First interview

I met my first interviewee at Costa today, I was really nervous about this as we are friends and work together, I wanted to make sure it was not awkward or for my interviewee to feel I was testing her. My interview went really well the only thing I would of done differently was time went so quickly! I thought an hour and a half would be plenty of time but the last few questions were slightly rushed which was unfortunate but I have many new ideas, ideas I had never thought of. Especially being more creative and keeping my warm-up more fun, lots more breathing exercises that will mentally prepare students. I'm very excited to start analysing and breaking down each answer more and working out how I can improve my teaching.
My next interview is Thursday and hopefully it goes just as well, fingers crossed!

Interview Questions

Interview

Before carrying out my questions for my interview please make sure each interviewee is aware you are NOT testing them, but simply gaining more knowledge. There is no correct or incorrect answer, I want to gather more information on this topic and each opinion is helpful.

Questions

1.       Why do you perform a warm-up during your dance classes?

2.       How do you make sure your students are mentally prepared for class? Do you have a certain exercise which helps their state of mind before class? Or after? Breathing exercise? Where did you come up with this idea? Were you influenced by anyone or anything?

3.       How has your warm-up been designed in a street class? (Street classes have a free warm-up designed by the teacher)

4.       What has influenced you with ideas during your warm-up or dance movements in your warm-up?

5.       How do you incorporate the aim of your dance class into your warm-up? Mentally and physically preparing your students for what is to come?

6.       Do you discuss your class ideas with other fellow teachers or friends you may know? Past experiences? What has made a differences to your teaching?

7.       How do you prepare for class? Where do you get the ideas for your dances from? Are you motivated by certain music or maybe a memory?

8.       All people have their own versions of a warm-up there is no right way to warm-up as long as you tick all the boxes for preparing the body for a dance class. Does your warm-up have a ‘stretch’ section? If so what type of stretches? Why do you perform these stretches and how does this effect your students?

9.       Do you perform stretches in a cool-down and if so how is this different to your stretches during a warm-up?

10.   Can you think of any way to make a warm-up or cool-down more creative? I want to improve my teaching and I do not want my warm-up to be effective but boring. I want it to feel like my students are dancing, 45minutes is not a long time so I want to make the most of it.

11.   How would your warm-up differ if you was teaching a ballet class? (Discuss cardio at the beginning of a class? Increasing the heart rate which leads to oxygen and nutrition to the working muscles.)

12.   Some research have come to the understanding if you stretch incorrectly during a warm-up this can have an effect on force production, power performance, running speed, reaction time, movement time, endurance, balance and jumping height etc. I was not aware of this until researching into my topic of inquiry but would you disagree or agree with this source? Have you ever come across this in your students? 

13.   Cool-downs are often forgotten about or a teacher does not have time to perform a cool-down. How long does your cool-down last for and when would you perform one?

14.   What does a cool-down prevent? Do your students understand why they perform a cool-down?

15.   What does a good cool-down consist of? Different stages?

16.   Many injuries can occur when students are stretching incorrectly. Normally because they have not warm-up correctly when, where and how is the most effective way for stretching?

17.   In what situation would you use…

 

a.       Ballistic stretch technique?

b.      Dynamic stretch technique?

c.       Static stretch technique?

d.      PNF stretching technique?

Is there any disadvantages you are aware of in these four techniques of stretching, maybe one you would not use in class, and why?

18.   There are many different factors that can affect a student’s flexibility such as tension, joint mobility, activity, gender and age how would you overcome some of these factors as a teacher?

19.   Also I have researched into when a dancer is already sore from a previous class the day before, if your students were to have aching muscles how would you advise them in this situation? If they answer by ‘stretching’ which stretches would you use?

20.   During your dance classes which type of full-range stretches do you use? Passive, ballistic and PNF stretching? Which do you find most effective and why or do you find it varies between students? How long do you hold these stretches?

21.   If you was in the correct position to perform full range stretches, what is the longest you would hold a position for, this is known as pro long stretching? (After they answer) Ask if they would prefer to use a different stretch technique or do they find this technique effective?

Please remember to thank your interviewee for their time, opinions and knowledge!

Learn the Benefits of a Winning Warm-Up

Dancers: Learn the benefits of winning a warm-up

Professional source published by ‘The Stage Casting’ in April 2014 by Dominic Antonucci, ballet master at Birmingham Royal Ballet. This article discusses warming up for professional dancers. I know my inquiry is based on primary school ages, but I found this article fascinating. We perform a ballet each year over the summer as a workshop for the children, and we have professional dancers come join us. The children love to watch the professional dancer’s warm-up and do their own routine to focus themselves before a performance.

Warm-up

A warm-up can vary depending on what type of person, there are many factors you need to take into consideration.  When you perform a warm-up there are certain changes you should see and feel in the body. For well trained professionals that do it every day should see a warm-up as a ritual and help prepare them mentally too. You should spend your time during a warm-up to focus yourself, and listening to the music, counting and using coordination’s.  Mentally people need that to time to collect their thoughts, forget about them, and focus their mind on the dance class or performance ahead.

How do Dancers Warm-Up?

When you get to a certain level of training and especially professional dancers you become to know your body and tend to find your own routine and set stages of warming yourself up. Dominic talks about professionals knowing their bodies, some like to go swimming before a performance, jogging on the spot, some like stretching and others think against stretching. But by the time you reach that level you know your body well enough and know what state their body needs to be in before a performance or class.

I found this section very interesting, should a warm up be changed or varied? Professionals tend to find a warm-up and if they feel they performed well after that specific warm-up they tend to stick with it. On the other hand if you have a bad performance you try a new warm-up the next day or whenever the next performance is. Dominic stuck to his 20-25 minute barre work over a 20year period because that worked for him.

How Should a Dance Student go about shaping their own Warm-Up?

Dominic talks about how most dance teachers will try and awaken their student with describing a certain feeling and self-awareness. Body conditioning exercises and pilates especially goes very much by feel. A dancer needed to analyse their body and how they are exactly feeling in that moment. If their back is tight? Or if it’s the hamstrings? You have to design the warm-up around yourself and how you feel. Dominic said he always warmed up but did not always cool down and I find this is many classes, teachers need to make sure they find the time to cool down before letting their students leave.

 How do your Dancers Cool Down?

After a performance Dominic talks about his dancer’s cooling down, backstage they spend time walking around and shaking their legs, jogging and stretching. They need to let their heart rate and breath slowly decrease and find time to relax after a performance. After those curtains go down dancers will practice certain moves that did not go well that night, and practice certain sections, this can all be adding to a cool-down, they are still moving but not as extreme as when they were performing. Chi Cao Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer who took the lead role in the film Mao’s Last Dancer spend a long time warming up and cooling down. He would stay on stage cooling down an hour or more after the performance, stretching and manipulating his body to get it just right to be prepared for the next day. Dancers are educating themselves more now which I agree, I was taught to know my body and make sure you look after it, dancer’s need to know their weaknesses and spend extra time on certain parts of your body. When you are younger you do the same as your friend next to you, but they are still developing and learning. It is important teachers try and explain that not everyone is the same.

 

Child Development in Practice

Ethics and ‘Child Development in Practice’

After reading ‘helping your child to get fit’ and especially one particular chapter on ‘School Sports’ I found the National Curriculum very interesting, and wanted to look into this more. Keeping a warm-up basic is a good idea, dancers need time to focus themselves, and firstly they need to increase their heart rate, so running and jumping is a good place to start. I then wanted to find out when children start jumping, hopping and skipping etc. I am focusing on the age group during a child’s time at primary school, there is a huge difference between the ages of 5-11 and their bodies develop and change all the time.

Age 5- At the age of 5 there are certain motor skills a child should be doing, or should be encourage to practice is skills such as running, climbing, jumping, hiding, chasing, throwing a ball, skipping. Being a dance teacher I know some children pick up skipping at different speeds, normally a child can only hop on one leg first and need to practice hopping or their weaker leg. Some children pick up skipping straight away, and other need to work on it, either way as long as you encourage children they will get there in the end.

Age 7- By the age of 7 which is only a couple of years older their coordination will have improved vastly. Their dance movements will have improved, they should be able to skip with a skipping rope, catching a ball, batting a ball in ball games. Also balance would have improved too so riding a bike or walking across a narrow width (for example the beam in gymnastics) will be much more likely by the age of 7. They will be stronger swimmers and hopefully would have had a go at skating which most children enjoy.

Looking into this topic was interesting, from personal experience I started riding a bike at 7, but my younger sister was very young to start riding a bike and on the other hand we had an older cousin who found riding a bike extremely difficult for a few years. All children learn at different paces, and again there is not a right or wrong way.

Cognitive development- having a general awareness of the world.

It is important to include many factors when teaching children to encourage cognitive development. Such as; discipline, repetition, fun, enthusiasm, praise, encouraging, good communication skills, allow the child to have a go themselves.

Age Related Issues- when children are under the age of 10 (which is normally before growth spurt) children’s bones and muscles still need to be strengthen, body proportions, energy stores and sweat mechanisms.

By the age of 11 and over more changes has happened once again, a child’s body is always changing and developing which is nonstop. Their bones and muscles will be stronger, after a growth spurt children can have loss of balance and coordination which is very common, during this period of time children can look clumsy but they are adjusting to their body. During this transition children will need to sleep more hours and eat more. Once again children are all different and this is not the case for everyone.

Professional source written by Pamela May, published Routledge in the USA and Canada (2011)

 

 

Observing Classes

Observing classes
Tuesday 1st March

Funky Cheer 16.00-16.30
1st steps Modern 16.30-17.00
Street Crew 17.00-17.45

Fitness and Health

Fitness and Health

DONNELLAN, CRAIG (2006) ‘Fitness and Health’ Volume 113. Published by Independence, Cambridge.

In recent years we have become aware of our need of exercise especially for children. 9 out of 10 children are not getting enough exercise to ensure that will become healthy adults. Only 10 per cent of young people get one hour of physical activity per day that health experts and scientists say is necessary and needed. Becoming lazy and ‘couch potatoes’ leads to obesity and a number of different diseases, more and more children sat in after school watching TV or playing video games instead of meeting friends out, playing football etc.

Researcher’s monitored 4500 11 year old pupils in Bristol area, using sophisticated motion sensors called ‘accelerometers’ they found out most students did not do enough exercise during the day, some did not even exercise at all, and only a handful of students did the correct amount. Children are expected to exercise only 60 minutes per day. Children need to exercise such as walking, but also vigorous exercise like running and cycling. Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise is where you perform a certain type of exercise which increases your heart rate significantly and causes heavy and fast breathing. Parents and children need to understand balancing the energy they take in from food by burning off calories through exercise.

Britain was third fattest in the world after the US and Malta, 22 percent of boys and 28 per cent of girls aged 2-15 in England, which is a huge amount. Neville Rigby of the International Obesity Task Force, said ‘We live in a society where parents are too frightened to let their kids out to play, school playing fields have been sold off and streets are so packed with parked cars that youngsters have nowhere to kick a ball around even if they feel like it.’

Why Exercise is Wise

Children need more physical activity than adults, children need 60minutes per day, and adults need 30minutes of exercise 5 or more times per week which experts agree with. Being more active is not just about running, swimming, and playing a certain sport, being more active also involves walking, gardening and climbing the stairs, which is in our daily routine. There are lots of advantages of being more active, and you will start to feel the benefits such as: better health, more energy, reduce stress, stronger bones and muscles, better balance, more independence in later life, improves sleep, more social opportunities, a sense of achievement, increased enjoyment. This shows that being more active helps physical and mental health, we need to exercise our heart, it is the most important muscle we have, and it needs to keep fit so it can pump blood efficiently with each heartbeat.

There are also certain health problems which being active helps with too; coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, stress, depression, obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, certain cancers, abnormal blood cholesterol levels.

Aerobic Exercise

Making sure your heart gets a good workout is important, aerobic exercises is any type of exercise that gets your heart pumping and the muscles using oxygen, you will notice your body using more oxygen when you start breathing faster) If you give your heart this type of workout regularly, your heart will get stronger and more efficient in delivering oxygen (in the form of oxygen-carrying blood cells) to all different part of the body. Being in a team sport is a great way to make sure you get enough aerobic exercise per week, maybe even more which is great! But there are other types of forms of exercise too, you do not need to be in a team sport, but most children join a team at school weather its football, basketball, swimming etc. After finishing school is when people start doing less activities, like I said before most children join a club or team at school which helps towards keeping fit, after you leave school you still need to find some way of keeping fit such as swimming, biking, hiking, dancing.

Flexibility Training

Strengthening the heart and other muscles is not the only important goal when exercising. Exercise also helps keeping your body, joints and muscles flexible, people who are flexible can worry less about strained muscles and sprain. Some sports such as gymnastics and dance you need to be flexible, but it also helps in football and other sports too. Warming up before a workout is especially important, but during a warm up and cool down is a perfect opportunity for some stretching and help develop your flexibility.

 

 

ISTD Foundation in Dance Instruction

ISTD: Foundation in Dance Instruction

(Unit 2: Promotion of Health and Safety in Dance)

Professional source published by Dec 2008 by ISTD Examination Board. Cathy Barret, Jane Baylis, Jaap Blokdijk, Heather Burns, Jasmine Challis, Janet Cclark, Giovanna Curati, Bronda Dossett, Gail Farrow, Jacqueline Ferguson, Teresa Hall, Ben Hastings, David Henshaw, Gillian Hurst, Katy Inigo-Jones, Jillian Knight, Marion Lane, Helen Laws, Angela Lynch, Penny Meekings, Elizabeth Nabarro, Diane Paull, Kim Pedrick, Matthew Portal, Rachel Rist, Druanna Roberts, Nicola Stephens, Charles Russel LLP Partners and to the Imperial Society of Teachers in Dancing (ISTD) staff for their contributions. Warming Up and Cooling Down p115-119 and Growth and Bones development (young children (Ages 5-10years) p83-86.

Warming Up and Cooling Down

Definition of Warming Up?

‘Warming up is a set of exercises that needs to take place before any acticity is undertaken. Ideally, this should be a section of continuous movement of about 15minutes or longer and should include the large muscle groups. The effect should be such that the internal bodt temperature increases by one to two degrees.’ Shelloch (1983)

Warming up prepares the mind and body equally so a dancer can perform complicated movements that are required in a dance class. A dancers body before warming up is at a state of rest is you successfully carried out a warm-up this will improve the performance and significantly reduce the chances of injury. Warming up prepares dancers mentally and physically for the dance class ahead, so teachers need to plan and pay a lot of attention to this section of the class.

Benefits of warming up

·         It enhances the psychological focus on the activity-

Warming up gives a dancer time to focus on posture, stance and technique, giving them time to adjust to class and improves concentration will mean a dancer is more prepared for class, and will be more likely to execute difficult dance movements.

·         It increases muscle elasticity-

Warming up increases blood circulation to the working muscles this will allow the muscle to become more elastic and less likely to snap and cause an injury.

·         It improves the transmission of signals along nerve cells-

Your brain sends messages along the nerves to the muscle this will be done more efficiently resulting in quicker response times and more co-ordination.

·         It increases the heart rate-

During a warm up the blood begins to start pumping around the body more quickly, this means the increase in the heart rate ensures the oxygen and glucose are carried to the working muscles and the brain quickly for energy production and muscle contraction.

·         It increases body temperature-

After a warm up a dancers body temperature should have increased by one to two degrees, this will help warm the muscles making them more elastic. Blood also carries warmth around the body to the muscles, this increase in temperature allows more efficient energy production for muscle contraction.

·         It redistributes the circulation of blood-

As the heart rate increases the blood flow is redistributed to where oxygen and glucose are needed (for example; skin, muscles, brain and away from other areas such as gastrointestinal tract.) This is also the reason why dancers should not eat a heavy meal before a dancer class or any type of exercise for that matter as the blood will divert to the gut to facilitate digestion.

·         It improves the functions of the joints-

Movement helps the fluid in the joints to increase in volume and the thickness of cartilage increases too. This improves the joint’s shock-absorbing ability when the body is exercising.

·         It increases the respiratory rate-

During a warm up a dancers breathing should start to sound heavier, this ensure an adequate supply of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues to support the muscle contraction. Teachers also need to be aware of a warm up being too intense, their body will not be able to keep up with the demand for oxygen and this will lead to a build-up of lactic acid. Heart and breathing rates should increase during a warm-up and this usually occurs approximately 3-6minutes after you start a warm-up.

What is the Best Way to Warm Up?

Many students especially younger students do not understand that being warm and warmed up are not the same state. Sitting on a radiator with lots of clothing on drinking a hot drink does not mean the body is warm.

A warm-up should be designed to fit the age group and fitness level you are teaching. Clearly younger children do not need as long to warm up compared to a full time dance student. Having a warm up too long will on exhaust the children before the class has even begun properly. On the other hand a full time dancer who trains frequently will need a longer warm up to have the same effect on their body. A mistake that has been made before is forgetting the effect of a warm up wear off after about 30 minutes of rest following exercise.

The warm up routine needs to include the following movements:

·         A warm up should begin with using large controlled general movements that use the large muscle groups with gentle movements of the joints through their normal range of movement.

For example: walking, lunges, arm swings etc. Using feet, ankles, knees, hip and should joints.

·         The pace of the movements should increase slowly as the dancers heart and breathing rate increase.

·         Next, start by using the spine then you can start to engage the neck as well.

For example: bending forwards with knees bent to protect the lower spine, controlled twists and side bend. With the neck side to side, forwards and backwards and slowly tilting.

·         Gentle stretches of the muscles can be performed. Make sure when stretching these large muscle groups that the stretching is not extreme as dancers are still preparing for bigger movements and stretches.

For example: hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors and calf muscles. You could even try controlled movements standing with your foot firmly on the ground, bent supporting leg and leg extensions to the front and side or deep lunges forward.

·         Once the dancer feels warm and more prepared for class you can then perform some simple jumps with changing directions to complete a successful warm up.

 

Effect of a Warm Up

1.       Feel warm with an increased heart rate but not out of breath;

2.       Still be able to hold a conversion

3.       Be sweating

4.       Feel that their muscles and joints are warm and supple;

5.       Be able to execute dance moves with accuracy

A warm-up should take into account a number of factors including:

·         The fitness level of the dancer;

·         The style pf dance/dance genre;

·         What the dancer has already done during the day;

·         The temperature of the environment;

·         Whether there are any old injuries;

·         How much space and time is available.

What is Cooling Down?

At the end of a dance class it is very important to cool down. This will be accomplished through gentle and sustained movements that do not cause stress on the muscles and joints. Cooling down helps the dancer and her body to wind down and relax physical and mentally, to reduce the breathing and heart rate and to prevent any injuries or muscle soreness.

If a dancer suddenly stops after a high level of activity, the heart carries on pumping blood through the body at a high level even though the muscles have stopped working. If the muscles stop working and the blood is still pumping at a high level the blood has nowhere to go and leads to ‘pooling.’ This can result in a dancer feeling dizzy or even faint as the blood flow to the brain is reduced. The waste products which has pooled in the non-working muscles will not be removed and will lead to sore muscles the next day.

The aim for a successful cool down is to reduce the intensity of the body movement, allowing the redistribution of blood from the muscles to pump towards other organs in the body. During the cool-down the body returns to pre-exercise state, it is necessary that a teacher leaves time for a cool-down.

Principles of Cooling Down

·         Do not stop the activity suddenly.

·         Keep moving, bringing the intensity of the exercise down gradually. For example: walking around the room, or gentle movements on the spot.

·         Concentrate on relaxing and feeling the breathing rate slow down.

·         Do some static stretches.

Growth and Bone Development

A human body goes through a lot of different stages and developments at different points in life. These changes do not only effect the body physical but also emotionally this can have an impact on a dancer’s ability to perform at their best. Dance teachers need to be aware of these changes and developments and take this into consideration when teaching their classes.

Young Children (Ages 5-10 Years)

Firstly, young children are not small adults. There are many differences between a child and an adult, mostly the immaturity of the organs and tissues. For example a child’s liver is not as well developed as an adult’s.

Bone Growth-

The long bones in a child’s body are not fully mature (ossified) at birth. These process can take up to 20years to fully develop and reach maturation. The plate of cartilage at the end of the long bone (the epiphyseal plate) continue to grow and ossify (turning into bone) to allow for total bone growth. Teachers need to be aware of the immature bones and are susceptible to dislodging following an injury.

Body Proportion-

A child’s proportion are different to an adults, they go through stages of having short limbs or a big head which is normal but every child is different. This will lead to a child finding certain movements difficult, maintaining or supporting their weight especially when a movement involves a sustained extension of arms and legs. When limbs grow children need to find muscle that will help control or hold an extension, this will take time, some students longer than others.

Body Temperature-

Children are not able to regulate their body temperature as well as adults due to their immature sweating mechanisms. This means children will find extreme temperatures hard to tolerate, they will need to keep warm, and ballet cardigans are very popular in the winter.

Energy-

Children do not have as well-developed store of glycogen as adults, this means children will not be able to perform disciplined for a long amount of time, and short burst of high energy.

Emotional Development-

·         Perceiving the world physically

·         Perceiving themselves at the centre of the world

·         Less developed social skills

·         Language development

Teachers need to be aware of this, and be there to support them. Listening and responding to children provides a guide for them to follow, working with others will also help them develop social skills.