Over the last few weeks, I have been asking Dancers what they feel is the most important thing they can get from Physical Training and Strength and Conditioning. By far, the most popular answer was "Injury Prevention", "Stop me getting hurt" etc. This is brilliant for a number of reasons but mostly because it shows that Dancers recognise that there a ways in which we can create protective mechanisms throughout the body as a system when we perform Ballet or Jazz or Contemporary etc. The mechanisms of this injury prevention phenomenon are not really that well understood amongst sporting and Dance participants. In actual fact, a good injury prevention programme and performance enhancement progr

"Fear has a lot of Power... Fear is a Powerful thing... If you can figure out a way for Fear to be the thing that pushes you forward instead of holding you back, then you can become unstoppable..." Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992) After a week of self-reflection and conversation with a wide variety of non-dance experts around the subject of mental health in Dance and, interestingly, enabling Dancers to become more confident in their ability focus their attention on the process of learning, I am going to dedicate this article to, not just mental health, but moreover the consistency of striving to be resilient, strong and determined in the face of adversity. I wish to aid Dancers conquer their fea

I recognise I may come under some scrutiny for this viewpoint but thats ok... Lets begin some dialogue and discussion on this topic. I have had numerous conversations over the last week about dynamic stability and strategies that the body adopts in order to keep itself balanced. This has led me to entertain two big questions for Dancers and Dance Teachers. If you ask any Dance Teacher why they do Barre, they will tell you it aids to get a Dancer 'On their leg' before performing the centre practise and allows an opportunity to practise artistry and upper body movements in a stable environment so that we do not need to worry to much about the lower limbs. Yet at the same time Teachers would st

The myth of Strength training developing unwanted muscle mass for Dancers is becoming a somewhat historical phenomenon. So how does strength training work within the world of Dance. Dance More and You will be better and Dancing right? Well not necessarily, and I can understand that the last thing you might feel like doing, after removing your toe pads from the things your call feet, is lifting a weight or two. Generally speaking, a bigger barrier to initially starting strength training, particularly of the lower limbs, is the short term or acute responses to performing exercise. If we perform an introductory strength session on a Monday, you can bet your bottom dollar that muscular performan

Protein for Dancers. How to get the most from your recovery.