Lesson 1 - Know Your Body - Anatomy of a Dancer

Small Group > Build-A-Dancer 

Put students into groups of 4-5 and ask them to choose one group member to be the live model (alternatively, you can trace the live model on large chart paper and then have the students label the front and back of the cut-out). Give each group a bunch of sticky notes or a roll of masking tape and a couple of markers. Let groups know that they will be labelling as many bones, muscles and joints as they can on their model. Have them think about when they warm up, discuss the muscles that they stretch and the bones involved. Direct them to try to use their proper anatomical terms if they can. After 10-15 minutes, do a gallery walk and discuss labels and accuracy. Have each group share what they were most confident about and something they were unsure about.

Individual > Know Your Body 

Provide students with a basic handout of the skeletal and muscular systems Skeletal and Muscular Diagram (or one of your choice), that they can put in their dance journals. Be sure it focuses on the anatomy of a dancer. Use a projected diagram that can be collaboratively labelled as a class. As you are labelling the diagrams, discuss how the structure is related to dance (e.g., quadriceps extend the knee during jumps, while the hamstring helps to bend the knee, allowing for a safe landing).

Individual > Body in Motion 

Students find their own space in the room. Put on some calm instrumental music and instruct your students to move freely in the space. Remind them that they have not done a proper warm-up today, so they should not overexert themselves. Rather they should take this as an opportunity to connect with their bodies and move intuitively while possibly exploring some balancing, light stretching or flowing movements. Upon the completion of the song (about 4-5 minutes), have your students reflect in their dance journals.

Questions for Reflection:

• Describe one movement or action that you did.
• What structures (bones and muscles) did you use in that movement?
• Was there anything about your body that you were more aware of while you were moving?
• Why do you think body awareness is important in dance?

Individual > Move to the Core 

Explain to the students that you will be taking them through a guided full-body warm-up. They have already elevated their body temperature (Minds On) and have started the process of preparing their body for further warm-up. Let students know that the warm-up is going to consist of 5 sections. Explain the importance of each section and that all of these combined help prepare the body to work and reduce the risk of injury.

• Breathing: Connects the mind and body, and enhances oxygen flow to the muscles
• Joints: Helps to lubricate the joints (with synovial fluid) and increases the range of motion, preparing for movement
• Muscles: Increases the muscles’ elasticity, reducing the risk of strain or pull
• Core: Activates the stabilizers that help with posture and alignment, and enhances balance and control
• Movement: Increases blood flow, keeps the muscles warm, promotes a mind and body connection through coordination

Review and discuss each kind of movement, the proper form, and its importance.

Important: It is important that all major muscle groups are warm before dancing, and for you to know the proper form of all exercises or movements that you lead your students in doing. Form is essential for injury prevention. Please do not lead students in doing any exercise or stretch that is unclear to you. Whenever possible, offer alternative exercises that work the same muscle group but require a different energy level to encourage your students to think about their body's needs for accessing movement that day.

Note: Many other exercises can be included in or substituted for this warm-up.

JOINTS (mobilization)

Starting from the top and working your way down.

Prompts: We will begin with working the cervical spine. Starting with some head rolls, only rolling your head from ear to ear (coming through the chin, touching the sternum, avoiding rolling in the back). Head turns, looking left and right. Head tilts, ear towards your shoulder. Looking up (pushing your chin forward) and down (tucking your chin). Next, we will work the shoulders, working the scapular movement, deltoids and trapezius. Rolling shoulders forward and back. Extend arms above your head, reaching one higher than the other, and switch. Extend arms out to the side and reach side to side. Then do arm swings, swinging arms back and forth like pendulums, increasing the range. Next, the hips, working hip joint, lumbar spine and gluteals. Gently circle the hips clockwise, and then counter-clockwise. Hip sways from side to side. Leg swings, forward and side. Next, the ankles and calves. Heel and toe taps repetitively on one foot, and then switch. Ankle rolls CW and CCW on one foot, then switch. Alternate between heels forward and toe taps. 

CORE (core activation)

Lead students through activating the following core muscles, using the following exercises:

• Standing pelvic tilts (transverse abdominals, pelvic floor, stabilizer muscles)
• Cat-Cow/On All Fours (spinal mobility and abdominal engagement)
• Plank (rectus abdominis, obliques, gluteals, shoulders)

Individual > Journal CORE-e-ography

Have your students reflect in their dance journals.

Questions for Reflection

• Which phase of the warm-up (breathing, joints, muscles, core or flow) helped you to feel the most prepared for movement? Why?
• How did breathing affect your sense of focus?
• Can you think of a movement that was not a part of today’s warm-up that you feel would be beneficial? Describe the movement, the muscles/joints involved, its value and what phase of the warm-up it would fit in.