Safe Dance Practice
What is safe dance practice and why is it important?
Safe dance practice may be something you have never heard of, or maybe you have heard of it but don’t know what it is, and that’s okay! We are going to explain exactly what safe dance practice is and why it is so important.
Safe dance practice can be defined as the approach to dance which assists us in maintaining our best physical and emotional wellbeing as a dancer. It is important that all dancers are aware of different safe dance practices and they know how to apply them to their dancing. Some of these practices include warming up, cooling down, stretching and strengthening as well as balancing your workload and rest.
There are many benefits to being aware of these practices and knowing how to apply them to your dancing. Some benefits include improving your overall health, both physical and mental, your energy levels as a result of healthy eating, as well as preventing our chances of injuries. All of these things are so important in keeping us dancers safe, healthy and able to continue to dance. However, if these safety measures and practices are not taken into account, there are some things which could happen as a result. For example injuries and potentially becoming burnt-out, unwell and unable to dance.
Here at AT Dance we pride ourselves in being a safe practising dance school. All of our teachers know about anatomy of the body and how it moves, as well as how to safely teach, which they always implement into their classes. This is also an important unit taught in our Assistant Teacher’s Course.
Here are some important things when it comes to practising dance safely, as well as examples of what you can do yourself to make sure you are always being safe.
Warming up, stretching and strengthening:
Making sure you are warm and ready to go for your dance classes, or any exercise, is so important as it decreases our chances of causing ourselves injuries and gets our body ready for what we are about to do. Some ways to initially warm up include anything that gets your heart rate up and causes some huffing and puffing in your breathing. Some examples include star jumps, running on the spot, high knees and butt kicks, just to name a few.
After you warm up, make sure you stretch to ensure you are fully ready to go for your class or other activities you are about to partake in. Stretching helps you loosen up your muscles and it creates a range of motion in your joints. Without stretching, your muscles can become stiff and tight and which is very undesirable for when we are dancing. Stretching only 15 minutes daily can help with your dancing and greatly improve your flexibility. Check out our last blog “Dancer’s secret to getting your splits” if you would like a follow along program to get your splits!
It is important that you include both dynamic and static stretches. Dynamic stretches are active movements where your muscles and joints can go through a full range of motion to get your body warm and increase blood flow to your muscles before you begin dancing. These can include leg swings, arm circles, squats, lunges and happy cat and sad cat. Static stretches are stretches that you hold still for a period of approximately 30 seconds. Some static stretches which you can do include lunges, quad stretch, hamstring stretch, butterfly stretch, straddle stretch. You can find many more examples of stretches in our classes at AT Dance.
Strengthening as it is just as important is just as important as stretching. Strengthening could include things like working on your abdominal muscles, glutes, arms. Some exercises to increase your core strength include sit ups, crunches, planks and Russian twists. Squats, donkey and side kicks strengthen the glutes. To strengthen your arms, push ups, commandos and shoulder taps are some great exercises. It is important to have a balance between stretching and strengthening.
Cooling down:
Although you may not know it, cooling down after a class is so important, and is just as important as warming up. Cooling down decreases your elevated heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature and back to a normal level, so you are able to continue with your usual activities, whilst also preventing injuries. A light stretch is a great way to cool down, some stretches may include a butterfly, downward dog, child's pose or even a light walk after class. Another great way to relax your muscles is by rolling them out. This can be with a roller, tennis ball or even a drink bottle, it really doesn’t matter, as long as your muscles are being rolled out.
Injuries:
Now, everything that have mentioned above, from stretching and strengthening to cooling down, all help to prevent your chances of injuries. No one wants to be injured, right? That means you’ll miss out on dancing and nobody wants that, so make sure you read and fully understand what you need to do to keep your body safe and healthy.
If you do happen to become injured there are some things you can do to help you get back to your normal self! The first and most important thing to do is rest and give your body a break. See a professional such as a physiotherapist or osteopath and follow their advice. After you are healed, you can hopefully get back to dancing! Make sure you stretch and strengthen, you can do the examples we mentioned before, but most of all it is so important that you start slow and go at your own pace!
Let's take a real life person for example. We all know Tara Webster, the main character from Dance Academy. Well, unfortunately she was dancing on stage and fell and happened to break her back. This meant she wasn’t able to dance, she was barely able to walk. However, after lots of rest and healing she was finally able to get back to dancing. She trained and worked so hard that she was able to get back to where she was prior to her injury. If she can come back from such an extreme injury so can you. All it takes is effort, lots of time, and motivation and dedication.
Mental Fitness:
There are also mental exercises and activities you can do to improve your mental wellbeing, which in the long run, will help your dancing. Here are some things you can do to assist with your mental health:
Read
Get outside - go for a walk in the park, lie in the sun, go out for lunch etc.
Spend time with family or friends
Colour in
Watch your favourite tv-show or movie
Mindfulness - whether this be meditation, light yoga or whatever you do to calm and centre yourself. You could even try our monthly Mindfulness Hour on Saturday mornings.
Nutrition and Hydration:
A final addition to the safe dance practices mentioned above, is to ensure you are coming to dance class hydrated and fuelled up. Hydrate, before, during and after class with water. Eating a decent snack such as a banana smoothie or carrot sticks and hummus will ensure your body has enough energy to dance your best in class. Without proper hydration and nutrition, you may be at risk of feeling hungry, lightheaded or tired in class. Make sure you are taking good care of your body and make sure you are treating it well because it does so much for us!
Check out our healthy snacks blog for more information on healthy eating and some incredibly yummy recipes you can make as easy snacks before class.
Ultimately, it is so important that you are putting yourself first. Look after your body by warming up, cooling down, stretching and strengthening. Ensure you are fuelling and hydrating so that you can dance your best in class. Keep your mental fitness up too to reduce the likelihood of becoming burnt out. Your teachers are always there if you need to talk and can help you with anything. We hope you enjoyed this blog and learnt lots of new things about safe dance practice and all things related.