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Dancing Through the Adolescent Growth Spurt

March 21, 2013 by 4dancers

(also known as “What’s happening to my body??!!!!”)

by Jan Dunn, MS

You’re a 12 year old dancer, on the path to a professional career, with daily classes / rehearsals / several performances a year.  If you’re a girl, you’re getting really good at knocking off double pirouettes on pointe (sometimes triple!), or if you’re a guy, doing a double (or triple) tour en l’air.  And then – you start growing fairly fast, and suddenly you can barely do a single turn – What’s going on??!!!

teenage dancers on stage
Photo by Catherine L. Tully

Well, what’s going on is that you’re starting your Adolescent Growth Spurt – AGS for short.  This is the age (usually between 11-14 for girls, a little later for boys) when your body is making very fast changes, and it can be challenging for both you as a dancer, and for your teacher as well.  But the good news is that it can be a lot less challenging if everyone knows what’s going on, what to expect –and that things will get better!  It’s a phase everyone has to go through, so being knowledgeable and prepared will go a long way towards feeling ok with the changes that are happening.

So here’s what’s going on:

The AGS usually lasts between 18-24 months – it’s very individual, so comparing yourself to your best friend who’s the same age won’t help!

I was given a powerful visual reminder of this at an IADMS conference, when Rachel Rist, head of Dance at Tring Park Arts Educational School in the UK (a very prestigious arts school – call it the Julliard of England!) gave a presentation on AGS, and had 5 of her dancers on stage standing next to each other.  Each girl was within a month of being exactly the same age (13), and every one of them looked SO different — one looked like a 10 year old, one like a 17 year old, and all stages in between.

Rachel did that presentation to show us how individual the AGS can be – and to remind teachers that dancers going through this period will vary greatly in what they can do / what their bodies need (in other words, one size does NOT fit all!).

So here are some AGS facts: [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4teachers, conditioning, Dance Wellness, Teaching Tips Tagged With: adolescent growth spurt, ags, dance wellness, pre-teen dancers

Dance Wellness: Phases Of Healing

November 29, 2012 by 4dancers

We are pleased to have Marika Baxter, PT, as our guest contributor this month.  Marika has extensive experience working with dancers, and her article on the “Phases of Healing” is great information to share regarding what happens in your body when you have an injury, and how to integrate that with returning to happy, healthy dancing.

After Marika’s article, you’ll find a few additional words from me, on something we’ve mentioned before in our Wellness column, but which bear mentioning again — keeping the rest of your body in shape while you’re recovering from an injury.

The Holidays are here, so enjoy — happy “Nutcracker”, if that’s a part of your dance life, and “talk” to you again soon!

Jan

Jan Dunn, MS

___________________________________________________________________

Phases of Healing

by Marika Baxter, PT, MSPT, OCS

ballet dancer striking poseIf you’ve ever had an injury that’s sidelined you from dancing, the most pressing question you may have is “How long will it take to recover and when will I be dancing again?”  Though every injury and dancer is different, the way our body heals does follow the same pattern.  Understanding the phases of healing and how they relate to getting back in the studio can help you in the journey back to health.   The important thing to remember is that healing is a process, not an event!

Phase I – The Inflammatory Phase

The first phase of healing is called the inflammatory phase.  You’re in the studio rehearsing for a performance and as you step into a turn your concentration lapses and your ankle rolls.  You feel pain on the outside of your ankle and when you try to continue dancing your ankle feels weak and is too painful to put weight on.  Luckily you put ice on it right away but by the end of the night your ankle is swollen and bruised.

Whether the injury is major, like this story of an ankle sprain, or just a small cut or bruise, the first thing the body will experience is inflammation.  You can think of the inflammatory phase as the clean up phase.  In the first 24-48 hours, the body will send cells to the area to help remove injured tissue.  The body will also begin laying down new cells to form a blood clot, almost like an internal scab.  This helps keep the injury protected as it begins to heal.

During the inflammatory phase, there are a number of things you may be feeling.  It’s common to have pain, swelling and possibly warmth and redness in the area.  Depending on the severity of the injury, you may have difficulty dancing, walking or moving the body part.  In this first phase of healing, you may need to modify what you’re doing in class or rehearsals to allow for healing to begin.  In some cases you may need to take a break from dancing so the body can start the healing process.

In these first few days after an injury, the best thing to do is PRICED: Protect, Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate, Diagnose.  You can see the previous dance wellness article on 4dancers.org entitled “Keeping Dancers Dancing: “Help I Have An Injury – What Do I Do?” for more information on PRICED.

Phase II – The Repair Phase [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Dance Wellness, Injuries Tagged With: dance wellness, dancer, dancer injury, iadms, Marika Baxter, new york city ballet, phases of healing, school of american ballet

Nourishing Your Dancer Body: Understanding The Fundamentals of Making Good Food Choices

October 25, 2012 by 4dancers

by Diana Clanin, M.F.A., AT

Dancers have such a love-hate relationship with food!  Of course we need it: it gives us sustenance, repairs our over-worked bodies, and provides us with energy.  And of course we enjoy it: it not only tastes good, but is part of every cultural and social life-occasion from birth to death.  Yet, we are often afraid that it will make us – and I shudder to even write the word – fat.   So we teeter between trying to be super vigilant about nutrition, and the fear of gaining weight.  And the less food we eat, or the more we try to avoid eating, the more we focus on it.  It’s an ongoing internal conflict.

As The Stomach Growls

So why is this so hard?  Seems like balancing food intake, good nutrition, and weight would be as straight forward as a tendu devant.  But dancers have a unique challenge: how to get the optimal nutrition we need in the fewest possible calories.

To complicate matters further, between the print and broadcast medias, and our hyper-immersion in “smart” electronic communication gadgetry, we are on information overload.  Sadly, very little of what passes for nutrition “news” is fact or evidence based.  If you are increasingly confused about what to believe, you are not dancing solo.  Much published nutritional advice or claims are dubious attempts to sell you some product, which may or may not perform as described. Influencing you to purchase a supplement or special “food” often means convincing you that you have some critical deficiency, or are needlessly suffering from a chronic lack of energy.  It is fear-based marketing psychology and you are the target.

Keeping It Simple

So let’s start by laying down a few basic guidelines for making sane and healthy – and economical – choices:

1. Eat food as close to how Mother Nature packaged it as possible.

  • Avoid pre-packaged food mixes (Bisquick, Hamburger Helper, etc.).
  • Stick with whole grains:  100% whole grain cereals, breads, and pastas.  If it is white, Don’t Bite!  (In the grain department, that is.)
  • And…if it came through the car window, is it really food?

2. Eat several small meals a day and include components from each of the macro-nutrient food groupings each time.

  • This means be sure you have protein, fats, and carbohydrates in your selections each time you eat.  Examples: yogurt and fruit with granola, or cheese and whole grain crackers with vegetable sticks.
  • Try eating five or six small meals instead of three larger ones.  This will give you more even, sustained energy and allow you to metabolize the food more efficiently.
  • And yes, this DOES mean that you may have to do a little food research!! – to learn which foods fall into which the various macro-nutrient categories (i.e., is it a protein? A fat?  A carbohydrate?).  In general, for dancers trying to eat healthy / maintain weight,  and get good nutrition for energy, these guidelines are recommended for daily intake:

+ Protein                      12-15%
+ Fat                             20-30%
+ Carbohydrates        55-60%

Speaking of carbs, it’s good to learn what are healthy carbs (called “complex carbs”, like fruits / veggies / bagels, breads and pastas made with whole grains) and what are not-so-healthy-carbs (called “simple carbs”, like sugars and white grain products).

IADMS – the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science – has an excellent fact sheet on Nutrition for Dancers under the “Resources” tab on the left side of the home page – if you aren’t that familiar yet with different foods and nutritional information, this can be a great start.

3.  Eat a wide variety of foods. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Dance Wellness, Nutrition Tagged With: dance wellness, dancers, diana clanin, iadms, international association for dance medicine and science, nutrition, nutrition for dancers

Dance Wellness Update

September 6, 2012 by 4dancers

Jan Dunn, MS

Aloha All (I’m now based in Hawaii!) –

We wanted to let you know a couple things going on with our Dance Wellness column…

1.  If any of you have any  specific requests on topics for us to discuss in the column, please let me know.  I have many things on my list that I’d love to talk with you about, and also have more guest contributors lined up.  But we’d like to hear from YOU as well.  Just so you know, here are some upcoming topics that are on my list (not listed in order of how they will be posted!!) –

-Nutrition for Dancers

-Aerobic Conditioning

-Motor Learning for Dancers

-Dance Psychology

-Stretching Specifics

-Warm-up Specifics

-Somatics for Dancers

-Adolescent Growth Spurt

-Specifics on various injuries such as Ankle Sprain, etc.

2.  If you have an injury and would like personal help in connecting with a medical professional in your area who works in dance medicine, please feel free to contact me on email. I also recommend that you join IADMS (there are student rates), as you will then have access to the membership database, which will provide you with names in your area.

You can reach me on either of the above topics at  jddanmed (at) aol.com

Aloha to all and take care of yourselves / Happy Dancing !!

– Jan

Disclaimer: There is no substitute for the proper medical care of an injury. If you have an injury, 4dancers recommends you see a medical specialist who can diagnose and treat you based on a proper, in-person examination. Ms. Dunn is not a medical provider, and any information given by her should not be considered a substitute for getting medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any kind. Ms. Dunn is offering her personal assistance to connect dancers with dance wellness medical providers and resources, and this process is not directed, supervised or otherwise managed by 4dancers. No responsibility or liability can be accepted by 4dancers.org or its owner/editors for harm occasioned to any person as a result of any action or decision taken or not taken based on the contents of the blog.

 

Filed Under: 4dancers, Dance Wellness Tagged With: dance medicine, dance psychology, dance wellness, iadms, jan dunn, motor learning for dancers, nutrition for dancers, somatics for dancers, stretching specifics

Competition Dance: Maximizing Peak Performance Part II

August 21, 2012 by 4dancers

This week we are pleased to offer part II of the series on Maximizing Peak Performance for Competition…read part I here.

by Robin Kish MS, MFA

Photo by Catherine L. Tully

How often has it been a part of a dancer’s training to believe, “No Pain, No Gain,” “If you’re not sore you didn’t work hard enough,” and of course the best of all, “The Show Must Go On.”  It is a part of the dance culture to push as hard as possible with little regard for the short term or long term consequences.  I have heard countless stories over the years of dancers performing with sprained ankles, stress fractures in the lower legs, and pain levels that would make any sane person stop all activity.  At the end of all these stories, the tag line is usually the same, “I had to dance because my dance group, teacher, choreographer, studio, parent etc… was counting on me.”

This type of attitude is not unique to the dance population but is also prevalent in competitive sports.  The major difference here is most of the time athletes have athletic trainers, physical therapists, and many times team doctors that know how to keep the athletes going and when an athlete has hit their limit.  So how can a dancer decide when enough is enough and it’s time to seek help? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Competition, conditioning, Dance Wellness Tagged With: choreographer, competition dance, dance, dance wellness, flexibility, robin kish, somatics

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