Happy New Year!
Art Intercepts is a monthly column brought to you by dance artist, educator, and writer Lauren Warnecke (that’s me!). Nichelle and I were discussing the schedule for this year and she brought to my attention the many goals and questions that DA readers have submitted to kick off 2011.
I’m taking some of these“dancesolutions” head on this year. You have expressed a desire to improve your technique, avoid injury, and increase flexibility. Those of you who have visited my column before know that these topics are right up my alley! Over the next four months, look for tips and solutions to help YOU achieve your goals this year! Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store:
February
“The stem of aplomb” explores proper placement, posture, alignment and the life source of dance: the spine!
March
“Knees, please” takes a look at common knee injuries and practical tips to prevent them.
April
“Look mom, no hands!” The science of standing up; best practices for better balance.
May
“Achilles Heel” introduces you to one of the most infamous body parts in dance.
What is your “dancesolution”, or challenge you want to overcome, for 2011?
Lauren Warnecke is a freelance writer and editor, focused on dance and cultural criticism in Chicago and across the Midwest. Lauren is the dance critic for the Chicago Tribune, editor of See Chicago Dance, and founder/editor of Art Intercepts, with bylines in Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, St. Louis Magazine and Dance Media publications, among others. Holding degrees in dance and kinesiology, Lauren is an instructor of dance and exercise science at Loyola University Chicago. Read Lauren’s posts.
2011 Dancesolutions: imprOve my overall technique by taking more classes.
Do the above without messing up my knee even further.
Get all three splits.
Nail a tiple pirouette at some point.
Pass an audition for a summer intensive at a local conservatory.
Get in shape (I’m not fat or overweight by any means, but I’d like to tone my body a bit).
Take pointe classes (-.-“)
That’s about it I think. 🙂 looking forward to reading your blog.
My dancesolutions;
-Cleaner Pirouettes
-Perfect front split
-stronger ankles
-good bye to my nasty habit of pronating!
Do you think I’m shooting to high/low?
Generally, for me it’s crazily tight/inflexible hamstrings, and improving body isolation capability, alongside strengthening a relatively weaker left quads/knee & surrounding muscles.
As for goals – it would be to do more classes, but to better archive them – to be able to go back to them, practise & reevaluate their material, to get the most out of them.
Right now, I’m injured and can’t do any weight-bearing exercise, so my goal is to keep my strength up through Pilates and other exercises. When I’m back to dance (could be 3 weeks or over 3 months, depending on whether I need surgery), my goals are:
to improve my balance, particularly in turns,
to stay loose, especially around the hips,
and to ease myself into my classes so that I get back into shape without shin splints.
Hi everyone,
Sorry it took me some time to reply… I’ve been in the middle of moving and internet access has been sporadic at best! Thank you so much for sharing your dancesolutions for 2011. I look forward to checking in with you throughout the year to see how you’re doing!
Rebecca, to answer your question about shooting too high or too low, the short answer is: it depends. One thing I’d encourage you to think about is being really specific in your goals. For example, what does a “perfect” split look like? How would you measure whether your ankles are stronger? This way you have a clear gauge to evaluate whether or not you’ve acheived your goal.
Good luck to you all and I look forward to your comments on future articles!
Lauren
My 2011 Goals:
1. Incorporate a daily stretching routine into my schedule to improve flexibility, particularly in my hips.
2. Achieve all 3 splits by the end of the year.
3. Strengthen my ankles and the stabilizers in my feet to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) wobbling when I raise on my toes. I am currently using the stretches and exercises for this that can be found in the book “Dance Anatomy and Kinesiology” by Karen Clippinger.
4. To take more dance classes and improve my overall technique. I would like to focus particularly on spotting and control in my turns and on my precision during my jazz class.
5. To learn different styles of dance this year. I have taken, in the past, tap, jazz and ballet, for an accumulated total of 7 years of each, but haven’t really taken dance for close to 9 years now. The only classes I have taken since high school are Ballroom classes. This semester I am taking Ballroom and Jazz, but my goal is to start taking Ballet again, and to take a modern or hip hop class.
6. To look into other dance options for the summer (right now I take classes at a community college in my area), so that I can keep improving and progressing.
I know it seems like a lot, but I’ve tried to break it down and focus on the little aspects that I want to improve upon. If you have any pointers, or ideas about extra classes or stretching techniques or anything, I would love to hear them! I’m particularly interested in the way summer dance camps and programs work. Are there any that you don’t have to audition for, or are they all pretty exclusive and difficult to get into? I live in San Diego, so I’m sure that there are options locally. I just don’t really know where to start looking.
Thanks so much!
Susan
Hi Susan, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your comments! Now is the time to think about summer intensives if you’re interested in participating in one. Dance Magazine publishes a really extensive archive of summer intensives each year and usually notes whether an audition is required. Try this link: http://dancemedia.com/www?country=US&full=California&resource=summer&state=CA
If you look at some of the reputable dance studios in your area, you may find that they offer intensives as well, or summer classes that you don’t need to audition for. Unfortunately I’m not too familiar with San Diego… but any major metro area is going to have some options. Nichelle has published quite a few articles on summer study as well, so I’m sure you can find some additional links by poking around on Dance Advantage.
I’ll try to address some of your goals in future posts… good luck with everything and please keep me posted!
Lauren