This is a great exercise for strengthening the upper body, arms and shoulder girdle. The wrists, elbows and shoulders when strong and flexible allow the hands to move with great ease and skill which provides the hands with the ability to move in the most dynamic way.

Using the wrists, elbows and shoulders to move the arms in a coordinated and seamless manner helps centre the entire body, which is paramount to improving dance technique.

As a dancer we mainly focus on strengthening our legs and forget about our arms. If you haven’t done a ballet class for a long time, half way through port de bra you may find your arms tiring. A dancers arms need to be strong for lifts and gesturing. In contemporary and funk styles you may be required to do upper body weight bearing moves. Developing arm and shoulder girdle strength not only improves all dance techniques, but also helps to rebalance the strength between the upper and lower body.

Dance is a finely tuned form of movement and to support that, the workout you do should be of the same genre. Pilates was originally taught to dancers and actors by Joseph Pilates, which he called contrology. Well-known dancers such as Martha Graham and George Balanchine were soon hooked and began sending there their own students to Joseph for training. Later on, athletes and other performing artists studied under his method and now all walks of life do Pilates for general toning and fitness, rehab and pregnancy, the list of reasons goes on.

Try this upper body exercise and feel your strength improve. All care of course should be taken. If you suffer from a sore neck and shoulders wait till it has settled down before trying it, chances are you will only upset it more.
Good luck, navel to spine
Melissa
BI=breathe in BO=breathe out
>Start on your hands and knees with your hands shoulder width apart under your shoulders and your knees under your hips, hip width apart.
Find a neutral spine, that is, without flattening out the lower back or making the curve to big. Draw the shoulders down away from the ears and press the floor away from you so you don’t let the head sag and the shoulders wing.
>BI and press one foot back onto the ball
>BO and engage pelvic floor muscles and draw the navel to the spine as you press the other foot back
>Hold position for 3 breaths. On each out breath check the pelvic floor and abbs are still engaged. Keep pushing the floor away from you, draw the armpits in and visualise them looking at each other.