drdance

It depends if the classes are all the same. If they all do everything ie barre/centre/pirouettes/adage/allegro then yes you risk burnout and injury but if they vary the you're ok. Athletes will NEVER do the same thing every day as it doesn't give time for strength gains to actually occur - strength gains take place at rest, NOT during the exercise (in fact the opposite occurs - exercise induces micro trauma which breaks down tissues). More work does not equal more results!

The iliopsoas is an interesting muscle as it is part core, part deep hip flexor. Spanner that sounds like the right area for the hip flexor part. This link is interesting in terms of its pure anatomy http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/Iliopsoas.html but bear in mind that any diagram is in the anatomical neutral position ie parallel, and by turning out the lower leg, the muscles will be stressed/ loaded in a very different way.

I'm personally not a fan of ankle weights as it's a false economy - you end up training pure strength (as in, how much weight can I lift) rather than muscle endurance through range of motion, which is what's required in adage. Working with weights wont help lift your leg higher, very much, but will make it easier to lift your leg if it gets heavier! However working with weights can help powerful movements eg movements requiring a mix of pure strength and speed eg grande battement

Those videos are wonderful to watch! Thanks for sharing

Congratulations to all those getting a yes, and commiserations to those less lucky - but just because RBS says no, it doesn't mean that you aren't talented, or that you don't have a future in dance. Once upon a time if you didn't get into a RBS programme there was nothing else out there, but now there are plenty of other options. Hope you all find something to suit each and every one of your wonderful DC's!

Best of luck! I'm guessing any clapping/ improv type things will be looking for natural, visceral musicality but as for jumping over a rope, without more info your guess is as good as mine!

When I used the term 'releve lent' I meant the slow leg lift not a rise onto the toes.... For the article, try doing a google search for 'Wilmerding hip conditioning IADMS' but if you have no luck still, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.

The IADMS article is excellent. Megan Richardson from The Harkness Center for Dance Injuries in NYC has also done a fair amount of work in the area, as has Lisa Howell. There are also old threads on here about beginning pointe :-)

Congrats to your DD Angel ;-)

Try practicing active flexibility tasks - releve/battement lent is a fantastic exercise (like a grand battement but slowly). Also, if you have someone who can help you, do the leg lift then have someone support the weight of your leg just below where you managed to lift it to. You should relax the leg whilst your partner supports it for a couple of seconds, then you should aim to lift your leg out of their hands, a little higher, whilst keeping very good posture and placing. Your partner should then lift their hands to match the height of your leg, then repeat the relax/lift cycle 3/4 times to fatigue. This can be performed to both front and side. Practicing developpes lying on your back will help to ensure that you are training the correct technique and as gravity acts differently, you should be able to 'lift' your leg higher than if standing. Finally, a fantastic article produced by IADMS on the topic is here: http://www.iadms.org/associations/2991/files/info/Bulletin_for_Teachers_1-1_pp5-6_Wilmerding.pdf

What worries me is that there ARE other teachers like that....

I think the question of how it's recognised in the dance world is the same as how is it recognised anywhere..... I think that as it is a fairly 'new' term/condition/disorder generally, it is probably not even something that is thought about all that much within the dance world. If I remember correctly, the research on diagnosed eating disorders (as opposed to disordered eating behaviours, as the latter is incredibly difficult to guage numerically) shows that there is no greater prevalence among dancers or athletes than in any adolescent population. The trouble with finding out this kind of information is that as a researcher it is incredibly difficult to get an accurate picture of the number of sufferers, due to the ethical implications of getting the information (sufferers would need to give consent for the data to be collected, even anonymously), along with the basic research 'hiccup' of "when does a sufferer have the condition?" - the same applies for collecting data on injuries, as it relies on a dancer or a physio 'categorising' pain or suffering, which is largely subjective!

In purely medical terms - something only becomes a disorder once it has been diagnosed by a medical practitioner. This is the same for eating disorders... many many people suffer from disordered eating patterns but it can only be called an eating disorder, or given a name once it's been diagnosed.

All sky viewers - The first season of Dance Moms (probably the best!) is now on Sky TV on Bio channel (156). Its addictive viewing, although for all the wrong reasons! Please note that a lot of it is scripted or staged by Lifetime (the production company) It's now on Season 3 in the USA and my friends share it with me using online storage and on tonight's episode in the USA dance teacher colleagues from RGDANCE in Australia visit and share some of their tips for success on the show! Very excited to watch it as soon as I get hold of it!

Its all about the AD's giving these kids a job. The moment they stop supporting this is the moment it stops! Which isn't likely to happen in all reality. AD's have LOT to answer for!

There are many many teachers who believe that because 'it worked for me' or 'this was how I was taught' means its the right way to subsequently teach! As a school teacher we are CONSTANTLY being told to avoid teaching the way we were taught!

If the examination societies' advice is fully adhered to, the work that they set is an EXAMINATION syllabus, not a training syllabus. Teachers are supposed to teach unset classes based around the examination settings, just in the way that most vocational schools will teach unset work most of the time, but focus on certain settings of exercises in the run up to an assessment or appraisal class. The examinations are intended for students to have recognition for the level that they are working at, feedback from an external source and are also guidance for the teacher on how to build up the level of difficulty or train movements correctly and safely. If used in the way they are intended, examination syllabi are excellent. Sadly the large majority of teachers only ever teach the examination settings and use them all as training exercises, which certainly limits dancers' cognitive ability in terms of responding to learning settings quickly, restricts them to only being able to connect certain movements in the way that they do in set exercises, and restricts their movement vocabulary and artistry. Furthermore, if dancers are only ever trained to dance the same exercises to the same music they stop listening to nuances of music, and any 'musicality' then becomes learned, just like the movements and they cannot translate this to responding to new music.

I can't believe that in the 10+ years I have been working in dance medicine and science, that there are still people who work on height:weight ratios and BMI. Not to mention teachers who tell children they are too fat. How dare they? Who are they to say whether a child will or won't be employable in several years time, by people who have yet to meet them, based purely on their own opinions? It makes me very cross.

Keep working with your physio, and the orthopaedic consultants who you're dealing with, who are the best people to advise you and your DD. The back braces are worrying at first but people do get used to them, and they do their job. The growth spurt will most likely have had something to do with it, but it may even out once she's finished growing. There are dancers with scoliosis. People can dance wearing the brace, in fact it often helps add a bit of core stability!

Oh woops! I forgot that bit! Our youngest are year 5 although we do take year 4's sometimes. There is no upper age limit, within reason!

I'll start then, Julie! I run Midlands Independent Dance Associate Scheme (MIDAS) which is monthly, in Birmingham, and is an audition-only scheme, and the idea behind it is to offer dance training based on up-to-date research (both physical and psychological) that indicates that traditional dance training is not preparing dancers as well as it could. The idea was to be completely independent from any one school, organisation or method - so while it is an 'associate' scheme as in, a scheme offering supplementary training, it is not 'associated' to any existing institution. However all staff are very highly trained and qualified with respected organisations. MIDAS aims to fill a gap by offering something for those talented and passionate young dancers who perhaps don't have the physique for the major ballet schools or want to focus solely on ballet, but who are looking for extra training that their teacher perhaps can't afford to offer. In that way it is hoped that MIDAS works WITH teachers (how many teachers have one or two brilliant students who they wish they could give more training eg limbering, conditioning, extra ballet etc but can't afford to run a class for 2?) Classes are 2 and a half hours long usually on the first Sunday of the month, at Midlands Arts Centre, in Cannon Hill Park. Time is divided between ballet technique, artistry (including musicality, performance and virtuosity), and fitness (strength, power, flexibility, endurance). There is also usually some time spent on jazz/contemporary dance skills such as turns and leaps. Fees are roughly £16/17 per class (currently billed termly). Next auditions will be in June (we're waiting until all the other schools have sorted themselves out!). We tend to operate mostly on email so there's no need to be any earlier! If anyone wants more information please feel free to PM me or visit the website www.midas-dance.org.uk or our more informal facebook site Facebook.com/midasdance.

I often think that teachers days are much more intimidating!

Swanprincess.... It would be difficult to say as every case is different. A lot depends on how the curve is affected during puberty and the growth spurt. All I know is that some schools are very strict about it (to the point of not giving places to children with scoliosis) and others are happier to assess it gradually. The best person to ask is an orthopaedic surgeon/consultant who works with dancers. Dance UK have a list of practitioners.

They're likely to be looking for extreme leg length differences, scoliosis, passive hip rotation (an indicator of turnout) and hypermobility. Often schools do this in place of a screening at the beginning of the academic year and merely keep the information on file. Or it can raise an issue (eg scoliosis) that was unknown and may make a career in ballet more tricky. Although there are professionals with scoliosis.

Where are you based?