Dance provides many benefits to mind, body and spirit.

At Dancetastic we have created a foundation of professional teaching and supervision within a warm, encouraging atmosphere. Some of the benefits enjoyed by dancers:

Dancing is fun!

CHILDREN’S FITNESS TAX CREDIT
The Government of Canada will allow a non-refundable tax credit on eligible amounts of up to $500 paid by parents to register a child (under the age of 16) in an eligible program of physical activity (DANCE LESSONS AT D.T.S).

Improved health and fitness:

• It helps your co-ordination
• It helps your strength
• It helps your stamina
• It helps your flexibility and gives you healthier joints
• It helps your balance and posture
• You burn calories
• You'll get plenty of cardiovascular exercise
• Better mental co-ordination - dance required extensive use of memory and timing!
• Dancing develops self-esteem, as well as leadership and teamwork skills
• Dancers learn about other art forms
• You will build new, lifelong friendships
• And don’t forget - it’s fun!

Why your warm-up is so important

Whilst some injuries are unavoidable, many are the result of your body not being prepared for what you are asking it to do. A warm-up before exercising is an important part of injury prevention.

A good warm-up is a group of exercises performed immediately before an activity that provides the body with a period of adjustment from rest to exercise. It is designed to improve performance and reduce the chance of injury by preparing the dancer mentally as well as physically.

A warm-up will:

Make muscles more flexible

This allows greater movement at the joints and reduces the risk of injury. Muscle elasticity depends on how much blood is running through it, so cold muscles with little blood in them are more likely to become injured or damaged. Think of muscle being like a blob of Blu-tack. When Blu-tack is cold you can stretch it so far and then it will snap. But when Blu-tack is warm you can stretch and stretch it and it feels gooey. So it is with your muscles - it is simply the warm blood rushing through the muscle that warms it up on the way past and makes the muscle fibres more elastic. It's a bit like the hot water in the radiator heating up the whole of a room.

Prepare your breathing for exercise

This allows more oxygen to be breathed in and more carbon dioxide to be breathed out. If you have warmed up well you will feel less 'out of breath' in the exercise that follows than if you try it from 'cold'.

Make your heart beat faster and stronger

This delivers more oxygen and glucose to the muscles. Oxygen and glucose are used as fuel to make energy, and then the muscles use this energy to create movement.

Increases the internal body temperature.
Capillaries in the skin will dilate (open up) and so you will look more pink, or even red. You will also start sweating as the intensity of the exercise increases. The reason you sweat is to lose heat so that your body does not become dangerously hot inside.

Allows your nerve fibres to work more efficiently.
The brain can then react by telling the muscles to work in a certain way, and so many potential mistakes and injuries are avoided.

Allows time to focus.
This means the dancer can concentrate on the exercise to follow, and if you are less distracted then you are less likely to have an accident.

Increases the range of movement available at joints. This is due to an increase in the elasticity of the tendons, muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues. So, for example, you may find that your kicks are higher after a warm-up than before.

How to warm up

Your Dancetastic teacher will help you warm up. These are some common techniques:
Gentle jogging, marching, skipping or similar rhythmical activity.

Exercises of a steady rhythmical nature involving other joints of the body, such as gentle knee bends, arm swings, sways, trunk rotation, step ball change. None of these should reach end of range of movement so muscles and joints are not overstretched. Incorporating arm movements at this stage will increase the effects of the warm-up.

Gentle stretches to the large muscle groups, holding each stretch for 10-15 seconds. An increase in flexibility through stretching may reduce the incidence of muscle and tendon injuries.

Balance exercises, such as standing on one leg, then being able to control bending and straightening the supporting leg and rising on to demi-pointe.

The steps in the warm-up should be not overstretch you and should not include sudden changes in direction, complicated leaps or turns. At the end of the warm-up you should feel warm, relaxed and ready for action. If not, you have either done too much, or not enough!

Cool-down

Cool-down at the end of class is also beneficial. After working hard in class, it allows the body to gradually wind down towards a resting state rather than suddenly stopping.

Your body will return to its pre-exercise state more quickly if you perform light exercise during the recovery period than just stop.

It should allow you to relax physically and mentally, and will help to prevent muscle soreness and injury.