Page 3 - DANCE 2020 Full Time Studies Guide

Guide to full time studies 2020
How much is too much?
IWhat could be better than dancing all day? Turns out you can train for too long, writes Michelle Dursun.
T IS generally agreed that, as with any Getting the mix right need to maintain focus on stability and strength serious athletic pursuit, dance students A well-planned full-time course should of control rather than flexibility”.
need to train full-time if they are to comprise a mix of classes that ensures students Many schools include strength training in develop the strength and technique are not overloaded and have adequate recovery their courses. For example, students of Hilary
required. The goal of full-time dance training time. While technique classes are important, Kaplan and Archibald McKenzie, principals is to “prepare the body and mind to have a they should not be the sole focus. “Dancers will of Alegria Dance Studios in Sydney, are
successful career in dance and cope with the demands of modern day companies, but also sustain a healthy and long career,” as teacher Gregor Thieler says. However, a dance student’s training often spans the crucial years of adolescence, when the body is growing and developing. How much should they train without overburdening their bodies?
Ausdance National’s Safe Dance Report IV identified that adolescence is a particularly challenging time for young dancers in terms of injuries. “Apart from periodic growth spurts that decrease muscle strength and flexibility, a teenager’s system is less resistant to repetitive loads during development”, it states.
Gregor Thieler is an ex-principal dancer and now the artistic director of the Sydney College of Dance. He says that at pre- professional level a weekly load of 30 hours
is attainable, but students should build up to those hours incrementally. And he adds: “Rest days are also essential for optimal recovery”.
always strive for perfect technique, it’s part of a dancer’s daily goal, but an understanding of how to master your body in space by simultaneously developing your artistry and creativity will work much better for you as a professional dancer,” Theiler says. He adds that focusing only on perfecting technique creates a robotic dancer who becomes one sided and only approaches movement in one way.
Lucinda Dunn, former principal dancer with The Australian Ballet, now runs the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy in Sydney. She says that quality teaching, training and execution are much more important than hours of training just for the sake of it.
Full-time dance training should teach students about managing and taking care of their bodies so that this knowledge supports them in the professional world. Thieler says: “All dancers have different bodies which require individualised conditioning programs. [For example] Dancers with hyper-mobile bodies and flexible muscles
encouraged to cross train (run and swim)
“in moderation” on top of their dance classes.
At TPCCA, dance classes are supplemented with lectures in nutrition and mental health strategies and cardio training is also encouraged to support fitness levels.
Dunn says “strength training is essential to keep the body healthy and to keep injuries at bay”. She adds that strength and conditioning training can take many forms, including Pilates, gym sessions, gyrotonics or specific dance- related programs such as Progressing Ballet Technique. The appropriate training program should be determined, she believes, by a physiotherapist or health professional and
be individually focused and age appropriate. Thieler says that the versatility of dancers
should be an integral focus of pre-professional training programs in order to best prepare for a professional career that is demanding more and more from dancers. “Dancers need to be increasingly versatile nowadays, so they can
Students at Alegria Dance Studios in Sydney.
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019 | WWW.DANCEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU | 3
PHOTO: ARCHIBALD MCKENZIE