"If you stumble make it part of your dance." Author unknown
You are not expected to be the perfect dancer when you step foot into your first dance class. You are expected to give dance a chance. The only way you can give dance a real chance is by persevering even when you stumble and fall.
You really need to preserve when you do the splits. In fact, the split is one of the most impressive dance moves that you can perform. However, to do a split, a lot of practice is required.
Aside from practice, you need to make sure you are flexible enough to do the split, else you could injure yourself badly. If you are intending to become fitter and more flexible, you could read all about our Dancer Workout Routine.
Having a great dancer workout routine from the onset and knowing the right stretching exercises for dancers will allow you to become a better dancer.
If you can successful complete a split, you can use it in your ballet choreography or even your hip-hop choreography. Again, if you have taken a few dance lessons already and you still cannot master the split remember that this move is not for everyone. It takes tons of perseverance of master how to do a split, but it can also be mastered more easily with the help of a good dance instructor.
Are you looking for the right dance instructor for you in your area?
If so, you need to visit our Superprof website to see if we have the dance instructor that you are in search of.
Remember the right dance instructor can push you to do a split, but the wrong dance instructor may make you split up with dance all together.
Ready to Do The Splits?
"Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes and dance." Oprah Winfrey
Will you take your chance to dance today? Have you mustered up the courage to do splits?
If you are ready to try, you can surely reap the full benefits of your effort should you start your journey towards the perfect split with a workout.
To learn more about Workouts for Dancers, read our blog post.
If you are in dance class, the best way to perform a split is to start with a full warm-up. The reason why a warm-up is of utmost importance and why you must do it is because it prevents injury and prepares your muscles for the movements that will soon follow.
The best advice for warming up is to do various types of stretches and stretching exercises. It is a further suggestion to try out some yoga poses during workout time.
Stretching exercises need not to happen for the entire duration of the dance class. About 5 minutes to 10 minutes of stretching to warm up your muscles should do the trick.
Repetition of a certain stretches surely does get your muscles to feel as if they are being worked. The trick to a successful warm-up and work out is to pay attention to your body.
Your body will alert you if you are pushing yourself too hard. Also, the point of stretching and warming up is not to rush through it, but rather to take your time. The longer you take on stretching and working out, the better of a workout you will get for your muscles and the easier it will be to do a split thereafter.
Will you be taking dance lessons with a dance teacher?
You can very well choose to warm up on your own, but you are far better off learning how to dance and do a split with a dance instructor who will guide you in terms of how to do the stretches as well as making sure that you are not hurting yourself while stretching and doing the split.
How Do You Do the Splits
One of the most common splits performed is the front split. It is often easier to do the front split and is the suggested split for most beginner dancers.
The front split may be the easiest split, but it requires a fair amount of flexibility as well. To do this split, you must sit with your legs straight into opposite directions with your hips staying square.
What are square hips, you may ask?
Square hips refer to hips that are facing forward and in exact alignment with the hipbone.
Stretching is essential if you would like to have square hips. You can ensure that you keep your hips square when you are warming up.
You may think that the only split you can do is this one, but you are seriously wrong. There is also a split called the V Position.
The V Position
To do the split called the V position, you will need to keep your back against the wall and stretch your legs out in front of you, making sure they are touching firmly on the ground.
Spread out your legs and then try to move them towards the wall. You must keep your chest pushed forward and you will feel the pressure in the inside of your legs.
When in the V position, you cannot lift your bum off the ground.
If you are struggling to get either the V Position or the front split correct, you need to reach out to one of our Superprof dance instructors. A dance instructor can guide you by physically showing you how to perform these splits. Truth be told, demonstration is fair better than following written instructions.
The key component to every dance step that you do (including doing the split) is ensuring you are aware of your breathing. Like in yoga, breathing of utmost importance, so too are breathing exercises before, while, and after a split.
Mindful breathing enables us to take better control of our stress and being in control of stress is surely needed when enduring the stress of having to do a split in front of a crowd.
Split Stretches
Since being able to do a split only becomes a reality once you are confident in your ability to perform a split, here are some exercises that you can try out to stretch your muscles for a split:
Lunges
Lunges are a great idea when working out your core muscles and stretching your bones. To do a lunge, you must move your leg forward and place it at a right angle.
You need to make sure that your back leg needs to be stretched.
You need to be sure to hold this position for about 30 to 60 seconds to reap the full enjoyment of lunges later when you try to do a split.
Lunges are just one type of stretch that you can try out, you could also try out other types of stretches.
Simple burpees or jumping jacks also work wonders when you are trying to stretch out your muscles and become more lithe and supple.
Don't underestimate the power that stretching has when it comes to dance. The more you stretch on your own and during dance classes, the easier it will be to perform some dance moves as per the choreography of a song.
For How Long Should You Be Doing Stretches to Do the Splits?
The first time that you try to do the split, it will take a while.
Most dancers who appear faultless when doing the split have a fair amount of prior gymnastics knowledge. Some of the dancers are excellent gymnasts too.
Some aspiring dancers do have some knowledge about what stretches to do and how long each stretch needs to be done for in order to be ready to take center stage with the splits.
If you are already rather flexible and perhaps even more flexible than the other dancers in your class, you can always spend a longer duration on stretching and getting into shape for the split that will follow.
There is no set in stone time limit of how long you need to stretch for before you try out the split. However, a contributing factor to how long stretching should take place is age. In the case where you are younger, you will spend more time warming up your muscles. If you are going to spend a lot of time on stretching when you are older, you may find that you are overexerting yourself.
Irrespective of whether you will get to stretch more or not, you need to remember that stretching should take place prior to doing the splits. You also need to make a big decision about how often you will need to take dance lessons. You can opt for dance lessons once a week, however, the more classes that you choose to take in the week, the easier it will be to do a split and perfect a split.
One lesson a week may be too little, and you may not see the true benefit of dance classes if you only take one dance class per week.
In the words of Aubrey Launch, "To touch, to move, to inspire. This is the true gift of dance."
So, inspire others to dance when you show them how you can do a split effortlessly and in no time.
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