Flexibility training - is it necessary?

Flexibility training can be divisive issue. Even I'm divided on it. On the one hand, you can improve your flexibility levels to a degree through appropriate training (stretching) methods. On the other, the gains you can make are somewhat limited, and I'll often argue largely outweighed by the likelihood of injury (up to 80% of dance injuries are sustained during flexibility exercises. That's an awful lot.).

Having spent the better portion of my life in dance training and surrounded by other dancers, I can honestly say I've seen a LOT of time wasted on flexibility training for next to no gains. 85% of your flexibility is down to your skeletal structure, 5% is down to environmental circumstances, leaving only 10% down to muscular elasticity.  10%. All those hours spent trying to push that little bit further, and the best you can hope for is 10%.

Research Update: Warm Up & Stretching

A new study has been published in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science looking at the effect of varying stretching protocols during warm-up on dance performance. Warm-up is a much neglected are of dance research and it's great to see work being conducted in this area.

Working with recreational dancers

Working with recreational community dance groups poses a different set of considerations in class planning. Instead of working with a known quantity, you never know how many dancers you will have; what level of fitness they are at or what level of technique, if any, they have. It can make planning sessions and creating choreography tricky at best. You can have individuals brand new to exercise in with semi-professional dancers, or people who have trained to a high level alongside people with reasonable levels of fitness but absolutely no technical knowledge. Fitness and technical skill can vary wildly, and your job is to find a means of providing a diverse population with a useful, enjoyable and fulfilling class.

Physiological Considerations with Children

Most dancers work with children at some point, whether it's on a daily basis or once or twice a year; through teaching, outreach or company workshops almost all of us will work with young people on and off throughout our careers. In developing the skills of young dancers it's helpful to have an understanding of the implications of various growth stages on their physical performance.

Dance bag essentials - tennis balls

Every dancer should keep a tennis ball in their dance bag, it doesn't matter what style of dance you do, from ballet to bhangra to ballroom, all of you are going to get tight muscles at some point, if you keep something as basic as a tennis ball in your bag you have a way of working on them wherever you are. When I was dancing full-time I think I forgot what it was like to wake up without some part of me aching or feeling tight and it was often at it's worst after a heavy class or rehearsal. Rolling muscles out with the ball became as much a part of my cool down as stretching did and made considerable difference to how long I could last between physio or massage appointments without totally stiffening up.

Stretching

Since I've discussed flexibility and turnout, it's probably worth talking about stretching in a little more detail. We all stretch regularly, whether it's making a concerted effort in class, or for 60 seconds between barre and centre work, it punctuates our days at regular intervals.

How much you get from stretching and how safely you are doing it will vary greatly depending on the type of stretching you do:

Flexibility

I'll be honest, a proper concerted effort to stretch tends to be saved for classes where I'm made to, and moments in front of the TV when I feel guilty for being lazy. Normally after being in the gym,  at training sessions, or going for a run, the last thing I want to do is spend 15 minutes stretching off - if it's not been a straight dance session I'm not the best at making myself commit to it. Hitting the showers always seems so much more appealing. Today, seized by a moment of out of character good sense, I came in from a run and actually made a concerted effort to stretch and have made a subsequent decision to push myself back into good habits.

(Note: a couple of plies and shouldering your leg in front of the mirror does not constitute stretching properly).