7 game changing mindsets that I’ve picked up as a dance student.
Principle of the month: awareness
As some of my nieces and nephews are moving through High School and starting to think about college, I reflect back on my experience and what I gained from a 4 year college experience as a dance major. These captures are still themes that I get from continued training as an adult student. They are some of the major themes as to why I will always need to live near a professional training ground for dancers such as NYC. I plan to take class and train as long as I can walk, hoping that I’ll reach some of my goals by the time I’m 90:)
In college I felt stifled by being in a small school, and being graded on every aspect of my dance studies. I had experience dancing in Boston and New York by that time, and felt ready to be in the real world from a young age.I did however immerse myself and gain so much from the physical and mental (self induced to an extent) challenges and character building cocoon of being a dance major in college. I build on these points as I continue to evolve as a teacher, student and dancer. I am immensely grateful to all of my teachers throughout my continued dance career. I am also grateful to the little but very persistent voice God planted in my head and heart, who makes all of these correlations so I can pass them on to future generations of movers and teachers. I often find myself sharing mini 7 year old versions of these ideas to my daughter as she embarks on her own journey on a gymnastics team and studying dance at Downtown Dance Factor, which can apply to any determined athlete.
In no particular order, but # 7 is my favorite:
1 – Move from your back
“Breathe and move from your back,” my college professor Kelli W Davis used to say. Coming straight from a recital & competition dance background, I was like – what the heck is she talking about? Once this clicked I felt an immense sense of power in my movement that is not fleeting like many of the tricks and turns we learn as dancers. This one brings longevity to our movement that we can hold onto forever. Because our eyes look ahead and modern civilization brings us forward, it is extra important to move with stability and strength from behind. The shoulder joint is supported by the muscles in our back. The muscles that connect our humorous bone to the scapula are called the rotator cuff muscles. While another group of muscles connect the scapula to the axial skeleton. We want harmony and efficiency in these group of muscles along with our other larger shoulder muscles. When moving the arms, rather than working from the top of the shoulder where the arm connects, imagine how the roots of a tree run strong beneath the ground in all directions, much like the fibers of our muscles, fascia, ligaments, tendons, bones and joints. In Pilates this awareness of dynamic stability helps us determine our unique joint mobility and how to build strength in your fullest range of motion; rather than working too big and creating strain, or too small and never seeing change.
2 – Its all about your standing leg
When balancing on one leg, or maneuvering one leg in space, I never believed it was all about the standing leg until I discovered hip pain. As a young dancer we aim to have high extensions at any cost. In group classes as adults, we try to copy the exercises to the same range as the teacher or those around us. However in Pilates, we learn that the leg should not lift higher than you can maintain stable on the standing leg with a neutral pelvis, unless otherwise noted by the teacher. This allows for us to work on building strength in the hip muscles in your most full healthy range of motion rather than working outside your range. This could mean hiking the hip up, sinking into the hip, deviating the foot placement, or rotating the pelvis, and therefore creating strained wear and tear on this very important weight bearing joint, the hip! In Pilates to build strength and connection to our standing leg, we work on strong intrinsic foot muscles and a clear alignment of foot, ankle, knee, and hip all placed in a healthy hip socket (a neutral pelvis.) Tapping into the hip extensors after building strength in the glute medius muscles helps to pull up on that standing leg, which then surprisingly frees up the moving leg. Range of motion is again secondary to the strength and stability factors when talking about technical training.
3 – Know your intent
I remember presenting my first solo choreography project in college and I was proud of how pretty it was. Lots of kicks and what felt like beautifully connected movement. I was asked in a very dry and simple tone, “why are you doing all of that, why are you kicking your leg in that phrase?” Honestly I answered a bunch of different ways, mainly trying to convey that it felt good and I thought it was cool… I now understand that she was trying to get me to convey a story, not necessarily an obvious one but that there needs to be purpose to your actions both in and out of the studio. Actions in process are to reflect either a short or a long term goal. In Pilates we often modify or vary an exercise and it is very important to remember the original form of the repertoire at hand so that we know why we might be varying the exercise. Without this understanding we can often loose the essence of the work and our time would be better spent deep diving into the work as is. Are we modifying to make an exercise more accessible to a client, more challenging, are we just teaching the version that we like the best, or are we just bored? In other words, know your why, and keep an open line of communication between teacher and student.
4 – Slow down when the music or phrase is fast
Quiet the noise. I love this one so much. As a business owner, and mom in NYC, it is easy to feel rushed or frantic. The ability to slow down actually allows you to get your stuff done without feeling like you are going to have a panic attack. In Pilates, especially if you are embarking on the BASI Pilates Teacher Training, digesting a lot of information can feel overwhelming. As a new student to Pilates you may feel like there is so much to think about at once. Finding center both literally and figuratively is the way to ground yourself and make sense of the work. The ability to slowly being able to move through a movement sequence before picking up the pace is how you find clarity and can really catch your breath. Note that most of the cues and corrections in Pilates are to cancel out unwanted movement. The instructions are usually more simple when you take all the other stuff away.
5 – Dancers /Athletes can do anything, highlight the aspects of your sport that translate across many different contexts
This is a topic that fascinates me. Besides the physical strength and coordination that translates to so many sports and functional movements. I am more taken aback by how much the mind and philosophical aspects of dance training correlate to life and Pilates. The ability to analyze movement and musicality. The connection of mind to body. The discipline and hard work should play into all facets of life. The understating of the absolute necessity of rest and recovery techniques. Knowing that showing up, even if for rest, is the most important factor in consistency. Being humble enough to trust the process is all the joy. Most important here is not to give up doing things you love because everything else can fall into place around it. For me time management skills are and creativity blossom after I dance. I pride myself on bringing my students back to a place where they can find this joy in rediscovering their place as a dancer or athlete.
6 – Recognize the gift of the ability to meditate amongst noise and movement
Learning meditation techniques in noisy dance studios has held lifelong benefits that I use to this day. If you ever studied dance you might remember clashing music genres playing from surrounding studios, the sounds of jumping and tapping from the floors above, and choreographers voices shouting on top of it all. I had no idea the value of this when I was learning, actually sometimes I was so tired I didn’t mind the chaos and happily dropped into the state of being present in my body, the instructions to let go, take it in, and breathe. Feeling the sore spots, breathing into the tight spots, sending prayers to the weak spots. If you are ever doing a guided meditation do not be frustrated by distractions, the act of trying is were all of the benefits lay. Similar to Pilates. As a tactic this can also be helpful in a busy Pilates studio:) The ability to drop into your present state of breath and connect your mind to your body is helpful when you are in any noisy or chaotic everyday life situation. Anyone with kids can benefit from this ability to be in control of your reactions. The ability to keep your senses active but remain unaffected in a negative way by what surrounds you and stay present within yourself is truly a gift.
7 – You are special but not that special
Do it for you. No one cares about how “good” you are. At the end of the day, the show, the awards, the accolades don’t really matter. Find the joy, make it feel good and just do it!