Ribcages, Turnout & Ankles
Dancing Smart Newsletter
August 4, 2006
Announcements
Most of you received the quick announcement that the first level of Functional Anatomy for Dancers is hot off the presses and ready to ship! While you can find the official blurb about it by going to www.thebodyseries, and clicking on the product button – I'd like to share some thoughts about this new product. This first level is called Meet Your Body! Its goal is joint identification and movement. Do you remember the first time you saw a skeleton? I do. I was fascinated. I remember looking at the shoulder blades (scapulas) in amazement when I found out they weren't attached to the spine. You see I had grown up with the correction of attaching the shoulder blades to the spine. When I began to release the self-inflicted tension from this area my breathing opened up and my spine got longer. A significant difference in my dancing happened because of this insight.
Anneliese and I thought long and hard about how to present anatomy information in a dance class friendly manner. We did this through the activity sheets connected with each lesson. In this first level, the exercises are simple. Looking at identifying flexion and extension at the hip is important, as many students don't realize that movement can only take place at the joint – and direct their attention to how it feels to isolate the movement in one joint. What are the three common positions of the pelvis? Students need to experience lying on the floor as well as standing the different between a neutral pelvis and an anterior or posterior tilt. You'll be training you and your student's eyes to see alignment and movement in a new way. This is a priceless gift to give to a student.
Functional Anatomy for Dancers is a systematic method of giving your students bite sized anatomy lessons within a class format. Anneliese and I are starting on Level 2, which begins to explore the musculature of the body. I'm excited!
Now onto some questions…
First Question
First, I must preface my question by complimenting you on your always intelligent and informative newsletters!
Alas, my question to you is on the subject of rib cages. I have a young dancer, 10 years old, with a very open rib cage. It seems that her last few pairs of "false ribs" are extremely open and point dramatically outward. I have been working with her to feel the difference between allowing her ribs to point outward and controlling them more downward, while pulling up. I was wondering your thoughts on this subject and if you had any tricks of the trade for this young dancer? Jacqueline
Ribcages come in all sizes, don't they? I'm not sure if your dancer is exaggerating a 'lift' of the ribcage or her ribcage is naturally flared. Have her lie down on her back on the floor and breath naturally. Ask her to imagine her ribcage like a balloon and have all areas expand and contract equally. Watch her movement and if you see only the abdominal area and lower ribs moving – have her place her own hands on the bottom of the ribs and to the side of the sternum. Ask her to move both hands as evenly as she can.
It is very common for young dancers to try and stand up straight by lifting their ribs rather than by extending the spine. It is also common for dancers to hold their abdomen in as if they had an invisible belt on, which raises the ribs. If you feel this is more the cause then focus on proper abdominal engagement. If you put your hand just below the sternum it should be soft. The diaphragm needs to be able to move freely. Most of the abdominal engagement will feel as if it is below the belly button.
An image that works well for many students is imagining the ribcage to be like an umbrella. The spine is the handle of the umbrella and remains long no matter whether the umbrella is open (inhalation) or closed (exhalation).
Next Question
I have struggled with my turnout ever since I began to dance. I am continually trying to get my placement right, but I am still getting injured from not turning out correctly. I have had knee problems as a result of turning out from my knees, and now I have been having hip and back problems. How can I work correctly to improve my turnout without hurting myself? I have narrow hips and a naturally arched back. I think it's called lumbar lordosis? I am pretty muscular, and I think I try too hard to muscle my turnout into place. How can I hold myself to minimize tension and stress on my back and hips? My natural turnout is awful, not even 40 degrees on each hip. I know I should work my natural turnout, but I can't take ballet class in an almost parallel position. I would love to know how to safely stretch and improve my turnout without placing stress on my back, knees, ankles, or hips.
Thanks, Margaret
My book, Tune Up Your Turnout, goes into great detail on releasing muscular tension and evaluating influential aspects of turnout. For example, start stretching your iliopsoas muscle, which is a major hip flexor. This is a muscle that is often tight in a lumbar lordosis, and makes it harder to maintain an upright pelvis as you are rotating the legs into first position.
Start with evaluation your range of motion at the hip by lying down on your stomach with legs underneath. Bend one knee, and let it gently fall over the other without allowing the pelvis to lift off the floor. This is your turnout, now allow the leg to fall out away from your body, this is your turn in. Does this range change after a massage or pinkie ball work? See if you can determine what is structural and what is muscular tension.
Since the average range of turnout is 45 degrees, don't get so down on yourself for your turnout. Take an element at a time and work on it. For a week or so work on releasing, then stretch all the muscles around the hip for 5-10 minutes a day for another couple of weeks before going to strengthen. Consistency is key to improvement.
Best wishes, Margaret!
One more…
Final Question
Two years ago one of my dancers fractured her ankle. She was out of dance for 6 months. I made her wait out the rest of the year without pointe work, despite assurances from her mother and a note from her doctor that she could resume all dance activities.
Upon her return, her ankle was hyperextended in supination. She could hold the ankle straight, but her ability to overstretch that bone made me exceptionally cautious that she would now be far more susceptible to injury. (Growing up, my dance teacher always told us that after a break your body was never the same. She discouraged us from roller skating and skiing.) I allowed her to work en pointe, but with careful and slow return as if beginning again.
Because of the loss of a year of dance, and my not allowing her to proceed at full blast in pointe class, she felt I was holding her back against other students, and so did her mother. She wanted a solo that may have been due her before injury but her skills had fallen behind.
This past year she moved on to another dance school that her mother thinks is "professional" because they perform at places like Disney World once a year. Her mother emailed me that she had to work so hard this year to get up to the level of the new school.
In my heart I know that she had to work hard because of time off and injury. I know you'll tell me to buck up and not take it to heart, but I do. Did I do the correct thing in handling her injury? Also, I had discussed how I was handling her training post-injury with two other teachers I know who are strict RAD trained and they agreed.
Thanks, Stephanie
You're right. I would have handled the situation in the same way. Coming back to class after her injury her foot was rolling to the outside, or supinating. This could be because she naturally supinates, leaving her more vulnerable to ankle sprains and may have been part of why she injured it in the first place. It could also be that her support and strength around that ankle was not up to snuff, and she needed to retrain the muscles to support her in a neutral ankle position.
If she was unable to maintain a neutral ankle especially in movements such as grand plié, then she needed to strengthen the ankle more before going back fully on pointe. Dancers almost always fall off their shoes to the outside. A great exercise is to stand flat in pointe shoes and throw a ball, or sock, or anything small and light between your hands. That will help teach the dancer where the center of the joint is and at the same time strengthen the weaker muscles. Stand both in parallel and in turnout. Definitely a challenge!
Bottom line – you made the right choice!
Hope to see many of you in New York at the Dance Teacher Conference!
Warm regards,
Deborah
"Education is the key to injury prevention"
Have a Question?
Email your questions to Deb at AskDeb@thebodyseries.com or visit her online at http://www.thebodyseries.com.
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Deborah Vogel is a dancer, author, and master teacher who conducts workshops across the U.S. for both student and professional dancers. Her numerous articles on dance technique and injury prevention have appeared in Dance Spirit and Dance Teacher magazines. She is the Director of the Institute for Performance Studies and a faculty member at Oberlin College and the OC Conservatory of Music. During her years in NYC she co- founded the Center for Dance Medicine. Deborah makes her home in Oberlin, Ohio.
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