University News

HEALTH ARTICLE

Daily dance and training: How can athletic training be sensibly integrated into a dancer’s everyday lives?
by Marlen Schumann (Dipl. TP '06)

In the last two newsletters, I wrote about which aspects of athletic training inspired me most as a dancer, which insights can be gained from the training sciences, and I referred to some of the existing initiatives in this regard. But ultimately, it is all about implementing this training in one’s own professional life as a dancer. How do we do this?

The approaches are different depending on whether one works as a freelancer or is employed by a company. Freelancers are fully responsible for structuring their own daily routines, and with the respective expertise they can allocate the necessary time for dance and athletic training. Training can be planned over a longer period while taking into consideration the rehearsal and performance phases.

In my opinion, for a dancer employed at an opera house or theatre, it is the company management’s responsibility to establish the structures for the dancers’ daily routines. Very often, there is a packed daily schedule that starts with ballet training in the morning, goes on with rehearsals, and ends with the evening performances.

Fortunately, there are increasing numbers of dance companies in Germany who promote the health and fitness of their dancers and allow free time for this. Two examples for this are the Health Program of the Leipzig Ballet (Podcast Fermate episode 14 of the Leipzig Opera: https://www.oper-leipzig.de/de/fermate) or, soon, the dance company of Landesbühnen Sachsen under its new director Natalie Wagner. Often, the scheduling is the biggest challenge. Fitness and health require time, and often this hasn’t been available up to now in the regular training and rehearsal schedules. This requires courage. The secret to success is not MORE training but SMARTER training!

What does SMARTER mean?

One fundamental factor is regeneration as part of the training. If this is neglected and training is continued to the point of exhaustion, injuries are an almost inevitable consequence. Stress-bearing capacity decreases and our physiological and mental strength are reduced.  Another aspect is the distribution of dance training and fitness training while considering rehearsal and performance times. With a full 90 minutes of dance training and rehearsals every day, there will be no energy left for strength, stamina, or somatic training. I speak out in favour of having the courage to replace dance training with well thought-out athletic training units. When these are adapted to the expected or actual requirements of a piece, dancers will immediately feel the benefits. Dance techniques can be optimized despite fewer hours of dance training. Fundamental athletic training should be permanently included in the schedule and should be oriented toward possible personal injury histories or the current needs of the dancers. By fundamental, I mean well-balanced full-body training, a minimum of twice a week, that also covers muscle chains that generally receive less attention in (classical) dance training. This promotes the muscles’ overall functionality and flexibility and will be beneficial for the dancer’s technique. Moreover, aerobic stamina training helps to improve stress-bearing capacity.

To realize this, there must be enthusiastic and committed people who guide the dancers:  doctors and physical therapists, fitness trainers and sports scientists.

Before the training starts, a screening should take place to determine the dancer’s current condition. This will be the basis for the training schedule that will be worked out together with the dancer. And this is where the challenge lies for all freelance dancers. If this is not organized and funded by a company, this step often represents a financial obstacle. I recommend beginning full-body training under the supervision of an experienced instructor. Here, the dancer’s current condition can also be determined even without a full-scale screening. This can also take place during the drafting of training schedule. This investment will be worth the while because it will constantly add knowledge and the dancers are enabled to exercise on their own and to have the instructor assist them only as necessary.

We have the advantage as dancers that we have excellent body perception skills and can understand and realize the corresponding movements and dynamics quickly. Our ability to consciously imagine movements helps us to swiftly familiarize ourselves with athletic training units.

Insights in the health programmes of the Royal Ballet and the Pacific Northwest Ballet show how such a training can function as an addition to dance training: