Cross Training and Conditioning for Dancers: Balance
The trainer’s viewpoint:
A dancer pauses gracefully on the tip of one toe, the other leg extended straight up behind her. There is a perfect line from the floor to her toes above her head. She hangs gracefully in front of them for a moment looking as though she must be suspended by an invisible thread. One could say that this is an example of perfection in balance. In fact they would be right in the classic sense of the word. However the very things that brought her to this point, the years of training that allow her body to be so lithe and graceful and elegant and beautiful create the imbalances that later will cause pain.
As we look at a large picture of the dancer, a human who knows effort to look effortless, we see motion that most people would not be able to perform. There is the turn of the foot, the years of standing on toes, the soft curve of an arch in her back that is greater than average. We see the muscles are well trained to do that which she is now so artful at. Amazing that the body will do what we ask if we are specific enough. Also amazing, is the fact that we are able to get to a point that these positions feel natural. In fact, over time normal human posture and gait become abnormal feeling to us.
This is where the imbalance becomes the most destructive. We have muscles that are particularly well suited to do a job. That is, they are positioned on the body in such a way that they pull very effectively for certain motions. Over time the dancer works on muscles that are somewhat weak in others and those muscles become overly strong. The muscles that would ordinarily be stronger are now weaker because of years of conditioning and training for dance. Even more remarkable is the fact that the neurological system becomes adapted to the point that it thinks that externally rotated foot, ankle, knee and hip are actually neutral positions and if the dancer turns to neutral she in fact may feel that she is internally rotated. Oh so remarkable the human body. At what point though should we begin to address injury prevention through conditioning? Now, then, and always. In dance as in all things called athletics, there seems to be the notion that we deal with injury as it comes. My feelings are to prevent rather than bandage the never ending cycle of pain brought on by rigorous practice, grueling performances and an absolute love and commitment to that which is so beautiful and entoxicating. To dance for a month, or a lifetime. Let that not be the choice. Let us explore the true nature of that which can kill your career. Next month the beginning of solutions to the cycle of injury in dance………. Or how to dance for a lifetime.
The dancer’s viewpoint:
I love that “how to dance for a lifetime” sentence. I write this fresh (well, maybe not quite so) from the Chelsea Piers where Jan works. While I no longer feel as if I will be mashed by some of those menacing machines, I still don’t feel fully comfortable with such a mass of metal parts that that my body needs to work against, though she did say today that my usual look of panic seems to be easing. Today’s session began at ten and ended near three. I’ve been given my first day of a specific workout designed for me, the scoliosis and the legacy of dance injuries. Jan was there throughout, using my rest time between reps of ten and twelve pound weights to do her efficient and graceful reps with 90 pounds and more.
Her body wastes no effort, nor uses any unneeded movements or muscles. I long to be that efficient. And strong.
I’m learning much and seeing results. The balance is less wobbly, even when she puts me on a base the size of a balance beam and gives me 30 pounds of cable to pull for the upper back and torso. The left foot is learning the difference between ballet’s external rotation, which is to be left in the ballet studio from now on, and the correct postural position post-ballet. The right foot needs more practice. I’ve agreed to do these exercises daily as prescribed, some set at six days a week, and some for seven, for thirty days faithfully. She says we “have to get in shape to get in shape.” That includes a healthy diet, thinking more positively, and, as she says, allowing the changes to take place. Baby steps versus ballet steps.