Assessment!

Today we continued on with assessment which we started on Tuesday..... not like a scary test taking assessment in school, as one student thought.... but a check-in with out bodies.

Today: our strength and mobility.

 Lauren's working on her torso lateral flexion while Sarah holds her pelvis in place. 

Dutch holds Lucy's hips square so we can take a look at her torso rotation to the right and left sides.  And don't they look like they're having fun?? See, there is nothing scary about assessment ;) 

And after testing the mobility of our neck and torso (flexion, extension, hyperextension, lateral flexion and rotation), did a visual assessment of our partner, and a squat assessment, we moved on to checking out some strength. 

Deja holds her prone isometric abdominal plank for 30 seconds.  Then the students performed the right and lefts sides to see if there was any kind of imbalance.  30 seconds sure seems like a long time!  

And finally, after all the assessment today... 

we completed another round of our circuits including jumping jacks, high knee jogging, push-up 

walk-outs across the studio, core strengthening, upper body strengthening, squats, burpees.... 

we were ready to admire all our hard work as you can see Alexia and Lina doing in the below photo!

Show us those muscles ladies!!! 

And then if that wasn't enough..... today we investigated the actions of muscles to mobilize our elbow, shoulder and hip joints, as well as our torso.  One great question asked by Mia was in regard to where the latissimus dorsi muscles attach underneath the deltoid in the shoulder.  

Here is some additional info for you Mia: 

As we talked about in class today, the deltoid muscle caps the entire shoulder joint spanning from the scapula to the clavicle in the posterior and anterior parts of the shoulder region.  The latissimus dorsi muscles attach on the upper arm between the biceps and triceps muscles in the bicipital groove. 

Hope this helps!!! 

The skull!

In class yesterday we learned about the SKELETAL SYSTEM and the most relevant bones for dancers to be able to identify.  There was a question in class about some additional information regarding the skull.... here is some follow-up information with a labeled diagram of important landmarks:

The sutures (fused connections) of the skull can help us to remember some of the planes (which we also learned about in class yesterday!): 

• Sagittal suture runs from the posterior (back) to the anterior (front) of the skull separating the two parental bones of the skull (helps us to remember the sagittal plane!)
• Coronal suture separates the frontal bone from the parietal bones and runs from right to left across the top of the skull (frontal plane.... also know as the coronal plane!) 
• Lambdoidal suture separates the parietal bones from the occipital bones at the base or posterior side of the skull 

There you have it.... the SKULL! 

How do you remember CHOREOGRAPHY???

On the Day 1 Questionnaires the students filled out yesterday, they were asked about their strengths and weaknesses.  I was shocked at how many students wrote things like:

• Current goal: I would like to improve my ability to pick up choreography 
• Challenge: Not enough attention to detail 
• Challenge: My memory... I have to go back so many times to understand 

And then I came across this article about Dr. Ruth Day, a former dancer who is "interested in how the mind works."  The article mentions the obvious reason as to why a dancer would want to be able to pick up choreography quickly: 

"Being able to quickly grab choreography immensely increases your visibility in auditions and, once hired, your value to a company; many companies have dancers who serve as choreographic sponges, keeping track of movement as the choreographer invents or alters it."

She goes on to mention some important things to note: 

• Modern dance is especially hard to remember because of its potentially infinite range of motion   
• Modern dance lacks specific names for all steps (like ballet)

So what should students do to help remember this tricky choreography??? 

• Use words, mental images, or kinesthetic feelings to help memorize the steps 
• Share ideas with the other dancers and use similar words/ideas to create a shared language

Even audiences struggle, she goes on to discuss, when seeing an overwhelming amount of dance in one piece.  What to do? Dr. Day recommends:

• "Chunk it" -- group an entire section together and identify it as one thing 

Many ways to help our NYSSSA students retain their choreography, especially with upcoming auditions next Monday... but there's one strong constant in all that is said here: 

YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR MIND AND BE THINKING 

DURING THE ENTIRE LEARNING PROCESS -- 

Be active when listening and creative when naming.  Happy Dancing!!!

Day 1 Comes to a Close...

As the sun sets on Saratoga Springs tonight.... I can imagine the students are fast asleep!  I am exhausted, so they must be somewhere far beyond that after hours and hours of classes today.  Not only were their bodies fed, but their minds too.

I love finding out interesting bits of information about the students on the first day.  In addition to dance, some of them play soccer, lacrosse, run cross country, hike with their dads, love indoor spinning, and I even learned about a new type of skateboarding, ripstick, that one of the students mentioned.  The board looks kind of like this...

...and I'm already brainstorming as to how I can incorporate these and their awesome core building and balance training into my classes ;) 

The students spent time investigating how to use their foam rollers.  Some brought from home and some of the homemade rollers!  Here they are working on their ITBands: 

And then we dove into our first circuit training workout of the summer.  The warm-up of jumping jacks and high knees jogging was most challenging at minute long increments.  This will be a great way to jump start our stamina for the repertory pieces they will be learning for performance.  

Stay tuned tomorrow for a full description of that Circuit Workout Series!!! 

........................

AND A BIG SHOUT OUT TO ANGELA, LAUREN'S MOM, ONE OF OUR REGULAR BLOG READERS AND AMAZINGLY SUPPORTIVE PARENTS!!! 

Thanks for all of your support!!! 

Welcome back to... NYSSSA!  

My summer would not be complete without my annual teaching residency in Saratoga Springs, NY at the New York State Summer School of the Arts.  This year I will not only be teaching my Dance Conditioning course, but I will also be staging a piece of my own choreography on a group of the students.  Can't wait to get started tomorrow.

Plan for the first day of Conditioning:
I have been working on something very special for my students.... every year I am urging them to "foam roll" their muscles and this year, I have a full proof plan -- I made each one of them their own personal foam roller!  It started as an idea from colleague and fellow dance teacher, Kerry Gallagher, and with a few fun-noodles from the local Rite Aid...

and with the addition of some electrical conduit PVC piping... and a little elbow grease from my wonderful volunteer (dad)...

Just a little more work, we're almost there.....

And we've got it.  30 mini travel foam rollers for my students.  Let's see what they think tomorrow!

BUT, WHY FOAM ROLL you may ask????? 

Foam rolling or SMR (self-myofascial release) works my inhibiting overactive muscles.   SMR relaxes the muscle through application of pressure to the muscle site, bringing oxygen and increasing blood flow.  Do before and after activity as part of the warm-up and cool down.  

Can't wait to report on Day 1!