©Monika Volkmar 2016 www.danceproject.ca www.dancestronger.com Editors: Stacey Hacker Thomas Laura Donnelly TABLE OF CONTENTS #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… page 3 Chapter 1: Rants ………………………………………………………. page 32 Chapter 2: Unwinding Dance …………………………………………..page 48 Chapter 3: Concepts…………………………………………………………page 101 Chapter 4: Breathing………………………………………………………..page 141 Chapter 5: Core Training…………………………………………….…...page 166 Chapter 6: Outcome Measures………………………………………..page 196 Chapter 7: Warm-up and Movement Preparation……………page 216 Chapter 8: Explore Phase………………………………………………...page 237 Chapter 9 What Now?.........................................................page 248 APPENDIX: i. Program guidelines………………………………………………….page 274 ii. 3D Movement Exploration Worksheet……………………...page 282 iii. Goal Setting & Priorities Questionnaire…………………....page 283 iv. Referenced Resources……………………………………………….page 284 #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 2 INTRODUCTION THE TRUTH ABOUT DANCE STRONGER I will be honest. Dance Stronger started as a healing process for me. This book, and the program accompanying it, are selfish ventures. They are the result of my need to understand the human body, and, more specifically, my own body and the many things I believed were “wrong” with it. It began as an accidental discovery- that strength training had positive benefits on my own dance performance, and that this (cross-training for dance) was something I was put on Earth to share with other dancers. I knew that it didn’t need to be an either/or choice: To dance but live day-to-day in pain, or to not dance at all. I knew dancers could have both, and I was set on figuring out how. This was something worth dedicating my life to, something that energized me and made me want to get out of bed every morning. At a pivotal point in my career it became clear that performing dance professionally was not for me, but I also I refused to let this get me down and prevent me #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 3 from living another day less than wholeheartedly, as Brene Brown, author of Daring Greatly, would say. Dance Stronger, became my new obsession and source of joy. As the Buddhist saying goes, “Live in just a happy frame of mind”. Dance Stronger is rooted in my experience in my own body, inspired by the clients I’ve worked with, and supported by evidence from several fields of study, not limited to the dance sciences, including strength and conditioning, neuroscience, the physiology and mechanics of breathing and respiration, physical therapy and injury rehabilitation, pain science, mindfulness and meditation, human behavior, human movement and biomechanics, and athletic development. It is time to stop looking at the world dance through the one, same, traditional, lens we’ve always used that limits us and our potential. Dance Stronger aims to take a multidisciplinary approach, considering the training and education of a dancer from many points of view, and at many levels. A well-rounded dancer requires a well- rounded approach to their training. Dance-only is dead. This book was written for the dancers who are tired of being injured. The dancers who are frustrated that they push themselves to their limits to improve yet still feel as if they are spinning their wheels, stuck at a plateau. And this book is for the dancers who want to reduce their risk of preventable injuries while performing at their highest level of dance, whatever that means for them. If you are reading this book, then my guess is that you will fit into at least one of these types of people: #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 4 1) You are a dancer and, while you haven’t had any severe injuries yet, you’re curious about how you can use cross-training to improve your dance technique, strength, and efficiency of movement while preventing future injuries. You want to learn about the theory and philosophy of strength training for dance and to reduce daily aches and pains so you can experience the joy of dance to the fullest. 2) You are one of the many dancers who, sadly, has already experience a plethora of injuries, and you’ve finally decided you want to end the cycle. You want to overcome the adaptations created by these past injuries, regain the strength and movement quality necessary to prevent the same things from happening again, and dance better than ever before, for as long as possible. 3) You don’t really consider yourself a dancer, but you take classes, you love it, and you want to learn how to make your body more resilient so that you can continue to participate in this beautiful movement practice sustainably and at your optimum potential and for as long as you like. 4) You are a dance teacher and you want to share with other dancers, your students, your children, your friends, or your colleagues a more sustainable way to train for dance. You want to set a good example for what the future of dance training could look like, help your students learn safer dance practices, prevent #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 5 injuries and educate yourself on what a strength training program for dancers looks like. Whatever category best describes you, I feel confident wagering that the keystone is that you are curious about how strength training can make you a smarter, safer, and stronger dancer. This book and the accompanying program were designed to enhance how your body moves and feels, however, this is just the beginning of what I hope becomes a life-long journey. A process of your own. And, as with any exercise program, everything works, but nothing works forever. The only certainty in life is change, and you will need to find new things to challenge yourself. This program may be just that- a change and a challenge, but don’t restrict yourself only to this resource. I encourage you, upon completion, to continue to experiment, to seek guidance from a trusted movement or therapy professional. Continue to use the exercises from this program that work for you and leave behind the ones that don’t challenge you and don’t change you. If you plan to participate in the training program, bear in mind that, whenever possible, I’ve done my best to include variations, regressions, and progressions for exercises in the training program, but this is not a customized program tailored to your individual needs. It is a general program for a specific population- dancers, but all dancers are individuals, and no program claiming to work for one population, such as dancers, swimmers, or mountain unicyclists, is telling the truth with such a claim. Nothing beats a custom-tailored #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 6 program based on an initial assessment done in person by a qualified individual. This book was written on the fundamental premise that you were a human being before you became a dancer. Human motion is our birthright, but to dance is a privilege we must earn. It is my genuine hope that this program helps ignite in you a desire similar to my own- to take back your right to human movement and enhance your dance practice. Dance Stronger is a multi-media guide aiming to share a philosophy, perhaps one that is slightly different than the norm in the dance world, for developing strength that will support your dancing, help you to develop a greater tolerance to factors that can cause injuries, and help you dance sustainably at the level you desire. If you are reading this it means you’re ready to take taken an important step that will help add years of healthy dancing to your life. Whether you are a complete beginner, or already have been dancing for decades, you’ll find that Dance Stronger will shine light on an alternative way to overcome limitations and plateaus that simply dancing more cannot help you with. If you are like me, you’re eager to get cracking as soon as possible on this program, because you wanted to be stronger yesterday, but please, exercise your patience and read through the book before you start the first exercise in the program. The method- the training, means nothing without the philosophy to support it. Dance Stronger is #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 7 an experiential learning tool to both change how you think about training for dance as well as give you the exercises to help you apply what you are learning from the reading. To paraphrase another Buddhist saying, as soon as you find yourself becoming attached to a method, drop it. The method is simply a finger pointing to the moon, not to be confused with the moon itself. Keep an open mind as you read on. Put what you think you know about conditioning for dance aside for the time being. You can always come back to it when you have finished this book. HOW TO USE THE DANCE STRONGER PROGRAM From this book you’ll get my philosophy for successful supplementary training for dance. This philosophy applies to any type of movement form or physical activity you already participate in, including dance. While the Dance Stronger program was designed to be an efficient delivery system for embodying this philosophy, it is not necessary to participate in it if you already have a cross-training practice- Applying the philosophy from this book will be enough. If you are planning to participate in the Dance Stronger program (as I hope you will), I encourage you to go through this check-list before starting the physical execution of the program to make sure you don’t miss a thing: #DanceStronger ©Monika Volkmar 2016 8 Dance Stronger Check-List for Success □ Read the book. I feel that without reading the concepts I’ve described in the written portion of Dance Stronger, you won’t have anything to apply to the physical execution.