Sam Meyers’ journey in Irish dance has taken her far beyond the competition stage. A four-time Oireachtas champion, World medalist, and doctor of physical therapy (DPT), she has built a career at the intersection of performance, strength training, and injury prevention.
From treating Broadway performers to stepping onto the Saturday Night Live stage, Irish dance has opened doors she never imagined. Today, she combines her clinical expertise with social media education to help dancers train smarter, stay healthier, and perform at their best.
Sam’s Instagram page is abundant with a range of video content, including studio and stage footage, casual selfie-style conversations, behind-the-scenes moments with clients, and practical dance advice. One of her top-performing videos, for example, explores the concept of effort versus ease.
The Irish Dance Globe spoke to Sam about her Irish dance background, evidence-based training, and her mission to support the next generation of dancers.
How did you first get involved in Irish dance, and what are some of the competitive highlights that stand out from your dancing career?
I started dancing when I was six and ended up completely falling in love with it. Once I started competing, I didn’t want to do anything else. I competed from ages nine to 21, right up until PT [personal training] school. Some of my highlights were winning the Oireachtas four times in a row during my college years, and I placed fourth at the All Irelands and World Medalled twice.
Irish dance has taken you into some unique spaces, from appearing as a dance double in the Harry Styles St Patrick’s Day SNL sketch to working with Broadway performers. Can you tell us about those experiences and what they taught you?
There’s something so special about being part of such a niche community, because when you meet someone else who does it, they don’t forget you and they feel more compelled to help you out and connect with you. That’s actually how I was able to get a job working with Broadway performers. The job that I got is typically something offered to students who did a clinical there, but I reached out kind of cold because the clinical director also Irish danced; I saw that in her bio. If I didn’t have the Irish connection, I don’t know if it would have been as easy for me to integrate myself into that clinic.
“There’s no bucket list I ever could have created that would have had SNL on it, but Irish dance gave me that”
Sam Meyers
I also felt myself wanting to be on stage every time I would go watch my patients perform, so that’s what got me back into the performance side of things. I started posting some videos about it. I did the Riverdance Summer School last year and just made connections in that realm.
I had a patient reach out to me because he’s well connected in the New York City dance world, and he knew that I Irish danced, so he thought of me. And because I had been back in the world of dancing myself, I was able to do it. And it’s one of those things I never could have predicted. There’s no bucket list I ever could have created that would have had SNL on that list, but Irish dance gave me that.
What inspired you to pursue physical therapy as a career, and how did your own experience as a dancer influence that decision?
I started consistently strength training probably around age 15. I had a mentor who was kind of ahead of our time and looked into it, and it really helped with my results.
But my favourite story to tell is that there was a student in our class who was gone for probably six months from a knee injury, and when she came back, we were all stunned because she was better than before she was injured. And she was like, “I swear, physical therapy.” I didn’t realise that physical therapy could not only get you back to where you were but beyond that.
How would you describe your approach to strength and conditioning for Irish dancers? Are there areas of training you think dancers often overlook?
One principle I think is really important is obviously progressive overload — making sure you’re increasing the difficulty week to week; you’re not staying stagnant. And that doesn’t always have to mean you just increase the weight; there are a lot of different ways to do that.
“If I didn’t have the Irish connection, I don’t know if it would have been as easy for me to integrate myself into the Broadway clinic”
Sam Meyers
Specificity is one that I think maybe isn’t super intuitive, and that’s where a trained professional can be really helpful. All that means is just keeping it specific to what you do. Not all exercises are equal, and there are some that are better for Irish dancers than others.
Regarding things that are overlooked — it’s a common theme in Irish dance and dance in general that dancers want to stretch; they want to stretch for everything. And as much as I think there’s a place for stretching, strengthening will get you much farther.
What initially motivated you to start creating content on social media, and how did you develop a voice that feels honest and authentic?
I don’t think anybody who knows me would guess that I would be posting content consistently. I grew up a very reserved person, but as I got out of school and I was working with dancers of all different styles, I was taking a lot of continuing education. There’s just not a lot of focus on Irish dance, and I think Irish dancers feel that way in general. People don’t know what it is. So I just wanted to be that person for people where their activity or style of dance was spoken about, and it felt targeted to them, because I wish I had more of that.
We see a lot of people posting their own dancing videos, but not as many tips and tricks. Again, it’s getting better. There are a lot of great creators out there, but I wanted to offer the physical therapy side of things and add little hacks for how to improve your performance.
I’m an oldest sister — the oldest of four. I grew up being the role model for a lot of younger dancers and feel really comfortable in that position. So I try to be anybody’s “dance big sister” if they don’t have one.
What’s one piece of advice you wish every young Irish dancer knew about training, performance, or long-term health?
Something I wish everybody knew is that training is not just training — it’s also rest and recovery. I think there’s a misconception with self-care that can be spun as you’re being lazy, but it’s actually part of the process. If you do not rest and recover after the training you did, you’re not going to get the same benefits.
It’s a two-step process, and if you don’t do both, you’re not training. That’s all training is — it’s providing a stimulus to a certain area, whether it’s your cardio or your muscle strength, and by providing that stimulus, you’re breaking something down. That triggers your body to recognise we have some sort of deficit — if this person’s going to keep doing it, we need to add more. But that has to be done via sleep, hydration, fuelling, and rest.
What projects, goals, or areas of focus are exciting you right now?
I was really excited with how my Nationals group had gone — it was partially asynchronous and partially live. Each week, dancers were given a progressive stamina workout, two mobility workouts, and then two technique workouts. I want to continue doing that for each major and continue to refine the programs. I’m also working on some dance studio partnerships.
Another thing I’m working on is creating a Netflix-style strength training library. So whether you need more strength, you need more stretch, you need a combo of both — you should be able to pick that, because I think a source of frustration for dancers is there are a lot of awesome exercises out there, but that’s only part of it. Structuring your workout isn’t always that easy, and it is nice to just be told what to do by someone you trust.
Follow Sam Meyers on Instagram.
