Helpful hints for dancers

Some dancers, or people who want to dance don't actually know too much about what is good or not good for dancers. I learned some throughout my 11 years of dance and for any dancers who are curious, here are some random hints/facts!

• If you ever get cramps in your feet, eat more bananas! Potassium helps reduce muscle cramps, and are very healthy for you.
• Whenever you are doing any kind of jump while dancing, make sure your heels fully touch the ground. If your heel does not touch the ground, this could risk your Achilles tendon snapping. If your achillies snaps, then your foot will just hang! So be very careful. If this does happen to any of you dancers out there, don't worry it is fixable. This happened to my dance teacher when she did gymnastics and she's been fully healed for a while.
• If anyone is curious about point shoe buying, you should always  get your point shoes fitted. You may think your feet haven't grown at all, but point shoes need to be fitted perfectly to your feet. Do not buy someone else's, don't buy some random pair, get your point shoes fitted and it will be so much better for your feet and for your dance performance.
• I'm sure many dancer's teachers/instructors have told you to spot while doing turns. If, for any reason your wonder why they tell you that, it's because that's how you can nail your turns! If you have a solid spot when turning, then there is a high chance of getting your turns down faster. If any of you haven't heard of the term "spot" or "spotting", it is when your are going into some kind of turn and you need a focal point toward the direction you're turning in. Once you have a focal point and constantly look at it while turning, besides when you have to spin around, this can help you get solid turns. If my definition of those terms isn't clear, just look them up on Google and I'm almost 100% positive you'll find a better description, or even a video to help you learn how to spot.

Well, these are some of the main hints/facts I learned throughout my dance career. I hope these help!

Want Splits for Dance?

Some dancers may not know how valuable your splits are for dance. I never really had my splits down, and I know that they are extremely important to get certain dance moves accomplished. Here are some links that I feel would help dancers out a lot on getting their splits fast:

http://dance.about.com/od/stepsandmoves/ss/Splits.htm

http://www.danceadvantage.net/2009/11/19/stretching-splits/

http://www.ehow.com/video_12238369_splits-using-wall.html

Also, just google search how to do the splits and something should come up to whatever works best for you! Don't rush trying to do the splits and cause an injury, just stretch and practice them everyday and they should come along.

About a week or two ago, I watched this movie called First Position. I had no clue what it was about, but I decided to watch it because it had to do with dance. What I saw of it was a documentary about young dancers, can't remember the exact age, competing in dance competitions around the world. There were different aged dancers interviewed, and showed their back stories. The back stories mostly included their families. These dancers based their lives off of dance and nothing else. Every day they dance for hours and hours, ate healthy, had to get plenty of rest. I can understand this because for dance you need a lot of stamina, experience, energy, and dedication if you really want to pursue this art.

I thought this movie was interesting because it's crazy to imagine people at such a young age, know exactly what they want to do with their entire lives. Even before they're teenagers they know that dancing is going to be their dream career, and base their whole lives of this one talented art. I love dancing, don't get me wrong, but I don't think I could dedicate my whole life to an art where that's all you do. I like trying new things, but I will always want to dance.

If any of you have a Netflix account, this movie is on instant watch. If you don't have a Netflix account, I believe you can get just instant watch for free, but I would double check before making an account. Again, this movie is called First Position. If anyone wants to know what it takes to dedicate yourself to dance and travel the world, I think this movie could help.