We strongly recommend and support the wonderful work of Australian physiotherapist, Lisa Howell. 

Lisa Howel and Ryan King with AvO students October 2008

We were lucky to work with Lisa and attend some special lectures she offered in Cincinnati in October of 2008.  Her boundless energy and passion for helping dancers avoid injury and accomplish unknown potential is truly inspirational.

Click here to download Lisa’s FREE Ballet Parent Manual!

Use “The Ballet Blog” Link on the right to find out more about Lisa’s work! 

Lisa Howell (B.Phty) is a world renowned Dance Physical Therapist (Physiotherapist) and author of The Perfect Pointe Book.  Based in Sydney Australia, Ms. Howell has developed several unique systems of training for young dancers that are taking the dance world by storm. She is a well respected practitioner, and is known in local dancing circles for her dramatic results with young dancers and professionals alike.  Lisa is passionate about the education of dancers, not only to prevent injury, but to extend the boundaries of what each dancer believes is possible.  She specialises in the assessment and treatment of dancers of all ages, from young students to professional level and teachers. 

She is dedicated to the education of dancers to help prevent injury and to develop optimal performance at every level.  She produces FREE weekly dancers’ newsletter with tips on all aspects of dance to help spread her knowledge to the world. In addition to webcasts, online tutorials and workbooks, her educational information is often found readily accessible on YouTube®. Lisa has dedicated herself to the ongoing development of educational dance resources, and she was honored with an award for“The Greatest Contribution to Dance Medicine,” at the 2007 International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) conference.

Plus she is one of the NICEST people you will ever meet! Check out her “Ballet Blog”!

Education

At AvO Ballet, it is our opinion that ballet is a means to an end for presenting students with a unique educational opportunity. Not only do we view the Art of Ballet as important unto itself, but much of its value is as a process for learning more important life lessons like discipline, hard work, creativity, and co-operation. In our operations we focus not only on the “Art of Ballet,” but the “Art of Teaching.”

Recent brain research in the 80’s and 90’s has led to an explosion of new ideas in so called “brain-based education,” founded on the most current findings of how the brain actually learns.  Time and again use of body movement and physical exercise has shown increased learning potential for understanding abstract concepts and forming long term memory. 

Classical ballet has many advantages in light of brain-based educational theories.  Movements incorporate the whole body, stimulating the vestibular system in spins and balances; proprioception in focusing on placement and body alignment.  French ballet terminology and movements defined by small differences and nuances stimulate left-brained analysis and sequencing, while improviational activities and musical accompanyment provide the audio, visual, and kinetic stimulus for right brained learners.

While hard and fast evidence that the arts directly improve test scores may be fleeting or wishful thinking, plenty of colloqual testimony abounds.  Repeatedly, students who participate in creative endeavors like classical ballet experience increased focus, confidence and positive “attitudes.”   (Pardon the ballet pun!)

Physical Training

Not only does classical ballet training provide excellent physical exercise, but a recent study has shown that physical techniques specific to classical ballet may reduce chances of injury compared to other sports activities.  In fact many sports like ice skating, gymnastics, even football have used classical ballet techniques as cross-training for their athletes.  (See links below for related posts)

Anneliese in Sports Illustrated

New Leaps in Research on Injuries

Social Interaction

Classical ballet provides plenty of opportunity for social interaction, group dynamics, co-operation and need for mutual respect.  Similar to the effect of soldiers who learn to march and move in perfect sinc, dancing as a “corp de ballet” as “one body” creates a profound feeling of community.  Ballet dancers must become effective collaborators by definition as the art of ballet in performance relies upon music, costume design, choreography, acting, and other theatrical direction for its very existance. 

Emotional well-being

At AvO Ballet we strive to provide a supportive, nurturing environment while encouraging self improvement.  We focus on use of positive reinforcement in all our classes.  While it may seem critical to give corrections, doing so in a positive, encouraging manner prevents formation of bad habits resulting in greater overall accomplishment and satisfaction.  Overall we strive to present the excitement, support, and creative expression to give an environment that connects learning new skills with positive emotions– crucial to any learning.

With so many benefits to classical ballet each person has their own reason.  What do you feel to be the most important benefit to studying classical ballet?

 A recent study replicated a 1940 research study that tested children’s ability to SELF REGULATE.  This ability, also known as “Executive Function” is said to be more important for success in school than a child’s IQ.  It is the ability to control their emotions and behaviors and resist impulses.  Yes, the news was bad.  Children 60 years ago were better at self-regulating than the children of today.

 And GUESS WHAT IS SAID TO BE THE BEST WAY FOR CHILDREN TO LEARN EXECUTIVE FUNCTION?

 P L A Y!

 It seems that whenever children engage in complex games of MAKE-BELIEVE, they do something called “private speech.” They talk to themselves and say what they are going to do and what rules they will follow to do it.  The more structured the play, the less “private speech.”   So when we hand children ready made toys with ready made scripts we are not allowing them the CREATIVE ACTIVITY of choosing their own scenarios and making their own props.

 The best ways of playing include games like

1. Simon Says,
2. Complex imaginative play (MAKE BELIEVE) that is sustained for at least half an hour,
3. games that require planning  like those that follow directions or patterns like a recipe for cooking,
4. storybook reading that introduces characters for children to model like “The Little Engine that could,”
5. and the really big shocker: encouraging children to talk to themselves while engaged in a challenging activity.

Do we do this in ballet class?

Through our apprenticeship program, the AvO School of Ballet encourages the continuity of a specific methodology that is CREATIVE in scope with education as the end goal.  Technical drills and co-ordination exercises are presented through storytelling and creative metaphor.  MOVEMENT is defined through imaginative play whether it is to “walk like a dwarf” or “run like a butterfly.”   Children are encourage to repeat the games at home as a way of practicing skills.  They might be practicing the technical landing sequence for jumps, but they THINK they are just playing at being a “balloon.”

Another aspect is that we encourage children to CORRECT THEMSELVES.  Specific drills for right and left hand, for example connect speech with the movement.  We will often ask the students to say the name of the step out loud, or stamp their right foot and say “RIGHT FOOT” out loud three times.  We encourage children to repeat the corrections to themselves or speak directly to the foot and tell the foot what to do.  (They always think that is funny!)

Keep in Mind this working definition of PLAY:

PLAY is NATURE’S WAY of practicing important life skills WITHOUT the fear of failure or consequence.  You know you are engaging the child in PLAY when the CHILD asks to repeat the exercise.

You have to read this!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514  

Go out there and SAVE THE WORLD!  We all need to learn how to PLAY a little more!

G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times

By GIA KOURLAS

Published: August 5, 2009

WHEN dancers get tired, it’s not supposed to show.

 “I’m a sweater,” the dancer Jerome Stigler warned at the New York University Langone Medical Center’s Hospital for Joint Diseases, where, on a recent afternoon, driving a dancer to the point of exhaustion was the rather unusual goal. (There was, in the end, a lot of sweat.)

Taking part in a study by the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries, Mr. Stigler was wired with 22 reflective markers and electrodes on 10 muscles along his leg. A team of researchers, led by Marijeanne Liederbach, Harkness’s director of research and education, scrutinized his every move during the two-hour session to document the role fatigue plays in the landing techniques of dancers and athletes.

Although the event was for research, Mr. Stigler’s display was not unlike a performance. It helped that he had an audience. As Megan Richardson, a clinical specialist and research associate, monitored Mr. Stigler’s muscle signals on a computer, Dr. Liederbach and others cheered. Clenching his teeth in agony, Mr. Stigler pulled his leg back against a weight.

“Pull back, pull back!” they hollered. “Even harder — go, go, go!” Then Ms. Richardson asked a question she repeated frequently throughout the session: “What is your fatigue, on a scale of zero to 10?” Mr. Stigler roared like a bear.

“I’m going to say 7,” he said, panting. “No, I lied. It’s 8. You got me with that one.”

The Harkness Center initiated the study after Dr. Liederbach had overseen two others relating to injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee, or the A.C.L., in dance. One aspect those studies wanted to determine was whether men and women were afflicted at different rates. It has long been recognized that in sports that feature jumping, like basketball and soccer, a substantially higher percentage of women than men have A.C.L. injuries.

The first study methodically followed 298 dancers from four ballet and modern-dance organizations over a five-year period. Only 12 experienced A.C.L. ruptures, with no statistical difference between men and women. The second study evaluated landing techniques of 33 dancers (21 women and 12 men) and found no disparity between the male and female dancers’ landing biomechanics. The full results of that second study will be released in the September issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

“We realized that dancers aren’t getting A.C.L. injuries, yet they jump a lot,” Dr. Liederbach said. “Why are women in sports getting so many? We don’t think this is about gender. We suspect this is more about the type or length of training and that women athletes can learn something from dancers about the way they train, the precision of their balance and jumping in terms of alignment and frequency and duration of training. We might be able to help women athletes preserve their A.C.L.’s.”

As Dr. Liederbach sees it, part of the difference in injury rates between female dancers and female athletes is because of the way dancers land their jumps.

“As much as there’s a lot of buzz that dancers get hurt a lot,” she said, “there was probably something dancers were doing rigorously for years in the way they master balance and jump, landing with mutual alignment and beautiful neuromuscular control, that is helping to protect them. As we looked more deeply at the characteristics of landing, we found that landing time — the way dancers land with a fully extended knee and make their way into the depth of a plié from the jump — is really generous.”

In the third study, which is nearly three-quarters complete, the idea is to learn how deeply fatigue affects jump landings, a matter seemingly connected to the frequency of A.C.L. injuries. Dr. Liederbach discovered that although A.C.L. tears were infrequent among dancers, a common factor emerged when they did occur. Most came during performances near the end of a season and, typically, late at night after dancers had rehearsed all day.

For the study, participants like Mr. Stigler are required to execute three types of jumps in prefatigued and fatigued states. When it is completed, Dr. Liederbach will have tested 40 athletes and 40 dancers, in each case 20 men and 20 women. The next step is to find out whether there is a difference in the way dancers’ fatigue compares with athletes’ fatigue, and in the way women compare with men.

“Do the dancers still hold on?” Dr. Liederbach asked. “Do they erode differently under fatigue than athletes do? Or is fatigue an equal-opportunity variable?”

There are inherent differences; athletes jump within the context of a game and not in a rehearsed choreographic exercise. Even so, the results of the study may help athletes and coaches understand the importance of jump training.

Women in sports often land with their knees in a valgus, or knock-kneed, position. Dancers, when airborne, stretch their legs. The tips of the toes make contact with the floor first, which allows a dancer to roll through the ball and heel incrementally as the foot maintains neutral alignment with the knee and hip joints. Years of training make the technique ingrained.

In keeping with its findings the center plans to produce a DVD, tentatively called “Land Like a Dancer.” It will be directed not only to athletes but also to young dancers and to performers who don’t specialize in ballet or modern dance and are inclined toward A.C.L. injuries.

“We suspect at the end of this study, if everything bears out, we will see dancers land characteristically different from athletes,” Dr. Liederbach said. “There’s a relationship between the length of time in training to the less risky landing position that makes common sense. It’s something athletes could benefit from.”