New York City Ballet Workout DVD

New York City Ballet Workout DVD

I was given this DVD many years ago by my Ballet teacher before I went to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. I recently watched this DVD and realised it would be a useful as a professional source for my topic of inquiry. ‘New York City Ballet Workout’ was presented by Palm Pictures in 2001. Peter Martins, Ballet master in Chief and dancers from New York City Ballet are used in this 

DVD.

This workout DVD is built up on 17 exercises:

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      The warm-up prepares the body for exercise- exercises 1-3

The first section is warming up, which is very important. In this DVD they warm up the upper body first and gradually work their way down, they talk about this being important and you should always start with a warm-up before class or a workout even if you just want to focus on abdominals and legs, ‘this will bathe your body and muscles in warmth so that you can avoid injury.’ Peter Martins.

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      Stretching creates more awareness of posture- excise 4

Section 2 talks about a lot about stretching, many of my sources say different things when it comes to stretching during a warm-up. Peter Martins discusses how stretching makes dancers more aware of posture and protects the lower back. Stretching helps a dancer elongate and makes a dancers movement more fluid, it also incorporates a wider range of motion than a warm-up. A warm-up is to isolate difference sections of the body and warm the various muscles groups up and be prepared for exercise. Peter Martins talks about how it is important to stretch before and after class as it prevents strained muscles and how there are more than 400 muscles to move our bodies, but also he talks about factors effecting flexibility too such as; ages, poor posture, injury and repetitive motion to only one group of muscles. With all different types of factors that can effect flexibility it is important you strengthen and stretch if you aim to improve both you are less likely to cause an injury especially if one of these factors affect you. The last thing Peter talks about is how ballistic stretching can be quite violent and dancers can easily tear muscles and cause injuries. Here are a few ways Mr Martins think you can develop of flexibility in your muscles;

1.       One technique to stretching is holding a stretch and breathing rhythmically to release tension in the muscles which are stretching, you should hold this stretch between 30seconds and up to 2minutes.

2.       Instead of holding a stretch, you can repeat a movement and keep moving through a certain position trying to increase the range of motion (ROM.)

3.      The last technique is PNF stretching and Peter Martins calls it the contract/relax method, you gently contract the muscle for 10 seconds then relax into your stretch for 20 seconds and hopefully your muscles lengthen each time you repeat this.

·         Great looking abdominals- exercises 5-6

      

      Having good abdominals helps support the entire body, this will improve your posture, so many movements our bodies need even on a daily basic we use our abdominals for. If you do not use your stomach muscles then you will find a habit of slouching which is not good for appearances or your body. In this DVD they use exercises that help straighten your body up and lifting your posture to make a dancer look graceful.  

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        Floor barre- exercises 7-9

Floor barre helps with our technique which we use in ballet, it helps us prepare for more advanced movements but still works on our abdominal, back and torso area too. The floor helps support us so we do not need to worry about balance, this is a useful way to learn a sequence so you can focus on the movements rather than balancing. After floor barre the next step is to practice centre work which will then makes us more aware of our bodies as we move through space. During exercises on the floor you are building muscles you will need for centre work, a working leg and a balance are needed from a dancer but then adding advanced movements to improve co-ordination and you should already have the support that you gained from floor barre exercises and you the correct posture.

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      Leg section- exercises 10-16

In the DVD Peter Martin talks about strengthening our legs, trying to elongate the muscles to give that ‘long look’ of a dancer. The best way to improve your legs muscles are starting slowly and then gradually get faster, you want the quality of the movement and if a beginner aims for faster movements it will be the momentum moving your legs not the muscles. It is pointless if you exercise incorrectly, pay attention and think what muscles are being used, can you feel them working?

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           Cool down- exercise 17

Peter Martins repeats his stretches from before, and talks about how your flexibility should have improved as the body is much warmer now after the workout. Hold the stretches slightly longer than before and feel the difference from before to now during a cool down, it should be much easier. Spend time on hamstrings, inner thigh, low back and pec stretches, spend a long 10 minutes stretching while your heart rate and temperature should return to normal. This also gives you time to unwind mentally too, ballet is movement but it is also thought you need to think about it during a warm up as you are preparing the body and mind, and during a cool down you need to relax and also pay attention to your stretches. When performing ballet you should be thinking about which muscles are working , when you hold your leg up and balance there are lots of muscles working for instanced your stomach muscles should be contracted as you hold this position.