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:
·
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.
·
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.
·
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.
·
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?
·
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment