Dance/NOW: ECU Dance Blog #19

Hello Dancers!!

This week is the Spring 2016 semester registration week! Make sure you have met with your adviser as well as Beth Fuller to be sure you are taking the correct classes to graduate!


 ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

SENIOR CHOREOGRAPHY SHOWING
This is the final senior choreography showing before show weekend! It will take place on Thursday November 5th from 5:30-7pm. If you are in the show and will not be able to attend, please contact your choreographer as soon as possible. I cant wait to see everyone's beautiful dancing and choreography!!
The show will take place the weekend of November 21-22. :)

LIGHTS UP AND CONTEMPORARY CONCERT
Keep your eyes out for incoming information on callboard about applications for these two shows! "Lights Up" is an informal student choreography showcase and "Contemporary Concert" is a formal showing of contemporary works done both by faculty and students. 

REHEARSAL SCHEDULES
Keep an eye out each week for changes and/or additions to the main-stage and senior choreography rehearsal schedule. This schedule gets sent out on call-board and it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to stay up to date with changes.  You don't want to miss a rehearsal that is on the schedule, so stay vigilant and check every day! :)


DANCE SCIENCE NEWS
Teal Darkenwald has sent out an email on callboard requesting availability for all those who are interested in being a part of dance science here at ECU. We are in the process of creating a dance science club and would love for all of you to be a part of it! There will be a meeting soon where these details and the upcoming dance research project will be discussed, so make sure you let Teal know you are interested by responding to the callboard email post! :)

 CONGRATS!!! 

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL HALLOWEEN BOOTH
A huge Thank You to Melissa Henley, Noelle Dave, Donterreo Culp, Nicole Gemmell, Chloe Ament, and Shannon Wright for volunteering at the Children's Hospital for their Halloween booth event. These kids do not get to go out trick or treating on halloween, so this event is their only chance to dress up and enjoy halloween festivities. Your time and efforts mean the world to these kids and their families, THANK YOU!

URCA  GRANT
Congrats to Kanon Sapp for receiving the URCA Grant! 

INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEK 

"I have failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." -Michael Jordan

"Work Hard. Don't Give Up. Finish Strong."

I have included a summary below of Volume 19, Number 3 of the "Journal of Dance Medicine & Science" for your review. This research article speaks about the importance of cardiorespiratory work outside of dance classes in order to be at the correct athletic level for dance performance. If you would like access to the full article, contact Teal Darkenwald @ Darkenwaldt@ecu.edu

With Love,

       Nicole Gemmell

ECU chapter of the National Honor Society for dance Arts, President

East Carolina Dance Association, Secretary

AND

      John Dixon

Dance Area Coordinator

JOURNAL OF DANCE MEDICINE & SCIENCE: VOLUME 19, NUMBER 3

Josianne Ridrigues-Krause, M.Sc., Mauricio Krause, Ph.D., and Alvaro Reischak-Oliveira, Ph.D.

Summary by: Nicole Gemmell

·        -Supplementary HIIT (high intensity interval training) is important for dancers to optimize dancers’ technical and artistic performance and to reduce the incidence of injury.

·        -Lack of appropriate rest due to demanding dance schedules may negatively affect dancers’ fitness levels.

·        -Nutritionally, low percentage of body fat (being too skinny) correlates to the length of time a dancer is forced to modify activity due to injury.

·       -Dancer Fitness requires:

o   Muscle Power Reserve- for powerful jumps

o   Muscular Endurance- for petite allegro

o   Cardiorespiratory Endurance- for grand adage or warmup

·         -Your aerobic capacity influences performance and can take you to the next level as a dancer. Having a high aerobic capacity means you will be able to focus on the technique and not on how tired you are- Hence, you become a better dancer.

·         -Compared to other elite athletes in aerobic sports (cyclists, runners), dancers tend to have a lower than recommended daily caloric intake. This results in a limited energy reserve and the dancers’ muscles may suffer fatigue more rapidly, leading to a higher risk of injury.

·         -In general, overtraining and overuse injuries are most common in dancers. Fatigue leaves the muscles around the joint weak and vulnerable to injury.

·         -The cardiorespiratory demands of dance classes have been reported to be significantly lower than those of dance performances.

o   The effective time of exercise during dance classes is only about 50% of the total class time.

o   Dance classes as a whole are not physically demanding enough to enhance dancers’ cardiorespiratory fitness. (This can be due to the long rest periods between exercises)

·         -Dance class training is significantly different than dance performance when looking at VO2 levels and Heart Rate. Rehearsals fall somewhere in between depending on style and genre because the dancers spend more time in constant movement.

·         -Dancers present low aerobic capacity and strength levels when compared to other athletes, likely due to fitness plateaus maintained during their daily dance training (which focuses on technical development).

·         -The dancers’ extra training requires manipulation of volume, intensity, and frequency in order to avoid dramatic changes in intensity as seasons approach, which can lead to overuse injury.

·         -Dancers’ fear that extra training will lead to bulky, inflexible, muscular joints- however several studies have demonstrated that this is not the case. In fact, muscular endurance and flexibility have actually been improved through extra training.

·         -The busy schedule of a dancer does not always allow for outside training. It is suggested that repeated bouts of high intensity short duration exercises be done center floor in class. Ex: 5 minute routines including 3 sets of 20 second high intensity sprint-like exercise interspersed with 2 minutes of active recovery.

·         -Supplementary fitness training enhances not only dancers’ aerobic capacity, strength, body composition, and flexibility, but also their aesthetic competence.