Welcome!
December 14, 2008
Welcome to Lisa Howell’s and Deborah Vogel’s The Science of Dance Training blog!
We want to use this blog to collect questions from the dance community to answer in our podcasts. It doesn’t matter whether you are a young dancer, a dance teacher, or a professional dancer – we want to help you become a better dancer and/or teacher by giving you accurate anatomical information that will help you improve your dancing. The truth is our bodies come in different sizes with differing amounts of turnout and flexibility – and – the trick is to learn to work with how the body was designed to move! We both came into dance medicine from being dancers and teaching dance which helps us understand the special challenges that dancers face.
We invite your questions – especially broader questions that are applicable to many. Neither of us are physicians and we cannot diagnose injuries – especially over the internet – so please seek qualified care for those. We can however, educate you to become more knowledgeable about the inner workings of the dancer’s body, which can prevent problems and injuries from occurring in the first place!
Simply click the comment button and write your question or concern in the reply box – then watch your mailbox for a notice that a podcast from The Science of Dance Training is ready to be listened to and/or downloaded! You can also email your questions to thescienceofdancetraining@gmail.com
Thanks for being a part of our global dance community!
Lisa & Deborah
Okay, I’ve been doing ballet for 3 years now and I just got on pointe. 3 months later, I got injured. Two months after that, after going to my pediatrician, I had to go to the orthopedic doctor. Now, I am in physical therapy for a bunion and turf toe. What should dancers with bunions that make their feet click do?
I have been on pointe for a year now, and even though the grade i do only has a few pointe exercises wich are easy, i still cant get through the whole exercises, is there any exercises i can do, or a type of shoes i can buy to help.
I’m a teacher teaching studnets of various ages. The issue that I’ve had difficulty teaching is finding turnout. I have different exercises to help the students “locate” their turnout muscles, but they they have difficulty applying it to their barre exercises & stuff in the center. Do you have exercises or recommendations to help students find their turnout muscles? Thanks!
I’ve been doing ballet for several years, and recently had to take a month off of all of my dance due to a sprained ankle. When I came back to class, my releves, particularly on one foot, were much lower than they had been (equally on the injured leg and the non-injured leg). I’ve been doing extra releves outside of class, as well as ankle circles and the exercises the doctor prescribed for a sprained ankle, but they haven’t been getting any higher. What else can I do to get my releve back up where it used to be?
Whenever I’m doing quite a bit of ballet work, my joint pop excessively. I started taking joint supplements in which the main ingredient is glucosamine. I’m only 21, and I’m aware that these supplements are generally taken by older people to help with their joints, but I have noticed a difference with my joints popping when I take the supplements. Are there any side effects to taking glucosamine that I should be aware of? Is taking glucosamine supplements a good way to help with popping joints?
I’m interested in the impact that overstretching the hips at a young age can have on the growth plates. Is it possible to overstretch the joint and result in growth plate deformity -i.e. if someone forces the hips in splits.
Great to see another venue for dance to students to clear up their ballet questions!
I am a ballet teacher of ages 8 – 18. How do you teach “lengthening of the spine” yet maintaining relazed a tension free shoulders and upper body? Do you have any recommendations on how to accomplish correct posture without over tensing in the wrong areas. Thank you!
I think the website ate my previous comment.
I am an adult returner to ballet, having taken about 10 years off in my teens. I picked it back up again when I was around 19/20, and found a good progressive class (as opposed to adult drop-in classes) about 4 years ago. Since then I’ve come on a lot, now up to Intermediate (ISTD) level. My goal is to make it to the last grade in the syllabus one day.
As an adult dancer, I’m really interested in what sort of phsyical improvement is possible as an adult. Obviously technique can be refined and improved, but are great improvements in turnout and flexibility at all feasible once bones are completely ossified and the range of movement in your joints is set?
Also, on a similar topic, since I’m now 28 and getting to the point where my strength will be at its peak, what hope is there for improving my batterie, pointe work etc?
Hi! I recently returned from a two-year break from ballet. My interest is to get back into dancing and continue to develop as a dancer.
I read some time ago about fascia and flipped through a book call _Anatomy Trains_ by Tomas Myers. It is very fascinating to me. I plan to buy that book eventually. Any other text suggestions would be warmly appreciated too!
I know that you promote using pinkie balls and tennis balls to massage out knots. I definitely knead out knots when I find them, but what about the ones I don’t readily feel? My question is, are there trigger spots or regions in the fascia that are often tight in dancers, but are often overlooked?
One example I have in mind are my hamstrings. When I stretch them they feel limber and taut at the same time. Could it be that there is a pull elsewhere causing this?
Wow, I love this site! I am 36-yr-old ballet teacher – I started teaching in March this year (08). I have 2 questions:
Front Splits – how do I teach them? I know you have a manual, but I have never seen it offered as a stand-alone purchase.
Injury – I pulled my hamstring in September. It is coming right but still much tighter than it was. The tightness is mainly right up in the buttock. Any rehabilatation tips?
Thank you!
Hi-
I love all the things you have put out to help dancer’s and teacher’s it is Great!
My question is I have been takeing a supplement for joints mainly my hips and it is helping some but I am wondering if there is also an excercise you would recommend to help strengthen those muscles.
Hello,
Thank you so much for all you do to promote healthy ballet information for dancers of all ages. I have a question that I have not seen an answer to as of yet from a physiological perspective. Often, we parents have questions that we’d like to run by an impartial source rather than solely rely on our dance teachers’ answers.
As non-dancing parent of a young ballet dancer, aged 9, who would love to go to class 5 days a week if I would let her, how do I know how many hours of dance daily and weekly would be considered too much for her strong but still growing body?
I don’t want her to sustain injuries that she might not be aware of from dancing too much at a young age. She is studying under a teacher well-trained in the Cecchetti method and is taking mainly ballet classes and a jazz class for variety.
I’d appreciate any information you can provide. Thanks in advance.
Nicole
Hi Lisa & Deborah,
Here’s my question- My knees joint and ankles always produce this ‘clicking’ sound whenever I start working them (walking…) from a rest position and it will happen every now and then while I walk.Is there something wrong? Cos my knees and ankles are not suffering from constant pain but the constant ‘clicking’ sound worries me. Thank you!
Joyce Wong
Hi Lisa & Deborah,
I have a question…
Ive been doing ballet for 11 years (9 years i did ballet then left for 2 years to do gimnastics and tennis 1 year, then returned and sience then its been 2 years) The problem im having now its with my legs. When i was 12 (before leaving ballet) i remember my legs beeing thin… but now they are big. Ive told my mom and she sais they are beautiful adult legs (but she is my mom) and in ballet class every one else has thiner legs than mine.
Ive also been working on my leg strenght because once a teacher told me that as im very elastic i dont have that much strenght.
Also now im living in japan (for a hole school year) and my new ballet teacher tels me im fat, and that i should get into a diet. I know that asian pepople are mostly thiner than other people, and i know im not fat, i think, im 162m and im weighting 60kg aprox. I know i could maybe lose some weight but i dont realy know what i should do.
Well back to the problem… i think that that extra weight i might have is in my tights mostly in the inner part of them, and as most of my leg that part isnt hard (with muscle) though ive done excercises for it, a teacher onece told me it was my posture that made my legs get fat and i corrected it but still they are the same… I want to know wat i should do… because i dont want to get into a diet and fall into anorexia or something like that because of doing it wrong or because of doing it without having to. and i dont want to do exercises because i dont know witch onece will make it bigger and witch onese will make it strong and thin…
Ill be glad if you answered my question
And thank you for the blogg
Jimena
Hey Lisa.
I have been en pointe for two years now, and I feel my teacher rushed me through my last exam, which was intermediate foundation. I haven’t been able to get right ontop of my pointe shoes, and I was just wondering, do different brands of shoes, not just types, suit different peoples feet?
Thankyou, Shona
Hello Lisa and Deborah,
I was just wondering what can I do to prevent/care for a thickened FHL (dancer’s tendonitis)?
Thank you so much for all that you do,
Jaymee
Hi Deborah & Lisa!
What a great team the two of you make!
You inspire me! I am currently teaching dancers ages 3-18 and was wondering if there is a good way to go about stretching really tight hamstrings. I am at a loss when the dancer cannot get to 90 degrees. I have done partner stretches, but I would like to give them some exercises to work on at home since our time in class is so short.
It is usually a fairly ticklish spot, but if not, would massage work to help loosen it up as well as stretching? I have told dancers who can get to the 90 degree sitting position to place the tennis/pinkie balls under the hamstring and stretch forward for an extra stretch, but would appreciate any tips you are willing to give me.
Thank you so much! Keep up the excellent work!
Love,
Sara Talbot
Hi Lisa, Hi Deborah
I am a 14 year old ballerina in the making. Just recently (a few months ago) I bought my pointe shoes. I was really excited and happy and since i’ve always done pre-pointe I thought it would have been easy. I was wrong. While I can get up it’s only on one foot. For the first few weeks a painful ingrown toenail provented me from training my left foot like my right is now. That issue was fixed with padding but now im not stable, my ankles wiggle, and I can’t balance or releve on pointe on my left foot because of my weak ankle. How do I effectivly train both of my feet while making my left one strong enough to hold me up.
Hi Lisa and Deborah
I am a non dance trained mum and have an 8 yr old daughter who would attend dance class every night if I let her. How much dancing should I allow her to do? Also she has a tendency to sickle when in echappe. What exercises would you recommend to help correct this? Thank you so much for having a great site.
Amanda
Hi! I’m a student at Oklahoma City University as a Dance Performance major. I have a pedagogy project I am working on which requires me to give exercises on a student lacking foot articulation. I am at the point where I need to back up my exercises with an anatomical explanation. I’m unsure of exactly which muscles are being used to strengthen an overly flexible foot. If you have an answer or website that could help me & that I can trust, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you so much!
Erin