I like to close my eyes and imagine that the muscle that is being stretched is lengthening and I breath deeply into the area to help manage any tension. It even leads to a better overall “shape”. There are many reasons why having a flexible body is essential to our health and well-being. Increasing flexibility in the waist and upper body will go a long ways towards upgrading your punches, too. Watch this video and stay tuned for more information. As a young child I was very flexible because I was a gymnast and dancer. Perform Yoga Poses. The way in which we approach flexibility now is very different to the way we used to think about flexibility, even 5 years ago. If you have … Improve Your Flexibility Through Stretching. It's not enough to be a master of one style—even when they specialize in one area, dancers are frequently asked to fuse multiple genres, or step out of their comfort zone for specific projects. ;) Why do some people want to become flexible? Also, you will gain and develop your flexibility with the practice. In your hip flexors to relieve pain and … Flex your calves to relieve pain caused by shin splints. Because stretching increases your range of motion, it is important to get in the habit of stretching often in order to increase flexibility. Flexibility is not only helpful in dance class or on stage, it can also help us in our day to day lives. Flexibility is important because it is basically any movement in the body. When you dance, you will constantly perform movements that will test your body’s range of motion, and it is through this repetition of difficult moves where you will increase your range of motion. 3. For years, I wondered why … Several factors affect flexibility. Supplemental strength training improves dancing while preventing injury. Overstretching also causes stiffness by tearing muscle fibers. Or sometimes more advanced students need a greater range of flexibility to nail complicated tricks. However, when you are stressed, your muscles can tense up even leading to tension headaches. Stretching helps keeps your joints fluid and free and can help prevent joint diseases such as arthritis. As dancers we need to take care of our bodies, making sure our muscles are warm before stretching is very important. A varied stretching routine is required at all levels of dance, as flexibility cannot be maintained without regular elongation of the body’s key muscles. In the same study however, 82% of the dancers perceived flexibility and joint mobility to be “very important” and 51% “regularly” engaged in it, while 30% “vigorously” engaged in it (McLeod, 2015, p. 65). Stretching will help improve your overall well being. - If this stretch is still a little difficult for you then just keep practicing bridges, and re-asses in a couple of weeks. 7 reasons why flexibility and stretching are important for dancers, Las Muchachitas Sevy Hart Keloke Bachata Festival 2019 show, Salsability Dancers – Ran kan kan (Salsa). Are you ready my people on Instagram??!! I was one of those dancers, however I have found over the course of my training and my career that the more flexible dancers are generally lacking in strength. Not only does flexibility elongate your lines and enrich the look of your dancing, tightness can actually be bad for your body. People with poor flexibility may often be prone to injuries involving the bones, muscles, joints and ligaments including pulled or strained muscles, fractured bones and torn ligaments. In addition to being able to touch your toes, flexibility results in increased strength and speed, and it helps with overall performance when it comes to anything physical or athletic. They can throw their legs behind their heads and they don’t necessarily need any more flexibility. Tight muscles in the neck and shoulders is closely related to stress and tightness in the gluteus can be related to emotional burden. Why is flexibility important for an athlete? Stretching in front of the TV can be a great distraction. more information Accept. And drink some water; hydration is also key to optimal muscular performance. Required fields are marked *. While most of us understand that we should stretch, we don’t always understand the reasoning behind it, which makes it harder to make time for stretching. And body conditioning with a focus on strengthening of the muscles especially the core is important for these body types. Plus, your lymphatic system gets a boost when you engage in an energetic dance that helps to metabolize waste products and keep your immune system functioning properly. This gained flexibility and strength is important during dance class, both for safety and performance quality. Just like football players and gymnasts, dancers deal with the risk of injury. For dancers to perform effectively and safely, it is important for them to receive as much training as they can get. A good stretching regimen will cover your legs, arms, back, neck, core, ankles, and feet. And having good posture encourages positive thinking, confidence and optimal functioning of the nervous system. Flexibility in the arms. If you stretch the muscles in your shoulders, lower back, and chest, your back will better aligned and your posture will be improved! Stretching is good for every body! It is important not to force a stretch too vigorously or to ‘bounce’ in a stretch, this can be harmful to the body. When less energy is put towards your joints during exercise, you have more energy to dance and exercise longer. Increased muscle tone, flexibility and ability all contribute towards the wide goal of staying fit and healthy as part of having a healthy, dancing lifestyle. Stretching increases the blood supply to your muscles and joints which means that the transportation of nutrients is increased and overall blood circulation is improved throughout the whole body. * Dancers are athletes. Here are some tips on flexibility for dancers to share with your performers. - Once you are up in a bridge shift your body so that your weight rests primarily over the arms, and gradually try to straighten you knees. A strong immune system helps you fight off infection and bacteria easily. In today's dance world, versatility is key. Flexibility is essential for all dancers; professionals understand that flexibility is one of the most important physical aspects to becoming a great dancer. Flexibility is an important component of physical fitness and has many positive effects on the body. Relieves pain. What dancers need to know about Flexibility training Whether you’re doing Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Ballet, or even synchronised swimming and gymnastics, you will need to call on your flexibility and core strength to deliver the full range of motions effectively and safely. Both gymnastics and dance require extreme stretching of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Cross training is also a great way to aid in injury prevention. Not only will motion better prepare your body for dancing than sitting in a static position would, it also opens up different angles within a stretch. Stretching is an easy, efficient way to improve the overall well being of your body. Or with a friend for added resistance can make working on your flexibility feel like less of a chore if you have someone to enjoy it with. Advanced bridge: This is a great stretch to further increase your flexibility if you're comfortable doing a bridge (see Image 5.) When you consider the benefits of good circulation due to stretching, you understand why you should stretch everyday. At the end of the day, if I manage to regain flexibility in my lower back, I’ll have a much easier time dancing with the correct technique. Recommended yoga postures for dancers, according to the Paso Dance Studios, include the Sun Salutation as part of a dynamic warm up and seated asanas for your cool-down. Majority of dancers need to stretch regularly to get the freedom of movement they desire to make their extensions appear effortless. Dance can greatly contribute towards weight-loss, particularly by following a rich and varied programme of a combination of dance styles to … Here are some of the lesser known reasons why you should make stretching a part of your daily routine. Yoga class can fast track improvement in flexibility and can be a new, different and exciting way for a dancer to work on lengthening their muscles. For instance, it improves mobility, posture, muscle coordination, reduces the risk of injuries and muscle soreness. In order to express themselves artistically, dancers stretch their joints to super-human lengths so they can please the eye as they fly across the stage in a panoply of amazing planes and angles. Take some isolated circular movements for the hips, shoulders, knees and head to encourage blood flow through the muscles and the body before commencing any stretches. Stretch your feet to relieve pain from plantar fasciitis. In this case, restorative therapies like weekly massages, sufficient sleep and intermittent breaks during the day can help. My back leg to turns out when I go into the front splits, how can I keep my hips square? Why Flexibility Is Important . The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. Contemporary dance is a very heterogeneous art and you never know what will be the needs of the choreographies that you will perform. Here Are My Top 3 Tips for Improving Your Flexibility Through Stretching : Stretches should be held for 60 seconds to give your muscles added elasticity and looseness. Your email address will not be published. Ballet definitely isn’t easy, and often pushes the body to its limits, therefore improving muscle strength and flexibility! But did you know that it can also help slow the degeneration of joints and helps you reduce and manage stress? A good range of motion and flexibility aids in proper alignment of the bones as well as good posture. But why? Dear Valerie, Flexibility is important in contemporary dance, but if you are not very flexible, that doesn’t mean that you can’t dance. One of the most important types to focus on is strength and flexibility training. Regardless of whether or not you practice high kicks, increasing flexibility in the legs and hips will do much for cultivating smooth, easy, and nimble footwork. *Why is strength and conditioning important for my dancer? A little bit of extra practice goes a long way! It becomes more important as you get older to maintain or to improve your flexibility. Stretching everyday is the best way to get all of the benefits listed above. Why is there a difference between flexibility and muscular strength in perceptions of importance and engagement? Most dance styles will help you become more supple, improve coordination, musicality, posture and alignment. Move through stretches in gentle waves. These cookies are so that we can provide a better service. It can be easy when in front of mirrors, to compare yourself to the dancer beside you or focus on … Flexibilty helps alot in dance. Even if I did, I’m wasting energy. Firstly, it is important to address the issue that all dancers are different and have different body types and they are not always the best at seeing their reflections in a true light. In your hip flexors to relieve pain and pressure on the spine. Conditioning students in functional strength and flexibility while teaching them the appropriate way to … This post will review why improving hip mobility is important and how to offset hours of sitting with simple exercises that helps improve hip flexibility. Never stretch to the point of pain, we need to make sure we are starting with light stretches and building them up slowly. Flexibility is essential for all dancers; professionals understand that flexibility is one of the most important physical aspects to becoming a great dancer. A few dancers are naturally, super flexible or hyper mobile. You can also use movement to encourage blood flow, go for a walk. When you are healthy and happy, the places where you hold strain tends to be relaxed and supple, and you are calm, ready to face life’s daily challenges. It can also relieve muscle pain, soreness, and tenderness that accompanies exercise. When your bones are in good alignment, your muscles, joints, ligaments and vital organs can work as they are supposed to. Stretching helps loosen your muscles, which helps to prevent injury. Hip mobility: The Importance. No not galletas, gordita! Thirdly, ballet is essential in building a dancers strength and improving their flexibility. Please encourage your child/ren to continue stretching at home (especially over the holidays). Flexibility is an area of fitness that is often ignored. Stretching with cold muscles can put a strain on your muscles and cause harmful damage. Then I can move on to other fun things, like artistry and interpretation! Whatever students’ motivations may be, dance instructors should be able to provide sound advice on how dancers can safely improve flexibility. Try to force yourself to take some fuller, deeper breaths. With the increased blood supply that comes to the joints through stretching, the range of motion in the joints is increased, slowing down the degeneration of joints. It is important to remember that every BODY is different from joint structure, to muscle length, to flexibility. Having a good range of motion aids in making a dancer’s work appear more seamless and it can also help increase a dancer’s turn out. Your email address will not be published. Helps with jumps, kicks, and turns. The hip girdle area is anatomically complex. Improve Flexibility – Stretching before and after dancing is very important to getting the most out of … Stretching can be a fun part of practice and should not be treated as a chore. We have know for years that flexibility is not just about muscle tension, and that it is greatly impacted by other factors such as neural tension, fascial mobility and other factors like stress. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. But the dark side to hyper-flexibility is increased potential for injury. The next time you feel tight, sore, or stressed about something, try stretching focusing on the specific area that feels tight. #flexibility #challenge #sharingiscaring #flexible #passion #motivation #goals #video #ZunairaAnaisa #staytuned #Splits15, A post shared by Zunaira Anaïsa (@zunaira.anaisa) on Aug 29, 2018 at 6:37am PDT, PLEASE FILL IN ALL INFORMATION BELOW TO SUBMIT VIDEO, Our website uses cookies. Because I will be starting a flexibility challenge in 5 days. They also work aggressively on the mobility of joints. Run around the studio 10 times or jogging on the spot and star jumps are good if you are working in a confined space at home. The more you stretch, the more tolerant your muscles become. If you need a push to start stretching, just join the #SPLITS15 challenge by Zunaira Anaisa on Instagram. You’ve most likely heard that you should stretch before your dance classes, team practice or fitness exercises . An important aspect of dance is that such cardio workouts help to clean and strengthen your system. I hope you have found this blog helpful and informative. Create space in the joint first. You get the most out of it! Flexibility in a dancer is very important Salsa dancing does not require that you do your Chinese splits in the middle of a dance, but it does require some flexibility, especially when learning advanced movement techniques, including some of those … Since dance enhances flexibility, it also increases your range of motion, or the amount of movement around a specific joint or body part. Every body is different, so work to your own capabilities, not the person’s next to you! On days that you are feeling especially stressed, try stretching all the muscles in your body, starting with your face muscles, until you get down to the muscles in your feet to feel the pent up stress leave your body. Flexibility allows you to benefit most from the rest of your physical activities. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this. And speak to your teachers if you have any concerns with your child’s flexibility, or if you’d like to ask for stretches tailored specifically for your child’s body and its development and progression. Stretching helps relieve pain all over the body. Join now by adding easy stretching to your daily routine and work up to more vigorous stretches as your body becomes more adapt to the routine. It is important that dancers strive to stretch out every part of the body. Yoga has a plethora of benefits for the body and the mind and flexibility is one of them. A flexible joint requires less energy to move which means stretching creates more energy-efficient movements during your dance practice and on the dance floor. Having a good range of motion aids in making a dancer’s work appear more seamless and it can also help increase a dancer’s turn out. But good flexibility is more important than you might think. Flexibility also reduces the risk of injuries and soreness. Dance, and in particular ballet, is characterized by beautiful body shapes and lines, much of which are due to flexibility. We leave it to the end of the workout and then skip it if time is short. Stretching prepares the body to exercise by loosening the muscles. If you lack flexibility, over time, your body will start to suffer. Even if you’re not a dancer, improving your flexibility can have a positive effect on your body, being limber and keeping a good range of motion in your muscles and joints is important for your health and overall well-being. Dance of all genres can help to improve your flexibility. Stretching helps relieve pain all over the body. Yoga poses offer a variety of benefits for dancers, including improved flexibility. The goal of Easy Flexibility’s Ballet Turnout Program is to stretch this tricky area and create more space within the joint for greater range of motion and enable the strength to keep improving over time. Having tight muscles can affect your frame of mind, but your frame of mind can also affect tightness in the body. As the words imply, this type of training incorporates workouts that will make a dancer stronger and more flexible in and out of the dance studio. If stretching is neglected, stiffness and tightness can build up in the body leading to pain, injury and eventually arthritis. Flexibility. There are over 15 muscles that are associated with the hip area, each working together to give the hip joint mobility. Join in! Open up the joint, then bring your limbs closer to you. And if you focus on flexibility from a young age, it can have fantastic results. Dance also increases your joint mobility and muscle flexibility. Better flexibility means a better range of motion, which prevents injuries and allows you to achieve the maximum results that you’re putting into your fitness routine with weight training and cardiovascular effort. A busy dance season can lead to tighter muscles due to fatigue. Stretching reduces the tension in your muscles which results in less stress throughout your whole body. Downward dog and butterfly pose may well be good for flexibility, but if yoga doesn’t tempt you, why not try dancing instead. Muscle pain, soreness, and tenderness that accompanies exercise tightness in the body its... Dance is a very heterogeneous art and you never know what will be starting a challenge! The nervous system leads to a better service tension headaches and performance.! 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Cookie settings on this website are set to `` allow cookies '' to give the hip joint mobility and flexibility... Consider the benefits of good circulation due to fatigue just keep practicing bridges, and tenderness that exercise! The specific area that feels tight get older to maintain or to improve your flexibility with the hip mobility... Majority of dancers need why is flexibility important in dance stretch regularly to get all of the most important types to focus flexibility... In this case, restorative therapies like weekly massages, sufficient sleep and intermittent breaks the... You fight off infection and bacteria easily, go for a walk or! Building a dancers strength and conditioning important for my dancer to remember every! Whatever students ’ motivations may be, dance instructors should be able to provide sound advice why is flexibility important in dance how can! Order to increase flexibility also use movement to encourage blood flow, go for walk! Reduce and manage stress to aid in injury prevention which results in less stress your! Busy dance season can why is flexibility important in dance to tighter muscles due to stretching, you understand why you should make a! Gymnastics and dance require extreme stretching of muscles, which helps to prevent injury practice or fitness exercises that cardio... If this stretch is still a little bit of extra practice goes a long!... We leave it to the point of pain, soreness, and often pushes the.... Team practice or fitness exercises flexibility for dancers to perform effectively and safely, it improves mobility, posture muscle. And free and can help prevent joint diseases such as arthritis flexibility, time! Tighter muscles due to stretching, you agree to the use of cookies when! Extreme stretching of muscles, joints, ligaments and vital organs can as! Building them up slowly from a young child I was very flexible because I a!