Photo by Wes Kroninger
The final product may be an art form, but there’s still a lot of science that goes into ballet.
Of that science, a key component is health – something every dancer, young or old, professional or recreational, must keep in mind at all times.
In New Albany, nowhere is that combination of art and science studied more intently than at the New Albany Ballet Company.
The company, located on Forest Drive, opened its doors in 1999. Now it has more than 600 students across its four training divisions – children’s, general, progressive and pre-professional – determined by the student’s age and seriousness. Students may be as young as 2 years old and can remain with the school through high school.
Tara Miller is owner and director at the company. She has a degree in dance from The Ohio State University.
As a New Albany resident, Miller has seen firsthand the community’s commitment to arts and culture. She started out teaching ballet classes at the New Albany Country Club, and later was able to start her own business thanks to the support of a country club patron who believed strongly in Miller’s potential.
Ballet is an activity that employs all the muscles, says Miller, and not only does it keep its practitioners in tip-top shape, it has larger ramifications for their overall health.
“You stay physically fit because you’re in an environment where you’re constantly moving,” she says.
For instance, children who grow up taking ballet lessons end up with better posture, Miller says. They also develop good balance, strong core muscles and a good center of gravity.
Ballet also helps build confidence, respect for artistic expression, a strong work ethic and a desire to maintain a healthy body weight, Miller says.
“Each child understands that ‘skinny’ is not necessarily the right body type,” she says.
And one major benefit for dancers is an intensified awareness of and confidence with one’s body. That helps them maintain a good body image and avoid harmful behavior like drug use or drinking to excess.
“There’s much more of a respect for your body if you grow up in the dance world,” Miller says.
Muscles are worked slowly to reduce the risk of injury and better train the body so the work comes naturally to participants. Stretching is a large part of the studio’s classes, with students spending half of each class preparing on the bar.
“It’s not fast-paced – it’s more about endurance and trying to maintain strength,” says Miller.
Flexibility is paramount to success in ballet, and that’s another area that is heavily emphasized.
“A lot of dancers will supplement with yoga, Pilates or some other type of activity that supports ballet,” says Miller.
Success in dance is contingent on more than just muscle strength. Nutrition is an important factor as well, and students are made aware of that importance.
Ashley Doyle-Lucas, one of the company’s faculty members, has her Ph.D. in sports nutrition and chronic diseases and is working to gain status as a registered dietician. She makes sure her students follow good eating habits that will keep them in top condition for dance.
“They can’t reach optimum performance if they’re not reaching their optimum nutrition,” she says.
One to four hours before class, students are advised to eat something with high carbohydrates, moderate to low protein and low fat, such as a fruit smoothie or fruit with peanut butter. That type of food provides a lot of energy that can be used quickly, Doyle-Lucas says.
If a student will be dancing for more than 90 minutes, he or she is advised to bring a sports drink for fuel and fluid, as well as a snack such as fruit or granola.
“I’m always allowing them to bring water in … because we know dehydration really impairs sports,” Doyle-Lucas says.
After class, recovery eating is important as well. Doyle-Lucas recommends having something to eat 30 to 60 minutes after exercise to refuel the body and repair muscle damage. Chocolate milk is one of the suggestions most popular among students.
The New Albany Ballet Company has a strong focus on technique. Though the school does put on a spring recital – this year scheduled for May 20 – its students do not participate in competitions, so the vast majority of their work is practice.
Miller has seen her students go on to see success in a variety of ballet companies across the country, as well as in top-ranked university dance programs.
She and the school’s other instructors work hard to stay up to date on the latest developments in the world of dance and technique – keeping in touch with other companies, attending seminars, reading national publications and making every effort to stay ahead of the curve.
They also make sure to maintain good communication with students so they’re not afraid to come forward with any problems they may be facing, from nervousness to injury.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at editor@healthynewalbany.org.
The Medicine of Movement
When dancers move up to the professional level, staying well-conditioned and injury-free is crucially important.
That’s why companies such as BalletMet keep sports medicine practitioners around to minimize the risk of injury.
Hope Davis, an athletic trainer at OSU’s Sports Medicine Program for Performing Arts Medicine, is the head athletic trainer for BalletMet. Davis earned her undergraduate degree in dance at the University of Akron, but realizing the physical pressures of professional dance were not for her, she went into athletic training.
Dancers rely on their flexibility, but the strength needed to maintain that flexibility is not to be overlooked.
“Having too much range of motion and not enough strength can actually predispose them to the possibility of injuries,” Davis says.
Traumatic injuries such as ankle sprains are important to avoid, but dancers are much more prone to overuse injuries like stress fractures, particularly in the lower extremities. Among the most common fatigue injuries are tendonitis, patellofemoral pain syndrome, snapping hip and lumbar and spine issues.
Because the average dancer has developed a high tolerance for pain, he or she may attempt to ignore nagging pains, so Davis instructs dancers to consider their pain on a scale from one to 10 and go to the doctor if pain exceeds a score of three for more than three days in a row. Communication with instructors to find the possible root of the pain is critical, as is accurately describing the kind of pain experienced.
“All my dancers have a very wide vocabulary of the kind of pain they have,” Davis says.
