Darcey Bussell's Dance Body Workout:
In the introduction of this book Darcey almost immediately mentions how these exercises differ greatly to your standard gym exercises. 'Our aim is different to that of other athletes. We have to keep our bodies both lean and powerful and, to do this, we need to work on building muscle strength without bulking up. The focus is on lengthening and toning above everything else.' This straight away fits with one of the themes that have been emerging from my research about the aesthetic demands of dance. It is interesting hearing a dancer talk about the demands of classical ballet because they are so specific so it's interesting to see how these exercises would differ to this of, say a gymnast, which is what I was looking at i my previous piece of literature.
Darcey says 'Pilates and dance, together with regular stretching' are what keeps her strong enough to be a professional dancer.
'Despite the athletic and vigorous nature of ballet these days, dancers are far from being muscle bound and burly.' Darcey mentions about not looking over-developed like other athletes because ballet naturally calls for us to look light and graceful as we dance, so the way we exercise has to reflect this. I find this interest because do an extent I do agree with her, but how much of your bodies muscle percentage is actually reflected on what types of supplementary training you do and how much of it is just your natural physique. Some people may find that just doing ballet class alone physically bulks up their muscles a lot whereas others may need to do more strengthening. I also of course agree that we need to look light and graceful as we dance, but who is to say you can't be more muscular as well as being light and graceful?
There are three main components in this book that make up Darcey's workout. Pilates, floor barre and stretching.
In the book she starts with a Pilates warm-up beginning with simple exercises. Then moves onto floor barre which is something that I am yet to talk about in my inquiry. She states that the basis of floor barre is 'a strong core' because this supports the rest of your body. She finishes of with some stretching. By all of the exercises/stretches there are photos and instructions as well as telling you how many sets and repetitions to do so it is very simple and easy to follow and understand. She also has 'tips' on every page and tells you what 'works'. Eg, 'the muscles in the feet, the hamstrings and calves.
Darcey Bussell Pilates for Life:
Darcey pretty much begins the book by saying how she is not actually a Pilates teacher but she has been practicing and reaping the benefits of it for her whole career. She gives some background about the history of Pilates and it's origins. The contents of the book is divided into sections:
- Pilates basics
- Warm-up/flexibility
- Main program - which is divided up into exercises targeting different areas of the body. Eg, abdominal, stretching, sitting, balancing.
- Warm down
- Mini-program
Darcey mentions how Pilates helped her recovery from injury and her rehabilitation post surgery because the exercises are able to target and isolate different areas of the body. This is something that I am very interested in and have been talking to other dancers about this in my interviews.
'The mind-body connection. Like yoga and other holistic forms of exercise Pilates has a strong mind-body connection. If you focus your mind on individual muscles as you work through the programme you can help length and strengthen them.' This is interesting here that she mentions about the mind-body connection because this is another area that I find very interesting but is not a topic that has arisen from other pieces of literature I have looked at thus far. I think that mid fullness is also very important in body management and in order to have a healthy body it's important to have a healthy body too.
From looking at these books I have actually been inspired to perhaps create something similar for my artefact. Although I am no expert in this field I think that with more research into Pilates and similar exercise based training I could create some sort of strengthening plan devised to target different areas of weakness.
Themes arisen from literature:
Mind-body connection
Ideas for creating an artefact
Floor-bare
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