Dance is an art form that engages the entire body. It’s only natural, then, that manufacturers like Gaynor Minden and Nikolay are starting to expand their offerings beyond shoes and dancewear, developing training aids designed to support dancers in every aspect of their practice. And retailers are increasingly stocking them.
Expanding the Dancer’s Toolbox
Christine Boll, national sales director for Nikolay, says the company began to ramp up incorporating training tools into their assortment of products last year. “Our primary focus as a brand is to help dancers stay healthy and strong. [We want] to prevent injuries and extend their careers,” she says. Currently, Nikolay’s range of training tools includes everything from resistance bands (both traditional and looped) to ankle weights, as well as dual-sided massagers, which massage the front and back of the legs at the same time, and more traditional massage sticks that can roll out one side of a body part.
Nikolay’s general manager, Petr Orlov—a former ballet dancer himself—decided to expand the brand’s product offerings after attending the Canton Fair, China’s largest trade show, in May 2024. There, he discovered a range of innovative tools, including dual-sided massagers and ankle weights, which inspired him to introduce these training aids into the dancewear market.
Boll describes the company’s training-aids sales so far as “phenomenal,” and many items that sold out have since been restocked. Retailers often sell the products as add-ons to pointe shoes or other purchases, helping to increase transaction totals, but Boll emphasizes that for Nikolay, these items are primarily about helping dancers stay fit and healthy. “We’re more focused on supporting dancers than our own bottom line,” she says. “Our goal is [to get] stores to carry these products and share that same message with their customers.”
Artists and Athletes
According to Gaynor Minden’s U.S. senior sales manager Anna Pearson, the brand has been selling training aids for years, rebranding its line as the Beyond the Barre collection in 2024. Products include rollers, massage sticks, and foot-massage kits to aid recovery; flexibility bands to help train arabesques and splits; resistance bands, ankle weights, and workout loops to promote cross-training and strength training; as well as ankle weights to help work on balance.
According to Gaynor Minden, the company’s goal in offering these products is to emphasize the importance of cross-training for dancers, whom they view as both artists and athletes. “Cross-training and strength building help dancers not only improve their technique but also stay safe,” says Pearson.
Pearson adds that dancers are doing more cross-training now than ever before. “The demands on professional dancers are more physically demanding than 20 or 30 years ago,” she says. “Also, dancers are very tuned-in and see other dancers and their routines online. They want to mimic their idols—professional dancers that share their cross-training routines [on social media]. We’re seeing more of an emphasis in strength building in cross-training [as a result].”
Understandably, the sales of these products fluctuate with the seasons in the dance retail calendar, aligning most closely with periods like summer intensives and back-to-school. For retailers, Gaynor Minden recommends setting up a dedicated display to showcase the products and provides product-specific collateral to assist in doing so. In addition to sales materials, the company is also developing training videos and, on some product packaging, QR codes directing consumers to instructional content on how to properly use the training aids.
A Post-Pandemic Shift
At Bellissimo, a dance boutique in Franklin, Tennessee, the inventory of training aids was limited to TheraBands for many years, according to pointe shoe manager Kaitlyn McDermitt. She says they’ve been especially useful for students in pre-pointe classes, as exercises with the bands help them to build the strength needed to transition onto pointe for the first time.
Post-pandemic, many studios in Bellissimo’s local area resumed pointe classes that had previously been put on hiatus, or even began offering them for the first time. To support the growing number of students preparing for the demands of pointe work, McDermitt has now introduced products like massage balls, loop bands, foot stretchers, yoga blocks, Pilates circles, small yoga balls, and balance boards to her store. During pointe shoe fittings, she draws on her experience as a ballerina and teacher to suggest exercises that could help each dancer on their pointe journey, and recommends the training aids she feels would benefit them. However, for McDermitt—just as for Nikolay—“it’s about supporting and educating dancers on how to strengthen, stretch, and care for their bodies to prevent injury.”
McDermitt leads dancers through exercises while they’re still in the store, with their mothers filming the sessions so the dancers can remember how to do them at home. She says her next step is to create training videos that will be available on her store’s website or social media.
The Bottom Line
Training aids can be a valuable part of dance training and, for manufacturers and stores that can sell them, another revenue stream. But the most important thing to remember is how these tools can ultimately improve dancers’ health and overall experiences.
Erica Iacono is a writer living in New York City who often writes about marketing and small businesses.