Dancing in the Summer: Maintaining Flexibility and Strength While Enjoying Your Break

Summer is the best time for rest, with weeks on end to sit back, relax, and soak in every bit of your day without a care in the world. While this sounds perfect, it's not always the case for dancers. This guide will help you maintain great flexibility and strength throughout your break, so you can enjoy your rest and still be prepared for the next long term.

The Risks of Not Exercising During Holidays

Stretching and strengthening can sometimes be hard to keep up with. It would be great if you could maintain all your hard work without constant effort, but unfortunately, you can’t. Preventing injury as a dancer is crucial. After a long break, your risk of injury increases significantly. Your body, accustomed to rest, might struggle with the sudden return to intense classes, leading to stress, panic, and potential injury.

Balancing Exercise Days and Rest Days

Giving yourself time to recover is essential. Learning to manage the balance between rest days and exercise days is key. Plan ahead by scheduling your exercise and relaxation times. For example, dedicating just an hour, like 4:30-5:30 pm, to exercise can make a big difference in your dance career, helping you improve and achieve your goals. It's all about your mindset and believing in your ability to improve.

A common challenge for many dancers is finding the right space to exercise. Consider signing up for summer workshops or intensives, where you can dance with experienced choreographers and teachers, and participate in various exercise classes.

How to Exercise Effectively

Knowing what exercises benefit your body and help you improve is a vital skill. Research and learn which exercises target specific areas of your body. Instead of trying to focus on everything at once, concentrate on exercises that help you achieve specific goals, like box splits. This targeted approach will make progress faster and more effective.

When you return to dance after the break, you’ll not only avoid injury and maintain your progress but also feel great about the improvements you’ve made. Is this what you want?

Example exercises:

Legs - Hamstring flexibility is very important for maintaining splits and leg holds. For example, you could sit on the floor, both legs straight, and lift one leg keeping it straight pulling it closer towards you till you feel a stretch. An example video - https://youtu.be/ymqO4VpxlUk?si=RQwzR5GF1hDw4Xv7

Back - Working on your back will help you improve your backbends and tricks. One strengthening exercise includes lying on your front, lifting your chest with your hands in fifth position and keeping your legs on the floor. An example video - https://youtu.be/m4U0Og8iCjs?si=hrCOMgoWL4fuiXzO

Arms - Strengthening your arms, could enable you to find tumbling and all sorts of acro tricks much easier. An example of an efficient yet effective way of improving strength is simple push-ups. You could do 10 a day, then when that gets easier 20 a day, and carry on and on till you can do as many as you'd like. An example video - https://youtu.be/Y346900i9qE?si=LJTyUvKBDah0qw1C

Feet - Although feet are a small part of your body, they are a big part for dancers. The flexibility and strength you need in every part of your foot is so important. To strengthen them, you could use a theraband, placing your legs straight on the floor, flexing one of your feet and wrapping it around holding the ends with both hands, pulling it whilst pointing and flexing. An example video - https://youtu.be/ymb8oP5xPzw?si=ig5x4Vnvs1SwaMhx

Shoulders - Improving your shoulder flexibility can benefit you in many different ways. It can increase your mobility and make it easier for you to perform different movements. An example exercise is when you place your hand on a wall, turning the opposite direction slowly until you feel a slight stretch. An example video - https://youtu.be/GDBHlU7UUuU?si=dbSC4-0kXRdfm

By balancing rest and exercise, you can enjoy your summer break and return to dance stronger and more flexible. Plan ahead, stay focused on your goals, and believe in yourself.