Crooked Necks

Archive for the ‘Dancing’ Category

The human body is vulnerable to all kinds of injuries. There are more than 600 muscles in your body waiting to be strained. At least 206 bones are waiting to be broken. And then there are tendons and ligaments waiting to be pulled or torn. Considering all that, it’s no surprise that dancers are prone to all types of injuries.

Children that take lessons at kids dance studios have to guard against injuries. A good instructor will do whatever it takes to protect children from injury. However, accidents do happen. There are two injuries that young dancers experience quite often.

Ankle Sprains

A sprained ankle is a common mishap. In fact, it’s probably the most common mishap that dancers face. An ankle that has been sprained in the past is more likely to be sprained again. It’s easy to get an ankle injury. Performing a step wrong or landing incorrectly after a leap are common invitations to ankle damage.

A child may not realize their ankle is injured when it first occurs. But pain when walking is the first sign. There may also be swelling. In severe cases, the child might not be able to put any weight on the ankle at all.

I often get asked what advice I would give to someone that’s looking to get started and learn the locking (Campbellocking) dance style. Here I’ll indulge you in the advice I like to dish out.

The first piece of advice I give out always remains unchanged. That advice is this: go get a locking teacher. A good locking teacher can take you from a complete beginner to an accomplished locker if you be the good student and practise and apply what you learn.

When you learn from a teacher, you will get to learn about how to do the moves and what makes the style work. You also have other benefits such as being able to learn from the teachers’ experience and past mistakes they may have made when learning themselves.

If your teacher is not someone you will meet in real life but a virtual teacher then I would recommend learning from a DVD rather than individual locking tutorials. Tutorials are good for getting started but are never going to be as complete as a DVD will.

A DVD is much more likely to offer you a more complete training, as well as shed some insight into the dance and style as a whole rather than just be centred around certain popular moves.

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For those of us who aren’t familiar with all the styles of dance tights available, or who are novice dancers who want to know the difference, let’s briefly break down the types of garments dancers usually wear.

First, there are different styles of tights or leg wear – leg warmers, Capri pants, leggings, leotards, unitards, and bodysuits, to name a few.

Legwarmers are acrylic knit socks, sort of like sweaters for legs that dancers wear for extra warmth while dancing. They usually sit just below the knee and have stirrup slots at the toe to fit easily over a pair of dance tights and ballet shoes.

The length of material for tights sometimes determines what they are called. Capri pants are similar to full tights only they end at mid-calf, for a little more freedom of movement in warmer rooms. Leggings are also similar to fully footed tights, only their material ends at the ankle, leaving the foot free.

Likewise, there are longer, one-piece garments like tank top or long-sleeve unitards that give a unified shape and a very clean look for the sake of simplicity. For younger students of dance, clothing suppliers offer “biketards” that extend from the shoulders to the thighs.