IADMS Miami 2000   [back to the Category]

Dance Conditioning   [read the french version]

Author :   Karen Clippinger, M.S.P.E.

Author: Karen Clippinger, M.S.P.E. California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA

Some studies suggest that dancers may have lower strength in some muscle groups than other athletes, or than may be optimal. Increasing strength in muscles key for dance may decrease incidence of some types of injuries and may enhance performance of some types of movements. However, many dancers may not have access or economic means to allow utilization of traditional or non-traditional strength training apparatus. Hence, this conditioning class is designed to allow the use of elastic resistance and body weight for resistance; allowing it to be readily utilized in the studio or university setting with minimal cost. Offering these exercises in a class format also provides the motivation and personal correction that is often insufficient in home-programs. This conditioning class was taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently being taught at California State University, Long Beach. It is designed to strengthen muscle groups that are particularly important for dance, including the abdominals, upper back, scapular adductors, shoulder external rotators, iliopsoas, hip deep outward rotators, foot invertors, and foot evertors. Many exercises are designed to replicate components of dance movements, only with added resistance, in an effort to facilitate transfer to dance performance. Variations on the exercises can be easily used to allow modification for different skill and strength levels of the participants.

This is the abstract of a paper presented at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, held 27-29 October 2000 in Miami, Florida, USA. All rights are reserved by the individual author(s).