PostureLesson Objectives: • Be able to describe good

and bad posture.• Be able to comment on

examples of posture and recommend exercises to improve.

What is Posture? Carriage of the body.

The position in which you hold your body upright against gravity while standing, sitting or lying down.

Proper alignment of posture and turnout are necessary for balance, muscle development, and prevention of injury in dance.

THE FACTS

About half the UK

population suffers

from back pain

during a year

with up to 15%

going on to have

chronic problems.

It is the second biggest cause of sick leave, accounting for five million lost working days a year.

Poor alignment puts stresses and strains on the joints and muscles of the lower back and legs, causing muscles to work beyond their natural capacities, joints to carry more weight,

and ligaments to lose their elasticity (Loren 111).

How do you improve posture?

Stand with your body weight forward, mostly on the balls of your feet

Distribute your body weight evenly between your feet

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart

Try not to lock your knees

Stand tall, with shoulders square and relaxed

Keep your head in line with your spine, eyes straight ahead

Hold your chin parallel to the floor.

Keep your neck long and stretched upward

Exercises to improve posture

Step 1: Strengthen Your CoreCore exercises: Crunches, plank etc.

Step 2: Fix Rounded ShouldersRows with a weight: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=174 or chest stretches: http://www.stretchingworld.com/chest-stretch.html

Step 3: Neutralize Tilted Hips Bridges: http://

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=153

Step 4: Retract a Forward Head Neck stretches:http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=56

TURNOUT

Outward rotation of the hips and the feet.

With perfect turnout, a dancer's feet point in opposite ways of each other to form a straight line, with the heels touching.

A good turnout = more flexibility and greater range of movement.

How do you improve turnout?

What happens with too much turnout?

Over turnout in the feet can also lead a dancer to injury. Unfortunately, many dancers become overzealous in their

turning out, which can lead to a variety of problems. Turnout should come from the ball-and-socket joint at the hip,

not from the knees or the ankles. The knees should always point over the toes, the feet should never roll over the arches, and the pelvis should not feel pushed or tilted forward.

If you should notice that you are doing any of the above-mentioned things or if you feel pain in any of these areas, simply move your toes to a slightly more turned in position.

Do not try to correct the rolled in arches or the tilted pelvis by muscling your way through combinations: you will only put more strain on the other, making injury even more likely.