#dance conditioning

Stretchy Sunday - Hamstring Stretch!

From @/motionmedicine on Instagram!

“|| HAPPY HAMSTRINGS || Do you struggle with tight hamstrings? 🙋‍♀️ Give yourself 5 minutes of goodness by relieving tension in your hamstrings and keeping them happy, healthy, and strong. Just 5 minutes of consistent stretching a day can make a WORLDS worth of difference. 🌍

Release - forward fold, plié and stretch x 10

Wide leg forward fold with twist x 10

Single leg hold and twist x 5 per leg

Flat back to forward fold x 10

Crossed leg forward fold with breath x 10 per leg”

Dance Conditioning Part - I G�{��Are your postural muscles holding you back?

Postural muscles are a set of muscles that are designed to stabilize and mobilize the body. These muscles are designed for endurance and are the most utilized set of muscles in the dance population.

The postural muscles are meant to support and work with the deep core stabilizing muscles and phasic, or outer unit, muscles of the body. However, if the deep core muscles and the phasic muscles aren’t working properly the postural muscle will take over and work as stabilizers and mobilizers. In other words they start to do all the work! The result is tightness, pain, reduced flexibility and mobility.

These muscles are made up of 51% or more of slow twitch fibers. Postural muscles are tonic in make up, which means they are designed to contract at lower loads for long periods of time. They have a greater capacity for sustained work but are prone to shorten due to overuse, underuse, force and trauma. Postural muscles can become hyperactive, tight and painful at times. If the postural muscles are tight so is the surrounding fascia. This affects the way we carry ourselves, flexibility, mobility, balance, alignment and posture. The treatment for this is to release and relax.

The deep core stabilizing muscles consist of:

•             Transversus Abdominis

•             Multifidus

•             Diaphragm

•             Pelvic Floor Muscles

•             Posterior fibers of the Internal Obliques

•             Lumbar portions of the Longissimus and Iliocostalis

 These muscles originate or insert at the vertebrae and generate little or no movement during activation. They are tonic in makeup and consist mainly of slow-twitch muscle fibers. They are designed to contract at lower loads for long periods of time. Stress, pain and trauma can inhibit their ability to fire and because movement can occur without activation of these muscles they can shut off.

Each mUvmethod class is designed to reduce pain in the body and release muscular, fascial and neural tension, particularly in the neck, upper, mid and lower back. Lower back pain can have a direct effect on the firing patterns of the Deep Core Muscle. As we work to eliminate and reduce pain students are able to activate this set of muscles. We also create awareness around them and teach the students how to consciously engage on a deep level. This reduces the workload the postural muscles will take on if the deep core muscles aren’t doing their job and allows for more fluid and effective movement patterns throughout the body. When working efficiently the deep core muscles contract prior to movement to brace the spine and provide segmental stabilization.

These muscles are larger and often lie superficial, or over top of the postural muscles. They consist mainly of fast-twitch muscle fibers making them phasic in nature. They are designed to contract to produce movement but they fatigue quickly. The outer unit muscles generally weaken under stress and respond to strengthening

Our program is designed to get you moving with ease and efficiency. As well as build stability and strength from the inside out by training muscles in the way they were designed to work. Each set of muscle is unique and plays it’s own role in stability. Once an understanding of the design and role the different muscle groups play we can incorporate exercises designed to engage and strengthen phasic muscles, release muscular, fascial and neural tension in the postural muscles and activate the deep core muscles. Learning and applying these key concepts can transform the way you move. When a clear understanding of how the body really works is established one can maximize flexibility and mobility in a safe and effective way.

Dayna Marshall

Dayna Marshall grew up in Utah where she studied ballet, jazz, and tap. She is also musically trained. As a senior in high school she was accepted into the ballet department at the University of Utah where she received the Willam F. Christensen scholarship. She has performed numerous lead roles with Utah Ballet under the direction of Attila Ficzere and Conrad Ludlow, and completed her BFA in Ballet in 2006. She has done work with USANA, modeled for XANGO’s 2012 health and wellness campaign, was a dancer for Glenn Beck’s “Man In The Moon” show (2013), and Discount Dance Supply published some of her images in Peddecord Photo’s 2014 Calendar.

Dayna has toured nationally and internationally with Odyssey Dance Theatre from 2008¬2014. During her time with Odyssey, she has performed choreography from Mia Michaels, Dee Caspary, Roni Koresh, Derryl Yeager, Eldon Johnson, Bonnie Story, Christian Denise and many others. She was also a dancer in the Capezio ACE Awards for Christina Bluth (2012). Dayna has been teaching at dance studios and schools since 2003, teaching with Rapture Dance Intensive since 2010, and has performed with the Michigan based company Rapture Dance Project. Dayna won Utah’s 2013 Best Of State Individual Dancer. She is Scholé Yoga level 1 certified and a mUvmethod instructor.

Molly Davenport

Molly grew up in Taylorsville, UT where she trained in jazz, ballet, clogging and tap. She started her career with Odyssey Dance Theatre as a senior in high school when she was accepted into their training program, Odyssey II (2005-2007). Molly trained at two summer programs with Lines Ballet School in San Francisco, where she was also awarded a scholarship (2007-2008). She has worked as a dancer for USANA on several occasions, was a dancer for Glenn Beck’s “Man in the Moon” (2013), and was featured in Christopher Peddecord’s Discount Dance Supply Calendar (2014).

Molly spent eight years dancing for and touring with Odyssey Dance Theatre (2007-2015), where she had the opportunity to perform works by several world renowned choreographers including Derryl Yeager, Eldon Johnson, Roni Koresh, Bonnie Story, and Christian Denice. She has had the opportunity to perform in the Off Broadway Productions of “Cats,” “Tarzan,” “Grease,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Wizard Of Oz,” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre in St. George, Utah. She teaches ballet, contemporary, jazz, and is also Scholé Yoga Level 1 certified and a mUvmethod instructor. She is grateful for all of the wonderful opportunities she has encountered through dance, and enjoys sharing her passion with her students.