Summer Intensives

Dance Wellness: Preparing For The Summer Intensive

January 24, 2013 by 4dancers

Summer intensives can be hard on the body. Intense training coupled with being away from home in an unfamiliar environment is stressful mentally–and physically. Today we have Jan Dunn, MS, our Dance Wellness Editor with some tips for preparing the body for such a demanding experience…. Catherine

by Jan Dunn, MS

Happy New Year ! It’s January, and it may be cold and chilly where you are, with visions of sugarplums still lingering in your head–but it’s not too early to start thinking about preparing yourself for a summer dance intensive you may be thinking of attending.To get in top shape for a safe summer of dancing, here are some things to think about…

Unfortunately, it’s easy for a dancer to get injured when going to a summer intensive, for a number of reasons–the good news is that injuries in this situation are, for the most part, preventable.Some of the reasons you can unintentionally hurt yourself are:

Going from a school-year schedule of taking maybe 4-5 classes a week, to suddenly doing 4-5 a day while at a summer intensive….i.e., you’re doing too much too soon.
Taking classes in a style that you haven’t previously trained in-for example, you take primarily ballet all year, and then suddenly you’re doing jazz and African on a daily basis. You’re now using muscles you haven’t necessarily used in ballet, and it might be easier to get injured, especially if you have muscle imbalances in your legs / torso.
You may be going to a climate you are unaccustomed to, such as hot and humid, whereas your normal dance environment is in a cooler, dryer clime. The body takes a while to adapt to that new environment, and trying to keep up the heavy schedule of an intensive during that initial adjustment period may lead to an injury.

Knowing the possible risk factors in advance may well help you avoid a summer injury.No one wants to go to an exciting summer intensive and then be laid up with an injury right off the bat! Here are some suggestions that might help:

[Read more…]

5 Tips For Getting The Most Out Of A Summer Intensive

January 17, 2013 by 4dancers

ballet students at barre — Students at Ballet San Jose’s School, Photo by Scott Belding

The Summer Intensive. Both exciting and a little frightening, this type of training can really be beneficial to you as a dancer. It can also be a little bit intimidating, offering a new environment, new teachers and students you may not know. For some dance students, it may also be their first time away from home.

Dalia Rawson, Principal at San Jose Ballet School has “been there, done that”. Not only has she attended summer intensives herself, but now she also hosts them at the school. Dalia was kind enough to take the time to offer 4dancers readers 5 great tips for getting the most out of a summer intensive.

Here they are:

1. Do your research.

Be sure to pick a Summer Intensive that offers what you need to get the most out of your summer of training. If you are an advanced dancer, and are looking to find an Intensive that will help you take steps towards a future as a professional dancer, you will likely want to attend a Summer Intensive at a School associated with a professional company. Some Intensives, including Ballet San Jose’s Summer Intensive, offer the chance to work with the associated company’s Artistic Leadership, providing excellent exposure to the people who will ultimately be choosing Trainees, Apprentices, and future dancers in their company.

2. Embrace classes in dance styles outside your comfort zone.

The more uncomfortable you feel in a class, the more important taking that class likely is for you. It can be hard for a bunhead who has never taken a jazz class before to be able to let go and move their pelvis, or for someone who has never tried to improvise to find the freedom to create their own movement vocabulary. But if it feels foreign and uncomfortable, take a deep breath, have a sense of humor about yourself, and give it a try!

The ability to adapt and have an open mind is critical to dancers working with new choreographers, and even if you never professionally end up having to do a musical theatre number, the ability to get over feeling uncomfortable and give it your all is a valuable skill to develop.

3. Give some thought to the challenges of living on your own that you may face for the first time if you are living in a dormitory. [Read more…]

Finding Balance: Dancing Through Summer

August 15, 2012 by 4dancers

The town of Minturn, CO taken on a hike in the mountains

by Emily Kate Long

2012-07-09 to -12 SSDI Fun & Classes 128 — Fun & Classes 128 Partnering class at SSDI (photo credit Susan Blackburn)

As I wrap up my summer travels, I’ve been working to identify a theme for the experiences I’ve had over the past two months. It’s been a summer of learning what to do and what not to do: in the studio as a teacher and student, onstage and in the audience, and in how I interact with other people and with myself. How do I take everything in during class while holding on to what I know works? What about carving out time for physical and mental rest and recuperation? How can I be an open yet critical audience member, and how can I more easily drop personal hang-ups and anxiety to fully experience each moment of performing?

To begin with, a great aid in approaching my physical needs honestly was Dr Linda Hamilton’s most recent book, The Dancer’s Way (St Martin’s Griffin, 2008). Hard science wrapped in compassion and empathy, The Dancer’s Way was a timely reminder that I’m not the machine I’d like to believe. My body—and everyone else’s—needs what it needs, period: fuel and rest. That means sufficient calories, macronutrients, and fluids every day. It means 8-10 hours of sleep each night. It means time each week for restorative activity. It means giving muscles a chance to forget about dancing for a little while and repair themselves every few months, and then giving them enough time to return to a full rehearsal schedule. Put simply, we are people first—physical beings with physical needs that must be acknowledged and met before we can demand anything more of our bodies or minds. The Dancer’s Way is the collection of information I would have loved to have when I was a student, and I plan on sharing a lot of this information with my students.

My strategy this summer was to avoid the trouble of getting back in shape by not planning any rest. Bad move. I would have avoided serious physical and emotional burnout, along with a lot of guilt and self-judgment, if I had just built rest into my schedule to begin with! It’s still a process, but realizing my body can’t take care of itself enabled me to relish being completely immersed in dance all summer.

Being present at two summer intensives (Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive and Vail Valley Dance Intensive) as both a student and a teacher allowed me to analyze every aspect of class. It was wonderful to take multiple classes per day and test endless hypotheses on myself and on others. On an interpersonal level, I got to observe and engage in many different communication styles, classroom organization strategies, and the particular learning processes of different age groups. Being in classes of mixed ability shone light on the importance of teachers’ knowing all the building blocks and progression of technique in order to accommodate students of different levels. [Read more…]

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