I tried out the Topple Test with the same group of students I’ve been working with this summer. We prepared for the test by working on plies and releves in 4th and passe balances. We spent a lot of time this past year making sure that the back feet weren’t rolling in while preparing for a pirouette. Everyone looked great balancing: hips were even, pelvises were neutral or almost neutral, and releves were high. We’re going to continue to work on core and rotator engagement. When I told them that the test involves a single and double pirouette, one dancer told me she’s never done a double pirouette, which I could not believe because her balances are so solid. We tried the test as a group, and she really couldn’t do a double. While there are some dancers who need to work on control during pirouettes, which there are a couple in this group, this particular dancer needs to have a bit less control. She can be very tentative in her movements and needs some more confidence in her abilities. A tip I’ve used with her before is to exhale in the pirouette prep to help with how tense she is.

I tried out the Saute Test with my students and made sure to take a video. I realized right before I made this post that I could slow the video down to have a better look at what was going on. I plan to use this as a tool to help students see what’s happening. I do wish I had moved while I was videoing to get a side view. We tried the test at the barre just to see how it would go the first time. In general, maintaining deep rotator and core engagement could be better. This is something that this group, as well as the other students I have during the year, could stand to work on. The three on the right, but especially the one in the skirt, have anterior pelvic tilts. Two of them understand the concept of a neutral pelvis and I’ve seen them make the correction on their own, but the one in the skirt has been really struggling. I did notice a couple of the dancers also sickling or winging a bit as they jump, but it didn’t really look like they landed sickled or winged, but please correct me if I’m wrong. A bit of a follow up question to Molly’s about turnout cues, is there a way to tell if dancers are using the correct muscles for turnout? I know we’ve discussed using the toes as a tool to see if it’s not coming from the hips, but what about if they’re turning out from the hips, but not the right hip muscles? I have an anterior pelvic tilt. When I take class, I’m able to pay attention to my body and keep myself in better alignment. However, when I teach, I can’t pay as much attention to my own alignment when demonstrating, so I revert to bad habits. I laughed a bit to myself when we got to the part in the slideshow last week that has the picture that shows how the kinetic chain is disrupted by an anterior pelvic tilt because all of that is what I’m dealing with right now. In my students, I mostly see some level of anterior tilt as well. I have a couple that it’s more substantial, like the dancer in the skirt mentioned above. Thinking about this is now making me wonder, is anterior pelvic tilt more common in dancers than posterior tilt? At what point should dancers with either tilt see a physical therapist?

Wow the airplane test is hard! I tried the test out with five students, and all had trouble. Three of them had been taking a class with another teacher the past few weeks that was basically conditioning, so I had expected them to be able to do the test better than they had. The two other students were dropping into class after time off, so I wasn’t expecting perfection from them. The most common problem was keeping their bodies even and parallel to the floor. Most reached their chests forward to try to reach the floor, even after being told reaching the floor isn’t the goal today. A couple really wanted to turn out the lifted leg, and a couple also had trouble keeping the supporting foot stable on the way up. I was happy to see that all kept their knees tracking over their middle toes in plie. I also tried out the test on my own after class and took a video. I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect since I’m currently waiting on a PT appointment for some hip/hamstring issues, but I figured I’d share anyway. Checking myself in the mirror threw off my form. I can see how using a dowel is helpful for body awareness. At this studio starting this coming year, we’re starting a new conditioning class that’s required for all dancers 1st grade and above. In years past we’ve had an optional conditioning class, but it didn’t have good enrollment. We’re hoping if everyone is taking the class, strength and control will be better across the board. I’ve been working with some younger students this summer to figure out what their classes are going to look like, and we’ve been working on balance, coordination, and basic dance steps. We talk a lot about “train track feet” in eleves and jumps and I introduced tripod foot last week when we worked on balancing. You mentioned before that clicking in the hip means that there isn’t sufficient control of the psoas. What about if someone is having pinching in the lower back in arabesque?

I was just looking over week 4's slideshow and am curious about the question on slide 7 about identifying hip tucking. I would love more information about what's being asked about there.

I tried out the grande plie in fifth test and was reminded just how challenging grande plie in fifth can be. It was definitely a great reminder to get back into more core work before the dance season begins again! I tend to have a bit of an anterior pelvic tilt and can feel such a difference in my alignment, for the better, when my core is strong. The tip for checking the toes for checking that turnout is coming from the hips and the knees is so helpful. It seemed like my dancers were able to tell that they were more stable when they weren't trying for "perfect" turnout and used their bodies to the best of their abilities. Do you have any advice on how to help dancers understand what core engagement is supposed to feel like? So many people, myself included, heard "belly button to spine" as a cue and that led to just sucking in stomachs.

I did the eleve exercise with two groups of students and forgot to take a picture both times. I talked to the dancers about the muscles and tendons before we started and showed them a few pictures so they had a better idea of what everything looks like. The group of students I work with year round was able to do the exercise pretty well, but had trouble with the toe gripping. There are a couple kids in this group that have complained in the past about cramping arches, so I'm excited for them to get out of the toe gripping habit. The group of students I'm working with for the summer had a harder time. This group is varied in age and ability, so we kept the number of eleves low. They also gripped their toes and were a bit wobbly. I don't have a lot of classes left with them, but I would love to get them more stable before my time with them is over.

I had class again with this group of students at the end of the week, and we tried the exercises again. This students confirmed that the pain was the TFL. I was more specific and clear on directions on how to sit during the exercises and reminded frequently to not grip muscles in the leg. This time there was no pain!

Dance medicine and science hasn't quite caught on in New Hampshire yet, so it was challenging to find a specialist in my area. The closest dance medicine specialist is in Massachusetts, 2 hours away from me. Below is her website. Seeing how challenging it can be to find a dance medicine specialist in my area makes me even more excited to learn more to keep my dancers safe and healthy so they don't have to travel so far to someone who understands how dancers work.

Today we started our summer dance program. It's a small group during the summer, but we tried out the pencil test and practiced the theraband exercises. We discussed keeping our toes long and not crunching them up while pointing, which is something that we're going to have to continue to work on. These dancers also had problems with calf gripping, and one said that the winging exercise on the left foot was bothering the outside of her thigh. I checked that she wasn't gripping her quad, what could have been the problem here?