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Flexibility
That being said, ask any dancer and they will say: there will be days that you are just plain frustrated. There might be days that you really, really question why you are doing this, and (dare I say it) there might be days where you just hate dance period. Unless you find that there are more of those days than the ones where dance renders you utterly blissful, you should stick with it and work through those blah days. They are simply part of the territory of really challenging yourself. Let me start by saying don’t get too stuck on achieving the splits (or even on becoming more flexible in general)! I can guarantee you that it is not the most important thing to achieve as a dancer. As you progress in your dance training, hopefully you will find that the emphasis becomes less on technique and more on artistry and finding your own dance 'voice'. Have you ever been at a dance performance and not been able to tear your eyes away from one particular dancer all night? Often that dancer is not the most technically proficient on the stage, but she (or he!) is the one that is somehow embodying every moment with her full being. You might not even notice the ones executing perfect, by-the-book dance technique. You watch that one dancer because there is something she is doing that is different and true, that is particular to her alone. At this early stage however, the emphasis for you as a learner is often to absorb as much dance as you possibly can. That means you are constantly in class with other dancers, some more advanced and some less advanced than you, all aspiring towards executing the same moves. Well, here’s another basic and unavoidable truth: everybody’s body is different. As hard as it is at times, try to avoid comparing yourself to others and concentrate instead on your own progress! Some people are naturally loose and flexible and noodle-like, and others are tight and muscular through their bodies. Sometimes, but not always, the tight people are also the strong people, and the 'gumbies' are the ones that have a lot of strenghtening work to do. To confuse matters more, most of us are our own special mixture: like an equalizer on a stereo, we are each ‘tuned’ our particular way to be flexible (and possibly weak) in some places, tight (and possibly strong) in others, depending on an innumerable blend of factors (posture, alignment, daily movement habits, heredity). Those who can do the splits easily, for instance, are very flexible through their hip joints. This will often mean however that they are weak through their hip flexors, the very muscles that raise the leg in a battement or develope. That same dancer you envy as she effortlessly drops to the floor in the splits might be eyeing you enviously as you execute an effortless rond de jambe en l’air. Stephanie, it could be that some of what you perceive as 'lack of progress' in achieving more flexibility is the natural by-product of starting to train in dance, and also of maturing physically. If you have been taking classes for three years, you have also been strengthening your body for three years; add to that the fact that a thirteen-year-old body is naturally less flexible than a ten-year-old body, and it is quite possible that all of your extra-curricular stretching may have granted you the extraordinary gift of holding steady on your level of flexibility as your body has strengthened and matured. That is no small thing. As you continue in dance you will begin to understand the fine-tuning of your own body -- where you are particularly tight, where you are very flexible. As a Pilates teacher much of what I do is to help people understand this in their own bodies, then working on strengthening their really noodly weak areas and stretching their really strong tight areas. In an ideal world, you would have just the right balance of strength and flexibility in all areas of your body to maintain an ideal and effortless alignment. It is important as a dancer, then, to work on flexibility as well as strength. If you want to increase your flexibility, continue what you are already doing: working a little each day to gently stretch the areas that are particularly tight. If you have a Pilates or yoga teacher (or even your dance teacher), let them know what areas you’re working on, and they can give you some safe stretches to do at home. Do follow your stretching regimen every day, and do be patient and gentle as you do so, and I guarantee that you will see some results -- though they might come much more gradually than you would like. The body cannot suddenly be forced to become more flexible any more than it can suddenly be asked to develop muscles in a particular area that needs strengthening! In both, you must work slowly and gently and daily to achieve the results you want. Some important caveats for the stretchers amongst us!: - ALWAYS work slowly and gently, using a lot of breath, as you stretch. Never force yourself into anything that feels bad on your body. (Believe me, you won’t be attempting the splits anytime soon if you tear your inner thigh muscles while trying to force the splits -- that particular injury can take six months to a year or more to heal.) - REMEMBER: some of your body’s resistances may be structural (having to do with how your bones are formed) rather than muscular. For instance, as a rule men (and some women -- like me!) do not have wide turn-out because their hip joints are formed so that the hip sockets open more toward the front of the body than more towards the sides like women's generally do. This is a reality of biology and the anatomy of the pelvic girdle, and no amount of stretching will ever make that structure change. This is why whenever you stretch you should do so slowly and respectfully of your own body! - NEVER continue any kind of exercise if you feel any sharp, shooting pains or numbness anywhere in your body. This includes while in class! (If you feel the wrong kind of pain or discomfort in class, quietly stop the exercise and the responsible teacher will come around to check on you; use the opportunity to explain what kind of pain you are having where. It could be that you are executing the exercise in an incorrect way that is dangerous to your body. No teacher wants you to get injured in her class.) - Above all, REMEMBER: You are the only one who can judge the realities of your own body, and it is your solemn responsibility to protect it. "this is a manila site 2" "get acrobat" "get quicktime" Copyright 2008 TeachingArts.org |