Monthly Archives: September 2011

An internal Relationship

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In referring back to last week’s Movement Wednesday post titled, Our Own Unique Strength, I will continue my efforts for the next couple of weeks on the idea of strength.  To dive in a little deeper on the educational aspect of how a muscle actually works, we need to understand the muscles relationship with the brain and spinal cord, also known as the Central Nervous System (CNS).

In order to understand this relationship clearly, I believe it is important to understand the importance of proprioception:

  • Proprioception simply means the perception of movement and position of the parts of your body.
  • Proprioceptors are sensory receptors located in your tendons, joints, muscles, and other connective tissues.
  • Proprioception informs the brain about positions of numerous body parts, which is important in muscle memory.
  • Proprioceptive (sensory) information is carried from the muscle, or connective tissue, to the brain by a synapse through an ascending tract (EASY: Spinal cord to the brain – upward direction) where it perceives the information and responds accordingly.  In response, the brain sends the appropriate motor response to the muscle, or connective tissue.

This relationship enables both conscious awareness of proprioception as well as unconscious neuromuscular functions.  Today in rehearsal, a friend said to me, “Was my knee straight when I landed from the tour jete?”  Before I could answer the dancer responded, ”I think it was, I had the feeling.”  In dance, we constantly work for that “feeling” we know is right.  How important is proprioception to our work?  I’m sure we can all agree that it is more than important.  Proprioception is important in our progress, our understanding of what’s right and wrong with our movement, our automatic unconscious understanding of movement, our injuries, our posture, our strength.  The list could go on and on!

A proprioception stretch:  A chiropractor recently gave me this stretch, and I thought it would be useful to today’s post.

2×4 Stretch: Stand with the balls of you feet on the 2×4, heels on the ground.  Stand straight as you can 2 minutes first thing in the morning and 2 minutes last thing at night everyday for at least 4 weeks.  (Remember to wear shoes when you do this). 

- This was given for Pelvic-Sacral proprioception. -

References:  Marieb, Elaine N. and Mitchell, Susan J. “Ninth Edition – Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory Manual.” Pearson Education, Inc., 2011.

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Fall Inspired Warm-Up

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“My advice is to never short change your Warm-Up.  It will preserve you.  It’s your one body, and if you take care of it, it will serve you well.”  - Jimmy Cunningham

It’s a crisp, fresh, and purely blue skied day here in Kansas City.  My first few steps alongside the brisk air, with Maddie by my side, was the perfect reminder that it is indeed the first weekend of fall.  This reminder of cooler times ahead, brought me to think of an interview I conducted with a friend, Jimmy Cunningham, on the subject of Warming-Up for a dancer’s tasking day of work.  I tend to admire the things I’m not so good at, and one thing I lack is moving fast in the morning!  I lived with Jimmy for 5 weeks before packing, repacking, and repacking my car up again, in a desperate attempt to fit all that I had left for my move to Kansas City.  I’ll never forget the time Jimmy and I shared together that day, as we struggled to figure out how the heck my bike rack could safely hold two bikes for a 10-hour journey.  We both laughed a lot despite our frustration, especially after realizing how easy it was to use.  Anyway, Jimmy never left a minute after 8:15 a.m. for 9:30 ballet class, usually the time I would walk downstairs for my first cup of coffee.

One weekend morning, I asked Jimmy about his daily morning pre-workday Warm-Up.  I thought I would share some of his thoughts with you.

  • Jimmy allows 45 minutes everyday for an adequate Warm-Up.  That means he wakes up, showers, eats and gets there!
  • A Warm-Up has been ingrained in his head since he was young and still training.  His teacher reiterated to her students that warming-up was a necessary and crucial part of being a dancer.
  • Typically he starts his Warm-Up with theraband exercises for his feet.  Jimmy explained to me that he started this habit because if distractions cut his time short, than at least his feet and calfs were warm and ready.
  • The rest of his Warm-Up occurs in a series from head to toes.  His theory is to “awaken the body, one part at a time.”  First he wakes up his neck, then his shoulders, his back, etc.
  • Jimmy also likes to gradually work up from small movements to larger ones within his Warm-Up.  He explained that moving smaller (less range of motion) warms the intricate muscles up first, allowing the blood to circulate throughout the body.  Jimmy quoted, “You really pay attention to your body, the flow of blood, the releasing of muscles, before you lift your leg or move in full range.”  
  • Jimmy said those few days that he doesn’t get in his full 45 minute Warm-Up, he feels it mostly in his legs.  He said, “There is something horribly uncomfortable about having to force those first few fifth positions.”
  • I asked Jimmy if his Warm-Up was at all mental for him.  Without hesitation, his answer was yes!  It is important to remember that time dedicated to warming up is just as important for our minds as it is for our bodies.
  • Jimmy also said his Warm-Up is not set in stone.  Depending on what he is working on, or what show he is getting ready for, he varies it up.  Before a show he likes to feel loose, free and elongated because everything in a show tightens up.  The adrenalin has less chance to take over.

We all work differently as dancers, but by sharing one dancer’s idea of a proper Warm-Up, I hope to motivate you to think of your own theories, your own ideas, and sequences, which help to make it “your way.”  Feel free to share your own ideas.  A little advice never hurts.

Our own Unique Strength

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“. . . a good archer can shoot further with a medium – strong bow than an unspiritual archer can with the strongest.  It does not depend on the bow, but on the presence of mind, on the vitality and awareness with which you shoot.”                                                    - Eugene Herrigel – Zen in the Art of Archery

Thank you dancer, Josh Bodden (Cincinnati Ballet)

The study of Human Anatomy proves that there is a basic structural map of our bodies. Body surfaces, landmarks, planes, sections, cavities, quadrants, regions, organs, tissues, bones, cartilages, skeletal bones & muscles, blood vessels, and nerves work together to create a structure that naturally appeals to our curiosity.  Despite this structural map, no one human body is the same as another.   Ellen Jacob describes it best in her book titled, Dancing, when she states, “You don’t need a perfect body to dance well; you need a feeling for movement and music, a sense of rhythm and good coordination – anatomy is not destiny, but understanding your individual body and how to work with it is.”

I decided to focus the next couple Movement Wednesdays on the idea of Strength, and how with proper attention and functioning it helps to fine tune and classify each dancer as unique in his/her own way.  In order to create beautiful movement – or any movement really – our muscles must move smoothly in a way that is not overly taxing, yet supported, on our bones and joints.  Strength helps a dancer jump, turn, lift a limb, stabilize, succumb fatigue, and have the confidence to move in a way that “just feels right.”  Some of us have strength more naturally than others, some build it easier than others, but we all have the capability to increase our source of skeletal power in someway.

To understand the technicality of strength – it is quite simple.  Muscles fall into two basic groups.  Agonists (biceps in picture above) contract or shorten while antagonists (triceps in picture above) oppose the agonist by relaxing or lengthening.  The work of these two muscle groups synchronize to produce movement.  The power of contraction, or strength, depends on its gradient of action potentials (think of how a sparkler works – the spark is the action potential, how it travels down the sparkler is the gradient and the light is the end product or movement in this case) which can increase in efficiency with time, energy and strength building.  How the body knows when and how to actually perform this muscle action, is a post for another day.  One clue – CNS!

References:
  • Jacob, Ellen. “Dancing – A guide for the Dancer You Can Be.” Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1981.
  • Marieb, Elaine N. and Mitchell, Susan J. “Ninth Edition – Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory Manual.” Pearson Education, Inc., 2011.

Balance

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“I would say good health is the sense of accomplishment you feel when you’ve found the balance between self respect, good self-care, and pushing hard to achieve your physical and mental goals.” – Julia Erickson: Principal dancer with PBT and Co-Founder of Barre

The word balance came up most often from the number of dancers that defined health – with dance in mind.  To do what we do , to push past limits, to become stronger dancers, we must then have a balance of health.  What we as dancers cannot forget is that we are people first, dancers second.  So beyond just physical and mental health, we also cannot forget about the other segments of the pie – social, emotional, spiritual, and environmental.  Together these elements make us up to be people.  People who throughout the course of life, pull from these segments differently, depending on which way the road is leading us.  Life as a person and life as a dancer must collaborate together, but also remain separate.  This is not meant to cause distraction, but make us have greater self respect, self-care, and above all greater purpose.

Instead, this relationship between self and dancer creates a push and pull effect.  One feeds off the other.  One needs the other in order to fulfill its true potential, a well rounded person, and a healthy life.  So indulge yourself, try something new, explore, and see if it helps.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

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Last night, I captured some of the first MOVEMENT to be seen, felt and heard throughout Kansas City’s grandiose addition, The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The giving of MOVEMENT against the stillness of its walls was overwhelmingly unforgettable.

A hornist stopped what he was doing, looked up, shook his palms in the air gesturing “Thank you,” then smiled and played his horn.

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Indeed, our Surroundings shape our Health.