Elle Johansen has been dancing since she was 9 years old. From the beginning, she knew she wanted to dance professionally. That dream came true when she joined Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) in 2013, after graduating from the University of Utah with a degree in dance.

Johansen had danced most of her life without injury. 

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But when she hit her college years, things changed. A strained hamstring threatened to keep her off the stage. “I’ll never forget how freaked out I was when I was injured and thinking that my career was over,” she said. “I thought this injury would take me out.”

Johansen went to U of U Health’s Dancer’s Clinic, where she first met Trina Bellendir, PT. “Trina told me I was going to be fine and it wasn’t the end of my career,” Johansen said. 

Bellendir is a physical therapist with 35 years of experience. Over the past 20 years, she has spent the majority of her time working with professional dancers. She joined U of U Health in 2012. “I work with a wide range of patients, but dancers are definitely a large percentage of the patients I get to work with,” Bellendir said. 

Johansen is one of many dancers Bellendir has helped get back on their feet. “After I started working with Trina, my mindset switched to injury prevention,” Johansen said. 

"Instead of waiting to see her until I had an injury, I made sure I saw her regularly to help me with keeping my body healthy and strong."

For Johansen, working with Bellendir was different—in a good way. “I went to a few physical therapists before I found Trina, and the only advice I got was to rest and ice my injury,” Johansen said. “During that time, I was a professional dancer, and that just wasn’t an option for me. If I wasn’t able to dance, I didn’t have a job.” 

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Johansen wasn’t the only one. Her fellow dancers at RDT were all facing the same thing: nagging injuries that threatened to keep them from being able to perform. “I knew that so many of us at RDT struggled with injuries, and once I started seeing Trina, I started to spread the word,” Johansen said. “Soon, me and handful of the other dancers were seeing Trina pretty regularly.”

This gave Johansen an idea. “I started to think more about how we could create an official partnership with U of U Health,” she said. “There are entire PT teams dedicated to sports teams, and I thought, why can’t we do something like that?”

Johansen spearheaded the idea, and with the help of Bellendir and others, U of U Health and RDT became official partners in 2022. For Johansen and her fellow dancers, this was life-changing. 

“Unfortunately, with dancers, a lot of times our issues are urgent,” she said. “Our bodies get to a point where we have a show that week and someone has something happen and they’re just not sure if they can physically dance.”

The partnership meant that Bellendir was just a phone call (or text message) away when there were last-minute needs. She also made sure there was always availability for RDT dancers whenever they needed it.

“We got more time with Trina, sometimes an hour or two of picking her brain,” Johansen said. “She would give us exercises to do based on what we were dealing with and send us on our way.”

For Bellendir, keeping her patients moving is a top priority. “My job as a therapist isn’t to tell them what they can’t do,” she said. “It’s to keep them doing what they love to do—especially with dancers who are on timelines and might not be able to take any time off to rest.”

She also made sure the dancers had the supplies they needed in the studio or side stage—whether they were on tour or performing locally. Little things like kinesiology tape and tennis balls can make a huge difference. “I do a lot of creative taping for the dancers, and it’s helpful for them to have access to tape when they are touring,” she said. “It is amazing what tape can actually hold together.”

For Johansen, Bellendir went above and beyond. “I love to hike, I love to be active, and I can do that because of the help I got from Trina,” Johansen said. “She wasn’t just preparing me for my dancing life but for the rest of my life.” 

Johansen danced with RDT for 10 years, and during that time she relied on Bellendir’s expertise through hamstring, knee, and shoulder injuries. Although she is no longer dancing professionally after retiring in 2023, she is still very much involved in dance.

“As much as I love performing, teaching and education in the arts is where my heart lies,” she said. “I love building the next generation of dancers that are healthy, happy human beings.”

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Johansen has a bit of advice for those who are pursuing dance as a passion or career. “Taking care of yourself is super important, and asking for help is key,” she said. “It’s more than just taking care of your dancer body; it’s also your mental health and overall physical health.”

Bellendir continues to work closely with dancers from RDT, and she loves what she does. “I’ve heard people say that, to be a dancer, you need the physical strength of a football player and the mental tenacity of a bullfighter,” she said. “It’s so true. They are artistic athletes. I’m so lucky I get to work with this population and that we have this amazing partnership.”