Adolescent growth spurt useful link

[sarahw]

http://www.4dancers.org/2013/03/dancing-through-the-adolescent-growth-spurt/#.WLOWLZBGGLw.facebook

[Confuddled]

Thanks, it's interesting from the point of view of a mum who has never danced and is learning about all this stuff.

 

The article mentions a good conditioning class from age 8-9 as being helpful, what sort of thing would that be? My daughter does a weekly class which alternates between mostly stretching and (the next week) mostly contemporary, is that the sort of thing, or would it be something different?

[sarahw]

Yes we never had that sort of thing available to dd. I imagine it means Pilates type exercises, foot strengthening with therabands, wobble board work etc.

[Colman]

Our teacher does a half hour "demi-pointe" class (most of the students are too young for pointe, but it's a precursor to that) which is foot exercises (moving individual toes, learning to use all the foot joints), core strengthening (planks, sitting with back and legs up) and balance and lots of rises and so on. Something like that, I imagine.

[drdance]

Conditioning in dance usually means additional strengthening to supplement the 'technique' class. Think of it this way - a footballer doesn't spend every minute at training playing football. They will do aerobic conditioning (usually running/rowing/cycling), agility drills, stretching, strength training in a gym etc all of this to make them better at playing football. 

 

Conditioning for dancers essentially needs to be the same kind of thing - working on all elements of fitness to make them better at dancing (and less likely to get injured). Due to the hypermobile or flexible nature of young dancers, there is an emphasis usually on strengthening work (to protect and support this flexibility) but it might be that a stiffer young dancer needs to work more on flexibility, or if might be that a dancer is getting tired quickly in longer dances so needs to develop their aerobic fitness. 

 

When lecturing teachers on this topic, I recommend the golden rule that conditioning classes should work to address areas of the dancers fitness that need addressing, therefore different students in a class might need to be given different tasks/exercises. The exercises should also directly link to dancing. Pilates is lovely for injury rehabilitation (what it was designed for) but in my opinion, unless very specifically tailored and taught by a specialist, it doesn't translate very well to actually dancing (most dance teachers teach pilates exercises using a mat; lying down and moving slowly does not use the same muscles as standing up and turning/jumping). 

 

There are some super dance conditioning programmes coming out now and thankfully lots of teachers are adding conditioning classes to their schedules - but I do wonder about the training/knowledge/understanding of paediatric exercise physiology that teachers have when lifting/copying exercises from Youtube/Facebook/Instagram etc and adding them into a class.

[Science in Dance]

In addition the post from drdance I would also mention that just because an exercise does not look like dance or ballet does not mean it is not dance/ballet specific there are many strengthening methods designed to illicit are certain stimulus and therefore deliver a certain adaptation. 

Working with vocational students in the S&C studio and in the gym I have noticed certain trends that Dancers are eager to recreate ballet or dance in the gym. This is not always to their advantage because overall strength and power, for example, are developed in a specific way. Therefore I would recommend strength and conditioning with a strength and conditioning coach with a background or experience in dance. However, a reputable S&C coach in any field would have the ability to enhance a young dancer physically and gain the desired outcomes. 

 

Under the age of ten I would recommend general athleticism is just as important as dance specific strength.

[sarahw]

I find that unless they have knowledge about dance (esp ballet) some physios and many fitness coaches have no idea about turnout and related issues - and neither would I expect them to have.

[drdance]

Sarahw that's why a dance conditioning specialist is the best to have - someone who has a good knowledge of strength and conditioning, and dance (and if that person also has the knowledge to work specifically with under 18s then even better! - wink wink!). However I second my colleagues post above and wholeheartedly agree that just because something doesn't look like dance or ballet doesn't mean that it isn't beneficial. Indeed, training functional movement, in normal ways of moving (parallel) is more beneficial sometimes because it works to address muscle imbalances that may develop if a dancer is solely concerned with working in turnout.