By Dr. Nicola Sacchi - Author of the book: Functional training and unconventional tools
Every form of dance engages the body in a different, distinctive and unique way. Therefore an athletic training aimed at physical improvement in a particular discipline must study its energy and motor needs, and create a specific training to improve the skills involved.
The first thing to consider is that the dancer moves in time to music.
This means that the body of these athletes must move harmoniously to the rhythm of the dance. To achieve these movements it is necessary to have a musical sense and rhythm (which does not involve athletic preparation), but also coordination and agility.
A coordinated body is certainly able to better follow the music and agility allows to make even complex technical steps simple and fast.
In the eyes of a jury, if we look at the competitive aspect, a coordinated and agile body executes the passages with greater naturalness and appears more pleasant to see, consequently it obtains higher scores.
Agility and coordination are physical skills that can be trained with specific exercises that are different from what happens in technical training.
These dances are also characterized by being couple dances, this means that the dancer must coordinate his movements with those of the partner, facilitating his movements and thus making dance easier.
This statement implies different considerations:
- Coordinate your body with that of your partner,
- Support the partner in his movements,
- Facilitate partner in his movements,
- Don't be a burden to your partner.
Also in this case, in addition to the rhythmic sense, to move with the partner, it is essential to have a certain degree of strength, since the body of the dancer is subject to loads deriving from the movements of the partner, consequently he is subjected to external forces which he must manage with its own muscular capacity.
Furthermore supporting and facilitating the partner means having sufficient strength to help him in his movements. In the most acrobatic forms such as rock n 'roll ™ this becomes a particularly relevant issue. And if we even think about break dancing, it is even clearer how strength plays an even more important role. However, even in the context of standard dances, the ability to support the partner obviously derives from the strength possessed by the dancer.
Moreover, since the dance is an activity based on the ability to perform harmonious and aesthetically pleasing movements, it is undeniable to consider how fundamental it is that the appearance of the dancer must be attractive. This means that the body of the dancer must have beautiful shapes, tapered and elegant muscles, therefore a discrete muscle mass, certainly not as extremist as for a bodybuilder but surely it must be clearly visible. This also applies to women. Moreover it must have a certain degree of thinness and definition that allows to have more highlighted muscles and more pleasant forms. It is obvious that the belly in the man is not tolerated in the competitive field and the fat and flabby legs in the woman, therefore muscle strengthening is also indispensable for having a body objectively suited to the aesthetic rigor desired by the dance.
The organic resistance to lactic acid activity is another requirement of the dancer, since the energy system most involved in the dance is the anaerobic lactic acid, as the dances generally last a few minutes. This quality determines the body's ability to manage the necessary energies, to dispose of the lactic acid produced at the muscular level and to reduce the breathlessness and oxygen debt that occur when engaging this energy system. In practice it reduces the breath and the sense of fatigue that is perceived at the end of an intense dance so to speak.
The sports dance dancer therefore has precise requirements, therefore the athletic preparation must guarantee the improvement of the physical condition in a specific way.
SUMMING UP
In dance the athletic skills to be trained are:
- Agility and coordination,
- Power,
- Muscular tropism,
- Lactic acid resistance.
To plan an athletic preparation for these disciplines a period of 3/4 months can be considered necessary, obviously a good dancer will do athletic training throughout the year, except for the coming days of competitions.
