dance lesson

Exersises performed today.

Warm up: The first part of the warm up is mobility; this is circulation of the joints and the adduction and abduction of the arms and legs. The purpose of this is to increase production of synovial fluid located between joints to reduce friction. This is important, as this will increase efficiency of the joint and increase mobility. An example of this will be shoulder rolls. It’s a gradual increase of movement from still essentially preparing the joints for movement.

Pulse raiser: Next we introduce a pulse raiser to our body this is larger movements that will increase the heart rate. By doing this more oxygen is supplied to the muscles and organs to cope with an increase of body movement. This increases the temperature of the muscles and reduces the chance of injury. As muscles are warm injuries are less apparent as your body is now prepared for strenuous activities. It is important that warm ups be specific to the activity, so that the muscles to be used are activated. The risks and benefits of combining stretching with warming up are disputed, although it is generally believed that warming up prepares the athlete both mentally and physically. An example of this is walking around the room and then later progressing into a jog. 

Stretching: Stretching is the next stage in a warm up this loosens the muscles here are some reasons as to why stretching is an important part of a warm up.

       To reduce muscle tension

       To increase Range of Motion

       To increase circulation of blood

       To increase energy levels

To decrease your risk of injury!

An example of a stretch is as simple of reaching down to your toes with straight legs. This stretch is for the hamstrings.

In the next part of the lesson we focused on our technique. This involved corner work, traveling across the dance studio. This helped get us back into the swing of things but it also highlighted how easily your technique can decrease over summer. I found my kicks were not as high as I had not been stretching as regularly as before. An example of an exercise we did was step turn leap turn. This helps us work on our spotting, flexibility and core. Our spotting is used to keep us in a straight line when we turn down the room. It helps us stop falling over and reduces our levels of dizziness. Our flexibility is tested during our leaps as we have to use this skill to perform a leap. This is the separation of the legs in opposite directions and tests all your leg muscles such as: hamstrings, quadriceps and gastrocnemius. Our core (abdominal muscles) are used to keep us upright and maintain a solid posture. Our core is very important in dancing and sometimes this goes unrecognized.

The final part of our lesson we did a cool down. This involved walking around the room at a reduced pace. By doing this it allows our heart rate to reduce to normal gradually which is safer than just stopping all exersise immediately, it also allows our muscles to cool down which is important to stop fatigue the next day.