Latin' n' Ballroom dancing
is a recommended physical activity for
everyone.
Benefits include
–Core strength development, cardiovascular and flexibility of the entire body.
Further if you look at the many different dance styles each of them have an ability to strengthen you in their own unique way ....
Chacha ,Waltz , Merengue, –
Good to start with for easy efficient coordination and great footwork patterns
Tango , Bachata- the precise controlled slow and fast footwork
improves tone in your legs and postural control in your upper body.
The quickstep improves balance and peripheral
vision immensely.
Rumba, Bolero – lengthens your muscles, improve control, grace and fluidity in
your movements.
Swing ,Jive increases stamina
and tone up your entire body with its high energy moves.
Foxtrot greatly increases your ability to
have a wonderful posture and move with grace.
Paso Doble
- A fast dance which is a great for
posture, precision and teaches muscle control and sharp turns.
STAGES OF LEARNING....:)
1. Beginning dancer. Knows nothing.
2. Intermediate dancer. Knows everything. Too good to dance
with beginners.
3. Hotshot dancer. Too good to dance with anyone.
4. Advanced dancer. Dances everything.
Especially with beginners.
Useful tips for
practicing and new dance students.
Social dancing
has got a lot of attention these days.
Many new dancers in the early part of their training will sense
some amount of discomfort in muscles they didn’t know they had. And dancing being a cardiovascular
exercise some of the major muscle groups of our body and gets a workout like
the hip abductors, , quadriceps calves the hamstring and gluteals
For greater
coordination dancers aim should
be to enhance the muscular strengths and endurance and tone in the entire body. Essentially in the upper body back the arms
and in the lower body- involving the abdominal core sections and the legs and
calves. Infact it is good to have a
moderate warm up and stretching before/after dancing as it prevent muscle cramps
and contractions.
As the muscles
of the body are subjected to intense tension in exaggerated movements of
certain dance movements we must guard against repetitive stressful movements or
what is called as overuse injuries.
A good way to
combat or prevent this is to strengthen those groups of muscles that may not be
developed by/in your dance practice.
If your aware of any injury prone areas of your body it would be imperative to share with your dance educator and they could help in working with you in a modified version of any particular exercise to suit your needs.
As you start
your dance training it would be a good idea to be consciously aware of your
postural alignment all through. Its important to
lengthen and loosen all the important muscles.
A good postural maintenance prevents strains in the back and helps in any of lifts ,drops, dips that one may be tempted to try learning to do as you advance in your practice. And likewise both the warm up and cool down sessions should be an important part in your dance training.
After all as Alexander Pope said ' those who move the easiest ,have learned to dance' !
