A common response to why adults seek ballet as an exercise to reduce stress, anxiety, or feeling spaced out, is "to get a sense of my body". Ballet is ethereal, yet taking adult ballet classes is a great way to get grounded.
If you take the big step and find a dance studio that provides adult ballet classes, how do you prepare yourself?
First, go and visit the ballet school, and observe the dance instruction in the adult ballet section. Before you buy any ballet wear, you can find out the dress code, and the the type of ballet leotards and tights most frequently worn. Check out the ballet shoes that are either required, or free for you to choose. Black or pink, black or white for men in ballet, and so on.
Whether you have a huge performing arts school, or a small neighborhood ballet studio, visit, watch a couple of classes and get a feel for the place. Ballet wear includes your hairstyle, clothes you might want to wear over your leotards and tights, if allowed. Even if you want to hide a less than wraith-like figure under a sweater, filmy skirt, or dance pants, always wear a leotard and pink tights, for women.
This classic ballet wear allows the ballet teacher to see what your muscles are doing, if she/he wants. This is only to your benefit, since especially in the beginner adult ballet classes, you want to know that you are learning correct ballet technique and getting into correct ballet positions.
Some adult ballet classes use Pilates to help warm up. This is excellent for developing the core muscles. Feeling your core muscles gives a good sense of the body. It is grounding. Feeling the core muscles and having correct posture in the low back/pelvic area will help you develop your turnout muscles without needless tension.
Feeling the soles of the feet flat on the floor, not slanting in (pronation) or out (supination) is essential. That in itself is a grounding effort. If you have been advised to exercise for stress or anxiety control, I think ballet is excellent. Ballet gives you control over something which you can indeed control. Your own body.
You cannot be spacey in ballet class. The music, the sound of the teacher's voice, and the sense of your body working, enhances your presence. You cannot be somewhere else. While getting grounded, you are learning an elegant and ethereal style of dancing. The best of both ideas.
By the way, presence is IT. If you ever wonder why professional ballet dancers work so hard for little money and lots of aches and pains, for so long, maybe because it creates more of their own presence so often. Because presence is Presence. You know what I mean.
So if you have always wanted to take adult ballet classes, go. Get the best teacher you can, and benefit from all the wonderful ballet manuals available now that will tell you all the finer details of ballet technique. That extra understanding will get you even more grounded in adult ballet technique.
The Ballet Store site provides a free ballet glossary so you can learn the French words for ballet quickly.
The Perfect Pointe Book gives practice routines you can do safely at home, after a few months of beginner adult ballet classes. Even if you never dance ballet in pointe shoes, the exact details of this manual will answer many questions you may have and never get to ask in ballet class.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Many Exercise Benefits of Ballet As a Natural Remedy
If we review all the benefits of any exercise, ballet provides them all, with many bonuses. Since studies have shown that high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and many inflammatory conditions such as Ulcerative Colitis for one, are improved using exercise as a natural remedy, why not dance ballet? Gaining muscle and losing weight is another great side effect.
Why does exercise help almost any ill-health condition? And by ill-health, I mean inflammatory (diabetes, Ulcerative Colitis, IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, joint pain and many more) conditions.
Exercise increases your muscle exertion, including your heart muscle, therefore your oxygen intake, therefore your metabolism, and therefore your circulation. Increased circulation means more nutrients and body-manufactured hormones and enzymes going to body cells, and also, increase of waste products from metabolism getting OUT of your cells.
Perspiring washes many toxins we create naturally (or eat, accidentally) out through our skin. while the purpose of exercising is not to overheat the body, it happens. While cooling down, we detoxify.
Exerting your muscles on your bones stimulates bone growth and density. Healthy bones are part of our overall health. Many body processes occur in our bone tissue, including our immune system functions.
In fact our body is, under normal conditions, a factory of excellent health results, if we treat it properly.
Another way that exercise helps us is to DECREASE STRESS. This happens on a physical, emotional and mental level. The physical level entails all the I mentioned above, and more. The emotional level is involved because we are doing something good for ourselves, maybe just for the enjoyment and benefits, and maybe because it is an ambition being fulfilled. Mentally exercise is a challenge requiring concentration, and increases our ability to concentrate.
Exercise of a certain type will increase muscle mass, though not necessarily bulk, which helps us to maintain or lose weight.
So why dance ballet? In a ballet class, almost every exercise is a full body workout. At the same time, each exercise exerts more on a specific muscle group than it does on the supporting muscle groups.
Ballet increases reflexes and demands incredible coordination. Because of the demands, taking ballet classes and perhaps dancing in pointe shoes, leads to learning about anatomy and dancing smart as well as nutrition, for the more curious students.
It is wonderfully satisfying to work on a difficult combination, maybe all year. Then one day, what was a disjointed conglomeration of efforts and concentration, suddenly becomes a smoothly executed grand jete en tournant, a fouette battu saute or an effortless series of chainee turns. Your friends wonder "how do you DO that?"
If they only knew, the blood, the sweat and the tears. I'm just kidding. Well, maybe not.
Regular ballet training or other exercise training will also PREVENT high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and many other degenerative physical conditions. Another huge bonus.
So ballet is a natural remedy for less than optimum health conditions that benefit from exercise. If you're ill, ask your doctor if there is any reason that you should not exercise. Unless you are an exceptional case, you will likely be encouraged to do so.
Why does exercise help almost any ill-health condition? And by ill-health, I mean inflammatory (diabetes, Ulcerative Colitis, IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, joint pain and many more) conditions.
Exercise increases your muscle exertion, including your heart muscle, therefore your oxygen intake, therefore your metabolism, and therefore your circulation. Increased circulation means more nutrients and body-manufactured hormones and enzymes going to body cells, and also, increase of waste products from metabolism getting OUT of your cells.
Perspiring washes many toxins we create naturally (or eat, accidentally) out through our skin. while the purpose of exercising is not to overheat the body, it happens. While cooling down, we detoxify.
Exerting your muscles on your bones stimulates bone growth and density. Healthy bones are part of our overall health. Many body processes occur in our bone tissue, including our immune system functions.
In fact our body is, under normal conditions, a factory of excellent health results, if we treat it properly.
Another way that exercise helps us is to DECREASE STRESS. This happens on a physical, emotional and mental level. The physical level entails all the I mentioned above, and more. The emotional level is involved because we are doing something good for ourselves, maybe just for the enjoyment and benefits, and maybe because it is an ambition being fulfilled. Mentally exercise is a challenge requiring concentration, and increases our ability to concentrate.
Exercise of a certain type will increase muscle mass, though not necessarily bulk, which helps us to maintain or lose weight.
So why dance ballet? In a ballet class, almost every exercise is a full body workout. At the same time, each exercise exerts more on a specific muscle group than it does on the supporting muscle groups.
Ballet increases reflexes and demands incredible coordination. Because of the demands, taking ballet classes and perhaps dancing in pointe shoes, leads to learning about anatomy and dancing smart as well as nutrition, for the more curious students.
It is wonderfully satisfying to work on a difficult combination, maybe all year. Then one day, what was a disjointed conglomeration of efforts and concentration, suddenly becomes a smoothly executed grand jete en tournant, a fouette battu saute or an effortless series of chainee turns. Your friends wonder "how do you DO that?"
If they only knew, the blood, the sweat and the tears. I'm just kidding. Well, maybe not.
Regular ballet training or other exercise training will also PREVENT high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and many other degenerative physical conditions. Another huge bonus.
So ballet is a natural remedy for less than optimum health conditions that benefit from exercise. If you're ill, ask your doctor if there is any reason that you should not exercise. Unless you are an exceptional case, you will likely be encouraged to do so.
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