Hello Dancers! Yours truly writing to you again on one of the many aspects of dance- warming up. We need to warm up in order to prepare our muscles and joints for the demands of dance whether it's ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, or jazz. Depending on the style you're doing and who your teacher is, your warm up may look different and that is completely okay! However, there are core aspects that we should try to hit!
Getting the Heart Rate Up!
Think about jogging in place, doing some jumping jacks, squats, and high knees. You want to make sure you're moving your whole body and getting your blood flowing through your muscles and you're lubricating those joints. Ideally, this should last about 5-10 minutes and you should notice it get a little harder to breathe!
Joint Mobilization
Bigger movements usually take place here like shoulder circles, body rolls, hip circles, and ankle circles. Making sure that the joints are moving well so you don't get a sudden catch in the middle of class is important.
Stretching
Okay dancers, I know you're familiar with this one! However, there's dynamic stretching and there's static stretching. Dynamic stretching involves moving a body part to increase the range of motion. This could be your 'around the world' kicks or leg swings, cat-cows, lunges with a floor tap back to standing, lateral (or side) lunges, I could go on! Static stretching would be holding a runners lunge stretch for 30 seconds, then moving to a hamstring stretch and holding for another 30 seconds. Both types of stretching are GREAT for dancers to use and both should be done in balance.
Abdominal Exercises
The stronger your core the better your balance and stability! Making sure you're activating the full abdominal structure is critical. Only doing crunches? You'll have strong upper abs! But what about your lower abs or your obliques? Also, some exercises are only targeting the surface muscles. Dancers need to activate the deeper muscles too! How to do that? Bicycle abdominal exercises, straight leg lifts, and scissor exercises are good, but so are planks, bird dogs and bridges on the floor. Many dancers use Pilates in their warm ups for core activation as a lot of exercises in that method activate deeper muscles then just the '6-pack'.
Specific Muscle Strengthening/Stretching
This can look different depending on your style too. Doing a lot of jumps in your choreography? Start strengthening your quads with squats! Want your extensions to be super high? Stretch those hamstrings out and strengthen your hip flexors and psoas. Keep falling out of your turns? Calf raises, core work, and watching your prep into the turn may be key.
Whatever style you're dancing, make sure to warm-up AND cool down effectively. Make sure you're dressing appropriate for the weather and studio conditions as well. Cold outside? Layer up! Leaving a toasty studio and shocking your muscles with cold as you step outside could lead to injury later... On the other hand, no one wants to overheat either!
Want to learn more warm-ups and stretches? Reach out in the comments!