Things You’ll Need:

• Knowledge of your field of dance study
• Time before (and after!) lessons to warm up and stretch

Why we warm up

1. Start slowly. The goal of dance warm up is not to make you sweat or feel warm, but to raise your temperature and heart rate to a “working” condition.
2. Go from zero to 60. Dancers beginning from a standstill ask a lot of their hearts and limbs. Blood and airways need to be flowing and muscles need to be able to reach into a leap, turn or plie. Warm up exercises and stretching accomplish that.
3. Avoid injuries. A “pulled” muscle is actually a tear in a muscle or tendon that was not properly prepared for action. Warm up in order to stay on the dance floor, not the sidelines.

Know How to Warm up

1. Raise your heart rate and work the joints you will be using. Begin warm up with dancelike movements that mimic steps or arm motions. Remember to start out small and gradually increase motion.
2. Add movements specific to your style of dance. Ballet dancers will drop into plies, tap dancers will practice gentle shuffles. Ask your tutor for ideas.
3. Follow a planned warm up regimen. Put together some of your own favorite dance moves in a special sequence.

You have sewn the four pieces of ribbon to the sides of your ballet shoes and you now need to know how to tie your ballet ribbons. Once tied, ballet shoes with ribbons look so elegant and keep the shoe attached to the foot, whilst freeing up the front of the foot to stretch as much as possible.

STEP 1
Put the shoe on the foot of the dancer. It is important the dancer is standing up as it flexes the foot correctly for ribbon size. Hold one ribbon in each hand.

STEP 2
Taking the ribbon which is attached to the outside of the foot, cross over the front of the ankle, pass around the ankle (inside), around the heel, around the front of the foot again and hold it just above the inside ankle bone.

STEP 3
Taking the ribbon which is attached to the inside of the foot, cross over the front of the ankle, pass around the outside of the ankle, around the heel, all the way around to cross over the front of the foot again, around the back and coming to a stop above the inside ankle bone. (This ribbon goes around the foot more than the other ribbon)

STEP 4
Take the ends of both ribbons and do a double knot. After you have done a double knot you will need to leave approx 4-5cm and then cut the rest off.

STEP 5
Tuck the ends inside the ribbons around the ankle.

TIPS
You can use a bobby pin to help push the ends inside the other ribbons.

STEP 6
After cutting the ribbon to length, you will need to do something with the ribbon to stop it fraying. You can buy products which will spray on and stop the fray. A cheaper, just as effective method is to singe the ribbon.

If you are doing an exam or competition, it is important for the ends not to fall out. Once you have tucked them in, spray the ribbons around that area with hair spray, it will help to hold them in place!

STEP 2
Twist hair into one long strand and wrap it around into a bun shape. Use one or two bobby pins to secure the coiled hair into the hair underneath the forming bun.

STEP 4
Cover the bun with a hair net. You can keep adjusting and tightening the hair net until it fits snugly over the bun. Use extra bobby pins if needed.

ROTATING between sprigged boots and black slippers is a weekly reality for eight-year-old Scott Allright – but he’s no sissy.

Scott Allright is happy on the dance floor or the rugby pitch. Photo supplied.

Part of the Pakuranga under-9 Orange side, the Howick schoolboy enjoys the rigorous of training and matches – a stark contrast to the poise needed for the ballet routines and rehearsals needed for his three roles in a production of The Little Mermaid, on stage later this month.

While some may regard a male involved in ballet as effeminate, Scott’s rugby coach, Phillip Morrow, believes ballet could help boys improve hand and eye coordination plus on-the-field skills,

“If this is what they want to do, go for it,” he says.

Howick Dance Studio principal and Scott’s dance teacher Sharon Barber agrees boys would benefit from physical and emotional confidence through dance.

Asked about being teased, Scott answers:

“That’s okay, they have a problem not me! Why not give it a go first?”

He reckons ballet has helped him become a better player, both in the lineout and with his footwork.

Auckland Rugby Union football manager Mike Elliott said kids often follow or take up several different sports and to his knowledge have not had any problems juggling the two. Scott has been playing rugby for Pakuranga since he was 5-years-old.

In September 2004 he achieved his Royal Academy of Dance Certificate accredited in England at Primary Level with Distinction. Now he is aiming for Grade 1.

“Scott’s attitude and determination to enjoy his activities is admirable. In the past year an awareness and acceptance from parents, especially ones whose own boy may show an interest in ballet has been refreshing,” said his mother Desirée.

MAGICAL toys come to life in Howick Dance Studio’s end of year show The Fairy Doll this weekend.

The mini ballet will see nine senior dance students take to the stage in various doll costumes.

“It’s a story about a toyshop and a lady who comes in to buy a present for Christmas,” says studio principal Sharon Barber. “The cast are dressed up as dolls. We’ve got a teddy bear, Chinese doll, Spanish doll, harlequin doll and the fairy doll is the one she wants to buy.”

Magic and wonder begins when the store closes at day’s end.

“When everyone goes home all the dolls come to life and have a party,” says Ms Barber. “The toy shop owner comes back in the morning and wonders what’s going on.”

Ms Barber says the show will be particularly entertaining for young children.
“The cast range between 14 and 17,” says Ms Barber.

“We have a lot of aspiring dancers coming to see the shows and they want to see what the big girls are doing. They watch with adulation.”

For many of the dancers it will be their last time performing with the studio.
“Some of those girls I’ve been teaching since they were three.

“For some of them this is the last year I will have them because they’re 17,” says Ms Barber.

“It’s awful having to say goodbye, and that’s why many of them come back and choreograph.”

The show will generate much-needed funds for improvements at the studio.

“This year we’re raising money because we’ve build a mezzanine floor for our costumes, but we can see them all so we want to get some curtains to cover them,” says Ms Barber.

Photo: Jenny Spellman (front), Georgia Wansink, Laura Wansink, Jordan Cole, Samantha Tan, Kirstyn Easthorpe and Breeanna Potter bring toys to life in the new Howick Dance Studio show The Fairy Doll. Times photo Michelle Hyslop.