1. Make Room For Strength Training:
I can feel the stress rising when you think about taking even a second away from running your dancing routines, especially when you haven’t had everyone together in one room for a long, long time.However, working your dancer’s strength will only add to class productivity as skills get stronger, movements become more powerful and you have less to clean and fix.
OPTION 1 ON HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR CLASS
- Dynamic warm up (walking lunges across the floor)
- Stretch
- Select 2 upper body exercises , 2 core exercises and 2 lower body exercises that correlate with the skills you’ll be working on in class
- Alternating between upper, core and lower, do each exercise 10 – 15 times
- This is about 6 -8 minutes of your class but you’ll be spending it on specific and effective exercises for your skills.
- From here, go on with the rest of your class.
OPTION 2 ON HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR CLASS
- Dynamic warm up (walking lunges across the floor)
- Stretch
- Begin your class and when there are about 25 minutes left do a quick circuit.
- Select 2 upper body exercises , 2 core exercises and 2 lower body exercises THAT INVOLVE JUMPING OR ARE CARDIO BASED.
- Alternating between upper, core and lower, do each exercise for 40 – 60 seconds switching legs or sides half way through if needed.
- This circuit will work your dancer’s endurance and strength but because it’s only a few minutes they’ll have enough steam to get through the rest of class.
- From here, go on with the rest of your class.
All of the exercises I’ve provided on Dancer-Fitness.com are specifically designed for dancers and their skills. So take some time to use our filtering tool to search for TURNS, LEAPS, KICKS or any other skills you’re touching on in class and use them with the tips above.
- Mindfully connect with their muscles
- Fire the muscles they need for each skill
- Properly warm up injury prone areas like the ankles and hips