Dance Fitness

To be a good dancer, you must be both physically fit, and ready to sweat. Although it doesn't seem like it, dance is one of the hardest sports out there. You have no team, it's just you. Your the one that does all of the work for yourself, which is why you must be fit. Ballet especially is one of the toughest dances, because it targets mainly your tiny muscles that you almost never use. It's great for the core of your body. You need to make sure that you are very flexible before doing ballet. A way to be more flexible is to stretch... A LOT. In ballet there are many times where you need to jump and do a full split in the air, and there is no way that you can ever do that unless you can do a split on land. Those tiny muscles are what help you hold your position and your core helps you balance. Sit ups, Push ups, crunches, squats, and many other exercises are great ways to stay in shape. you also want to lift weights occasionally to keep your upper body strength, because you will need upper body strength especially in ballet to keep your back muscles straightened and to help your posture. For Tap Dance, you need to have very strong legs. This is important because you need to be able to move your legs a lot without getting tired. For hip hop, it is not always required, but you may need to know how to lock or break. Locking is when you stand on your toes and lock your knees, and breaking is when you stand on your arm and spin.