☙  The body is living art.  Your movement through time and space is art.  A painter has brushes.  You have your body. ❧
~ Anna Halprin

The body is many things, including the first learned means of communication.

Although it comes from a place of inherent knowledge, dancers are endlessly fine tuning this primal method of connecting with others by learning how the body works in order to do it most effectively.

Recognizing the body as an evolving living organism, and an instrument for conveying expression, is important to cultivating the best from yourself, and your physicality, as an artist.

The human body is made up of several systems that work together to deliver all the necessary functions in order for it to stay alive. 

A Brief Look at the Systems of the Human Body

❣️Cardiovascular/Circulatory

Heart, blood, blood vessels
▷ responsible for transporting oxygen in, and carbon dioxide out, of the body.

🍽 Digestive

Mouth, esophagus, stomach, small & large intestines
▷ responsible for intake and digestion of food for nutrients.

💗 Endocrine

Glands that secrete hormones into the blood
▷ responsible for metabolism, growth, and sexual development.

😷 Immune (lymphatic)

Many small collections of tissue (lymph nodes), spleen
▷ responsible for removing *pathogens.

💅🏼 Integumentary

Skin, hair, nails
▷ first line of defence against pathogens and responsible for regulating body temperature.

🧠 Nervous

Brain, spinal cord, and nerves
▷ controls voluntary and involuntary responses, detects and processes sensory information.

💪🏽 Muscular

Responsible for action
▷ skeletal muscles control bones.  Smooth muscle tissue controls organs and blood vessels. 
▷ Cardiac muscle tissues control the heart.

👶🏽 Reproductive

Organs, glands and systems involved in reproduction.

🌬 Respiratory

Nasal passages, lungs and capillaries, trachea
▷responsible for delivering oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.

🦴 Skeletal

Bones, joints, teeth - all connected by tendons, ligaments and cartilage
▷ supports and gives the body shape, protects organs, stores calcium and produces white and red blood cells.

💧Urinary

Kidneys, ureters, urethra
▷ responsible for filtering excess water and waste, and expelling them from the body.

*A pathogen is anything that can produce disease.

☙ The human body is the most complex system every created. 
The more we learn about it, the more appreciation we have about what a rich system it is. ❧

~ Bill Gates

All of the systems are important for a healthy body. 

For the purpose of our work, we will focus on the cardiovascular & respiratory, nervous, and muscular & skeletal systems.

Stamina

The Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems

Bursts of intense exercise performed in less than three minutes are anaerobic.  Continuous activity for several minutes or longer is called aerobic exercise. Dance training is mostly anaerobic. 

Class time is spent starting and stopping.  You must observe, mark, or listen to instructions before you can embody them.  Exercises are generally short, allowing you to focus on and master the many skills required for the genre.  Some of these require huge amounts of energy for only a few moments.  During this type of training, you are developing specific movement abilities, and practicing a particular kind of awareness or presence, which is so important for the expressive component of dance.

However, it can be shocking to perform in a competition, exam, or recital where you are required to be dancing for longer periods of time, sometimes for several days.  Also, back-to-back classes over the course of an evening can be exhausting. 

Cardiovascular endurance depends on the ability of the heart and lungs to work together, continually delivering oxygen and removing carbon dioxide, for long periods of time, often under stress. It builds stamina, which is the strength and energy that allows you to continue physical activity, and mental exertion, for substantial amounts of time.

Dancers who supplement their specific technical and conditioning practices with aerobic activity find a big difference in their stamina, and their overall dance experience.

Power, Extension & Precision

The Muscular & Skeletal Systems

Dancers are often calling upon muscles that are deep within the body, and not always easy to ‘feel’.  The subtle changes that occur when these muscles are activated are what give dancers the grace and precision that is part of the magic.  The way a dancer uses the muscles, either for power, extension, or precision, can be improved by an understanding of where and how to access these muscles.

Working with the muscular system, bones create the shapes of your dancing by mobilizing joints. Joints are where you access your Range Of Motion (ROM).

Although it is not necessary to memorize all the names of every muscle and bone in the body, it is important to know some. 

Dancers who understand how and where muscles and bones connect find this insight very beneficial in achieving the best quality of movement for their body.

Masterful Execution

The Nervous System

The brain is the control centre for the nervous system and it is constantly sorting through information that comes from inside and outside your body.  Although the brain is technically an organ, it is sometimes useful to treat it like a muscle; that is, the brain can be exercised and strengthened.

Examples of brain training tools are reading, problem solving, learning new things, playing games, and physical activity.

Dance has been studied and used as a method of strengthening the brain because it accesses and utilizes the 3 subsystems of the central nervous system, the sensory, motor and cognitive systems.

• The sensory system is responsible for expressive artistry and balance.

• The motor system manages movement planning and execution.

• The cognitive system works with motivation and memory.

These are abilities enviable in all, and intrinsic to dance training.

Dancers who are mindful in their practice are employing their nervous system, and this awareness makes a visible difference in their progression and performance capabilities.

A short list of bones to know:

Image Credits: © Can Stock Photo / magicmine, © Can Stock Photo / sciencepics

A short list of muscles to know:

Photo credits: Julie Ridge Designs, © Can Stock Photo / Eraxion, © Can Stock Photo / normaals, © Can Stock Photo / YuriV