She directed nine ballet classroom music recordings with Roper Records from creative movement through advanced ballet and is a featured teacher in two DVDs for RizBiz Productions, "Budding Ballerinas" and "From Tights to Tutus." Mary created "The Magical World of Ballet," with Roper, a DVD designed for young dancers, teachers, and parents. She holds certifications in Pilates mat and Progressing Ballet Technique, and you can take her ballet class on the Dancio.com website, where she is a featured master teacher for adult beginners. Ms. Carpenter’s latest project is a classroom recording collaboration with Metropolitan Opera Ballet pianist Steven Mitchell for his music app Balletrax. Mary is a master pointe shoe fitter with over thirty years of experience working with dancers in ABT, The Royal Ballet, and NYCB — to name a few. She has given pointe shoe lectures at prestigious summer programs for ABT/JKO, Dance Theatre of Harlem, NYSSA, and Oklahoma Summer Arts in Quartz. She has served as a panelist on pointe shoes alongside Misty Copeland, coached Julia Stiles for her role in the movie “Save the Last Dance”, and assisted NYCB principal dancer Jenifer Ringer with pointe shoes for Oprah Winfrey for TV. Mary is the featured pointe shoe expert for the last video project by the late master teacher David Howard “I’ll Be Seeing You” on Vimeo. In 2015 she launched her Youtube channel “Dancewithmary NYC” where she shares her pointe shoe expertise in monthly segments.

Visit her website

Visit her Youtube channel

ALICIA HEAD, BALLET TEACHER AND MOVEMENT EDUCATOR FOR DANCERS

Guest Lecturer

Alicia is passionate about helping dancers understand how to apply what they learn in dance conditioning and therapeutic sessions to their dancing. She is a ballet teacher specializing in rehabilitative work as well as artistic enhancement, a Master Trainer for the GYROTONIC® Method, and a Pilates teacher trainer. Teaching engagements have included the American Ballet Theatre Gillespie School, LINES, California State University Long Beach, the Maple Conservatory of Ballet, and the Lauridsen Ballet Centre in Torrance, CA. As a guest teacher, Ms. Head has lectured at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Orange Coast College, and Orange County School of the Arts. Continuing education includes the Dance Medicum Practicum course with Marika Molnar and

Andrea Zujko, Progressing Ballet Technique, Level 1 and 2 Teacher Training with Lisa Howell, as well as courses and workshops with Eric Franklin, Tom Myers, Phillip Beach, Robert Schleip, Marie-José Blom, Juliu Horvath, Hilary Cartwright, Jean-Claude West, and Irene Dowd. In 2018, Alicia presented original material on arabesque at the IADMS conference in Helsinki, Finland, and this year she will present on turnout at IADMS in Ireland. In 2021, Ms. Head launched the Inner Life of BalletTM, an educational program for movement professionals, dance teachers, and clinicians. Find her on Instagram @innerlifeofballet.

KENDALL LYNCH, PT, DPT, OCS

Guest Lecturer

Kendall Lynch earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 2010. Shortly after graduation, she worked in Tampa, FL most notably for the University of South Florida in their Physical Therapy department as a Clinical Professor. While working there, she earned her Board Certification in Orthopedics and contributed to dance medicine research, and presented at a Performing Artists Medicine Association conference. Concurrently, she became certified in Pilates through Polestar Pilates in Miami, FL which had a rehabilitative focus.

Following a move to Washington DC, she started to focus her career on women’s and pelvic health taking numerous courses with Herman and Wallace. She spent the next few years working with pregnant and postpartum women, as well as runners who were experiencing pelvic floor issues.

She moved to New York City in 2018 to continue her specialization in pelvic floor conditions, but she realized she wanted to further pursue dance medicine. As a dancer in her youth, she was passionate about the art form but ultimately knew her calling was in healthcare. In 2021, she was accepted into the Fellowship Program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center Physical Therapy and Westside Dance Physical Therapy as the first-ever Fellow. During the Fellowship, she worked with the healthcare team at the New York City Ballet being mentored by Marika Molnar, as well as researching to further the dance medicine profession.

She currently works as a physical therapist with Westside Dance Physical Therapy. She is combining her two passions of dance medicine and pelvic health to continue focusing on the dancer as a whole, especially as it pertains to the different life cycles of the dancer.

She lives with her husband and two kids in Brooklyn.