Dancer Tip: Proper Stretching Techniques to Avoid Injury

Dancers sometimes stretch to the point of contortion to improve their flexibility. But painful forced stretches can cause micro-muscle tears or pulls. Even seemingly harmless ones can do damage. Here are some popular stretches that physical therapists caution can strain muscles, plus some tips on smart ways to stretch.

The Frog: Turnout Without Tears
In this stretch, the dancer lies on her stomach and rotates her legs externally with her feet pressed together to create a diamond shape. The thighs, knees, and pelvis lie flush with the floor, while she attempts to bring the feet as close to the floor as possible. “For hypermobile dancers, this can needlessly strain joints,” explains Liz Henry, a physical therapist with Westside Dance Physical Therapy in New York. “It puts pressure on the sacroiliac pelvis joint, the lumbar vertebral segments, and the hip joint.”

Henry recommends an isometric approach: Lie on your back parallel to a wall, feet flat on the floor with knees bent towards the ceiling. Let the leg closer to the wall turn out so the knee touches the wall, making a half-diamond shape. Gently press the knee against the wall for about six seconds. Relax, then repeat six times and switch to the other leg. After each sustained contraction the muscles elongate, allowing the leg to release further in the hip socket. Be careful to maintain alignment by keeping the outside hip pressed into the floor.

Forced Feet: Don’t Sit Tight
Dancers sometimes use gadgets or extreme pressure to achieve well-arched feet. Some ask a partner to push their toes toward the ground when they are sitting on the floor with their legs extended, or have them sit on their feet while pointed. Needless to say, these tactics put the entire ankle and foot in jeopardy.

“That kind of force can stretch the wrong joint,” says Henry. “Pointing the foot requires mobility in the ankle and foot joint, and the amount of give needed at each joint is different for every dancer.” If you’re not satisfied with your arch, have a physical therapist recommend exercises that are tailored to your particular feet. Henry says stiffness in the front of the ankle is the most common complaint she hears. To help release the ankle, she suggests sitting on your heels in a kneeling position, keeping your spine long to apply low-level pressure.


Over-Splits: Don’t Get Hung Up
As choreographers wow audiences with extended split leaps and side tilts, dancers have been inspired to try a new generation of super-split stretches. To increase their front split, dancers prop a foot up on a block and then sink into a spread that exceeds 180 degrees. Making matters worse, they may “hang out” there for several minutes.

Rather than creating a healthy hamstring stretch, Henry says this move strains the back of the knee, causing hyperextension. Too much hyperextension can accelerate arthritic breakdown, or throw off a dancer’s alignment and cause them to be more prone to injury.

Julie O’Connell, director of performing arts rehabilitation for AthletiCo in Chicago, who works with dancers from Joffrey, Hubbard Street, and Giordano, recommends alternating stretching with strengthening. Lie on your back with feet flat on the floor, knees bent, and slowly push the pelvis up towards the ceiling. Hold for about 10 seconds. Lower it, straighten one leg on the floor and point the other straight up, pulling gently towards your body. Repeat the cycle six to eight times. This active warm-up will strengthen and lengthen the hamstrings and gluteals rather than straining knees.


Feeling your way
There’s no definitive guide to how long to hold a stretch. Henry, for instance, recommends staying there anywhere from 30 to 120 seconds. “Prolonged, end-range stretches increase the muscles’ give and lengthen them over time,” she says. Longer, however, can actually overstretch the muscle, causing weakness or instability.

Stretching cold muscles requires caution. “I tell dancers to break a sweat before they stretch,” says O’Connell. “It’s important to have blood flow in the muscles so they become pliable.” Try doing some cardio to warm up.

Keep in mind that any movement that’s painful will not stretch muscles. “Our bodies are wired to protect us. Receptors pick up pain signals, causing the muscles to tighten,” says Henry. Your body has a stopping point: Is the joint too stiff or is the muscle too tight? You want to feel your stretches in the muscles, not the joints.

Every body has different degrees of flexibility. “Work within your own facility, and strengthen within your length,” says O’Connell. Being a smart stretcher improves your facility now and lengthens your dance career in the future.


Written Jen Thompson Peters, Dance Magazine, November 2008
Jennifer Thompson Peters is a New York dancer with Jennifer Muller/The Works.

Turnout: What's the Big Deal?

The dancer's quest to improve turnout can be a lifelong pursuit. Since the days of Louis XIV, a turned-out aesthetic has been the ideal for ballet dancers. But when it comes to how to approach leg rotation, a lot has evolved since the 17th century. "Turnout facilitates movement and the beauty of your line," says Daniel Duell, artistic director of Ballet Chicago. "It's not just a goal unto itself. It contributes to function." That function includes the balance, strength, agility, and speed essential to the performance of every step in the classical vocabulary.

Like everything in ballet, turnout begins at the barre. From the first combination, dancers should focus on rotating both legs equally, without compromising alignment. "Think of wrapping your muscles around your bones to turn them out, rather than trying to force your bones unduly," says Duell. "It's like taking clay and wrapping it around a pole so the clay spirals around it."

Align your knees over the middle toes with the weight more toward the balls of the feet than the heels, which will make it easier to translate your turnout at the barre into the center.

Proper turnout also helps extension, says Sharon Story, dean of the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education. "In class I use my shoulder socket to show that if you turn your arm in, the arm doesn't go as high as when it's turned out. The hip sockets work the same way."

In order to apply your work at the barre to the center, don't rely on the barre itself to hold your placement. Use it as a reference rather than a crutch. This will strengthen turnout muscles: the adductors (inner-thigh muscles), the deepest abdominal muscle known as the transversus abdominis, and the pelvic floor. Test your balance by occasionally letting go of the barre.

DON'T FORCE, BUT PUSH
Never contort your body to give the impression that you're more turned out than you really are. Turnout begins at the hips. "If you take the turnout from the ankles and knees," says Story, "you can get bunions, tendinitis, and serious injuries."

However, you should push your turnout to its natural limit in order to build strength. "A lot of the recent training doesn't stress fifth position so that your knees will be safe and you won't hurt your hips," says renowned New York teacher Nancy Bielski. "That's a major crime. If you strive for a healthy way of turning out, you won't get injured. Usually it's when you're turned out incorrectly that you get injured."

FIND YOUR MAXIMUM
Everyone's degree of rotation is different, and many experts believe it can't be increased because it's a matter of bones. Still, there is more to turnout than genetics. It also takes strength--and that's something any dancer can improve.

Most dancers have a maximum rotation of 55 degrees in their hips, according to Gayanne Grossman, associate professor of anatomy and kinesiology at Temple University. (The rest comes from rotation of the shin bones, but this is fixed--it can't be actively rotated like the hips.)

Your natural turnout may be greater than what you have the strength to hold. "Muscles tend to be weakest in their end ranges," says Grossman. "This is problematic for dancers because end-range turnout is precisely where they stand."

These muscle weaknesses make it difficult to control turnout. "Many dancers cannot isolate or properly use the six deep rotators, so they over recruit the gluteus maximus," says Grossman, whose research will appear in a turnout-themed issue of the Journal of Dance Medicine Science later this year. (See www.iadms.org.)

While it may be tempting, never use your gluteal muscles or quadriceps to turn out. Instead of squeezing, feel a sense of elongation and stretch in your body, with the feet pushing down into the floor and the hips lifting up away from the floor. Think of lengthening your quadriceps to keep your knees straight, rather than gripping turnout.

There are a number of exercises to improve your turnout. Duell recommends standing on a rotation disc in parallel and rotating your legs outward into first position. Bielski suggests lying on your back with the soles of your feet together and opening your knees into a frog position. Ask a friend to gently push against your knees while you resist the pushing. Hold for 20 seconds and release, allowing your knees to drift toward the ground. Grossman recommends Pilates, specifically the side kick series.

Whether or not you have 180-degree turnout, you can push it to its anatomical limit. Always keep the image of good turnout in mind. Says Story, "Make sure you're presenting your feet and lower legs with the best possible turnout. It makes for a finished, professional dancer."

Written by Kristin Lewis "Improving Turnout", Dance Magazine August 2008

More on Merce - His Company's Legacy Tour

Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Member Dylan Crossman Talks About The Company's Legacy Tour

The original article can be found at Dance Spirt

By Katie Rolnick | February 10, 2010

When 25-year-old Dylan Crossman joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company last June, he had no idea he was about to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey. This February, MCDC begins The Legacy Tour, a two-year-long trip around the world presenting the work of company founder and groundbreaking choreographer Merce Cunningham, who passed away last July. After the final performance in 2011, the company will close. Crossman, who was a member of the company's Repertory Understudy Group for two years before joining MCDC, took some time to talk to DS about his experiences with the company.

Dance Spirit: How does it feel to be part of The Legacy Tour?
Dylan Crossman: I don't realize that it's happening yet. Having just joined 6 months ago, even realizing that I'm in the company is intense because it's something I wanted for such a long time. To finally be in the company, especially at a time that's so special, makes me glad I stuck it out.

DS: Do you have a favorite piece that's part of the tour?
DC: Nearly 90 and Nearly 90² are special because that was a choreographic process when the understudies got to work with Merce a lot. He gave us all of his attention and all of his trust. Even though we were still training, it always felt like we were good enough for him. Everything about those pieces reminds me of working with Merce.

DS: What was it like to work and train with Merce Cunningham?
DC: It was very rewarding. He would always be looking at us, paying attention, but at the same time he was also discreet; he would let us do our thing. At the end of his life he was in a wheelchair, so most of the communication was done orally. He could show us arms or demonstrate rhythms with his feet--that was something that was very Merce. He used to be a tap dancer, so he would say, "Look," and tap the rhythm with his feet. But using words creates more flexibility in the choices you can make. Sometimes I think he was vague on purpose to see what each dancer would come up with. He would say, "Step forward," and one of us would lunge and one of us would step on straight legs and one of us would step on bent legs. He would have a palette of choices in front of him.

DS: What do you like most about the Cunningham technique?
DC: It's very rigorous and also very freeing. The whole beginning of the class is set, so you can focus on your body and how it feels because your brain doesn't have to work hard. Everything we do is so extreme, pushing the limits of the body, so it's important to know where your body is each day.

DS: How does it feel to know that when this tour concludes, the company will close?
DC: We try to take it day by day. For me, because I just joined, I don't want to think about the end yet. I'm so happy and pleased and honored to be part of this--I just want to enjoy what's happening right now.

Dance History: Remembering Great Moments of 2009

Do you know much about Merce Cunningham or Nina Ananiashvili? Well, here's your chance to be in the know - the New York Times has a slide show commemorating events and people in dance from 2009. Check it out to see pictures of the late legendary choreographer, Merce Cunningham, and of American Ballet Theater ballerina, Nina Ananiashvili, who retired last year.

Nina Ananiashvili

Nina Ananiashvili was born in Tblisi, Georgia, in 1964 and started ballet school in Georgia in 1973. She moved to Moscow in 1977 and made debut in 1980 in a school production of Coppelia. In 1981, she graduated into the Bolshoi Ballet as a soloist. In 1988 she and Andris Liepa were the first Soviet dancers to appear as guest artists with the New York City Ballet. She became principal with the American Ballet Theatre in 1993 and retired in 2009. (A more extensive bio of Nina can be found on ABT's website. Additional pictures of Nina, spanning her entire career, can be found at ballerinagallery.com.)

Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham, born in 1919 and died July 2009, he was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant garde for more than fifty years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance. As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance.

Dancer Tip: Perfecting Your Penchée

The penchée is one of the hardest movements to master in ballet. It takes an incredible amount of balance, strength, turnout and flexibility to get that perfect 180. It may seem like an impossible task, but with a few tips from a ballerina, you might be well on your way!

 

In Dance Spirit Magazine, Pennsylvania Ballet principle dancer Julie Diana dishes on how to improve your penchée.

First of all, remember that a penchée is really an extended arabesque—and an arabesque should come from your back, not your extremities. You want to maintain the connection between your upper back and your leg, constantly forcing the two against each other.

Stretch the front of your hips and your hamstrings, emphasizing length and freedom of movement. Strengthening exercises will help stabilize your standing leg, which will help you control the depth of the penchée without losing your balance or showing strain.

Stand on one leg in parallel without the barre, and simply plié, straighten and relevé to focus on alignment and smooth transitions. (The other leg is gently bent.) Repeat this exercise turned out and then do the other side.

A good preparatory barre exercise is to tendu arabesque and combré back. Imagine there’s a string connecting your bun to your foot and lift your toe to arabesque without breaking that string. Continue into penchée, holding that connection and resist the urge to nosedive—you want to avoid looking like an ironing board. Then, reverse the motion and come back to arabesque, keeping your leg up as high as possible. This will strengthen your back and encourage the correct aesthetic line. Remember to keep your knees straight, shoulders square and weight on the ball of your standing foot.

In center, I imagine that someone is partnering me—supporting me by my back wrist and lifting me away from the floor as I extend into a deep arabesque. Check out Susan Jaffe demonstrating a penchée at  abt.org/education/dictionary/terms/penche.html. She’s classically picture-perfect.

Julie Diana is a principal dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet.

Choreographer's Tip - Beating Choreographer's Block

Here's a great article from Dance Teacher Magazine on beating choreographer's block. When you're teaching a ton of classes and have to choreograph something new and fresh every year for recital, this article can really help to push you out of a rut and into a new realm of creativity!

Beating Choreographer's Block - 11 Ways to Escape a Creativity Rut

Your spring show is three months away, Regionals are around the corner, and you have dozens of numbers to choreograph. But you’re stuck. If this sounds familiar, don’t worry—you are not alone. Some of today’s most high-profile dancemakers are no strangers to choreographer’s block. Next time, try these strategies to get yourself back on track. 

1. Take a break. “Take personal time, even if it’s just 20 minutes,” says teacher and choreographer Rhonda Miller. “Have dinner, read a book, get a cup of coffee—anything that has nothing to do with dance.” A few minutes elsewhere will give your brain a chance to rest and regroup.

2. Change your music. Using the same kind of music each year can make it difficult to find fresh ideas. So don’t be afraid to throw out your music, even if you like it. Michelle Latimer, director of Michelle Latimer Dance Academy in Greenwood Village, Colorado, chose a piece of music she loved. But after two weeks, she realized the choreography was too similar to some of her previous numbers. “I couldn’t go any further,” Latimer recalls. “When I went back the next week [with different music], everything opened up and started to flow.”  

3. Get in the mindset. Talk to kids in the age group for which you’re choreographing. Check out what TV shows, music, music videos and movies they like. “Find out what they dig, what they’re into,” says Miller. Getting in the mindset of your students can kickstart your imagination.

4. Let it go—for now. If you’re stuck on a certain section, put steps together as a placeholder that will get students from point A to point B. “You can come back to it later and fix it,” says Miller. Keep a notepad of sections you need to revise. Chances are, inspiration will strike after you finish the piece. 

5. Work during your most prolific time of day. Every artist is different. For some, the most creative hours are early in the morning. Others find that late at night is the golden time. Know your own habits, and schedule your life so that you can be in the studio when you’re at your best. 

6. Use an assistant choreographer. Ask an advanced dancer to assist you. “Pick a student you think is a creative mover—maybe a student who is great at improvisation,” says Latimer. Give the dancer a movement phrase, with instructions to put his or her own spin on it. Working side-by-side with a younger dancer can reveal new possibilities. 

7. Don’t pre-choreograph. Latimer has found that choreographing before she gets into the studio makes her overthink. “If I think too much, I’m frozen,” she says. “I usually pick a song, listen to it a few times and get a concept in my mind. Then I start from square one with my students. When you have the bodies there, your idea will shift dramatically because they move differently or can do more than you thought.”  

8. Focus on the narrative. Choose a central idea or storyline for each piece, and remind yourself of it when you’re blocked. “You need something to take you through the number,” says Robin Dawn Ryan, director of the Robin Dawn Academy of Performing Arts in Cape Coral, Florida. “If you just put the song on and choreograph, there’s no connection to why you’re choreographing.” 

9. Stay true to your style. A creative block can happen if you’re trying to choreograph according to what you think the judges want to see or in the style of another choreographer. “One year I tried to choreograph in a way that wasn’t me. It was the worst year I ever had,” says Ryan. “When we try to be that other choreographer, the work won’t feel good to our kids or to us.” 

10. Delegate. Like it or not, sometimes you can’t do it all. Asking for help will do more than de-stress your life—it will make your dancers better. For instance, “if you have a unique style, everything can start looking the same. You don’t want your kids to get bored,” says Latimer. Mix it up by relying on faculty members and guest artists. Observing others in action can reinvigorate your own choreographic process and improve your students’ versatility. 

11. Trust your instincts. For Miller, the primary cause of choreographer’s block is perfectionism. “I want it to be so good that I get in my own way,” she says. “As teachers, we need to be reminded: Trust your ideas and your beliefs in the student or project. Don’t doubt your artistic vision. Believe in yourself!”

Kristin Lewis is a freelance writer in New York City.

Cool Website - The Ballerina Gallery

Julie Kent's portrait from ballerinagallery.com

This is one of my favorite websites to view pictures and videos of my favorite ballerinas. You can also read their bios and learn some cool trivia. Check it out! http://www.ballerinagallery.com/