Helen Nadel

Keeping up with a fast-paced dance class is both exciting and oftentimes difficult. There are several key ways to improve your dancing abilities so that you can maintain the same pace as your class. The three main areas to focus on include flexibility, strength, and endurance. These may seem like the simple terms that are commonly thrown around in an exercise class. In a dance class, these terms become specialized and incredibly important. We will explore how to improve all three areas of your dancing so that you can keep up with and impress the rest of your dance class.

Flexibility

Flexibility is incredibly important. A dancer uses her or his body in ways that are often not explored by the average person. A dancer extends limbs and moves them in a unique manner. If you are dancing in a style that incorporates leaps, you are well aware that you are essentially performing a front split (and doing it up in the air!). You must be flexible enough to perform this move on the ground - and then later in this article we will focus on the strength and endurance that are required to propel this move up into the air.

To improve your flexibility, begin at your own level. Do not try to overextend or push yourself beyond your means. Instead, be very aware of your own flexibility level. The most common area of inflexibility is the hamstrings. Pay particular attention to these muscles on the backs of your legs. If you are incredibly inflexible, perform a hamstring stretch where you sit on the floor and extend one leg front and bend your other leg so that your foot touches the inside of your other knee. Try to keep your back straight. When this feels comfortable enough, begin to slowly reach forward towards your extended foot. Again, make sure that you do not push yourself too hard. With time and practice, you will be able to perform this stretch easily. It will also help you to perform front leg extensions while you dance.

Strength

Obviously, practicing everything that you learn in your dance class will improve your strength. If you are looking for faster results, consider implementing a strength training program on the days that you don't have a dance class (ideally, however, you want to put one day of rest after every strength training session so that your muscles have time to rest and grow). Don't worry about gaining muscles that are "too big" if you are a female. Most women, without the addition of some form of drugs, you will not grow muscles that are that large. However, the muscle growth that you do gain will not only make you stronger but will also burn calories while your body is at rest.

Endurance

If you practice strength training, gradually you will become strong enough to handle the movements of your dance class without getting winded. Another option is to simply practice everything that you learned at your class that day once you return home. Not only will this improve your endurance, but you will also commit to memory all of the movements that you learned that day. You can also consider supplementing your workouts with a light jog, a long walk, or some other form of cardiovascular activity. Once again, remember to stretch your tendons and joints out before and after you work out.

Focusing on these three simple areas will help you immensely. You will be able to keep up with the rest of your dance class and impress them with how much you have improved!

If your child is above 5 years of age and you are looking forward to making him join some activity, then dance and music lessons at Helen Nadel's Institute is highly recommended. Here you can choose from a variety of classes for your child and along with dance classes there are also other creative activities available here like learning music and acting if your child is interested in the same.

To read more, please visit here: http://helennadel.strikingly.com/