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Dance Technique incorporating safe dance practice

Performing sequences relative to anatomical structure

Causes and prevention of injury

Causes of injury

Posture and body alignment

Good body mechanics is essential to move efficiently and to defend against the possibility of injury. Body mechanics is the functional relationship among the various body parts. For effective movement, each segment of the body must be in proper relationship to adjacent segments.

Good body mechanics is relative to the type of activity being engaged in, such as floor work, barre, centre work, moving in space and jumps and aerial work, as well as the body build that the individual is endowed with. To maintain proper alignment, the human body must continually combat the force of gravity as it is being pulled toward the centre of the earth. Body segments such as the hip and knee that are misaligned react to gravity more adversely than segments that are in good alignment.

Stability

Standing upright on two feet provides a very small base of support; consequently, the body is relatively unstable in its normal standing position.

Whether standing in one position or moving, the body is always striving to offset the pull of gravity. The most stable position of the body is when it is aligned over its own base of support.

Kinaesthetic awareness

Dance is often the purposeful gaining and losing of the base of support.

It is the relationship of the ligaments, muscles and many other factors that are designed to maintain postural alignment. In dynamic movement, control is achieved using visual cues in terms of the body's position in space. The semicircular canals in the inner ear provide information on the body's position to the brain.

Receptors in the tendons, joints and muscles provide information to the brain to control movement.

Posture

Good posture allows for the maximum functioning of the body in terms of dance technique. A body that is aligned correctly expends the least amount of energy to execute the movement.

Standing posture

The body weight is equally spread over the feet, with equal pressure placed on the various parts of the foot such as the heel and the ball of the foot. The five toes assist to equalise the pressure. Balanced equally over the feet are the lower legs, which sit comfortably on top of the axis of each ankle, called the talus. The legs are straight but ensure that the knees are not stiff or in a locked position.

On top of the legs is the pelvis, balanced in such a manner that the muscles of the abdomen, lower back and thighs are in equal contraction. The pelvis, in coordination with the lumbar spine, allows for a normal amount of anterior and posterior curvature. The upper back, supported primarily by the thoracic vertebrae, also has anterior and posterior curvature balanced with the lumbar spine.

Resting comfortably on the thorax is the shoulder girdle, with the arms hanging in a straight line down the sides of the trunk. The best method to determine standing posture is by employing the plumb line test, with a weighted string extending the full length of the body.

Of extreme importance to the entire body is the proper alignment of the foot, ankle and leg. The foot and ankle must be properly aligned if the system of tendons and muscles are to work efficiently. Because the foot is the base of support for the entire body, faulty alignment here can cause postural deviations in the other mechanical systems of the body, e.g. placement of the hip and associated muscles.

Activity

View the placement and sequencing body skill movies and complete the following analysis.

Assess:

for inward rotation of the knees during turn out
misalignment of the kneecaps
the turn out of the feet in relation to the alignment of the kneecap, thigh and foot
the line of the pelvis, hips, thigh, kneecap, lower leg and foot in the plie
the weight distribution
the line of the forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot in balance
the positioning of the lower leg to the foot in balance
that the toes are straight and flat on the supporting surface.

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