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.

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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NYC > Minneapolis > Chicago: Adventures on the Road and Touring Tips

September 17, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

By Samantha Hope Galler

Touring with a professional dance company is a maturing experience. The process tests you in many ways. Since joining Miami City Ballet, I have toured to Vancouver, Ottawa, New York City, Minneapolis, and Chicago. Every city is culturally diverse, but all share an appreciation for dance. I look forward to sharing several touring experiences with you from my recent three-city tour with Miami City Ballet…

It is a dancer’s dream to perform at Lincoln Center. As the home of George Balanchine and New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center has a high level of historical importance. The backstage area, dressing rooms, and even the elevator reminds a performer why Lincoln Center is so remarkable. Our week there included three dress rehearsals and seven performances. Every performance highlighted a piece that was created for Miami City Ballet. Liam Scarlett’s Viscera, Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances, and Justin Peck’s Heatscape were among these works. The company also performed works by George Balanchine and Twyla Tharp. On Wednesday evening, we performed Balanchine’s Serenade. It was a high point of the tour. The company also performed Twyla Tharp’s Sweet Fields. This particular work by Twyla first premiered in 1996. It is extraordinarily spiritual onstage and was a true highlight to bring it to the Koch Theater. In fact, the audience reacted so well that we returned for a curtain call after each performance.

To finish off the 2015-2016 season, we performed in Minneapolis and Chicago. Both cities presented new venues and different inspirations. Compared to the New York step of our tour, we presented similar programming which included Balanchine’s Serenade, Peck’s Heatscape, Scarlett’s Viscera, Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements, Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances, and Balanchine’s Bourrée Fantasque. The audience stood on their feet after each performance.

Touring Tips on the Road:

While touring, learning to reset and refocus is important. Below are a few suggestions on how to approach touring with your best foot forward….

#1: Remember your goals. Touring is a very exciting element of company life. Usually, the first thing you want to do is explore the city, but, it is important to remember that you are there to perform and work.

#2: Plan ahead. I recommend researching the area around your hotel or near the theater so you have an idea of what is available. It is helpful to know where you can grab food quickly before or after the show.

#3: Stick to your routine. On tour, the theater, the distance to the theater, and the studio space are different. This means it’s important to stick to your regular routine for preparing for class and performances. If you usually spend 45 minutes warming up before class, make sure you do so.

#4: Eat! Be sure to bring good snacks for the trip so you do not get stuck trying to find something last minute. I like to have a variety of snacks like Cliff Bars, trail mix, and bananas. Check to see if there is a refrigerator at the venue or in the hotel. In this case, I would be sure to have yogurt, veggies, humus, or deli meat.

#5: Sleep! I recommend turning in a little earlier than usual.

#6: Keep you head held high and be positive. Touring is one of the most rewarding adventures a dancer can be a part of. Not only will you have the opportunity to perform in theaters around the world, you will also have the chance to be introduced to new audiences. A main reason I enjoy performing on stage is to bring audiences the emotion of our art form. So enjoy every minute and dance your heart out.

Dreams Come True... Samantha at Lincoln Center. Jonathan Taylor — Dreams Come True…Samantha at Lincoln Center. Photograph by Jonathan Taylor

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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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Talking Ballet: Miami City Ballet’s Rebecca King and Michael Breeden of “Conversations on Dance”

September 6, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

by Rachel Hellwig

Miami City Ballet dancers Rebecca King and Michael Breeden are the hosts of the new ballet podcast Conversations on Dance. Learn about how the podcast got started, what’s coming up for it, Rebecca and Michael’s thoughts on the role of technology in dance and more…

Listen to Conversations on Dance episodes here and on iTunes.

Rebecca King. Photograph by Jonathan Taylor.

What inspired the podcast?

Rebecca: Miami City Ballet has a wonderful program of pre-performance talks in the theater before each performance. In recent years, these talks have been dancer driven. Michael has been a cornerstone of this program, and for good reason. He is well-spoken and extremely well-versed in ballet. Michael often invites me to accompany him for these talks, which I have always enjoyed.

Knowing that podcast listenership is growing and becoming a part of society, we thought we could expand these talks to a larger platform. We developed the idea to make each episode a casual and light conversation on the different elements of the professional ballet world. We are so fortunate to work with the ballet world’s best and brightest here at Miami City Ballet, and those are the artists that people interested in the ballet world want to hear from.

I have a blog, Tendus Under A Palm Tree, which I have been cultivating for almost 6 years, that brings with it a wonderful audience. As we did research, we found ourselves at a wonderful advantage: being able to host our own content through my website would allow us to be in total control of every element of the process including recording, editing, publishing, and promoting.

So, Conversations on Dance was born. It started as just an idea, but is quickly growing more than we ever expected. We are so thankful to all of our listeners.

Michael: Rebecca and I and our friends at Miami City Ballet are a very inquisitive bunch. We’ve always done a lot of background research for the work we do, which we later share with each other.

When Lourdes Lopez became artistic director of the company, she started having us do pre-performance talks where we discuss the history and process of the ballets we’re performing. Rebecca realized that the podcasts would be a perfect outlet for sharing that information during the off-season.

Michael Brenden and Zoe Zien in George Balanchine’s "La Valse." Photograph by Daniel Azoulay. — Michael Brenden and Zoe Zien in George Balanchine’s “La Valse.” Photograph by Daniel Azoulay.

Dancers spend most of their days using their bodies to speak. Now, through this podcast, you are also using your voices as instruments. Tell us a little about that…

Rebecca: This is certainly a challenge for me. Michael is obviously much more comfortable with public speaking than I am, but I am enjoying being outside of my comfort zone. With each episode I am getting more comfortable. We are both learning how to portray our message and how to make the content interesting and enjoyable.

Michael: Speaking in front of a live audience at our pre-performance talks is much scarier. The podcast is a much more relaxed environment for us to use our voices to share the information we have about our art form.

I think we found that it’s actually surprising how natural public speaking can be when the subject matter is something you care very deeply about and have a wealth of knowledge about. We both love ballet so much, and using our voices is just another tool we have to help spread that love and hopefully bring in new admirers of the art.

How do you feel that technology is changing the way audiences perceive the art of dance?

Rebecca: This is something I feel very strongly about, and a topic I cover a lot on my blog. For a long time, the general feeling was that ballet dancers were elusive creatures who were untouchable. This contributed to the overall feeling that the dancers onstage were otherworldly beings. But, now, with social media, I feel that not only do we have a wonderful opportunity to bring audience members behind the scenes, we have a responsibility to.

The world is changing and it is essential that ballet change with it. Social media offers us the opportunity to debunk the theory that ballet is all tutus and tiaras, and allows us to reach those who may not otherwise attend a performance.

Michael: We don’t yet know how far ballet can go with technology; it hasn’t been fully explored. I think things like the showings of various ballet companies in movie theaters across the country or the live showings of performances online are just the tip of the iceberg of what is to come. We have the ability to engage people through technology in ways beyond performing, and I think it’s just now starting to be utilized.

Michael Breeden in "Divertimento No. 15." Photograph by by Daniel Azoulay. — Michael Breeden in George Balanchine’s “ “Divertimento No. 15.” Photograph by by Daniel Azoulay.

What are some of your future goals for the podcast?

Rebecca: As I am very passionate about the use of social media to promote our art form, I hope that our podcast will continue to grow. I hope that we can provide context for audience members and give them a new, in-depth view of the ballet world.

I hope we can create content that professional ballet dancers can relate to and find enjoyable, that we can help dance parents understand the world of ballet and better understand their child’s love for it, and that we can inspire and educate young dancers who want to become professionals one day.

As senior company members, I hope Michael and I can share with the world the wonderful opportunities and experiences we have had, and are having, in our ballet careers.

Michael: I’ve always been so hungry for more knowledge when it comes to ballet. If I can share that and inspire someone in the way that I’ve so often felt inspired by the art, then I think the podcast will have done its job.

I love the idea of delving into the minds of today’s important artists. We have some very exciting people in the pipeline. We also want to help people through things that I sort of navigated blind when I was younger, like choosing a summer program or how to decide between college or dance.

There is just so much information and history in what we do, and I hope that people enjoy the little sliver of that which we are bringing through the podcast.

Tell us a little about your journeys in dance…

Rebecca: As a young dancer, I received my training from the Contra Costa Ballet Centre in Northern California. I spent two summers at San Francisco Ballet School under the direction of Gloria Govrin. For my senior year, in high school I attended The Rock School in Philadelphia, then came to Miami City Ballet School after graduating. I danced with the company while in the school, then joined Miami City Ballet in 2007.

Since then, I have worked with many of today’s most sought-after choreographers including Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Liam Scarlett, and Justin Peck. I have danced in the majority of Miami City Ballet’s Balanchine repertoire, as well as classical full-length ballets and contemporary works.

Michael: I had very strong Russian and Cuban training when I was younger, but I really found myself when I started training at the School of American Ballet at age 15. The Balanchine style suited me very well, and I fell in love with his ideologies and, of course, his beautiful ballets.

I’ve danced for Boston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Pennsylvania Ballet, and The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, but Miami City Ballet is where I found my real home, largely because of the wonderful repertoire that is rooted in Balanchine’s masterworks. I’ve now danced over 30 Balanchine ballets, something I’m immensely proud of, as well as works by today’s working geniuses Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, Christopher Wheeldon, and Liam Scarlett.

Finally…what’s on your iPods?

Rebecca: Well…Spotify. My phone is filled with photos, videos, and now, audio files. So, I save space by jamming out with Spotify.

Michael: I’ve been addicted to the soundtrack from the new musical Waitress. One of my favorite things to do when we are on summer layoff is go see theater, museums, and other art forms to draw inspiration before my season. Waitress was the theater experience that stayed with me most this year, and I think there’s something in it that speaks to everyone.

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Review: Moccis, Hand-Sewn Swedish Moccasins

September 3, 2016 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

If it’s one thing dancers love, its to pamper their feet – and with good reason – they are our tools. To that end, I’m always interested in trying out something new in that department…

So, when Moccis reached out to me to check out a pair of their moccasins, of course I said yes!

Hand-sewn in Sweden, these “slipper socks” remind me of ones I wore as a child, just more stylish. I chose the “Stoney River” option, gray with bright blue stars. They have many different patterns for adults and children, such as pandas, crocodiles and hearts, but there are also fairly plain options if that’s just not your thing. Most of the designs are limited runs, so they are always changing, which keeps the lineup interesting.

stoney_river_baby_001 The “sock” part is made out of breathable fabrics, and the sole is an anti-slip, washable (40 degrees) leather, which is nice. The stitching gives the slippers that cute, hand-made feel, and they are quite comfortable. Instead of having the bottom of your foot on the leather, there is a thin, soft layer between. I slid them on, and they felt great! These are perfect for fall weather, but I can see myself wearing them in the winter months as well.

Part of the reason I decided to review these is because I thought dancers might like them, and after getting my pair of Moccis, I think that is true. Take a peek at their line and see if there is one that calls to you…there are quite a few to choose from!

Disclosure: I was not paid for this review, but did accept a review pair of Moccis so I could check them out for myself and pass on my thoughts to readers.

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But what about afterwards?

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

Touring Tips on the Road:

What is Dance Psychology?

Using The Mind In Dance

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