Pre-Teen/Teen Exercises & Steps from Nan’s Dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDq-urg9PIU
Great Ways for Our Dancers to Practice at Home!
Since we can’t be in the studio right now, we at Nan’s Dance wanted to give pre-teens and teens some easy moves to do at home. This is a great way to continue their dance education and should only take five minutes a day to do. Hopefully focusing on these dance moves will help keep things a little more normal for your child while giving them something fun to work on.
The first thing we should always be doing before moving is warming up and stretching. Warming up can be simple things like jumping jacks or running in place or even high knees, however you want to get started. You are really just trying to get your muscles warm in order to provide the best stretch for your body and not hurt your muscles doing so.
Stretch, Stretch, Stretch!
We encourage all our dancers to really stretch after they have warmed up. You can come up with your own stretch routine or just do all the stretches we do in class at Nan’s Dance. Be creative and come up with your own stretch, in addition to flat backs and reaching over your legs.
Do some isolations and think about your rib cage —really work those muscles out and in. (See video for visuals) You also want to focus on your neck muscles and do isolations with your head. Don’t just think about your legs!
Splits & Frogs For Legs
Start with your splits, including your right split, your left split, and also your middle splits. When you do your splits, make sure your front leg is straight. It’s totally fine if your back leg is bent, you’ll get there and eventually it will be straight also. Your hands should be on either side of that front straight leg pointed with your hips squared. Try to get your back leg as straight as you can make it for now.
Frogs are awesome too. The frog is when you are laying down on your front and your hips are down on the floor with your legs bent out to each side (like a frog!) and the bottom of your feet are touching.
Find Your Balance
We also encourage you to work on your balance while at home. If you’re in the kitchen, place your hand on the countertop and work on your relevé, first position and second position. This is assisted balancing that’s easy to do.
For a balancing exercise you can do that’s unassisted, find a larger open space and start in your first position parallel and balance in your relevé. You can do this with your hands on your hips or on your side, whichever works best. Think about pulling your ankles into each other, don’t let them roll out, and think about a string connecting you to the ceiling from your head. Next, you can do first position turned out and pull up into your relevé with the same arm positions and really pull up when your balancing. Pull your ankles forward as you are reaching your whole body upright. Then do second position parallel and turned out with the same ideas as in the first position.
Now go back and run through all the positions again, but this time, close your eyes. You’ll see it’s much more difficult to balance this way, but definitely try it. We hope you find our videos helpful and we cannot wait to see you back here in the studio!
Don’t Forget to Register for Fall!
It’s not too early to register for our popular fall classes. From ballet to hip hop, we offer dance classes for ALL ages and skill levels in a variety of styles. We place students in classes that will challenge them while offering a fun atmosphere for learning and growth. We also offer Mommy & Me classes, (18 months – 2.5 years)
Register online or give us a call at 919-803-6044 to hold your spot! All classes start the week of August 17, 2020. It’s going to be a fantastic season for dance.