PLAY SAFE

Anna Achimowicz is a bassist, physiotherapist and health professional. We ask her how to do what we do without injury

- Anna Achimowicz

If you were looking for someone to advise you on playing bass and staying healthy, you couldn’t really ask for a better combination of expertize than that of the San Diego-raised health professional Anna Achimowicz. She’s a bass player, a choreographer, and the founder of the Rock Dance Theatre project—but most importantly, a physiotherapist at her own Performing Arts Medicine practice, which specializes in medicine for stage performers and health services in the live arts industry. Her latest programme, Body Management For Bassists, has much to offer all of us.

Talk us through what you do, Anna.

I’ve been a professional choreographer, dancer and performer for the last 20 years, as well as working in medicine. It’s kind of a perfect marriage if you want to treat people in the performing arts. My day consists of hands-on workshops, teaching, and seeing clients for individual treatments and consults. Body Management For Bass Players is a full-on practical group-set workshop. It’s about how to avoid injury, and about debunking myths and habits. It connects a couple of worlds that I happen to come from, meaning traditional medicine and a holistic view of how things function ans connect. I’ve done these seminars for guitar players and ballet dancers since 2011.

What issues do bassists present with?