JUNE / JULY 20 17 | W W W.DANCEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
8 / INSTEP
Train smarter, not harder
Dancers know how to work hard. We
push ourselves to the edge to achieve
physical feats that will amaze and
astound our audiences. The expectation
to excel is one that is learnt early in
dance training. But do we need to start
questioning if there are better ways to
train smarter to avoid the risk of
undesirable outcomes like chronic
fatigue, injury, overtraining, and burnout?
Achieving excellence is not just
about putting in long hours at the
studio. Dancers can also benefit from
monitoring their training to be aware of
their individual training and recovery
needs. Monitoring training can be as
simple as checking your heart rate
when you first wake up, keeping a log
of how many hours you’ve slept and
how rested you feel upon waking, and
using a simple rating scale (e.g., from 1
to 5) to check how demanding you feel
your training sessions were each day.
By using these tools, you’ll notice
when you’ve not recovered well from
your training – tell-tale signs include
changes in resting heart rate, difficulty
sleeping, and feeling like you need to
put in more effort than usual to do your
training. This will help you identify
times when you need to pull back on
your training and increase your
recovery. Once you start to become
familiar with how things look and feel
when you’re in peak condition, you’ll
recognise when things aren’t going
well and be able to make changes to
get you back on track.- Peta Blevins MSc and Luke
Hopper PhD.
WEST Australian Ballet (WAB) has announced
a new collaboration with Darwin-based
Indigenous choreographer and artistic director
of NT Dance Company (NTDC), Gary Lang.
WAB and Lang will work together on a
project that will culminate with a world
premiere at the 2018 Ballet at the Quarry
season. The project will feature Indigenous
opera singer Deborah Cheetham AO,
Indigenous (Bungal) dancers, NTDC
dancers, WAB dancers, a traditional songman and didgeridoo (Yidaki) player.
The project’s creative development began in
October, 2016. Lang, Cheetham and three
NTDC dancers will come to Perth for a second
creative development in October. During this
time Lang will meet with local Noongar elders
and artists.
The project will include cultural awareness
training for all West Australian Ballet staff and
dancers. Lang will also hold masterclasses to
engage the wider dance community in Perth.North & West connect
This column is provided and
sponsored by Harlequin Floors.
http://www.harlequinfloors.comA photo from the first creative
development showing.PHOTO: NICHOLAS GOLDHURST