Pilates and Conditioning for Dancers E-Book

Jane Paris

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 179

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Professional dance is an exciting but demanding career to choose, and the dancer of today needs to be physically prepared for the stress on the body that a performing life entails. Pilates and Conditioning for Dancers is a practical guide to exercises designed specifically for dance students and professionals alike. The focus on how to choose exercises that suit the individual offers dancers the freedom to optimize their performance potential in a flexible environment. Key topics covered are Core Control; Turnout; The Healthy Spine; Footwork; Jumping and Landing. This new book covers each area of the body, relating the exercises closely to dance technique and providing movement solutions for dancers of al styles and at all stages of their performing career.

Leseprobe

PRESSPILATES ANDCONDITIONINGFOR DANCERS

PRESSPILATES ANDCONDITIONINGFOR DANCERS

Jane Paris

First published in 2021 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2021

© Jane Paris 2021

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 837 5

Photography by Robert Gravenor, except where otherwise credited

Cover design by Maggie Mellett

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface: A Personal Note

The Cast List: Contributor Biographies

Introduction: How Are You Today?

1. To Protect and Perfect: Your Starting Point2. Balancing the Spirit Level: Core Control3. The Foundation of Technique: Turnout4. Supportive Spirals: The Healthy Spine5. Building a Strong Foundation: Footwork6. Taking Flight: Jumping and Landing7. Pick and Mix: Putting it All Together

Equipment

Key Terms and Anatomical Notes

Further Reading

Index

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people, both in my past and my present, whose help I wish to acknowledge.

First, there is Margaret Durrant, my first ballet teacher, who set the ball rolling on a life spent in dance. In a cold church hall with a solid floor, Miss Durrant made the RAD classes fun and made us believe that anything was possible.

If I had not attended the studio of Ruth French in the London borough of Chelsea, I doubt I would have become so fascinated by technique. She both inspired and terrified me, and her stories of Pavlova and Karsavina brought ballet history alive. I loved the tiny upstairs studio looking down on the fashionable King’s Road and it was there that I realized how difficult ballet technique really was and the commitment and hard work it required.

Noreen Bush and the teaching staff at Bush Davies, East Grinstead, really did make school days very happy – what a joy suddenly to be dancing all day! Miss Bush believed in me and the varied dance education made us all versatile and certainly developed us as performers. One of the lines in the school song was ‘integrity our rule’ and I hope I have carried that ethos forward in to my teaching career.

In my Pilates career my biggest ‘thank you’ goes to Avi Shoshana, who first interested me in the method and who encouraged and trained me to teach. In common with many teachers in the UK, and further afield, I owe a debt to Alan Herdman, the teacher who first brought the method to this country. He was a great help when I opened my premises in Edinburgh, the first Pilates studio in Scotland.

I have taught for many years in ballet and dance companies around the world, and during that time my friends and colleagues in The Network have provided a support system and collaborative group that has shaped the direction of my work. Some of their exercises are in this book, so thank you to Barbara Harris (Boston Ballet), Clarice Marshall (Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company and the JKO school), Jennifer Mills (Birmingham Royal Ballet), Leila Kester (Nederlands Dans Theatre and Dutch National Ballet) and Paula Baird-Colt (the Australian Ballet).

Over recent years I have worked as a consultant to the Norwegian Olympic Association at Olympiatoppen, Oslo. This has developed my work further in the field of optimizing performance and I have learnt a lot about coaching skills from Morten Braaten and the rest of the motor control department there. Thank you to all of them for their generosity in sharing ideas.

My thanks go to Kevin O’Hare, Director, Royal Ballet, for his support in this project and for allowing me to use Company dancers to illustrate the exercises. He was also encouraging when I wanted to work with the Norwegian Olympic Association to broaden my knowledge and experience.

Further thanks go to Greg Retter, former Clinical Director of the Mason Healthcare Suite at The Royal Ballet, for his permission to use the Pilates studio for the photographs – and for encouraging me to write the book.

I must also thank Balanced Body, based in Sacramento, California, the manufacturers of the Pilates equipment you will see in the photographs. I am grateful to them not only for their permission to show their products in this book, but also for their support to the wider Pilates community around the world over many years. Even with the growth of the business from the garage of the founder, Ken Endelman, to the worldwide organization of today, they have remained a friendly and generous company. Ken continues to innovate and improve Pilates equipment.

The dancers who gave their time as my models truly deserve huge applause! In their demanding schedules they made time to make a significant contribution to this book. Marianela Núñez is one of the most celebrated ballerinas in the world today and her dedication to her art shines through these photographs. Marcelino Sambé was a first soloist with The Royal Ballet when these pictures were taken, but has since been promoted to principal dancer and is one of the exciting younger generation of leading male artists. Nadia Mullova-Barley is an artist in the corps de ballet with a very promising career ahead of her. Without the inspiration of the dancers of the Company, many of these exercises would not even have evolved. There is never a dull day around such talented and hard-working individuals.

The wonderful images in this book are the work of Robert Gravenor, whose input has been invaluable. As a former dancer with The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, he has a great eye for the detail required and was the perfect fit as the final member of the team. A big thank you to you, Rob!

My husband, Andy, is the best support and without him none of this would have made it into print. This book is dedicated to him.

PREFACE: A PERSONAL NOTE

I am indebted to many great dance teachers, movement educators and my colleagues in dance companies around the world for their careful work and inspiration. Over the years I have also learnt from working closely with some of the greatest performers of their generation – they have been the catalyst for the invention of many new exercises.

When I was a ballet student, I was inspired and encouraged by one book in particular: it was entitled Dance! Therapy for Dancers, and was written by Beryl Dunn, who was at the time the physiotherapist for The Royal Ballet. I would like to think that my book will encourage others in the same way.

Writing this book has also brought back fond memories of my own Pilates instructor, the late Avi Shoshana, who originally inspired and encouraged me to follow this career path. He gave me his time with great generosity and led me to teaching with a flexible approach based on the individual and not following a rigid system. His focus was always on finding and doing what worked best for each participant, not on simply knowing hundreds of exercises. He felt that memorizing a list of exercises was beside the point. His work was about understanding the movement and the person and how those two elements went together. It was frustrating for me at times, as an apprentice who was keen to know more and yet more. But now with years of experience behind me, as Avi himself had, I better understand what he was trying to tell me.

Avi wanted me to teach the Pilates Method in a selective, considered way, respecting the principles but bending the rules when required. I hope I have lived up to his expectations.

THE CAST LIST: CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES

THE DANCERS

Marianela Núñez

Marianela is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest classical dancers in the world today.

Marianela Núñez.

She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and began dancing at the age of three. Later she trained at the Teatro Colon School and joined the Teatro Colon company at fourteen. Marianela spent a year at The Royal Ballet Upper School before joining the Company in 1998. She became a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet in 2002 and dances all the leading roles of the classical repertoire as well as the Ashton and Macmillan ballets for which the company is renowned.

Her many awards include Best Female Dancer at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards in 2005, 2012 and 2018.

Marianela appears as a guest artist with companies around the world, including American Ballet Theatre, La Scala, Milan, and the Australian Ballet.

Marcelino Sambé

Marcelino is one of the most exciting principal dancers of today. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, he began his ballet training at the National Conservatoire in 2004 and in 2010 won a scholarship to The Royal Ballet Upper School. After two years at the school he was offered a contract with The Royal Ballet.

Marcelino Sambé.

In his time in the Company Marcelino has danced many notable roles of the established repertoire, including Romeo, Colas, Lescaut and Oberon. He has also created roles in new works such as Wolf Works, Flight Pattern and The Cellist. He was promoted to principal in 2019.

Marcelino’s awards include the Critics’ Circle Best Classical Male Performance award in 2017, for Colas, and Best Male Dancer in 2019.

Nadia Mullova-Barley

Nadia is still in the early stages of what will surely be a rewarding career with The Royal Ballet. She started her dance training aged seven, with Anna du Boisson. At the age of eleven, she began full-time vocational training at The Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, before moving on to The Royal Ballet Upper School. During her graduate year, Nadia was awarded an apprentice contract with The Royal Ballet under the Aud Jebsen Young Dancers programme. Having gained much corps de ballet experience with the company in her first season, she was promoted to Artist in 2018.

Nadia Mullova-Barley.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Robert Gravenor was born in Cumbria. He began dance classes as a child and joined The Royal Ballet School, White Lodge, and then The Royal Ballet Upper School. In 1996 he joined The Royal Ballet and after two years moved to the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Following his dance career, Robert pursued a passion for photography and film-making. He has been involved in many compelling dance and film projects and currently works as an editor and camera operator in London, mainly creating short films on the visual and performing arts. Robert is married and has a son, Harry.

Robert Gravenor.

THE AUTHOR

Jane spent her childhood in Surrey and, after training as a dancer, performed for ten years. She undertook her Pilates training in London with Avi Shoshana, initially in Floral Street, Covent Garden, just a stone’s throw from the studio in the Royal Opera House where she now works.

Jane Paris. ANDY YORK

Her former studio, The Edinburgh Pilates Centre, was the first in Scotland. Here she taught clients ranging from Scottish Ballet and the Dundee Rep Dance Company, to Scottish rugby players, as well as the general public.

Returning to live near London, Jane taught at both the Arts Educational School, Turnham Green, and Elmhurst Ballet School, Camberley. She then took over Pilates teaching at The Royal Ballet Upper School and The Royal Ballet Company in Barons Court, west London. In 1999, after the refurbishment of the Royal Opera House, she moved to the current studio.

Teaching in Havana in 2010 and 2011, Jane started the Pilates programme for the Cuban National Ballet and, since 2012, she has worked as a consultant in the technical and motor control department of the Norwegian Olympics at Olympiatoppen, Oslo. She continues to teach classes and workshops in dance companies internationally. This includes visits to the Norwegian Ballet in Oslo and teaching for the Mark Morris Dance Group both in Brooklyn and on their tours to the UK. Student teaching includes the summer intensive course at The Royal Ballet Upper School.

Jane has an MA in Ballet Studies from Roehampton University. She has been a member of IADMS for many years, and has presented at several of their conferences worldwide. She has also presented for the FA at St George’s Park and for the Norwegian Olympic Association.

Living in Kent, but also spending as much time as possible at her home in the Algarve, Portugal, Jane has now been with The Royal Ballet Company for over twenty-five years.

INTRODUCTION: HOW ARE YOU TODAY?

If you were coming in to my Pilates studio, my first question to you would be, ‘How are you today?’ It is not simply a matter of being polite; it is the starting point for us working constructively together. Whatever level you dance at, and in whatever dance form, this moment of reflection and analysis is where we all begin. I will come back to this thought later.

My own work has been almost entirely with elite-level professional dancers and athletes. However, whilst I hope those people will read it and gain practical advice from it, this book is specifically aimed at dancers who do not usually enjoy the same extensive support system as elite performers. For those dancers, it is always going to be more difficult to answer the ‘how are you’ question – or at least more difficult to translate the right answer into positive action. I want to help any dancer in any dance form who does not have ready access to Pilates practitioners or conditioning coaches, and those who would like to gain a deeper understanding of a professional conditioning programme. This book is for students preparing for a professional career, for freelance contemporary or theatre dancers, and anyone in a small ballet or touring company. All these individuals need to be able to make their own informed choices about how they can best support and enhance their technique and reach their full performance potential. It is vitally important in a career where time is precious for dancers to know that what they are doing to improve or rehabilitate themselves will make a positive difference.

This book sets out some self-help strategies for all those who do not have access to a high level of help, to enable them to ask more informed questions of themselves. It will hopefully also benefit dance teachers, as they seek to support their dancers’ development.

In selecting the exercises shown in this book, I have tried to pick those that, over twenty-five years of working with some of the world’s best dancers and athletes, I have found to be the most useful to the most people. They represent a ‘tool box’ to fix common problems and a ‘pick and mix’ selection, to improve movement patterns that will enhance technique. Not all of them require equipment or access to a studio or gym; some can be done using only a few small props.

The exercises should not place too great a demand on time either. Every dancer I know has very little spare time, nor do they have excess energy to waste. As a result, no dancer should be doing any exercise that does not have a specific benefit at that particular moment. Going back to my original question – ‘How are you today?’ – it means that everyone needs to identify the most effective and beneficial way to work, given all the other demands of their day.

I hope this book will interest both the Pilates novice and the seasoned professional and that it will provide simple, practical support in times of need. Dancers are constantly striving to improve their technique, but at the same time they need to protect themselves from the extremely high toll taken on the body that a career in dance inevitably involves. Every dancer will sustain an injury at some time, so having an understanding of the workings of the body and some reliable exercises and strategies to hand will be a real asset. This knowledge is often gained through training with great dance teachers, but supplementary training methods such as Pilates are an invaluable additional educational tool.

There are many excellent books on anatomy, physiology and dance technique available, and it is worth searching them out and learning from them. Knowledge of anatomy will certainly help you have a better understanding of Pilates work and you will find it helpful if you sustain an injury to study the joints and muscles involved as you rehabilitate, but it is a vast topic. As it is not practical to try to cover it in any detail here, a list of key terms and anatomical notes can be found at the back of the book, in addition to further recommended reading. Anatomical terms will be kept to a minimum in describing the chosen exercises, but sometimes it is impossible to avoid using the name of a particular muscle or muscle group, as it saves time. If you are unsure about any of the anatomical terms that are used, please look them up in a reference book to clarify them for yourself.

There are times when I am working face to face with a dancer when we have to discuss the anatomical focus – especially in injury rehabilitation. Clearly, in those cases, anatomical terms have to be used. It is vital when talking about injuries with medical professionals, but it is not essential to achieving the aims of this book. Some dancers are interested in the anatomical aspect of Pilates and that is great, but for many it is unnecessary information and they learn better from a more sensory-based teaching.

However, dance terms will be used throughout, on the assumption that everyone who reads this will be familiar with the terminology. This book is, after all, aimed at those who are dedicated to a career in dance and who will have grown up with this language.

There is another reason why I prefer to avoid including too much anatomical information – one that I consider to be of great importance. Dance is an art form. Despite being compared for some decades now to elite athletes, dancers are artists. Too much focus on the physical components of a movement can lead to an over-analytical attitude and a lack of spontaneity in their approach to the work. In experiencing Pilates and other somatic therapies, I feel it is better to focus on the feel and the intention of the movement. The quality and control of the action should be cued with visual imagery, imagination and kinesthetic awareness. This is why in the exercise instructions you will find a separate cue of ‘Focus’, which will sometimes provide an image or thought to aid the quality of movement or to refine the intention beyond the physical execution.

At other times, the ‘Focus’ box might have a more practical element, reminding you, for example, to ‘check your hip to knee alignment’. In these instances, I have included them because, when observing a particular action, I have identified a correction that is commonly needed.

This book is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to everything the Pilates method offers. There are a number of good textbooks on Pilates, some of which are listed later. My writing is aimed at the individual dancer who needs help now, today and in the moment. It will provide ideas on how to decide what is appropriate for each individual in the moment. I almost feel that there are no bad exercises. It is always about the way in which they are approached and executed and the movement quality that results from doing them that is either good or bad. Dance is an art not a sport, and quality and intention must always underpin the movement.

One of the enduring traits of dancers is that the competitive nature of their profession means that they tend to seek immediate help anywhere, without always applying much quality control on the advice they find. Their sense of urgency – that a step has to be perfected ‘now’ – is understandable, but the information should always be filtered, and reliable sources identified. When I look at blogs and podcasts from inexperienced if well-meaning individuals offering their advice on how to achieve higher extensions or better arches in the feet, I shudder to think of the damage that could be caused to the body of a dancer who follows it – especially a young dancer, whose determination to excel may cause them to act unwisely.

It is essential to say that there are no magic exercises. Simple, regular and non-extreme consistent work based on sound knowledge is the only beneficial way forward. There are no short-cuts.

WHY CHOOSE PILATES?

I have worked alongside many excellent Pilates practitioners, as well as outstanding people in other areas of training and the wider fitness industry. I still have not found an exercise method that is as appropriate for dancers as Pilates. It does not answer all training needs, in that it always needs to be combined with, for example, some work to improve cardiovascular fitness. However, in other respects it is almost perfect. Many aspects of dance technique can be improved through Pilates exercises and no rule of dance technique is ever ignored as the principles of both are similar.

A Pilates studio.