This frustration stems from my own recent education into such matters, including a kick ass Kinesiology class that I took last spring. While enrolled in that class, I was also immersed in a very old school style mostly Ballet and Modern dance department that taught some unhealthy routines in it's classes, as well as belly dance classes outside of school that did the same thing (to a lesser degree).
It always strikes me as odd that dancers aren't more educated about physiology, because athletes seem way more in the know about proper stretching and physical therapy. On the school level athletes also have much greater access to resources, I assume because their departments are big money makers, while the artsy dance departments are not. For instance, at my college, the athletics department has an on-staff physical therapist and a clinic right in their building to aid them all daily. The dance department has no such thing, and if you are injured you have to make the trek all the way to the school doctor in the next city and get on a 2 week waiting list to see a physical therapist. Meanwhile, the culture within the dance department encourages you to dance while injured and not take proper care of the injury. They "dance through it". And you should not stretch a fresh injury!! Yet they advise you do so. It's insane.
Other bad habits I've noticed in dance classes are their stretching routines. I grew-up taking modern, jazz and ballet classes, and we all used a pretty set style of stretching that is still used today. There is some integration of yoga stretching in with traditional stretches, but it varies.
Here are a few examples of unhealthy stretches that dancers do:
- The "roll up through your spine, one vertebrae at a time" stretch. This is AWFUL for your back and over time can cause spinal damage. When you hinge over with a bent spine, you are putting the entire weight of your upper body on one half of your spinal collumn, causing massive compression of the discs. This causes stress fractures in the coating of the discs, and you can end-up with herniated or ruptured discs, among other issues. Whenever you bend over, engage your core muscles and have a flat back and an elongated spine, for goodness sake!
This also applies to the hamstring stretch done on the floor in a sitting position. That stretch crunches the heck out of your lower back.
A much better stretch to do is this one:
- You should only do deep stretching when your muscles are WARM and you need to hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds, or ideally a full minute!
I go to so many dance classes and use so many dance videos that do not warm you up sufficiently before dancing. The exception I've seen is Mira Betz, Lisa Fiera, and Darshan (her video is one of my favorites). Stretching cold muscles increases the likelihood of making micro tears in tendons and muscle tissue, which can lead to tendinitis and muscle strains. Also, if you do not hold a stretch long enough, it does little good to warm you up. I also encounter very few teachers that do a cool down stretch after a class. This is also really important! When you're all warm a sweaty after a class workout is the best time to stretch, you're going to get the most out of it in terms of increasing your muscle length, and you'll alleviate some of the muscle soreness post class.
Also, get a foam roller and roll those muscles! It feels amazing.
- Bouncing stretches! eek!
Again, being too rough on the muscles and tendons can damage them! I know from personal experience, since I have tendinitis. Tendon damage is permanent and no fun to deal with. Sorry Suhaila fans, I ain't doing the bouncing straddle squat thing!
Also, proper posture in everyday life is incredibly important. When mamma told you to sit up straight, you shouldda listened (I didn't used to... but now I wish I had).
Okay, so that's enough soap boxing for now.
Everybody go and be healthy happy dancers and love your bliss!
xo
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