Timetabling in full-time training

Dance schools, conservatoires and companies have a responsibility to care for the overall health and well-being of the dancers they work with. This means on top of technical training providing measures for injury prevention, fitness training, nutritional support, psychological support and a measured approach to workload. Training frequency and scheduling is often waylaid due to other concerns; timetabling tends to be based on what is convenient for studio space or teacher availability, rather than what makes the most sense for the dancers. Scheduling of training can have a significant effect on the dancer's performance and well-being and it is important that companies and schools recognise the implications of their timetabling.

Overtraining

Overtraining or burnout refer to a condition where athletes or dancers note a marked decrease in physical performance for no apparent physical or medical reason, suffer from prolonged fatigue and display behavioral and emotional changes. Symptoms of overtraining will vary from individual to individual, the most common symptoms include:

• Increased perception of effort during exercise
• Excessive sweating
• Frequent upper respiratory tract infections
• Breakdown of technique
• Muscle soreness
• Sleep disturbance
• Lack of concentration
• Loss of appetite
• Mood disturbances
• Signs of depression
• Decreased interest in training and performance
• Decreased self-confidence

The rules of supplemental training

Supplemental training will make you a better dancer. There's no question about it. Being stronger, faster, more agile, more powerful, more flexible, generally fitter... all of it will improve your dance performance. But it's no good deciding you're going to push yourself and develop outside of the dance studio if you don't do it sensibly. There are some incredibly simple rules you need to follow if you're ever going to make progress in additional areas you're training, otherwise you're just going to waste your time.

Managing your training

One thing almost everyone working within the area of dance science will push is supplemental training. I bang on about it constantly. It's important as exclusive dance-only training does not adequately prepare the body for the demands of performance. Class provides the training for technique and artistry, however for the required athleticism, you need to train your body in a range of areas so that when it comes to performance you are not only physically equipped to perform the choreography and therefore less likely to get injured, but you are also able to perform at your best.

Finding the time for this can be problematic. If you are lucky enough to be employed by a company that provides additional physical training you're in a very fortunate minority. For those who aren't, finding clear cut time for supplemental training can be difficult. For dance students, there is often the need to juggle practical training with course theory and part-time employment; for freelancers their is the balancing of rehearsal, performance, class and other employment, if you're working in an area such as hospitality to supplement your income your hours are erratic at the best of times and for those employed by companies full-time who do not receive supplemental training, it can be difficult to commit yourself to further training outside of the hours spent within in-company training. Out with all of that, you need to be careful not to overwork yourself.

Cross-training

The end of a year always seems to result in a great deal of reflection on the past 12 months, of what should have happened, of what could have and resolutions of what's going to change in the next 12 months. For a lot (most) people, this tends to be fruitless introspection that leads to a couple of weeks of good intentions and no real changes. Let's consider a way to actually make use of it this year.