The Collective
Get to know The Collective
If you’re interested in learning how this interdisciplinary group of experienced dance medicine professionals came together and what the mission is behind the Artistic Athlete Health Collective, check out this interview with the Founder, Melissa Buffer.
Interdisciplinary group of experienced dance medicine professionals.
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Melissa has been a life-long dancer, working as a physical therapist, mentor, and manager in dance medicine, backstage, and orthopedic sports medicine clinics since 2006. She now owns and operates Buffer Trenouth Physical Therapy and Wellness with her husband, Jason. She is a lover of all arts and is a proud mom to kids, Annabelle and Rose.
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Melissa is the Founder of The Artistic Athlete Health Collective.
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As a performing artist, Stephanie toured internationally, founded and directed a local dance/production company in Boston, MA, and taught in several of New England’s most esteemed dance education programs for children through adults, amateur through professional. Since earning her doctorate and practicing as a physical therapist, she continues to teach wellness for performing artists and advocate for incorporating dance medicine into training programs, while mentoring artists about conditioning for injury risk prevention and career longevity. She shares her time between her patients at Active Motion Physical Therapy, her clients in the AAHC, her students at Emerson College and Ballet Arts Centre, and her partner Jason and their pup Burke.
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Efficiency and effectiveness are incredibly important when treating the artistic athlete, especially in the production environment and backstage. We often do not have the luxury of a predictable plan of care yet must help to create measurable change for our clients so that they can continue performing without the interruption of injury or disability.
During this portion of the mentorship program, we will learn about the environmental stressors inherent to production work and how strength & conditioning can be utilized as both prevention and rehabilitation of these stressors to improve performance levels, acute injury, career longevity, and decrease production accidents and disruptions.
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Arianna Ciccarelli Shimits, MA, CMPC, is a current doctoral student at Springfield College. She completed her Master’s degree in Sport and Performance psychology at the University of Denver and her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. While working towards her BA, she danced professionally at the Washington Ballet, Ballet Arizona, and the Colorado Ballet. After retiring from ballet Arianna pursued an MA in Sport and Performance Psychology (SPP), believing that the performing arts could benefit from the skills and training offered by SPP. Throughout her graduate and post-graduate careers she has worked with dancers, musicians, runners, basketball players, soccer players, cyclists, surgeons, first responders, and adults with eating disorders. She is passionate about helping people perform at their best and believes that complementing rigorous physical training with SPP will help performers of all ages achieve exactly that.
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Performing at an elite level takes both mental and physical wellness, however, we often focus on physical wellness instead of looking at the whole person. During this part of the mentorship program, you will learn sport and performance psychology strategies to help performers enhance their mindset and increase motivation. These interventions will be easy tips and tricks you can integrate while working with a performer so they can leave PT sessions feeling mentally and physically supported!
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Ashley Drake Weiss, is a physical therapist and certified nutritional physical therapist. She believes in developing a holistic view of the patient - rather than just focusing on a single, isolated body part. It is her belief that when we address the root cause of pain or dysfunction, patients are able to heal faster and achieve full, long-lasting results.
Ashley enjoys curating effective and creative treatment plans that are specifically crafted for each patient based on their goals. By utilizing a hands-on approach, not only in the form of soft tissue mobilization, she is able to promote proper movement patterns and facilitate neuromuscular retraining. Getting to know her patients and being the person to help them reach their goals is what makes her excited to be a PT.
Her clinical interests also include pregnant and post-partum individuals.
When not focusing on the body, she loves to cook, bake, practice yoga, and spend time with her husband and toddler.
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Ashley is thrilled to bring her robust experience to the collective and to focus specifically on nutrition for artistic athletes. As the nutrition consultant for The Collective, she will work with artistic athletes, studios and theater companies in the community to deliver nutritional guidance and direction so that athletes are providing their bodies with the nutrients necessary to prevent injury, perform at their best, and most importantly lead a happy, balanced lifestyle.
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Mora Modisette graduated from MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2015 with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. She previously worked at Spaulding Outpatient and Joint Ventures Physical Therapy where she enjoyed the opportunity to treat professional dancers, amateurs, dance students from the Boston dance community and the cross sections of humanity that came in the door. Mora routinely treated dancers from the Ballet’s preprofessional program and professional dancers needing more offsite PT and aquatic therapy. More recently Mora has been working closely with the Boston Ballet in-house staff both in-studio, backstage, and occasionally on tour as a per diem and filling in gaps when needed. She has also done some backstage theater work for the Huntington. Mora is trained in dry needling, Pilates Mat and BFR. In her free time she enjoys kiteboarding, backcountry snowboarding, and cuddling cats.
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Check back in soon for more details!
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Matt is a licensed physical therapist, Graston Technique Specialist, and APTA Credentialed Clinical Instructor with a strong passion for the performing arts world. Having graduated from Northeastern University with his doctorate in 2017, he has since practiced in outpatient orthopedics and sports medicine for his entire career. As a string musician and vocalist, as well as a former actor and pit/crew member, he enjoys bringing his own on- and off-stage experiences to foster understanding and guide treatments for each individual artist with goals oriented around conditioning and injury prevention. His time is often split between his patients at Brigham and Women’s Health Care Center in Chestnut Hill, his AAHC clients, backstage services, his partner, Ben, and their energetic border collie, Cashew.”
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Matt is looking forward to bringing his own on- and off-stage experiences to The Collective so that he may foster understanding and guide treatments for each individual artist with goals oriented around conditioning and injury prevention.
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Laura Pempkowski, is a physical therapist specializing in orthopedics with certifications in vestibular rehab, dry needling, and ergonomics.
With 8 years of experience in outpatient care and backstage clinical rehab, Laura brings expertise in varied patient populations and performing arts. Her personalized approach focuses on identifying stressors, postural deviations, and providing comprehensive care to address aches and pains. Laura emphasizes health literacy and patient education, ensuring clients feel informed and empowered during their PT sessions.
Her kind and upbeat personality creates motivating and compassionate care, making sessions enjoyable, educational, and productive.
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Kimberleigh A. Holman splits her time between the very connected worlds of dance and physical training. She is the Artistic Director of Boston’s Luminarium Dance, with an active career in dance and interdisciplinary performance, holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts (Performance Creation), and just concluded a term as Boston Dancemakers Resident at the Boston Center for the Arts.
Kim also works as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor, and holds a NASM certification with a corrective exercise specialty designation. She is an amateur boxer and a USABoxing certified coach, and coaches boxers of all abilities and levels out of BoxSmith in West Roxbury. As a trainer and choreographer, Kim strives to give moving bodies the tools to expand their movement practice.
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Kim is thrilled to step into leading the AAHC’s Strength for Performing Artists class. She plans on using her observations from nearly fifteen years as a professional choreographer to inform class plans and identify areas of need. Kim will combine functional strength training, mobility, and endurance training to target a different segment of the body weekly, while utilizing her love for physical play, dance, and sport to keep classes fun.
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Emma grew up as a competitive dancer in the Boston area and found her passion for performance. After an injury took her away from the stage, she was drawn towards the rehabilitation process to return to dance. Emma received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Creighton University in 2014 and has been working as an outpatient orthopedic physical therapist in the Greater Boston area since then. She is also an active volunteer with the Boston running community and enjoys perfecting her baking skills!
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With her knowledge and training in Pilates, Strength and Conditioning, and Dry Needling techniques, she will works with patients to build an understanding of movement principles to enhance not only their function but also their overall performance.
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Dana Arie is an Orthopedic Specialist, Physical Therapist and a Certified Pilates Equipment and Mat Instructor. She has an extensive background in dance and movement instruction for both groups and individuals, and developed several workshops and training programs, including dance injury prevention, Pilates for Rehabilitation, and Pilates for Hypermobile bodies. Dana is a graduate of the Artistic Athlete Health Collective's Mentorship Program.
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Check back soon to see more bios of the Artistic Athlete Health Collective!
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