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English National Ballet has just named Tamara Rojo as it’s new artistic director. The 37-year-old Royal Ballet principal will take the reins from Wayne Eagling, who resigned a few weeks ago. Rojo has had her sights set on becoming an artistic director for quite some time—she has a master’s degree in scenic arts and has previously shadowed National Ballet of Canada’s Karen Kain to gain insight into the position.

Sometimes, a plain old downward dog isn't enough. For dancers who like to defy the laws of physics, anti-gravity yoga quite literally takes cross-training to a whole new level. This hybrid technique of yoga and aerial arts helps stretch and strengthen the body without straining your joints by using a silk hammock as a prop for your positions. The hammock was originally developed by Christopher Harrsion as an apparatus for his acrobatic performance company AntiGravity.

"Both professions require one to know their bodies really well, and to have discipline, like understanding how to move and make shapes. If you know your body, it’s not as awkward when you’re modeling because you’re already super conscious," says Laura Love about the connection between modeling and dance to James Lin of nymag.com's "The Cut" blog. Love performed with Los Angeles Ballet before quitting the stage a couple of years ago to become a model.

My first summer in New York I was 17, training at The Joffrey's summer intensive and spending my spare time taking extra classes at Steps, with jazz master Luigi, and at ABT (which, in it's pre-JKO days, offered an amazing daily open class). I was also seeing as much ballet as I could squeeze out of my limited allowance.

Sneakers aren’t the primary footwear you associate with New York City Ballet. But next Friday, NYCB dancers will slip out of their pointe shoes and into more casual kicks for the free Fridays at Noon series at the 92^nd Street Y. Ellen Bar, a former dancer who now works as the company’s director of media projects, hosts the quirky program featuring past and present sneaker ballets.

In our new issue, Pennsylvania Ballet artistic director Roy Kaiser reveals the company's plans to re-establish an affiliated school this fall. After several years without an official training institution, the launch accompanies the upcoming opening of PAB's new purpose-built Louise Reed Center For Dance. PAB II director William DeGregory will lead the academy with celebrated dancer Aranxta Ochoa as a principal instructor.

Nigel Lythgoe, the producer of So You Think You Can Dance, is launching another reality dance show. A Chance to Dance will follow Michael Nunn and William Trevitt of UK's BalletBoyz as they search the US for talented dancers to form a new company. The show will premiere August 17 on Ovation TV. Any dancer over the age of 18 is invited to audition.

Looking to shed a few pounds? Try eating chocolate more often. Yup, you read that right. A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people who frequently eat chocolate tend to have lower body mass indexes. They are roughly five to seven pounds lighter than people who keep away from cocoa.

The Joffrey Ballet School in New York is giving away an unprecendented number of scholarships this year. And one of the ways they're scouting talented recruits is through DanceMedia. Submit a 1 to 3 minute video of yourself in performance or in the studio to enter to win a full-tuition scholarship at one of the school's summer programs. A panel of DanceMedia editors will choose 10 promising students from the March contestants.

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Pennsylvania Ballet was hit hard. A number of company members suffered or died from the virus. Compelled to do something, their colleagues rallied. They produced a special performance called Shut Up & Dance to benefit MANNA, a local organization that delivers nourishing meals and counsel to those infected.