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Two Step Tidewater Sunday Dance News
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How many dancers practice like athletes?
A fact of dancing seems to be how much easier it is to dance faster than slower.
Up to a point. When the tempo is either slower or faster than the dancer's
"comfort zone" each person has to rely more on their partner to maintain
control. When that happens the man develops a early or late lead or loses his
frame altogether. The lady also starts to be either committed to her foot too
early or starts feeling "heavy"
It seems that both conditions can be helped by learning how to control your own
movements better. I have been thinking of ways to develop more control in our
dancing. Searching for similar conditions led us to explore the conditioning
programs used by professional athletes. The internet is full of different ideas,
videos and books on the subject. But, when all boiled down each program focuses
on three main body sections. The long bones, the joints, and the muscles.
The information on bones works on alignment to use the strength of the bones
rather than the weakness. A leg bone will support more when pressure is applied
along the axis rather than across the axis. Anyone who has broken a leg or arm
will attest to this.
The information on joints works on alignment also and emphasizes applying stress
to the joint only when the joint is aligned properly. The joint is aligned
properly when the two bones in connection are in their natural position. We all
know our joints have limited range motion. Try to exceed that range and it
hurts. For a reason.
The bulk of the training information is on muscles. The muscle training is
broken down into Muscular Balance, Dynamic Balance and Core Stability.
The thought behind Muscular Balance, as applied to dancing, is that in dancing
we develop certain muscles more that others. In order to achieve more of a
Balance we need to exercise all the muscle groups so our body is working as one
rather than some parts working harder than others. It is recommended that the
exercises used are "multi-joint" exercises. Squats and Lunges are multi-joint
exercises because the muscles around several different joints are used. The fact
is we seldom use just one muscle group in an athletic activity including
dancing.
Dynamic Balance is the ability to control the body while moving. Think of it as
finding your center of gravity and maintaining that center while moving around
the dance floor. If you can do this you will never find yourself off balance
again. There seems to be exercises and tools used to improve slow movement
balance and others to improve fast movement balance.
I would think we need both. How balanced are you when dancing a Slow Waltz?
If you think you need more training try something like Tai-Chi, Balance Board or
Balance Ball training. If you lose your balance when changing directions quickly
like in Two-Step or Cha-Cha try more dynamic exercises that cause you to quickly
change directions. Some aerobic classes with help in this regard and add to your
Muscular balance at the same time.
Core Stability is created by strengthening the muscles used to control the
"core" of our body. The stomach and back muscles in particular. This is where or
strength originates and these muscles must be in good shape if the rest of the
muscles need to react quickly. If we are to transfer energy from arm to leg or
from one leg to the other our "Core Muscles" must be able to support that
action. to develop these muscles you need to use weight type machines that also
use your full range of motion.
The results for an athlete is to be able to react quicker and with more
explosive strength. For the dancer we also need to react quicker but with more
balance and control. To be able to turn without throwing ourselves into it and
stop cleanly without losing balance.
Thought of the
week - "Success"
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
~ Dale Carnegie ~
Any other ideas???
Mail it to us:
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