Harkness Saturday Series: Acupuncture in Dance Medicine

Harkness Center for Dance Injuries proudly offers in-person and virtual Harkness Center Saturday Series workshops for the dance community.

OCTOBER 2025 WORKSHOP

Topic: Acupuncture in Dance Medicine

When: Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM EDT

Format: VIRTUAL (Zoom)

Description: Harkness Center acupuncturist, Ayla Yavin, MS, Lac will explain how dancers can use Acupuncture and Chinese medicine to prevent and treat injuries as well as how Acupuncture can boost overall health and help dancers stay resilient throughout their career. Ayla discovered Acupuncture while recovering from an injury during her time as a dance major at LaGuardia High School. She is passionate about providing dancers and performers with tools for a successful and healthy career. She will review its role in injury risk reduction, rehabilitation, and overall self-care and discuss ways dancers can seek providers.

Instructor: Ayla Yavin, MS, LAc, a former professional dancer, has more than 14 years’ experience as an acupuncturist, with special areas of focus including injury rehabilitation and prevention, psychological resilience, healthy lifestyle, and professional longevity. She earned her bachelor of arts in religion at Swarthmore College and her master of science in oriental medicine at Touro College. Ms. Yavin enjoys collaborating within integrative medical environments and is the on-site acupuncturist at Harkness Center for Dance Injuries.

Saturday Series workshops are led by our clinical staff and feature various topics on dancer wellness and injury prevention. All members of the dance community are welcome (dancers under age 16 are strongly encouraged to come with a parent/guardian*). Please note whether format is in-person or virtual.

*We strongly encourage participants under 16 years of age to attend with a parent/guardian. If a parent/guardian plans to drop off a minor, please make sure you have corresponded with the Harkness Center in advance.

Liability waiver: for workshops that include movement, participants will be required to sign a liability waiver.

Refund policy: We cannot provide refunds after the event has taken place. Eventbrite fees cannot be refunded.

Questions: Contact Kristen Stevens, program manager, [email protected]

Upcoming Harkness Events:

November 29 (in-person) at 11:00 AM EST: Injury Risk Reduction Strategies for Joint Hypermobility with Joshua Honrado, DAT

December 6 (virtual) at 11:00 AM EST: Total Hip Replacement: Preparation and Return to Dance with Sarah Plumer-Holzman, PT, DPT

About the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries: NYU Langone's Harkness Center for Dance Injuries (www.DanceInjury.org) is dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of dance professionals by providing breakthrough approaches to injury prevention, medical treatment, education and training, and research. Founded in 1989 through a partnership between the Harkness Foundation for Dance and the Hospital for Joint Diseases (now NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital), the Harkness Center provides world-class clinical care for dancers of all types and levels. The scientific foundation for this expert care comes from research into understanding the dancer’s body in motion coupled with workplace requirements. The Harkness Center’s evidence-based practice has produced globally accepted approaches to the recognition, treatment, and prevention of dance injuries.

In addition to caring for injuries, an integral part of the Harkness Center’s mission is providing education. For the dance community, Harkness offers injury prevention workshops, online courses, and screenings, including its long-running, free Injury Prevention Assessment (IPA) program. For fellow dance medicine professionals, Harkness is actively engaged in sharing clinical best practices through academic training with live and online continuing education courses. Since 2015, Harkness Center has offered DanceMedU, its digital learning platform (www.DanceMedU.org), which now offers over 20 lectures on dance medicine and dancer health.

Host or Publisher NYU Langone's Harkness Center for Dance Injuries