Healthy diet

A healthy diet consists a balanced diet.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This meal will determine your energy level for the rest of the day. Consuming a larger breakfast that is high in carbohydrates, protein and low in fat will keep you energized until your next meal. An example breakfast would be scrambled eggs, whole-wheat toast, low-fat yogurt and an orange.

For a dancer, lunch can be a difficult meal to plan. the meal cannot be too filling to avoid after-lunch fatigue. Choose foods that are easy to digest, but high in carbohydrates and in protein. keep yourself hydrated throughout the day. you need to keep yourself proper hydration because otherwise it will affect your performance.

 

 

Dinner is a meal important for dancers in that it prepares their bodies for the next day. If you have a long training or performance day ahead, what you eat the night before will supply your muscles with the energy they need. Again, choose foods that are high in complex carbohydrates, which provide energy;  protein, which helps repair damaged muscles tissue; and healthy fats, which help your body function.

 

Overall improvements

• I now have more understanding of dance skills like a flat back in jazz.

• I have more of an understanding of heart rate and how it can change really quickly and then cool right down after 2 minutes to how it was before.

• I have improved my leg and my core strength in Vicky's class and stretch and conditioning by doing crunches and flutter kicks.

• I have improved in plank and can now hold it for more than 2 minutes.

• I want to work on healthy diets and hydration because it is important and it gives you the energy to dance.

Week 5 review

Posture & Control

I have worked on posture in contemporary with Laura when we have to stand in the middle before and exercise and then sustain my posture all the way through the warm up.

I have used control in tap classes with Vicky when I cannot move the top of my body and only control my feet. This stretch helps with my control because you have to have control of when you are coming down and whether you are going to wobble and fall down. I will do this at home because I can see an improvement in my core stability and the control of my legs. This will help me in Vicky's lesson when i am doing a wide jazz fourth and keep my weight in the middle so i do not fall over.

Week 4 review

Focus & core stability

In Laura's class we used focus when we had to be aware of what way to go on the exercise for the practice assessment. I also used focus and core stability when I had ballet after school and we had to do pirouettes in the centre. I found it hard at first but then I got into the habit of pulling up and found it much easier to go round. I also used core stability in ballet steps because you have to sustain a position and it can be hard if you do not do it correctly. I feel like I can keep my leg in the air for longer now.

Week 3 review

Alignment & strength

This week I have used alignment in Vicky's lesson in the forward stretch warm-up. I also used alignment in stretch and conditioning after school when I had to do plank position. I feel like I have improved on my strength in my core for plank because I found it a lot easier than last week.

Extra info

I go to D&B performing arts school on Tuesday for ballet. Thursday for private singing lessons, Saturday for 3 hours or acting singing and dancing and sometimes on a Sunday for extra rehearsals.  I started dancing when I was at a young age of 4 and went to baby ballet classes. From then on I knew I wanted to become a dancer.  I have done many competitions and came 1st place with them when performing 'When your and Adams' and 'Revolting children' which were my favourite. I have participated in pantomimes such as 'Robin Hood' and 'Snow white'.

Circuits & Heartrate

Steps ups

• Week 1 

•  Resting heart rate = 64
•  After exercise heart rate =139
•  2 minutes after exercise = 69

• Week 2

• Resting heart rate = 69
• After exercise = 134
• 2 minutes after exercise = 74

• Week 3

• Resting heart rate = 62
• After exercise = 121
• 2 minutes after exercise = 58

This shows a big improvement because the more times I do the exercise, the more I get used to it and my heart rate isn't so big after the exercise. This shows that I am improving my stamina every time and getting used to the same type of exercise.

Conclusion

1. I have improved all of my personal targets and are stronger in these areas. I have done this by recording how I will improve and doing weekly reviews on my skills.

2. My strengths in contemporary is flow and dynamics. I use these skills when I am doing warm up sequences. My strengths in jazz are focus and alignment. I have improved these skills and use them when doing side stretches and turns from the corner.

3. Now I can do a straight plank and be in line. I can also spot a corner and do a single turn and double without falling over because my core is stronger from Vicky's abdominal exercises. Also I can have perfect posture in ballet and any other style of dance.

4. My training programme has made me reflect more on what I need to improve on and what I have improved on. It has made me a better dancer overall because I know what I need to work on to then improve.

 

Targets for term 2

    5. Flexibility, Balance, Extension

 

My 3 targets that I want to develop

TARGET 1 - ALIGNMENT IN PLANK

When doing plank you should always be in line otherwise you are not doing the hold properly.

This is bad alignment in plank:

 This is good alignment in plank:

We use alignment in Laura's lesson when we are doing a side stretch in the first warm up we do.

Weekly I will improve this by doing warm ups and stretches that use alignment and make sure my arms and body are in line to create the dance step.

TARGET 2 - POSTURE IN A PLIE

In a plié you should always have good posture because it effects the way your turnout is and how good your plié is.

This is bad posture in a plié:

 

 This is good posture in a plié:

We use good posture when we are in Laura's lessons when doing feet exercises.

Weekly I will do stretches to insure that my back is loose to then pull up and make my posture stronger.

TARGET 3 - CONTROL IN A JAZZ PIROUETTE

Having control in a pirouette is crucial. It helps you get round and if you are not focussed then you will go all over the place when you turn.

First in a pirouette you need to engage you core and sustain this position when doing a full pirouette:

 You should find somewhere to spot so that when you go round, you can then land neatly and whip your head round.:

 

This is a bad Jazz pirouette position:

 As you can see I didn't engage my core, spot, focus or have good alignment to pull up through the body. It makes it harder to spin when your body is all over the place.

This is a good Jazz pirouette:

I engaged my core, focused and used good alignment. This made it easier to spin around and could possibly spin around more than once.

We use jazz pirouettes in Vicky's lesson from the corner in a pattern, so we have to use focus to get round quick enough.

Weekly I will use control when I am in my ballet lessons and tap lessons to then control my feet and upper body.

Dance UK - Phyisical differences session

 - Teach people about health and diets .
 - Explain how dancers are different from each other.
 - Show how metabolism effects a dancer.
 - Talk about health inside the body and how the muscles work.

Heredity - genes through families

Biomechanics - ways of how movement works

Physiology - how the body moves

Psychology - how you think

Fast twitch - bigger muscles  (arms, legs)

Slow twitch - all muscles in core (no legs, arms)

My permeability - the way the body is structured

Varo's - bowed legs

Valgus - knocked in knees

What makes a good dancer?

Eating healthy helps when being a dancer because it gives you more power and energy when always being active. It is better to eat salad than chips. In other words you need to have a balanced diet. A balanced diet consists of a range of each food type. You need a lot of protein and fruit and vegetables.

 You also need motivation to be able to dance otherwise you will get bored very quickly and you have to have a passion for dance. Passion is key because if you don't have passion then it will be boring and then there is no point you dancing.

Being stiff with your body will not work because as a dancer you need to be free flowing with a range of dynamics. Being versatile with different dance styles is good as well because most dance styles use the same concepts and moves in another dance style, e.g. ballet is used in street dance a lot. 

Confidence in your own ability and the confidence to try it out. If you are not confident then you wont wan to try out new things to make yourself a better dancer. Dancing is all about trying new things. If you do not try new things then you will never improve and not develop as a dancer.

When being a dancer you have to warm up and cool down properly otherwise you can get really badly injured. You also, as a dancer need to know your limits when coming to hard tasks and or tricks, knowing whether or not you can do the task. It can lead to injuring yourself for a long time or never being able to dance again.

Being imaginative and creative is also important because dance is all about telling stories and getting views and points across.

Hello and welcome

On this blog I will be blogging about healthy diets and healthy living for a dancer. I will be demonstrating warm ups and steps. I will be regularly posting videos and pictures on how to do moves or easy dieting and what's healthy for you. My homework skills will be shown on here as well as posts.

My Skills Audit

 

I have 10 years of training so far and the genres I do are:

Ballet - 8 years

Jazz - 8 years

Tap - 5 lessons

Contemporary - 7 years

Street dance - 3years

What qualifications do I hold:

- ISTD Ballet Grade Primary - 4

- Singing Grade 2 - 5

 

 

 

I feel strongest in contemporary and ballet because they both have quite slow effective gestures and can tell a story well by the correct moves. They are also very alike and use a lot of leg, arm and abdominal muscle. At the same time it can be elegant and rough.

I feel weakest in tap because I haven't really done a lot of tap and I am inexperienced. In tap you have to pick up a lot of moves and phrases with you feet and I can find that quite difficult.

 

I am confident to interpret a character as long as I know the character I am portraying well and I have done a lot of work of the character to then find out what they are feeling and how they react to certain scenarios.

Skills

 

Physical

 

Flexibility - Range of movement in a joint ( skeleton not the muscle).

Strength - Muscular power.

Posture - How the body is held.

Stamina - Muscularly and cardiorespiratory.

Alignment - Positioning of body parts in relation to the whole.

Body Awareness - Being aware of your body when moving.

Movement Memory - Remembering the order of actions accurately.

Spatial Awareness - Aware of you spatial surroundings (shape, size, level).

Dynamic Awareness - How you move; quickly, slowly, gently, strongly, energetically.

Extension - Stretching into space.

Balance - Controlling the weight.

Coordination - Controlling body parts at the same time

Control - Performing actions with skill with muscular awareness.

Flow - How the energy flows from one action to the next.

Accuracy - Observing and reproducing the actions you see exactly.

 

Interpretive

Focus - Where you look when doing different dance moves.

Facial Expressions - Projection of emotion through use of eyes, mouth and eyebrows.

Projection - To make a move big to increase clearly to an audience.

Interpretation - A representation of a creative piece to show an understanding.

Musicality - Awareness of qualities of the music and projecting then, or complementing them or

contrasting them.

Sense of rhythm - A movement with beat or an accent to be in time.

Sensitivity to others - Picking up feelings of others and being aware.