Category: exercise

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3 Great Dance Stretches for Tight Hamstrings

Tight hamstrings can pull your back out of alignment causing lower back pain. Also very difficult to get your splits flat when your hamstrings are too tight. Creating long lean dancer muscles and avoiding big bulky muscles requires proper and daily stretching.

1. Seated Head to Knee Stretch

How to: Sit with your Right leg straight out in front of you and bend your left leg into passé (foot resting against your thigh). Start walking your hands down your right leg. Pull your abdominals in a little deeper and walk your hands a little further. Hold this stretch for 30sec to 1 min. Nice deep breaths allowing the muscle spindles to release safely. Then switch to the other leg and repeat

2. Seated Forward Stretch

How to: Now extend both legs out in front of you. Again walking your hands forward, pulling in your abdominals and leading with the crown of your head. If you can, grab your big toes and continue reaching forward. Hold and relax for 30sec up to 1 minute

3. Reclining Hand to Big Toe

How to: Now lie back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Extend your right leg up, holding the big toe. Hold this stretch for 30sec. Then begin sliding your left leg out without bending your right knee. Hold that stretch for an additional 30sec to 1 minute. Repeat with the other leg

Remember that increasing flexibility safely takes time. Stretch daily and hold your stretches for at least 30sec to 1 minute

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Sleep and Health 8 Reasons not to Skip Sleep

Sleep is often overlooked in favor of squeezing in an extra workout or night out dancing so a quick reminder on some of the reasons why you shouldn’t take sleep for granted

  1. Weight Management. Proper sleep improves hormone-related hunger response. The better we sleep, the lower the body’s levels of the hormone ghrelin, which promotes appetite. Better sleep also increases the hormone, leptin which is the satiety hormone. This increase helps us feel full sooner so we eat less.
  2. Exercise Performance. Energy levels increase with better sleep so performance and enjoyment increases
  3. Heart Health. Better sleep reduces the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke by improving cardiovascular function.
  4. Inflammation Control. Sleep reduces the risk of inflammation in joints, muscles and connective tissues.
  5. Hormonal Output. Better sleep increases anabolic muscle-building hormones such as prolactin, testosterone, and growth hormones while decreasing catabolic muscle-wasting hormones such as cortisol, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6
  6. Brain Improvements. Sleep improves cognitive function, decision making and reaction times.
  7. Immune Response. Better sleep helps the body fight off colds, infections, and other common illnesses. It also helps the body respond better to serious health problems such as cancer and AIDS
  8. Emotional Well-being. Better sleep reduces the risk of mental illness, depression, and bipolar disorders

Taken from American Fitness Fall 2018

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Florida Senior Living Dance Edutainment

Gypsy Fire South Florida Belly Dancers
Gypsy Fire Flamenco Dancers

Senior Living Dance shows aren’t just entertaining, they are also educational!

The music, the costumes, the pageantry but also the history. Educating our audiences on the history of the dance and time period while entertaining keeps everyone engaged. Those who are able are invited up to dance too. Those who are not, are encouraged to mimic modified movements in their seats.

If you have always wanted to give back to the community and love performing, give us a call. We are always looking for new dancers. Or if you are an Activities Director, looking for some fun and educational entertainment for your residents, contact us at 561-358-8132

 

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3 Top Belly Dance Moves for a Tiny Waist!

South Florida Belly Dancer
  1. Shoulder Slide
  2. Shoulder Slant
  3. Side Waist Contraction
  • Tone and tighten your obliques with these great Belly Dance moves!
  • How to do them!
  • Put on your favorite music.
  • Shoulder Slide – Stand with your legs shoulder width apart and your knees. Slide your shoulders and rib cage side to side. Arms reaching out to the sides. Imagine someone is playing tug of war with you and you are the center
  • Shoulder Slant – Begin standing with legs shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Side bend to the right with arms overhead in Temple Pose (backs of wrists together and arms framing your face) and then back up to center Repeat 8 times and then do the same thing on the left side
  • Side Waist Contraction (the Hip Drop) – Begin standing with your legs under your hip bones and knees slightly bent. Deepen the bend of your right knee lifting your heel off of the floor. Using your Obliques (the side waist muscles) lift your right hip straight up and drop. Do this in time to the music you have chosen 8 times on each side
  • And there you have it! My three favorite waist cinching Belly Dance moves!!
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3 Best Stretches for Splits

Ah the illusive split. Looks so awesome sliding down to the floor with a sword balanced perfectly on your head. So how do you get them? Well in high school I had to have both my right and left splits flat for Dancerettes. So these are my top favorite stretches I did the most to get them.

1. The Straddle stretch! Seated with legs open as wide as you comfortably can. Then alternate reaches. In Pilates it’s called the Saw. After each set of 25, I open my legs a little wider. Working up to 100

2. Then it’s  nose to knee and hold for 30 seconds. 30 seconds allows the muscle spindles to relax and you can safely push past your natural flexibility increasing your range of motion. Repeat on the other leg

3. Then walk your hands forward in the center with a flat back. Think about bringing your chest to the floor, not your head. Bringing your nose closer and closer to the floor until you can lie down flat.

Remember it takes two weeks of daily stretching to see results show don’t give up! You will have those coveted flat splits in no time!

Dawn Rhys, South Florida Belly Dancer