Dance Wellness

Shaking Yourself Into Jumping (and higher developpés)

January 6, 2017 by 4dancers

Vibration training for dancers

Aloha and Happy Holidays! We are now past “Nutcracker” season, so here’s a brief post for your post-holiday thoughts, as you gear up for the New Year:

Dr. Matt Wyon, PhD, our Dance Wellness Panel member and current President of IADMS, has done some research on the benefits of dancers incorporating Power Plate / “Vibration Training” into their conditioning program, which he shares in the post below. If you have access to this type of equipment, you might well investigate using it…

Enjoy, and Pass it On! – Jan Dunn, MS

by Matt Wyon, PhD

It is now a recognized fact that that dancers need to do supplemental training, but what can be fitted into an already hectic schedule without taking up lots of time?

Vibration training (or Power Plate training) has been shown to improve jump height and developpé height after just 8 sessions (2 ten-minute sessions per week).

In a recent study, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning, Marshall and Wyon had dancers hold 9 positions while on the Power Plate, for 30 seconds each for the first two weeks, and then for 40 seconds for the subsequent two weeks. The positions were:

plié in first
plié in second
relevé
pelvic bridge (back on the floor and feet on the platform)
right leg leading lunge with front foot on the platform
left foot leading lunge
bent over hamstring hold (with a right angle between torso and legs)
right leg developpé
left leg developpé
(the extension phase of these last two exercises were held for 2-5 seconds)

All the dancers who did the training increased their jump height 4 cm and their developpé height by approximately 20-degrees.

The important thing to remember with everything is that quality is much more important that quantity. This is especially true of supplemental training, and vibration training seems to be able to provide good results with little time demands.

Dance Wellness Contributor Matt Wyon — Matt Wyon, PhD

Matthew Wyon, PhD, is a Professor in Dance Science at the University of Wolverhampton, UK and a Visiting Professor at the ArtEZ, Institute of the Arts, The Netherlands.

At Wolverhampton he is the course leader for the MSc in Dance Science and Director of Studies for a number of dance science and medicine doctoral candidates. He is a founding partner of the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, UK.

Prof. Wyon is President of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science and a past chair of the Research Committee. He has worked with numerous dancers and companies within the UK and Europe as an applied physiologist and strength and conditioning coach.

He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles in dance medicine and science.

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Dancers: Cross-Training With Yoga

October 11, 2016 by 4dancers

*Cara Marie Gary performs with the Joffrey in Romeo & Juliet. Photo by Cheryl Mann.*

by Cara Marie Gary

As a dancer with The Joffrey Ballet I spend countless hours in the studio rehearsing and preparing for upcoming productions. Often times I will be required to rehearse multiple ballets at the same time. Our company returned from summer break in late July and in the past three months we’ve already worked on seven different ballets! We’ve performed at the Chicago Dancing Festival and Dance for Life performances with Alexander Ekman’s Episode 31, Lar Lubovitch’s Othello pas de deux, Christopher Wheeldon’s After The Rain pas de deux, and Gerald Arpino’s Round of Angels. We’ve learned Myles Thatcher’s Body of Your Dreams, which is a ballet that we won’t perform until the spring. We began “cracking nuts” early in August as Christopher Wheeldon started choreographing his world premiere of The Nutcracker. However, in the past two weeks we’ve taken a pause from rehearsing multiple ballets to focus on our fall production of Krzysztof Pastor’s Romeo & Juliet. [Read more…]

Should Dancers Run?

October 6, 2016 by 4dancers

Dancer Running

Aloha! Today we have another excellent post from Matt Wyon, PhD, President of IADMS / Professor of Dance Science at Wolverhampton University (UK) — this one is on running!

I was always told never to run, as a dancer –
Unless you can run in good leg alignment! So many dancers end up running in turn-out (because of the muscle imbalance in the leg and hip), and that isn’t so good for you. But Matt has some excellent current thoughts on the subject…

Enjoy, and Pass It On !!
Jan Dunn, MS, Dance Wellness Editor
[Read more…]

Stretching After You Dance

September 30, 2016 by 4dancers

By Mikael Häggström (w:Gray's muscle pictures) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons — By Mikael Häggström (w:Gray’s muscle pictures) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Aloha! We are pleased to bring you several short posts from one of our Dance Wellness Panel members, Matt Wyon, PhD, who is current President of IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine and Science), Professor of Dance Science at University of Wolverhampton (UK), and Visiting Professor at Division of Surgery and Intervention – Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science – University College London, and ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, The Netherlands.

Matt has been extensively involved in research in the dance medicine and science field for many years, so it’s always fun to see what new nuggets of information he has to pass on.

This first post is about stretching and how important it is to stretch properly AFTER you dance, and not do the kind of static stretching (such as sitting on the floor in 2nd and holding it) beforehand that has actually been shown to be detrimental for dancers.
Enjoy – happy stretching (after class / rehearsal!) and pass it on-
Aloha, Jan Dunn, MS, Dance Wellness Editor

by Matt Wyon, PhD

Stretching is a way of life for dancers but interestingly there has been very little research into the best ways to stretch. Holding static stretches (where you take the stretch and hold it) for a long time during a warm up has been shown to negatively affect a muscle’s explosive ability – whereas a study in sport showed that incorporating dynamic stretching (active movements of the muscle that brings forth a stretch, but are not held in the end position) into a warm up helped prevent injuries during the subsequent activity.

But what about afterwards?

What sort of stretches should you do after dance has finished? A recent study by one of my doctoral students at the University of Wolverhampton (Nikos Apostolopoulos) has shown that a gentle stretch is better than a high intensity stretch in helping the muscle recover and maintaining flexibility. In fact, not stretching at all (the control group) was better than a high intensity stretch.

So how do you figure out the intensity of a stretch?

If you stretch a muscle until it hurts and it starts to wobble (this is a protective reflex trying to protect the muscle) then that is a 10/10 intensity. A gentle stretch is around 4-6/10 and you should only feel a lengthening in the muscle being stretched.

But dancers may say “But a high intensity stretch feels like I am doing something.”

Yes it might – but it is also causing micro-damage to the muscle. If you have just had a hard days dancing then your muscle is already damaged and needs to recover; a high intensity stretch actually delays this healing process whilst a gentle or low intensity stretch actually promotes the muscle’s repair.

Matthew Wyon, PhD, is a Professor in Dance Science at the University of Wolverhampton, UK and a Visiting Professor at the ArtEZ, Institute of the Arts, The Netherlands.

He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles in dance medicine and science.

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Dance Psychology: An Introduction

September 12, 2016 by 4dancers

Aloha – Happy back to school / class / rehearsal month!

This month I’m so pleased to bring you a new guest contributor, Dr. Lynda Mainwaring, with an introductory post about the field of dance psychology. This is a topic I’ve wanted to introduce for a long time, and I’m so pleased to have Lynda offer to do it for us–she is on the faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto (Canada), and a registered Psychologist. She has been a longtime colleague of mine in IADMS, and I have enjoyed her many presentations on dance psychology over the years. I’m so glad to now be able to bring this important topic to 4dancers.org.

Pass it on!
Aloha,
Jan Dunn, MS

by Lynda Mainwaring, Ph.D., C. Psych.

Alexandra and Micah were skilled soloists who trained at prestigious schools. Their technique was flawless, and their artistry mesmerizing. They were loved around the world, yet, both suffered from intense anxiety that created muscle tension, stomach upset, elevated heart rate and a barrage of doubts about their performance. At times they were paralyzed with the fear of not living up to their usual perfect performance. Before major events they would psych themselves into a state that made them feel ill.

This is performance anxiety.

Feeling a heightened sense of arousal and anxiety before a performance is common. A certain level of energy sparks a good performance. However, on occasion our thoughts and feelings can be out of control, and they can negatively impact performance. They can create a situation in which we think we are not good enough, or we fear that we may not be the right body shape. Before stepping on stage we may worry that we will miss the jump in the opening sequence.

What do you think about when you dance? What do you think about just before or after dancing? Do you experience performance jitters? Do you worry about what you look like, what others look like, or what others think about your dancing? These are the kinds of questions that often arise in performance. Knowing how to handle intrusive and sometimes negative thoughts, or how to manage performance anxiety, are some of the topics addressed by dance, sport and performance psychology. Today’s blog is about dance psychology in general. The next will be about managing your performance jitters.

What is Dance Psychology?

Dance psychology is a field that entertains the following questions, among others:

how the mind can facilitate performance?
how can performance anxiety can be managed?
how do you recover from injury?
how do you cope with the stressors of working in highly demanding situations?

It is an area of study and practice that uses research, theory and practitioner’s wisdom to address psychological issues related to dance and dancers. The field of dance psychology has evolved from sport psychology, which is some 50 years old. Dance psychology is about using the mind to enhance dance, improve well-being, and offset negative aspects of life in the unique and challenging world of dance. It is about using psychology and the mind to help us be the best that we can be.

Using The Mind In Dance

Often we overlook the importance of the mind despite knowing that the mind and body are intimately tied. The interaction between the two can have profound effects on our performance, health, motivation, and sense of who we are. Dance psychology can provide us with insights, skills, strategies and techniques to enhance dancing, create stronger selves and to improve our ability to navigate through the creative, challenging, and complex culture of dance. There are numerous benefits of including psychological skills into the artistry, and athleticism of dancing. Here are some of the benefits of training your mind as well as your body:

Improved management of performance jitters.
Improved coping with the stressors in daily living.
Increased confidence.
Improved attention and focus.
Identification of short and long-term goals to improve performance.
Emotional regulation to move through performance highs and lows with greater ease, and reduced anxiety.
Performance enhancement.
Enhanced well-being and the ability to feel in control of your career and your life.
Better energy management to help you with your resources.
Enhanced injury management and coping.

Stay tuned: next time, I will provide some pointers on how to overcome and manage pre-performance nerves. Until then, dance with the joy and contentment of knowing that you are extraordinary.

BIO: Lynda Mainwaring is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, and a Registered Psychologist in Ontario. Her background in human kinetics, performance and rehabilitation psychology focuses her research and professional practice on emotional sequelae of mild traumatic brain injury in sport, psychological impact of injuries in sport, dance and work; perfectionism, and performance enhancement. She is a member of the Research Committee for the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, and is co-founder of the Canadian Centre of Performance Psychology. Dr. Mainwaring has presented and published over 200 works to international audiences. Save

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But what about afterwards?

So how do you figure out the intensity of a stretch?

What is Dance Psychology?

Using The Mind In Dance

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