Are Your Students Ready For Their Close Up?
If you’re thinking about sending your students to some commercial dance auditions, it’s important to recognize that dancing on stage is much different from dancing on camera.
In a theater, the audience is set back from the performer, so the viewer’s eye tends to capture the production as a whole. The dancers legs and feet are usually visible, making them the focal point. On television, on the other hand, the viewer gets an up close and personal view of the performer with much of the focus on the torso, upper body and face. Keeping that in mind, it becomes apparent that dancers preparing for on-screen roles will need to train their bodies differently than dancers prepping for work on stage.
Michael George, celebrity trainer and fitness expert who has worked with everyone from Reese Witherspoon to P. Diddy’s backup dancers, let us in on a little Hollywood secret. It’s called “cheating for camera,” or making yourself appear more sculpted and toned than you actually are by focusing on key areas. “For dancers to look good on camera, all they need is sculpted shoulders and abs because the eye goes right there,” he reveals. The key is not adding bulk, but rather sculpting the shoulders and core muscles to appear more cut.
Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, who has worked with many dancers including Broadway stars, warns that too much focus on the shoulders could backfire, though. “If the dancer isn’t extremely trim, it could make her look bigger,” he advises. Thus, Pasternak recommends focusing more on the muscles that create good posture, which will give dancers a lean look by lengthening the distance between the sternum and belly button.
The answer to looking good on camera is two-fold. “First, their diet has to be clean to reduce your body fat as much as possible so you can see the toned body underneath,” says George. But it’s not just about the food you eat. The most important part is incorporating upper body and abdominal conditioning into your workout regimen at least three to five times per week, especially because dancers tend to be underdeveloped in these areas.
As a teacher, it’s important that you expose your students to this type of conditioning, especially if they want to pursue a commercial dance career. You can easily tack the following simple exercises onto your technique classes or even offer additional conditioning classes.
Abs:
George says that dancers have a head start when it comes to abdominal sculpting because they work out the core muscles on a daily basis. However, doing crunches in technique class will not get you looking as chiseled as Janet Jackson. “The abdominal muscles are a very small muscle group,” explains George. “In order to get them to respond you have to hit them pretty hard and heavy.”
To get that camera-ready six-pack, have your students try the following exercises:
1. Slow Bicycle: —Using 5 pound ankle weights, lie on your back and place your hands behind your head. Bend the right leg into your chest while lifting your left leg out straight. At the same time, lift your body off the ground twisting your torso in opposition, then switch. Repeat this 25 times.
2. Dumbbell Crunches: —Perform this exercise as you would regular crunches, but use a stability ball. Place 10-pound dumbbells on your chest, exhale and crunch all the way up so you feel the resistance. Do three sets of 15-20 reps.
Torso:
Pasternak stresses the importance of trimming the torso to get that sculpted look around the sides and back, like Jenna Dewan in the movie “Step Up.” He suggests the following exercises to tighten up the midsection.
1. Standing Dumbbell Side Bend: —Tone you oblique muscles by standing upright with a dumbbell in one hand and placing the other hand on your head as if you were saluting somebody. Lower the dumbbell to the floor until you feel the opposition, then return to standing position.
2. Russian Trunk Twist: —Begin sitting on the ground with your knees slightly bent and lean back. Stretch both arms out in front of you, then twist your trunk and reach for the wall. Reverse the movement and reach for the opposite side. Keep going until you feel your midsection burn.
Arms:
George stresses the importance of toning the shoulders to give the illusion that the arms are more toned than they actually are. “You’re not making biceps or triceps bigger,” he explains. “You’re making the shoulders a tad bigger to look more sculpted on camera. It will give you the basketball roundness of the shoulder.”
Follow these arm exercises for sculpted, camera-ready arms:
1. Dumbbell Shoulder Press: —Begin with your arms bent at shoulder height with the palms of your hands away from you. Then, raise the weights above your head in a steady motion. Complete a total of three sets of 15, 12 and 10.
2. Lateral Lifts:— Holding a set of dumbbells by your sides, slowly exhale as you lift the arms straight out. Pause briefly, then lower your arms back down to starting position. Perform this exercise to the front, side and rear. Do two to three sets of each with 15 to 25 reps.
3. Tricep Extension: —Either sitting or standing, hold a dumbbell in one hand and place it behind your neck with your elbow positioned upward. Extend your arm until it is straight and then return to starting position. Do three sets of 20 reps on both arms.
4. Hammer Dumbbell Curls: — To add some length to your biceps, hold a set of dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing in. Keeping your elbows to the sides, bend one arm so your thumb faces your shoulder. Lower to original position and repeat with the other arm. Do three set of 15 to 20 reps.
Remember, it’s not just about conditioning the abdominals, torso and arms—your students must also keep up their cardio workout routine and stretching a few times per week.