Notes from Ballet

Those who have followed my blog for a long time are probably highly aware that I also am a big fan of dance and movement arts. Even though some of the underlying principles are very different from martial arts, there is a lot to be learned from dance than can inform us on the potentials of the human body. Here are some interesting things that I came across in some of my readings.

Physique: First there is a definite physique that ballet shapes, and there have been many, many exercise videos that try and market these methods to the masses. To my knowledge, ballet targets smaller muscles that you don't often use—instead of working your quads it works the inside and the back of your leg. It also raises your center of gravity—when you're standing in first position, you're pulling up through your stomach and opening your shoulders so that you're working your back and upper body. The inner thighs are engaging and you're squeezing your butt to make sure you're perfectly lifted. Everything is basically firing as one—and first position is just a resting point. So a lot of effort goes into trying to do large movements that elongate the muscle fibres, rather than short explosive movements that characterize certain movements in martial arts.

Importance of the Arms: What is the purpose of the arms in classical ballet? Is it purely an aesthetic notion? Is it primarily for balance? Are all variations in style acceptable, or is there a proper basis for the placement of the arms which makes the most physiological sense?  The Russian School has been known for it’s exceptionally beautiful arms, which were developed by Agrippina Vaganova.  The first serious thing under which they were forced to work with were the arms. Vaganova paid special attention to the arms, which served not only to enhance aesthetic expression but became ‘active helpers’ in jumps. The correct use of the arms serves to assist in the most complex movements, and also serves to express a complete range of emotion: The use of the arms, as taught by Vaganova, is a necessary element of dance technology. Their reasoned and correct use enhances the precise performing of almost all of the complex movements and the tours. The pupils of Vaganova were always be recognized by their performing of tours turns. The arms are the helpers in the complex technique of dance: the arms, which perform gigantic physical work; the arms as wings; and used to express the complete range of subtle human emotions. Mikhail Baryshnikov, a graduate of the Vaganova School, is a modern day example of a dancer who was known for seemingly impossible leaps and bounds with no preparation at all. The secret to Baryshnikov’s moves lay in his arms and their ability to create lift in his body without the customary “springboard” push-off of the ground 

Flexibility: Another interesting concept that came up in my research was the concept of neuro-mobility, whose main proponent is Lisa Howell. One of the main concepts that we work on with anyone wanting to get more mobile is actually assessing their nerves and how well they slide in the body. Believe it or not, your overall flexibility often has very little to do with your muscles, and more to do with your nerves – in two different ways. The first is actually the mechanics of your nervous system. While we often think of nerves as being these tiny, almost invisible, magical things that run all over your body, the truth is that the bigger nerves are more like rope or string. They are quite tough and when we move our body they slide along their sheaths (tubular casings surrounding the nerves)rather than stretch. If there are any points in your body where the nerve gets ‘caught’ either by fascial tension, muscle spasm or an old injury the nerves will not slide as easily and you will feel ‘tight’.

Simply stretching into this will not remove the block, and trying to stretch nerves can actually make things worse! For example, the Sciatic Nerve, which passes under the Piriformis muscle and comes out through the pelvis, can get caught and make it difficult to do the splits. Neural mobility is also part of why flexing the foot makes it more difficult to do a stretch: flexing the foot places tension on the nerves. The secret is in releasing the blockage, by massage techniques, mobilizations and careful movements to get the nerves sliding again. Hormones, hydration, stress, certain foods, poor postural position (do thoracic/upper back mobility exercises), etc. Find out what affects you by paying attention to when you are most tight (certain times of day, sleeping position, etc.)

There is enough food for thought in the posts above, and as always happy to see what my readers have to say on the issue.