Dancers,

What if there were 3 daily habits you are already performing where slight modification could make you a better dancer?

Give these 3 modifications a try:

1.Where are your ears? Keep your ears over your shoulders. Do this at school, while walking, while driving, while texting, and most of the time while you are upright.

Why: If you hunch forward to perform daily activities, you will develop muscle imbalances that alters arm movement. The increased effort to elevate the arms overhead changes the alignment of the ribs and pelvis. This then makes proper muscle use for skills like pirouettes, various kicks, leaps, and port de bras difficult.

As a faculty member from the Pro Arte Centre  in North Vancouver, Canada shared at IADMS in 2017:  “You just can’t become a professional dancer with those forward posture habits.”

2. How are you sitting? Work on sitting (and sleeping) more symmetrically. This means equal weight on both sits bones, knees that are even with each other, and shoulders that face the same direction as your hips. If you like to curl up with one leg or cross a leg, then give both sides equal turns.

Why: Consistently sitting and sleeping asymmetrically while favoring one side leads to pelvis imbalances. When the pelvis is not balanced, it is very difficult to access the supporting hip rotator muscles, inner thighs, and psoas. This often leads to hip and back compensations that cause injury over time.

When dancers come to Dance Medicine based Physical Therapy, I often see this as a major area to address for “I can’t find my rotators,” “My leg just won’t go up,” and “I have snapping hip.”

3.How are you walking? Try to keep your toes mostly forward. Many dancers think that walking turned out will improve turnout, but walking in turnout actually creates injuries over time.

Why: Walking excessively turned out decreases the stability from your glutes, which are major protectors and stabilizers for the hips. It also shortens the IT Bands, which can create knee pain like patellofemoral tracking issues and IT Band syndrome. Rolling the IT Bands alone isn’t enough; the movement patterns creating the recurrent tightness and muscle imbalances need to be addressed.

Summary:

Try consistently keeping your ears over your shoulders, sitting symmetrical, and toes mostly forward when you walk. See what you notice about your technique after a week of consistent daily attention? What did you find? Share with us here to keep the discussion going.

This article was written by Dr. Meredith Butulis for educational purposes only. It was not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any condition.