Thread: Conditioning/drills for dance - your thoughts?

I'm working on designing a new set of warmups for each level of my classes.

For conditioning, I'm focusing on:

• Learning to engage the psoas/hip flexors for neutral pelvis
• Opening the front of the ribcage/shoulders (stretching)
• Developing strong postural/upper back muscles
• Developing independent control of the upper/lower abs
• Stretching/strengthening the oblique/side waist muscles
• Stretching the IT band & glutes (I do more stretching in the cooldown)
• Developing rapid thigh movements for shimmying

I want to build the above into a fairly quick sequence and add drills for the intermediate/advanced students, to include some of the following each week:

• Various shimmies/layering
• Grounding/centering
• Isolation of hip work/shoulders/ribcage movements
• Weight changes
• Line of head/body/arms
• Initiating movement from center
• Traveling steps/turns

Sorry if some of that sounds a little vague, it would take a long time to explain it!


Looking for input! What are some common issues dancers face, areas of the body that should be conditioned for dance, etc? Do you (or your teacher) have a favorite beyond-the-basics drill or technique?

I'd love to hear ideas from other instructors & students!

Lauren,

You might also want to include proper breathing techniques. I like Shareen's suggestion of dancing with your tongue planted on the roof of the mouth. Forcing breating through the nose (and also tightens up the chin and neckline too).

Also stress cross training to build and maintain strength. Power squats, leg presses, stading hamstring curls. I've been doing a lot of leg presses to improve the stability of my knees for floorwork. And while these old knees aren't what they were at 30, I can get up and down, and move around on my knees now.

My instructor stresses strong arms so we do a lot of work on traps and delts to strongly support arms over shoulder level.

Souzan

What I'm finding both in my classes and in my own body is that there is not enough attention paid to the feet. Not having been to ballet, or other formalized dance training, I don't really know what the experts do there.

However, what I've been seeing is that we (my students and I) are often having foot trouble, some right away, others later, some not at all. I don't think it's a technique issue, but am concerned that drilling and combinations are potentially causing a problem.

What I'd like (and will most likely be researching) is how to warm up, strengthen and stretch the muscles in the feet and the lower calves. I'm good with the rest of the legs ..g.:

Additionally, what is the proper alignment? What are the bad types of stretches for this? What are the best? How do you increase the flexibility?

I was going to say the feet (and the shins/calves)

Not only can sloppy feet really show up in the dance, but my poor ankles and feet get really sore.

Lauren, the best feet/shin conditioning might be to adopt some fun Flamenco drills. Obviously, you wouldn't have flamenco shoes but I don't think that would matter.

Maybe Afra or Maria who teach and also do Flamenco could offer some advice on the feasibility of that. Could be a dumb idea.

Oh - this book has the goofiest illustrations but it's a great stretching book organized by activity type.

Hi!
Lauren, for good stretches you might not have seen before, I strongly recommend Classical Stretch by Esmonde-White. See classicalstretch.com My favourite DVD of the series is Athletes Intense Stretch. The hip, glute, and IT band stretches are awesome. Also, her arm warm up on Full Body Workout is insane and amazingly effective for the whole upper body.

Kina, my foot and lower leg favs are...

Stand in basic stance with a plie. Imagine a plumb line running from the center of the knee into the space between the 2nd and 3rd toe. That is position 1. For 2, lift the heels. For 3, straighten the leg. 4, lower the heels. This one is also great for balance and posture. Don't let the ankles wobble!

Another one: Alternate between a tight fist and stretching and lengthening the toes.

Sit on the floor with the legs straight. In parallel, flex and then point the feet. Don't let the feet sickle. Then turn out the legs from the hips and repeat the flex and point. You can go deeper with this by starting flexed, arching the foot, and then pointing the toes. Then flex only the toes and on the next count flex the whole foot.

Also, Zena Rommet's floor barre video has a lot of good foot work on it.

cheers,
Hannan

Originally Posted by kina

What I'd like (and will most likely be researching) is how to warm up, strengthen and stretch the muscles in the feet and the lower calves. I'm good with the rest of the legs ..g.:

Additionally, what is the proper alignment? What are the bad types of stretches for this? What are the best? How do you increase the flexibility?

Hey Lauren! Do you ever use yoga in your warm ups? I'm discovering that there are some muscles that get over-used when I dance that only yoga seems to address. Anyway, that's not really your question, I guess, but I was just curious. :D

Originally Posted by danidance

Oh - this book has the goofiest illustrations but it's a great stretching book organized by activity type.

I looked for this and found that there is a DVD as well, does anyone know if that's as good as the book?

I've been doing some intensive Feldenkrais lately and it's working utter magic on my alignment. Not only do I feel strong and supple and stable, but all of a sudden my dance movements are infinitely more visible.

I wouldn't start with these if you've never taken a real live class, but the Open ATM Project has lessons online, and I'm currently working on Sharon Moyano's 2004 "Heels Under Pelvis" series.

http://iod.ucsd.edu/~falk/openatm/

Originally Posted by jahbie

I looked for this and found that there is a DVD as well, does anyone know if that's as good as the book?

Yea, I just took a look too, I'm always interested in stretching as I have big imbalances in strength and flexibility, heck I just have an imbalanced body for real.

I'm finding Bikram Yoga just fabulously helpful for all of that but I realize it's not for everyone, I take regular Yoga class too.

Oh, and ditto on the feet. Switching from non-stop support shoes and many ankle sprains and tears barefoot is always challenging for me.

OMG, I sound like a wreck .w.: it's really not quite that bad ..l;,

The one thing that I need to work on for myself is (I dont know if there is a term for this, but) stage presence, being able to look somewhere else then on the floor when I dance as I get so shy and embarrassed, and improv. Omg when my teacher mentions improv, I could just hide under the floor.

I absolutely hate it, simply because I am not good at it, hence needing more practicees. I suppose the "sit in a circle and take turn dancing in the center" could take care of both these issues.

Originally Posted by weese17

Hey Lauren! Do you ever use yoga in your warm ups? I'm discovering that there are some muscles that get over-used when I dance that only yoga seems to address. Anyway, that's not really your question, I guess, but I was just curious. :D

I've been using yoga mainly in my cooldowns, to stretch the hips & legs after we're done.

BUT I'm going to incorporate some chest-openers & upper back strengthening that are yoga based.

OK, thanks for the input everyone. I'll try to add some foot things, and some trap/delt stuff.

Souzan, I'm already incorporating some of the other exercises you shared with me before!

Thanks for the stretching references, I'll hang on to them but as a yoga teacher, that's been the easy part so far!!

A lot of good suggestions. I think both yoga and pilates are great for dancers. I know I can get really tight after dancing so I need the exercises that help stretch me out and re-align my spine.

I've always try to keep my exercises and drills in class actual dance movements. (Other than ending stretches.) Mainly because of time constraints but also because I think the best way to build endurance and strength for a particular movement is to actually do the movement.

I only drill beginners. After that I believe students should drill on their own and I don't want to waste class time doing drills.

As far as drills go, one of my most difficult drills is the on the toe shimmy twist. I find many students have a problem with:
1. Standing on the ball of the foot for a long period of time
2. Doing an even twist that comes primarily from the waist
3. Maintaining a shimmy

By doing the "washing machine" shimmy on the toes as a drill it really helps build endurance and strengthen the calves. By having the legs crossed together and balancing on the toes, students really have to concentrate on using their core muscles to get the twist rather then the legs. It is a killer though.

Another favorite drill is doing level changes while standing on the toes. Just going up and down is enough but I mix it up by having them do belly rolls, rib cage circles and side to side.

Because strong feet work perfectly with posture and breathing, they give you control, balance and a great platform for just about any movement.

Originally Posted by hannan

Hi!

Stand in basic stance with a plie. Imagine a plumb line running from the center of the knee into the space between the 2nd and 3rd toe. That is position 1. For 2, lift the heels. For 3, straighten the leg. 4, lower the heels. This one is also great for balance and posture. Don't let the ankles wobble!

cheers,
Hannan

Hannan, that particular exercise is also my fav. I use it all the time for myself and always incorporate it into warm-ups. I found that even doing this exercise once a week over a 6 week course will produce noticeable results... it's just a remarkable effective exercise and I would recommend it to anyone.

Lauren, if you haven't seen Hadia's warm up and cool down DVDs, you might want to check it out. It's part of the 4-DVD expensive Oriental Dance Technique set, but it's worth the price. I think her warm up addresses most of the items you listed, and the cool down has a lot of great ideas (I tend more towards an hour of yoga for cool down, but I realize that's not generally appropriate when teaching ,r:; ). And yes, Hadia pays attention to the feet and calves too.

Originally Posted by badriya_al_ahmar

Lauren, if you haven't seen Hadia's warm up and cool down DVDs, you might want to check it out. It's part of the 4-DVD expensive Oriental Dance Technique set, but it's worth the price. I think her warm up addresses most of the items you listed, and the cool down has a lot of great ideas (I tend more towards an hour of yoga for cool down, but I realize that's not generally appropriate when teaching ,r:; ). And yes, Hadia pays attention to the feet and calves too.

I did hear someone following the warmup as in the DVD did some nasty damage. It seems to assume a level of natural flexibility that may not apply to all body types.

I am very new to belly dance and am trying to learn to isolate my lower abs for undulations. Can anyone give me so good ideas how to practice this?

Hi Missy1d. You would be better off putting this question in a new thread, people tend to discuss the very first point raised in threads, so you may not get replies in here. Hello & welcome to Bhuz :-)