Getting Back to Dance Class

Written By Chelsea Rayna

As studios and classes start to re-open after Covid-19 shutdowns, you might be wondering if you can jump back in where you left off with your dance practice. We’ve all missed our classes, but easing back into dance carefully will be important for every dancer.

1. Take it slow

Some dancers have been lucky enough to take online class just as much or even more than before shutdown. Others have not danced since the doors of their studio closed. No matter how much you’ve kept dancing over the break, you should take it slow during your first week back to classes. After your first week you can start to build back up to the pace you remember, focusing on flexibility, strength, and fitness. However, if you haven’t been dancing as much as you were used to, this process could take awhile.

2. Listen to your body

Over your time off, your body likely changed. This could be from many things, including growing or loosing some of your muscle conditioning. As always, if you feel pain, it’s not a good idea to keep pushing. One of the biggest risks of returning to dance after taking a break is injuring yourself because of pushing too hard. Your brain may remember how to do the steps, but that doesn’t mean your body is still able to do them safely. Listen to the signals your body gives you, and make a plan to safely build back to where you were.

3. Stay healthy

It’s always a good idea to take care of your body as a dancer. After all it is your instrument. This is especially true while you are asking your body to re-build the skills you’ve fallen behind on during your break. Ways to stay healthy include eating well, sleeping well, and staying hydrated.

4. Be kind

It will be tempting to compare yourself to your classmates as you get back to dance classes. While some dancers will be struggling to get back to normal, others might seem to have no trouble jumping back in. Be kind to yourself, and to them, during this transition! Everyone’s body is different and everyone’s dance experience while classes were closed was different. Just because one dancer needs more time and has to work harder to get back to where they were, does not mean they are a worse dancer or don’t care about dance. Online learning works well for some, but not for everyone, and that’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up about your fall backs and losses. Keep encouraging yourself and your classmates as you transition back to regular classes.

5. Celebrate your progress

As you work hard to re-build your dance skills and re-adjust to dance classes, don’t forget to celebrate the victories. Yeah you might have been able to do your splits before, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate when you get them back! Dance is all about progress, and every goal should at least earn you an inner “GO ME!” when you reach it. Coming back after a break is hard, especially when we didn’t have much control over how long the break would be. Great job at taking the steps to get back to dancing safely!

By: Chelsea Rayna, Director and Founder of ADEPT

Resources:

Chelsea Rayna
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