Jazz dance, like modern dance and ballet, is a severe test of physiology, which makes warm-up preparation before practice extremely important. Warm-up exercises can also bring psychological and physical benefits to jazz dancers. From the physiological point of view, the functions of warm-up exercise include: increasing the speed and strength of muscle contraction, improving muscle coordination ability, preventing or reducing the injury of muscles, tendons and ligaments; Especially jazz dancers, back, chest, abdomen and other parts are also used quite frequently, so we should pay more attention when doing warm-up exercises. Psychologically, it can make learners have the psychology of preparing to start sports and a prelude to cultivate emotions, so that students can concentrate more and feel the motivation of learning.
The warm-up of jazz dance is very rhythmic, usually lasting 20-30 minutes. Ballet plié and relevés are often added to warm-up exercises to help prepare the muscles of feet and legs due to toe, quick kicking, rotation, jumping and continuous or rapid contraction of abdomen in jazz dance courses. In addition, independent and joint movements of upper limbs and trunk are needed to achieve the effect of whole body warmth and muscle flexibility.
Just as important as warm-up exercise is relaxation exercise. After the jazz dance class, the main joints and muscles should be stretched again, so that the tired muscles can be relieved more naturally and quickly, which will help to alleviate the muscle pain and fatigue the next day.
If analyzed from the perspective of physical factors, the relevant considerations of jazz dance include:
Cardiopulmonary endurance-Generally, the time of an action combination in jazz dance is not very long, but the rest time between groups is often very short. Therefore, if learners have good cardio-pulmonary endurance, they will generally maintain good dance skills after repeated movements, so as not to get tired prematurely.
Muscle strength and muscle endurance-Jazz dance has many quick and instantaneous movements, so basic muscle strength is necessary. In addition, because learning to dance often needs to practice the same movement many times, the requirements for muscle endurance are relatively high. In particular, the endurance of lower limb muscles must be well exercised, otherwise it is easy to cause damage to knees, ankles, hip joints and nearby muscles. Jazz dancers also strengthen their muscles through other auxiliary exercises (such as water exercises and yoga training).
Flexibility-No matter what kind of dance, if you want to dance beautifully, your body must be flexible, otherwise you can't give full play to the beauty of lines, and jazz dance is no exception. Be sure to pay attention to the stretching action of warm-up. Before the body muscles are fully warmed up, it is not appropriate to stretch in the form of elastic vibration, otherwise it will be counterproductive and strain the muscles. Static stretching is safer, but it also requires patience. Flexibility exercises should not reach the level of pain, as long as the muscles feel tight. The duration (angle) of the action can range from 10 seconds to 30-40 seconds. The longer the time, the higher the load of muscles and connective tissue near the joint.
Body composition-most excellent jazz dancers are muscular, but generally have less body fat. This makes their bodies show obvious muscle stripes, which makes them feel more energetic and powerful when dancing. The lower fat content also prevents the dancer from bearing unnecessary weight, making the dance action more chic and light. Although learning jazz dance can also be a way to lose weight, it is suitable for overweight beginners to lose weight in other ways first, otherwise it will cause a certain crisis to the health of muscles and joints.
Coordination-Coordination is very important in jazz dance. In addition to the coordination of hands and feet, there is also the coordination of head, trunk and limbs. In addition, in jazz dance, different parts of the body dance at different rhythms at the same time, which is really a great test for the dancers' coordination ability. For beginners, it is appropriate to practice the movements of different parts of the body first and then continue to cooperate with the required movements, so that the sense of success will be higher.
Dexterity-in jazz dance, different directions and levels of movements are often used to increase the sense of excitement and entertainment, so dancers must be dexterous and skilled, and the angle should be accurate and rapid when turning around.
Balance-the ability of dynamic balance is often more widely used in jazz dance than static balance, that is to say, dancers must clearly shift the focus of dance steps, in addition, they must skillfully position themselves with their eyes to help them keep balance when turning.
References:
World Music Network, 99 Music Network, Dancer's Home Network