Month: September 2017

 

BREATHING
When you concentrate very hard, you get tense, and your ‘automatic’ system of breathing stops working! Holding your breath is so common! But breathing is so important to good dancing, you should take time to master it. The top dancers breathe quite deliberately, and incorporate it into their dance technique. You can too, and it will pay off with better dancing, better posture, and less stress on your body!

Although the brain accounts for only 2% of the whole body’s mass, it uses 20% of all the oxygen we breathe! No wonder you can’t think straight when you’re nervous on the dance floor!

Competition dancing demands that many important things ‘come together’ all at the same time.

This stress produces a ‘Fight or Flight’ response in us, which includes:

Rapid Heartbeat
Adrenaline Pumping
Sweating
Muscle Tension
Shallow Breathing or holding your breath

We must stand tall, hear the music, think on our feet, feel our partner, produce rich and beautiful movement, look relaxed, and smile!

Even though breathing happens involuntarily, you can control it, and even improve it! You want to avoid the situation where your heart is beating fast, but the blood it is pushing around doesn’t have enough oxygen to fuel your brain and muscles.

Try this……..
1. Open your mouth wide and take several deep breaths IN AND OUT, as deeply as you can. Note how shallow or deep the air goes.

2. Now CLOSE your mouth and take several deep breaths IN AND OUT only through your nose. Notice the ribcage and abdominals. Does it seem deeper, fuller?
Mouth Breathing is associated with “fight or flight” response. When we’re in danger, we open our mouths and run! This is shallow breathing, and air only reaches the upper lobes of the lungs. This is fine for anaerobic sprints, but not for the beginning or middle of a dance.

Nose Breathing is deeper, slower, and more oxygen reaches the lower lobes of the lungs. This deeper breathing slows your racing heart, helps deliver more oxygen, reduces anxiety and helps your mind focus. Also, notice how your whole torso expands when you breathe deeply through your nose. Learn from that! Try to incorporate breathing into the dance technique you’re doing.

When you are NOT dancing is a good time to practice slow, deep, nose breathing. The more you do it, the easier and more natural it becomes, and the more you can benefit from it. Try to spend more time on the exhale, getting all the air fully out of your lungs. This makes room for fresh, oxygenated air. Often the fault of breathing is in failing to exhale old air out, making room for the new!

WARM-UP BREATHING
It takes a minimum of five minutes to warm up and dilate the blood vessels in your arms and legs when you exercise. You simply cannot rush your warm-up. Emphasize long deep slow breaths through your nose when you are warming up to dance. Do low-intensity movement that mimics your dancing while inhaling and exhaling deeply. The deep breathing helps to dilate blood vessels, and oxygenate your muscles for the harder dancing to come.

A MINUTE AND A HALF OF DANCING
Have the intention of doing nose breathing throughout each dance. Your body knows exactly when you shift into anaerobic-mode, so mouth breathing is then appropriate. Don’t fight it, the important thing is just to breathe!

RECOVERY BETWEEN DANCES
In between dances you may only have 20 seconds to catch your breath, so don’t waste it with shallow mouth-breathing. Close your mouth and suck in that wonderful air through your nose! It will calm you, slow down your racing heart, replenish oxygen to your brain and muscles, and prepare you for the next dance.
Remember: “Long, slow, deep breaths.”

REMEMBERING TO BREATHE
If you know breathing is a problem for you on the dance floor, tell your partner or teacher you wish to improve on it. Ask them to monitor you in practice, and to remind you to breathe if they notice you are holding it. If you use deep nasal breathing while warming up, and in practice, and if you ask a partner to help you, it will become more of a habit.

That habit will follow you into competition… IF YOU PUT YOUR ATTENTION ON IT! Practice makes perfect, and if you repeat these new techniques every day for a month, they are likely to become permanent.

Optimal breathing can improve your dancing tremendously! Start practicing it today, and enjoy the benefits very soon! This new way of breathing may distract you for a while, but with practice, it will become a trusted ally in your dancing.

 

“Image is the first thing people see when watching a couple dance. Even the untrained eye can appreciate grace, fluidity, emotion and skill. But there is one essential thing that holds it all together; balance.”

Balance can be influenced by

• Your Vision
• Your Balance sensors (inner ears)
• Your sensation of where your feet are. Balance and control are essential for every dancer, poor balance makes you look unstable, a burden to your partner plus increases the risk of injury. Having good stability and balance enables you to transfer your weight quicker and move through your motions more fluidly.

Too many dancers rely on their vision for balance; try closing your eyes……. Or dancing in dim light……

• Turn your head from side to side
• Stand on one leg
• Can you dance your routines?

Each part of the body moves forward or back to counter balance another part of the body.

Some exercises to help:

Stand next to a chair or wall in case you need to catch your balance.

1. Standing barefoot, slowly rise onto the balls of the feet, pressing the toes down into the floor. Concentrate on centering the weight of the body somewhere between the heel and the big toe. Try to pull up and out of the joints, but maintain relaxed knees. Lower the heels slowly and repeat.
2. Stand on one foot on a hard surface without locking the knees. Divide the weight of the body equally between the heel and the ball of the foot. Stand in this position for one minute, and then switch to the other foot.
3. Stand on one foot with the weight of the body divided between the heel and the ball of the foot. Pick up the heel and slowly turn to the left (about a 90-degree turn) on the ball of the foot, then stop and lower the heel. Repeat a few times, and then switch feet. Once you’re comfortable with small turns, try whole turns.

A Solid base: Muscles in your foot, ankles and lower legs help maintain balance so pay attention to strengthening these which allow for side to side movement of the foot. If your base is wobbly it is harder to hold a long balance. Remember your base of support is constantly changing while dancing.

Strengthen your core: A strong core improves your balance (Yoga and Pilates will help also with flexibility), an engaged core plays a key role in maintaining your stability.

Posture: Strong posture is the correct alignment of the body so that the bones and muscles can hold you upright, against gravity, with the least amount of energy. Be aware of your posture in everyday life while walking, sitting or standing.

The only way to get better is practice. This is a choice you can make. How good you can be depends on how much time, effort and focus you put in to your practice.

Set yourself reasonable goals, if your expectations are too high you won’t achieve them. Push yourself and don’t make those goals impossible to achieve otherwise you are setting yourself up for defeat.

YOUR ACTIONS MUST MATCH YOUR DESIRE!!!