We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bre Dudzik a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bre, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My siblings and I were raised on a farm in Wisconsin by my incredibly hard-working parents, who still have the farm today. Farm work and chores were a non-negotiable and part of our day-to-day lives. The work ethic we all developed from being kids in that environment cannot be replicated, and we all have them to thank for what they developed in our characters.

Bre, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Being raised in a family of athletes, the world of sports and performance was never foreign to me. I wasn’t blessed with the athletic prowess that the rest of my family had for me to continue playing sports past high school, which thrust me into pursuing a kinesiology degree. I could still be surrounded by the people I love to watch in action, but in a different way and in a way I didn’t know how much I would love until I was immersed in it. During my undergraduate degree, I had my first experience working with professional dancers at the San Francisco Ballet as a strength and conditioning coach. My initial impression of the population wasn’t a good one. I appreciated their discipline and athleticism, but they were a group that didn’t like change and didn’t see the benefit of what I was trying to do with them. I didn’t know at the time that professional dancers would later become such an important part of my life and a large reason for continuing my graduate education. Still, they certainly laid the foundation for what would come. I moved to Las Vegas in 2006 and, shortly after, began operating two physical therapy clinics for the geriatric population. I learned a lot and was glad to spend several years doing it, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do in the long term. I began working with Cirque Du Soleil in 2015 as a full-time strength and conditioning coach, overseeing the programming of over 100 professional acrobats and dancers, and I thrived. At this time, I also received my certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. After losing my job at Cirque during the pandemic, I continued to train many of the performers that I had worked with at Cirque, but now it was in a private setting. Fortunately, many of the performers bought into my training style, felt the benefits, and I was able to make a business out of it. If I wanted to make significant changes for an underrepresented population, I would need the research to back it up to reach a larger portion of the population. So, in 2022, I returned to school and received my Master’s in Exercise Science from the University of Chicago. My thesis was on using strength and conditioning programs to reduce hip injuries in professional dancers. Shortly after completing my master’s, I began my PhD in Exercise Physiology, also from the University of Chicago. My current dissertation research topic is “the movements that counteract the destructive patterns taught in dance, thus tangentially contributing to reducing hip labrum injuries in professional dancers.” There are more professional dancers in the US than professional athletes, and they experience just as many injuries, if not more, because of how rigorous their rehearsal and performance schedules are. I hope to standardize much of my programming wherever dance is taught or where dancers are employed.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Having individuals talk about you and the impact you made in their lives. Word of mouth is powerful, both positively and negatively. Proven results that get talked about regularly catapult your brand into the forefront of your industry.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I would choose it but start it earlier. A negative first impression of dancers pushed me away, and I wish I had stuck with it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: bredudz

Image Credits

Titou Photography – group photo in garage