Dance
Workout
(for pictures of these
exercises click here)
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| Standing Position (Stance) *Stand with your feet and
legs together and your arms hanging at your sides. Your
legs should be straight, but do not lock your knees.
*Tighten your buttock muscles (squeeze them gently
together). Then, starting from the bottom of your spine,
concentrate on tightening each vertebra all the way up to
your head. Imagine the pole running up your spine. You
are sliding along it toward the ceiling, getting taller
as you straighten. If you inhale as you straighten your
back, you should feel as though your body is getting
lighter.
*Pull your shoulders back gently and let your arms hang
straight down from them. If you have a seam on the side
of your shorts or pants, your arms should be hanging just
behind that seam now.
*Fold your thumb into the palm of your hand. Curl your
fingers gently over your thumb. Make sure you do not hold
your fingers and thumb too tightly, or your hand will go
numb. However, your fingers should touch your thumb
during your whole exercise or dance, and your hands
should stay touching the sides of your legs.
*Leaving your heels together, rotate your legs from your
hips and turn your toes away from each other until they
are at about a 45 degree angle. This is called turnout.
Make sure you are turning your legs out from your hips.
You can check this by bending your knees slightly. If
your knees are bending over your toes, you are turning
your toes out from your hips. If your knees are not in a
line with your toes, then you are turning from your lower
leg, which will put damaging pressure on your knees. If
at first you are not very flexible in the hips, try
turning your feet only slightly out, and gradually turn
out more and more with each class.
*This
is your standing position.
You should
always start in this position before doing dance
exercises or your actual dance.
If you have
trouble staying in this position, practice it on your
own.
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Foot Position
The
position of your feet is one of the main things that an
adjudicator looks at when judging you at a feis. These
exercises should help you improve your pointing, and
turnout, and hopefully you will also end up with much
better marks!
Crossing your feet . . Pointing
your toe . . Standing Point Exercise
Cross/Turnout/Balance Exercise . . Improving Turnout
Hopping Point Exercise . . Point & Lift Exercises . . Jumping
Exercises . . Hopping
Exercises
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| Crossing Your Feet *Start from your
standing position, checking to make sure your stance is
correct.
*Place your right foot in front of your left foot,
keeping both feet turned out. Your right heel should be
touching your left toes.
*Your feet are now what the Irish call
“crossed.” This means that your feet are one in
front of the other, with your legs together so that no
space shows between them.
*Try crossing your feet with the left foot in front now.
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| Pointing Your Toe *Start in your standing position, checking to
make sure your stance is correct.
*Cross your feet with the right foot in front, making
sure your feet remain turned out.
*Slide your right foot forward several inches so that
your right heel is in a line with your left arch. Your
weight should now be entirely on your left foot (your
back foot). The exact distance you want your feet apart
depends on your height and balance, which is different
for each person, so experiment to find the best spot for
you. Make sure your toes remain turned out from your
hips.
*Keeping your leg straight and your toes on the ground,
slowly lift your right heel as far as you can, using
mainly your calf muscles and rotating your hip very
slightly up as your heel rises. You may need to slide
your right foot forward or backward somewhat to keep your
leg straight as you do this.
*Now, use the muscles of your foot to curl your toes.
Your weight is still entirely on your left foot, your
back foot. Ideally, then, you should now be standing with
your weight on your back leg, with only the tips of your
front toes resting on the ground. Make sure your toes are
still turned out. (You know they are if you can see your
front heel in the mirror).
*The muscles of the arches of your feet are what control
your toe point. To strengthen them, you can sit with
ankle weights attached around your feet, or sit with your
toes under the bottom of a chair or couch (or other heavy
object). Make sure that whatever your toes are under is
not heavy enough to damage your toes or feet. Leaving
your heels on the ground, raise and lower your toes,
lifting whatever object they are resting under. Repeat
numerous times.
*Repeat your toe point with your left toe.
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| Standing point exercise *Begin in your standing position. Cross your
feet, checking turnout. Pick a spot in front of you and
point your right toe so that it is resting on the spot
you have chosen.
*Return your right foot to your crossed feet position.
*Point your right foot again, making sure your toe
touches the same spot.
*Repeat 8 times. Then repeat 8 times with your left foot,
which should touch the same spot in front of you.
*If you are practicing this exercise with music, pointing
your toe and returning it should each take 1 bar of
music, making one repetition for every 2 bars.
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| Cross/Turnout/Balance Exercise *Begin in standing position, leaving your heels
together and arms by your sides.
*Slowly lift up onto the ball of your feet, leaving your
heels touching (there should be no space between your
heels). You should be as high on the ball of your foot as
you can go comfortably while keeping your heels together.
Hold this position for a count of 3 (or, if you are
practicing to music, for 3 bars) and then return to the
standing position.
*Repeat 3 more times (which takes 16 bars with the
music).
*Now, cross your right foot in front of your left. With
your feet crossed, lift up onto the balls of your feet,
pulling your feet as close as you can together and
keeping your legs squeezed together. Think about lifting
your chest up towards the ceiling, which will help you
maintain your balance. Hold this position for a count of
3 (or 3 bars) and then relax.
*Repeat 3 more times (16 bars total).
*Now, cross your left foot in front of your right and
repeat the above 4 times total.
*If you have your trouble with your cross, turnout,
and/or balance, simply repeat this whole group of
exercises again. (or try these Turnout exercises)
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| Hopping point exercise *Begin in standing position. Cross your feet and
point your right toe on the spot you have chosen in front
of you, checking turnout.
*Hop in the air and point your right toe on the spot on
your floor, keeping your arms tight at your sides. Your
back knee will bend a little, but do not let it bend too
much. Keep your front leg straight and your toe nicely
pointed. Your toe should not make noise as it touches the
ground.
*Repeat so that your toe touches the ground 8 times. Then
switch your legs, hopping and pointing your left toe on
the same spot 8 times. Switch back and forth several
times.
*Now, hop and point each toe on the ground 4 times,
switching back and forth. Then hop and point each toe 2
times, switching back and forth, and then finish your
exercise by pointing each toe on the ground once,
switching legs after every point.
*If you are doing this exercise with music, your toe
should touch the ground twice per each bar of music.
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| Point and lift exercises There is a basic exercise and three variations
to choose from. (see note)
*Begin in standing position. Cross your
feet and point your right foot, checking turnout.
*Lift your right leg into the air a short way, keeping
the leg straight and your toe pointed.
*Now, bend your knee and pull your foot (still pointed)
towards your back leg, stopping when your front foot is
right in front of your back knee, almost but not quite
touching the back knee. Your upper front leg should be
flat, and your front toe should be pointed at the ground.
*Reverse the movement, straightening your front leg
before lowering it to the ground. Your toe should stay
pointed during this whole movement.
*Repeat the point and lift on your right leg 8 times,
then on your left leg 8 times.
*If you are doing this exercise to
music, each lift should take 1 bar and each return to
pointing should take 1 bar, making each point and lift 2
bars long. You may want to practice more slowly at first
and work up to this speed.
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| Variation
1 |
Variation
2 |
Variation
3 |
| Lift your leg straight
into the air and then return it to the ground instead of
bending it to your knee. Make sure your legs stay
straight and your front toes stay pointed. Pay special
attention to your upper body: keep it straight and do not
let your shoulders come forward. Your leg does not have
to lift very high, but it does need to be straight, as
does your back. Repeat 8 times both legs. |
From the pointing
position, tuck your leg behind you so that your foot is
close to your buttocks in back, then return your foot to
its pointing position. In this point and lift exercise,
you should try to keep your knee down, so that it does
not stick too far out in front. Your foot should stay
pointed behind you. Repeat 8 times on both legs. |
Lift your leg, bend your
foot to your knee, straighten your leg out again and
then, leaving your leg straight in front of you in the
air, rise up on your back toe, hold it for a bar, and
then relax back onto your whole foot as you lower your
front leg to the ground. This is a more advanced
variation. As you get better at this variation, you
should gradually increase the amount of time you hold
yourself up on your toe |
| *Note: many people have difficulty
keeping their toes pointed straight when first learning
these exercises. If you notice that your foot tends to
turn inward when you lift it, then you need to practice
point and lift in front of a mirror. Whenever you see
your foot turn, push it back so that it is pointing at
the ground. If you are not sure which muscles control
that motion, or if the muscles are weak at first, use
your hand to help adjust your foot until you can move the
foot on its own. Unfortunately, like many form problems,
this one can only be corrected by diligent practice. |
| Hopping exercise *Begin in your standing position, with your feet
crossed and turned out, and your right foot pointed.
*Step forward so that your weight is on your right foot.
Lift your left leg from behind you straight into the air
in front of you, keeping your toe pointed. Hop on your
right leg (your back leg), at the same time bending your
front leg and bringing your left foot to your right knee.
As with point and lift, your foot should be over your
knee, and almost but not quite touching it. Keep your toe
pointed at the ground.
*Keeping the upper part of your left leg stationary,
straighten your left leg a little ways and then bring
your left foot back towards your right knee, hopping as
you do so. Straighten your leg and hop once more. This
will make a total of one step and three hops.
*Now switch to the other side, bringing your left foot
down to the ground directly in front of your right foot
and putting your weight on your left foot. Lift your
right leg in the air and hop three times, bringing your
foot to your knee each time.
*Repeat twice more.
*When you are comfortable with step and 3 hops, try step
and 2 hops instead, which has a slightly different
rhythm. Then try step and one hop.
*If you are doing this exercise with the music, each step
and each hop will occupy 1/2 of a bar of music, making
step and 3 hops take up 2 bars.
*Try to watch
several form points as you do this exercise: keep your
arms tight to your sides, your shoulders back, your head
up; keep your toe pointed at the ground, stay up on your
toes; keep your foot directly in front of (but not
touching) your knee, and keep your upper leg flat while
you are hopping.
*More advanced form: do 8 bars of step and 3 hops, 8 of
step and 2, and 8 of step and 1 without any breaks in
between. Then try 16 bars of each strung together.
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Jumping exercise
*If you are doing this exercise with the music, you
should do 2 jumps for every 1 bar of music.
Remember also on all these to keep your back straight,
your head up, and your arms and hands still at your
sides. These small but crucial elements take a lot of
practice to become comfortable. |
| First exercise Begin in your standing position with your feet
crossed and turned out.
*Keeping your feet together, jump into the air. Your legs
should be straight, not bent. These jumps are low to the
ground but high enough that, ideally, you should point
your toes every time you are in the air.
Try to stay right on your spot and do not let your body
tilt or slouch.
Repeat in sets of 8 or 16.
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More advanced form Jump 3 times in a row, using the landing on the
third jump as a springboard to lift your body high in the
air and pull both your legs up in back (this is called a
tuck).
Repeat the jump-2-3-tuck movement several times. Land on
the balls of your feet and bend your knees slightly on
landing to cushion your descent and make a light landing.
Concentrate on pushing your legs down to the ground as
well as pulling them up in the air; pushing your legs
down as well as up will give you greater control over
your speed, allowing you to do the exercise fast enough
so that the tuck only takes 1 bar.
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Extra advanced form Straight tucks.
Do 8 or 16 tucks in a row with no jumps in between. These
are difficult and you will have to concentrate on pushing
your legs to achieve your goal of 2 tucks per bar.
Land high on the balls of your feet and don’t let
yourself sink into the floor or it will be very hard to
get back up again.
Try to land with as little noise as possible: keeping
your toes together as you land on the ball of your foot
will help you land lightly.
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Now that you’re
trying to do all these things at once, try to smile, too.
Smiling helps keep you positive even when you have no
energy. Remember that Irish dancing is all about looking
like very difficult things are easy, and part of that is
looking like you’re energetic even when you’re
exhausted. Like everything else, this illusion takes
practice. |