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High School Graduation and SAB Workshop Approaching

Saturday, March 31st, 2012

The end of the year is fast approaching. When it comes to dance, everything seems to be moving along well for Julian. His foot seems to have healed up, although I’m not there to speak to anyone. The physical therapist says after spring break he need only come back once a week, and he has been cleared to dance full out for Workshop rehearsals, which have started. It does not appear he will need surgery, although we’ll see how his ankle holds up during the stress of Workshop, the final performance.

Julian managed to land a spot in the first cast of one of the two pieces that will be performed at Workshop, Les Petits Riens, which has just eight dancers in it. (There are two casts; cast one performs two times.) He felt this was quite an accomplishment. And he’s in the corps of the other piece, Cortege Hongrois, but has a small solo. Peter Martins is coming to some of the rehearsals to watch, so that’s a big deal.

Workshop, in general, is a big deal. There are representatives from most of the ballet companies from around the nation and Europe there to watch, and I believe The New York Times reports on it as well. Last year two of the new NYCB apprentices were mentioned in the paper by name.

As for all those ballet company auditions, it seems most of the boys have heard from the companies; Julian has not. So, maybe they thought he was too young…or not good enough yet. I don’t know. There are one or two that have not made decisions yet, such as Kansas City and Boston; Boston came and viewed the kids in class so they wouldn’t have to come back from spring break early–or so I”m assuming, since the actual audition is the weekend before they return. Pennsylvania was this weekend. So, I suppose he might still land something.

I’m not too eager at this point for him to take a job with a company, although going back to SAB means spending a whole lot of money and no academic education. I think at 17 going on 18 he could use one more year to mature, to put it nicely.

We are still struggling to get him through high school. Yes, same ol’ same ol’. Grades. Turning in school work on time. And he only has two classes.

I don’t know what to say. I’d like to blame it on the ballet world and say that there is no focus on college or grades or school. That’s what we were warned about at TDC when we said we were going to take Julian out of the contemporary ballet program and put him into a classical ballet program. They said no one would focus on anything but having him go straight to work in a company. And they were right. No one expects him to go to college.

But I don’t think I can put all the blame on classical ballet. And I definitely can’t blame SAB. They have bent over backwards to help us help him get his work done and succeed in school. They have spoken to the teacher. Checked on assignments. Pursued options like enforced study halls and grounding. But no one can make a kid do his work or do it well.

I do think that when a boy like Julian who has not had a good school experience in the past and isn’t motivated by school or to do school in general gets into an environment like SAB or even a strict ballet program, the lure of just going into a company makes school seem unimportant. That’s pretty sad.

The other kids, however, don’t seem to have the same problem as Julian, so I wouldn’t say that every child will respond as he has. You’d have to know your child to know how much structure they need, how motivated they are, etc. The lack of structure did not work for Julian. Many kids who are overachievers at their sport or activity are overachievers in school. I know that many of the SAB students are also straight A students. Just not mine. He’ll just eek out a high school degree, I’m sad to say. I’m not sure he even really want to take college courses at this point. He says he does.

All very sad for me. I’ve been a bit heartbroken over the whole situation–especially after speaking to the head of student life and hearing how she has been struggling with him and the situation.I would love for him to at least take a few classes next year and have a college experience of some type…

I considered not writing about this, but I know you all like the fact that I share the good and the bad with you. And some of you may have sons who are on the cusp of being able to go out into the work world, like Julian (he’s a summer baby), or do not enjoy school. If so, you may be interested in my struggles on the academic front with Julian, especially now that he is at SAB–or finishing up his last half a year of high school at SAB.

I will just add that not going to college is not the only option for classical ballet dancers. A friend of my brother-in-law wrote to me the other day and told me that her son is at Indiana and loves it. He dances a ton of hours per day and is taking academic classes. Plus, a lot of kids from Indiana seem to end up at Boston Ballet, according to her. So, it seems at least one large ballet company likes the fact that the kids go off to college and get education and training. I heard the same thing from a representative from Oklahoma University, who said their students–in particular their boys, were getting placed into companies, and the ballet program had a relationship with Houston Ballet.

I don’t believe in forcing my child to go to college. I already did that once actually; we forced my stepson to go to college when he didn’t really want to. He almost flunked out for two years. (He went back to school in his late 20s and got straight As, then got a scholarship to graduate school.) I won’t repeat that mistake. Julian will have used all his college money to go to SAB for two years, if he is allowed to stay in the dorm a second year–and if he goes back again. So, college will be all loans if he chooses to go later. I would have loved for him to go into a program like Indian.

Whatever, as the kids like to say. At this point, my expectations are quite low. I’m just hoping for that high school diploma. And I’m hoping for good news after Workshop. Maybe…just maybe…NYCB will want him. That would be his dream come true.

He’ll be home this coming week. It will be great to see him, if he isn’t too angry about all the school related issues. We’ll take him up to City Ballet School to dance.

That’s it for now. Happy Passover and Easter to all of you–a bit early. Enjoy your spring breaks.

 

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Posted in Attitude, auditions, Ballet, College, college dance programs, dance injuries, foot problems, grades, Raising a Male Dancer | 7 Comments »

Summer Intensive Auditions End, REAL Auditions Start

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

A lot has happened since my last post…I’ve just been too busy to write. I apologize. I’ve got a non-dance related book coming out in a few months, and getting ready for that launch has been taking up all my time.

Anyhoo. Since I wrote last Julian has been struggling with his tendon tear. He has gone to PT twice a week, and that has been helping. Initially, it didn’t seem to do much, but then something kicked in and the tendon appeared to start healing. Tendons don’t get a lot of blood flow, so their healing process is a bit iffy in general.

Julian went from not doing much on that right foot to doing more–releves, some turns, but still nothing that wasn’t two footed. He had been taking class all along, but he was sitting out during the latter part of class. He began to do more.

Additionally, he was “saving” himself for summer intensive auditions. So, he would only do what was necessary in class. Then he’d go full out in auditions. He skipped a few summer intensive auditions, like Houston, after he got the great deal from San Francisco Ballet. Basically, he decided that was where he’d go this summer–unless he ends up needing surgery.

At this point in time, summer intensive auditions are over. However, auditions for companies have begun. Although Julian is a bit young–he turns 18 this summer, he’s been told to audition. He’d like to return to SAB next year and try for a spot as an apprentice at NYCB. However, it seems there are less and less spots in companies, especially given the economy. The boys have been told to take a job–even a trainee position–if they are offered one–including Julian.

He might have some tough decisions to make by June or so.

In the meantime, he dances full out in company auditions, and does what is necessary in class. He pushed himself recently while being auditioned for choreographic institute numbers. And then he regretted it. Not only that…the faculty at SAB decided not to allow him to participate in the choreographic institute numbers because of his ankle, preferring to “save” him for Workshop, the end of the year performance. This one is attended by representatives from ballet companies from around the nation and from Europe, from what I understand (a bit like when recruiters come to watch athletes at sporting events). This hit Julian really hard, since it came on the heels of being cut out of the Winter Ball choreography because of his ankle as well.

We called SAB to ask about the latter decision (choreographic institute) and were told the school is not focused on performance opportunities. The only thing that really matters is that Julian perform 100% in class and in Workshop. Okay then.

He was very upset but got over it. I guess it’s all a lesson in learning to take care of his body better. Don’t push past your limits. Listen to what your body is telling you. Go to the chiropractor, for massage, to the PT, etc. Warm up!

We’ll see what happens with Workshop. They get their roles next week, I think.

As for college auditions (I throw my hands in the air), forget about a Plan B–at least a Plan B for failure or for not dancing right away. We had to call Juilliard and discuss his injury; Julian couldn’t rehearse his solo even once after choreographing it. In the end, two days before the audition he went to speak to the rep at Juilliard who invited him to audition and discussed it personally with her. They both agreed he shouldn’t risk hurting himself and that he had no chance really of getting admitted without a solo. So…no Juilliard audition. (I wipe away a tear…)

We haven’t heard from Indiana, but he won’t be able to audition anyway. We haven’t heard from Oklahoma; he’s into that dance program already. He’s on the waiting list at Butler–guess why? His grades last quarter were less than stellar, so we’ll see what the other schools say.

Well, he doesn’t want to go to college anyway, at least not full time. He just wants to take classes while he dances professionally. So, I have a new Plan B–Plan B for success. He simply must get a job in a company, succeed at dance and become a choreographer along the way. If he also gets a college degree along the way and learns to be a body worker (Plan C), super.

As for the surgery…we won’t know about that until June. He was even told by one of the SAB school representatives that he should simply dance full out for Workshop and then have the surgery afterward if need be–if the tendon gets worse. In other words, take a risk to show all those reps from companies (and Peter Martins of NYCB) what he has. Then go have the second MRI and handle the consequences.

My response? Go check in with the doctor. Then go dance your heart out. Focus on Plan B for Success.

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Posted in auditions, choreography, College, dance injuries, foot problems, grades, performance, professional dance, recovery from dance injury, summer dance programs | 2 Comments »

How We (Almost) Cured Tendonitis in a Dancin’ Boy’s Feet

Friday, December 30th, 2011

Julian showed up at home for the winter holiday break with a serious enough case of tendonitis in his feet that he hadn’t danced in two weeks. (He said that was the longest break he’d had from dance in about three years, by the way.)  The School of American Ballet (SAB) sent him to see an orthopedic specialist in New York who  told him he had to sit out of class, get an MRI of his feet and go to physical therapy (PT) while he was at home. The MRI was more of a precaution and to give the doc a good picture of waht was going on internally with the structure of his feet in general.

We examined Julian’s feet when he got home. His arches were all swollen as were his ankles. He had big knots on the tendons in places and when he moved his feet the crunched. Yuck!

I, of course, was all over him about not taking care of himself. He’d hurt his ankle back in October just before we came to see him in the the SAB Student Choreographic Institute. He had never gone to see the chiropractor for an adjustment. He insists the PT person at SAB adjusts his heels and ankles for him. According to Julian, he hurt both his ankles doing something or other a while ago, and that’s when the problem really started. Of course, he didn’t stop dancing. What serious dancer would, right? Not when you want to get noticed by Peter Martins, who has been teaching Saturday classes quite often.

Anyway, the first night we had him soak his feet in warm water and Epson Salts. Then it began…the many trips to all the specialists we know in my attempt to give him the care I couldn’t provide for him in NYC–my attempt to cure his tendonitis. First, he went off to see Royal Jacobs, a local massage therapist who created a therapy called Releasology, which is based on acupressure. (Julian hopes to also learn this and may be get certified by Royal…) He has had two appointments and will have a third before he leaves. Two days later, the swelling was down and the pain was almost gone.

Second, he went off to see the PT in San Francisco…yes, we began our long drive to San Francisco and back again–can’t say I missed that much…for a total of four visits. However, the doctor in NY, a Dr. Hamilton, recommended this particular PT facility, Active Care, because they treat the dancers from San Francisco Ballet. And actually, they were super. They told Julian he could begin dancing again–small jumps only at first and then whatever didn’t hurt–and put his feet to work. They said his arches were not strong enough (What about those doming exercises I’ve written about? Mom’s don’t know squat…or at least don’t get listened to.), nor were some other parts of his feet; strengthening exercises were prescribed to help him stop from falling in on his arches as he dances–something he says is quite common among dancers. On the last day, an ex-ballerina-now-physical-therapist actually worked with him at the barre and showed him what to focus on to use his feet correctly.

Here’s what he learned from her: The correction really comes down to concentrating while dancing upon not falling in on his arches. “In releve,” he said, “when rolling down, dancers have to  maintain turn out, but in an attempt to do so a lot of times they push forward toward the inside of the ankle and over stretch the tendons and ligaments on the inside of the ankle. Instead they need to think about lifting the arch while rotating from the top of the hip and inner thigh, and focus on maintaining the correct tracking of the ankle so the weigh is mostly over the second and third toe.”

After that first PT appointment, the next day Julian had one of two appointments with one of our two acupuncturists. Dr. He, who specializes in sports medicine and treats some dancers as well. He treated him, and said he didn’t feel the injury was too severe. (As I write this, Julian is in his office and shared this collage of photos to show the treatment he received. Dr. He tends to use electrical stimulation on the needles and to leave the needles in using tape so the treatment lasts longer. That means you get a more healing effect. The first time the needles only remained in for a few hours because Julian had to go to his MRI appointment. We didn’t think it would be a good idea to have the needles flying around in the MRI machine. LOL.

The second acupuncturist, our magician, is Dr. Wu.  I’ve written about how he cured Julian of all sorts of things, such as tendonitis in the hip, with just two sessions. He had only one session available. He put needles in Julian’s head and hands and made him do releves and other movements with his legs and feet (which he hadn’t been doing for two weeks on doctor’s orders but had just been given the go ahead to do by PT two days earlier) for something like 35 minutes. He got an additional needle in the arm, and “danced” for another 10-15 minutes. Amazingly, this helped. At first the needles hurt each time he moved his feet. The more he moved the more they hurt, but as he kept it up, the needles and his feet stopped hurting.

Oh, he also went to the chiropractor twice. Our regular chiropractor, Dr. David Renbarger, is the best!

By the end of the first week home, Julian had taken one open class at his old studio, City Ballet School, and his feet felt better and looked better—less crunching, smaller bumps on the tendons, and much less swelling.

As I said, he had a total of four PT sessions, three acupuncture visits, and two Releasology sessions (one more this coming weekend), and he was feeling little to no pain–plus his feet were looking better. The MRI results said there was a slight tear, but we’ll see what Dr. Hamilton says about that. Our doc here didn’t say a word. That probably isn’t much different than a sprain–or so I hope.

Now, Julian did go to three dance classes…hopefully without negative consequences. PT said he could. He said nothing hurt. He wanted to take several classes with his old teacher, Yuri Zhukov, and did one day, but ended up taking two this last week with Yuri Possokhov, San Francisco Ballet’s choreographer in residence (although they didn’t have a bio and The Joffrey did; go figure). We were told by someone once that being at City Ballet would be worth it if Julian go to take class with Possokhov for even 15 minutes. In the last year and half he’s taken class with him several times. This week it was super; Possokhov actually corrected him on the way he was using his feet and told him to pull up on his arches. He noticed what Julian was doing, basically, that causes the tendonitis. Kudos to you, Mr. Possokhov! Why has no one at SAB noticed this? Indeed, I’m told Julian has not been corrected on this particular technique issue–one with physical consequences, no less.

So, my conclusion, based on the fact that he has pretty much no pain and the swelling, bumps, and crunchiness have all been reduced considerably, is that we have almost cured his tendonitis in two weeks–well, make it four with the two weeks off. Now he’ll have five days off before he starts back up at SAB, so that’s a plus for the continuing healing process. I’m going to give him a tennis ball and tell him top dome, dome, dome in the meantime.

My other conclusion: SAB is darn tough on a boy’s body. Julian’s best friend danced hardly at all for two months (or more) because of a back injury. I’ve heard tell of boys who broke their backs…(and did dance again). I’ve seen several boys sitting out when I was there due to injury. And the new boys to the Advanced Men’s division take not only the Advanced Men’s classes but also the Intermediate Men’s classes that first year. That’s a heck of  a lot of jumping and turning and general wear and tear on the bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments. No wonder they end up with over use injuries, let alone fractures in the bones and tears in the muscles and ligaments of their backs and feet. I can’t wait until next year when Julian only has to take the Advanced Men’s classes.

Happy New Year everyone!

Oh… and please, please do go vote for this blog here: http://danceadvantage.net/2011/12/27/vote-top-blogs-2011/ I sorely need the votes. At this rate, I will not even come in second this year in the Best Dance Blog Contest. So, if you love this blog and find it helpful, please show your support. Go vote, and tell all your dancing friends to vote. Share the link on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and tell them to click on My Son Can Dance and then hit “vote.” Thanks so much.

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Posted in dance injuries, foot problems, How to Solve Dance Problems | 4 Comments »

Rupert Pennefather on Being a Dancer

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

I do have news of Julian and how he is doing at SAB, but I thought I’d change things up a bit today. While I was in New York City I was contacted by email and offered the chance to air an “exclusive” video of Royal Ballet principle Rupert Pennefather speaking about some of the same issues I’ve discussed here on this blog: feeling different, injuries, “nailing it,” performing, partnering, and competition.

If you don’t know who Pennefather is, here’s his bio from the Royal Ballet in London: Born in Maidenhead, he trained with Julie Rose and at The Royal Ballet School. In 1999 he danced Albrecht in Giselle Act II and in the pas de trois from Theme and Variations at the School’s annual performance. He joined the Company that year, promoted to First Soloist, 2006, and Principal, 2008. His repertory includes Crown Prince Rudolf (Mayerling), Prince Siegfried, Espada, Romeo, Albrecht, Paris, Beliaev, Aminta, James, Prince Florimund, Officer (Anastasia), Prince (The Nutcracker and Cinderella), Oedipus (Sphinx), Florestan pas de trois, Don Quixote pas de deux, Birthday Offering pas de deux, Requiem, Consort to the Queen of Air (Homage to The Queen), Voluntaries, ‘Diamonds’ (Jewels), Serenade, The Dream, DGV: Danse à grande vitesse, Les Patineurs, Isadora, Symphony in C, Concerto and Acis and Galatea (The Royal Opera). In 2009 he created a role in Marriott’s Sensorium.

I was told the video is exclusive to My Son Can Dance; however, you can actually find the video on Youtube if you do a Google search, so I’m not sure what’s up with that. But I was quite honored and pleased that Pennefather’s media person actually found My Son Can Dance and thought the video appropriate and contacted me. So, here you go…a little insight into one of the great dancers of our time and the struggles he had when he was young.

Let me know what you think. I particularly liked hearing what Pennefather said about performing, partnering and competition. It gives us mom’s some insight into what our boys might be thinking and feeling on stage, when working with a ballerina (or partnering another dancer of any type), and attempting to succeed in a company. We don’t often hear our boys speak of these moments.

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Posted in Attitude, Ballet, dance injuries, Interviews with Dancers, male dancers, Partnering, performance, professional dance, teasing | 1 Comment »

Dealing with Muscle Issues

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Julian’s had a variety of muscle issues recently. I think they began from a misalignment in his back, but what do I know? I’m just his mother.

In fact, he ended up sitting out part of a class or rehearsal…can’t quite remember now…after doing some jumps and then having his tailbone area hurt. Between school, ballet, and the chir0practor’s schedule, we couldn’t get him adjusted until about a half a week later. By then his back wasn’t hurting but he was having some major muscle spasms in his buttocks. Well, it was mostly down one side of his rear end. Plus, his lower back was super tight; this area of his body is always tight and makes it really difficult for him to be flexible. The tightness causes some spasms and he ended up doing a lot of sitting out of class.

I called our magician-like acupuncturist, who we haven’t used since Julian had tendonitis in his hips (cured it in two visits), but he couldn’t fit him in. I called another acupuncturist that my doctor had recommended, but he didn’t have time for a week either. Then, just by chance, I met a guy at the coffee shop who waiting for his acupuncture license to come in the mail who told me he had trained with an acupuncturist who specialized in sports medicine. Wow! That’s really unusual; most acupuncturists don’t specialize unless its in herbs. I called him, and guess what? He works with dancers. And, he made time for Julian the next day.

Two visits later, Julian was feeling much better. He said he had a pulled gluteus maximus muscle. (A pulled butt muscle?) He treated him the first time with needles that stayed in with tape until the next time. Very cool.

He mentioned that Julian was still growing and that his muscles, just like his tendons, were trying to keep up with his bones–which we’ve, of course, heard before.  He said this could be causing part of the problem as he works so hard in his ballet program. The muscles are actually shorter than the bones, which causes a problem.

I mentioned this to the chiropractor the next time we went, and he said that the fact Julian is adding muscle all the time just adds to the problem.

Julian did tell the acupuncturist about an issues he was having with his Achilles tendon as well. The doctor stressed the need to warm up prior to stretching, telling him that barre work is a warm up, but if he wants to stretch prior to that  he must run around the studio first.

Now, he used to never stretch before class, his excuse being that he wasn’t warm. All the girls stretch before, though, so he has taken to stretching. I will say that at Steps on Broadway in NY, I see the best of the best stretching as well…Go figure. Now, most of them have done a good bit of walking to get to the studio, and that does count as a warm up, I’m sure.

Julian also went for Hilot therapy, a special type of massage originating in the Philippines which he said was more painful than anything else he’s ever done. Hilot is a hands-on healing art that involves intuition and massage. The practitioner intuitively scans the body with touch to diagnose areas which are energetically imbalanced.  Although Hilot is a deep-tissue massage the touch is supposed to be gentle, and I think it is, but he had knots in his muscles that his “healer,” Jeffrey Cohen, worked out–or down the muscle–until they were gone. We went back a second time for more pain…I mean, therapy. Jeff works on many of the dancers from San Francisco Ballet, and is very good–and very interesting. I loved going to talk with him while he treated Julian.

Anyway, Julian seems fine now…thank goodness. That was a lot of money spent on new doctors and therapy. I think we spent almost four hundred bucks in one week just to get his butt muscle working right again. A little rest might have accomplished the same end (hah!) but that wouldn’t do for the serious dancer.

One more week and he has a week off for spring break. He says he’s actually looking forward to it. He says he “can’t feel his legs.” Not literally, of course. This means his body needs a break.

Yeah, well, he better take it where he can get it. The rev up for spring show and YAGP after that. We’ll be seeing rehearsals Saturday and Sunday after that, which means seven days a week of dancing (and driving). Do I look (or sound) excited? A

And when that’s over, off to New York Julian goes. And, guess what? I get a real break. Six weeks with no dancing or driving while Julian is at SAB. Amazing.

Posted in dance injuries | No Comments »

Fear of Injury Setting In

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Despite my focus on positive thinking and strong belief that our thoughts are creative, I’ve found myself falling into a fear of Julian injuring himself. After all, he’s doing more than he did last year and I’m confronted with dancers getting injured.

You need only watch Fox’s 2010So You Think You Can Dance to see contestants dropping like flies. First Alex Wong tore his Achilles tendon, then Ashley was hurt and left last week. This week Billy Bell hurt his knee and won’t be dancing. I haven’t heard yet if he’ll be back or not.

Plus, last Sunday Julian and I went to the Joyce Soho for a pleasant evening of watching a Brooklyn-based all-female hip hop crew, Decadancetheatre, perform, and in the last number on of the best dancer’s knees gave out on her. She went over to the side and began crying. (We could all hear her.) One of the dancers helped her off the stage, and she never returned. The crew completed the performance without her, including bows.

Luckily, the movement Dwight has been choreographing in Julian’s extra classes at Complexions three nights a week don’t involve big jumps or tricks. That makes me feel a bit better. Last weekend he didn’t dance at all.

However, last year he did only one class during the week, usually tap, which involved a totally different type of movement from ballet. And on the weekend he did hip hop and jazz and other non-ballet-related classes. This year, he seems to only want to do contemporary and ballet. That brings up my “stuff” again.

On a more positive note, Desmond Richardson was at the Complexions intensive class last night along with Dwight Rhoden and Julian had a great time. The previous two classes were very difficult and Julian had the impression that Dwight was less pleased with his performance. (Well, he is just 16 in an 18+profesional-level class I keep reminding him.) This class was a bit easier for him to get his body and mind around. He got all the choreography down without a problem even though everyone else had learned it the night before, and Desmond took him under his wing, offering him corrections after each run through.

I, personally, thought this was perfect…and wonderful…given that Desmond asked him to be in the class despite his age.  What an opportunity and honor–to have Desmond work with him in that way! And he’ll get to perform with the Level 3 class in the final show, which he’s excited about.

One more week left of the ABT intensive. Things are winding down but gearing up. I always feel like they get a bit out of control for me about now. There’ s not enough time to get my work done and handle Julian’s dance schedule. I’m exhausted and need a vacation.

I’m glad it was cooler today. I opened the windows! Whoo hoo! I was still hot, though.

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Posted in dance injuries, So Your Think You can Dance, summer dance programs | 1 Comment »

Keeping Your Dancer Healthy During Intense Periods of Activity

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

With the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive fast approaching, I’ve begun thinking about how to keep Julian healthy for seven weeks. We stay in the city for an extra week so he can dance at the great studios there for another six or seven days after the intensive ends.

So, I thought I’d posts information to share our method of staying healthy during periods of intensive activity, which is all the time for Julian. Please note, however, I am no doctor. You should always consult with your child’s physician on any healthy issues concerning your children.

My son’s doctor actually sent us to our herbalist. Our doctor also is fine with him going to a chiropractor and an acupuncturist or a massage therapist. (Julian wishes I’d take her up on her suggestion that I take him for a massage.) We also employ the services of a sports specialist who treats the dances at Ballet San Jose and have used his Pilates dance therapist after an injury.

Today I want to talk about nutritional supplements and herbs. I will follow this post with two from an expert on supplements.

Julian used to be my sickly kid. He would end up on an antibiotic just about every eight weeks for either an ear infection, bronchitis, or a sinus infection. He had pneumonia several times. To try and keep him healthy I finally took him to an herbalist. She prescribed tons of pills to strengthen his immune system, which did help. I’m a real believer in herbal supplements.

Then my sister suggested I try putting Julian on a vitamin regimen. She had discovered a supplement line used by Olympic athletes and shown by independent testing to be the mostly highly absorbed line on the market. (Vitamins that aren’t absorbed by the body don’t us much good. Most vitamins out there, such as those from Sam’s Club, CostCo, Wal-Mart and even pharmacies are not highly absorbed.) She suggested I give Julian the vitamins and see if they didn’t strengthen his immune system enough so I could reduce the number of herbs he took.

To my surprise, the vitamins, which are made by Usana, helped. Within six months he was healthier, and we were able to reduce his herbal regimen to just two or three I felt would continue to support his immune system.  Later we also added in Usana nutritional drinks and bars, both of which serve as a complete meal, and healthy energy drinks. (They also do not have any peanut or nut products in them; Julian has an allergy to peanuts.)

For the last two years, he has been on antibiotics maybe twice. Plus, last summer at ABT he remained healthy for seven weeks with the exception of one bout of dehydration (He was stupid…be sure your kids drink a lot!) and one hurt foot.

Julian’s regimen now includes Usana vitamins and minerals (and nutritional food products when he agrees to eat or drink them) and two herbs to support the immune system and one for his adrenal glands.

The herbs I use come from Nature’s Sunshine. To support joints, muscles and tendons and to prevent overuse injuries, I add in Usana flavanoids (Proflavanol), omegas (Biomega), and glucosamine (Procosa), plus a product called Zyflamend by New Chapter. (You can get this product at Whole Foods.)

I know this sounds like a lot of pills, but Julian takes pills easily. He also knows they help him, so usually he takes them. Sometimes he skips some of them at night; I have him leave out the herbs if he wants to drop something. During the ABT Summer Intensive I make sure I watch him take all of these pills. During the school year, my husband dishes them out, and Julian takes them in the car on the way to school. At night, I think Julian takes the minimum unless someone is watching.

You can figure out what your child needs. At the minimum, a great multivitamin from a company like Usana will work wonders. To find out more about Usuna and using supplements to keep your dancer healthy, please contact my sister, Leora Amir; please use my name and say you read about Usana products in my blog (place this in the comments section of her form). You also can contact Dr. Karen Wolfe, a former Olympian, who can answer any medical questions you might have about Usana and using supplements; also please use my name and say you read about Usana products in my blog (place this in the comments section of her form).
In my next post, Dr. Karen Wolfe will talk about the cellular nutrition needs of the serious, pre-professional, professional, or competitive dancer.

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Posted in dance injuries, Health and Nutrition, illness | 2 Comments »

Three Days and Counting Until the End of the ABT Summer Intensive

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

The American Ballet Theatre summer intensive is winding to a close. The kids are rehearsing their numbers and getting ready to go up to LaGuardia High School, New York’s performing high school — the one the movie “Fame” was based upon — for a run through tomorrow. That’s where their final performance will be held on Friday. Two performances, and then it’s over.

I think Julian will be very sad, but he’s leaving with a really good friend or two and a much stronger and able dance body. In general, he’s become a better dancer.

Julian did get his foot “stuck” yesterday dancing in his jazz shoes for the first time. It hurt his ankle and the bottom of his foot. He tapped in the evening with Michelle Dorrance anyway, and he said it was better today. That’s his first injury since the heel jam…

In the meantime, he had a jazz lesson at Alvin Ailey with Sue Samuels, Jason Samuels Smith’s mother. He enjoyed that and plans to return this coming Saturday as well. He also had a private lesson with Jason later that same day.

OMG! Just the warm up was something to see! As Jason said, he threw everything at Julian. I’ve never seen a warm up like that one, but I suppose that’s the norm for someone as good as Jason. Julian kept up most of the time… And the rest of the hour wasn’t much easier. Jason simply assumed Julian would be able to do what ever he asked, no matter how hard. The final assessment: Julian has the ability to do it but has to work on clarity of sound. “Articulation” was the word Jason used and that Julian was asked to remember. What an opportunity that was! I took some videos, but I have to ask permission to put any of them on line…

Next week — our last — Julian will simply go from studio to studio to dance. He’ll do more than tap and ballet, taking hip hop, jazz, modern, contemporary (whatever he can find) every day. I figure we can afford about two classes a day (maybe three on some days) for the duration of our time here. We’ll not only go to Broadway Dance Center, but to Alvin Ailey, Steps on Broadway, and possibly also to Peridance Center, which is located in the same building as ABT at 890 Broadway. Of course, we are still hoping for that private with Denise Wall as well.

I must say that I’ve spent a lot in the last two weeks on Broadway shows and such. Three extra tickets to Billy Elliot cost a ton (to take my daughter), and Julian doesn’t want me to sell the other two we have. I just hope we see someone different this next time. We saw Kiril Kulish last time. (Anyone have inside info and know who is performing July 29?) We also saw Lion King, which we saw long ago but my daughter wanted to see for the costumes (she wants to be a costume designer), and West Side Story. What’s a trip to NYC for seven weeks, though, without seeing some theater?

Anyway, we are back on a budget. We do have tickets to see Pilobolus dance next week and are hoping to get discounted tickets to Stomp. Maybe we’ll try to see something at the Joyce Soho again, which is cheap, but Broadway is off limits to us at this point, and we are eating $1 pizza slices.

More soon…

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Posted in dance injuries, foot problems, summer dance programs, tap | No Comments »

ABT Summer Intensive Half Over: Feeling Good and Wishing for More Time

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Last week went off without a hitch — yes, even without Mom around to make sure Julian remained healthy. Of course, he was with a mom who makes sure her son goes to bed early and eats well and takes all his vitamins and supplements and such, so I knew Julian was in good hands.

The two boys only ended up going to tap class at Broadway Dance Center one night last week, and Julian loved the class he took. ABT actually had two late start days, which meant they only danced six hours, rather than seven, those days. And, on top of that, they had Friday off for the 4th of July. The boys were going to go to Steps on Broadway for a ballet class that day, but after walking six miles earlier in the day they were too tired! (I would have been, too…)

It seems that the third week of a summer dance intensive really is a turn-around week. The kids who have struggled the first two weeks start feeling better and getting used to the rigour of the schedule. Of  course, many of the kids who are at a ballet intensive like this one are home schooled and dance five or six hours a day already; they don’t find the intensive that much harder than what they already do. Many of the kids who are  in very intensive ballet programs at home also handle the program better than Julian has as well. His program at Teen Dance Company only requires that he dance three or three and a half hours a day four days a week. He usually throws in an extra couple of hours one day a week, and rehearsals add in extra hours on the weekends as well (which means he dances about 18 hours a week — sometimes more), but he isn’t dancing six or seven hours a day during the school year by any stretch of the imagination. That explains why he was so tired and sore the first week, and was still suffering from exhaustion the second week.

The physical therapist taped his foot last week, which helped that issue. She gave him stretches as well. He’ll see her again tomorrow. Thus, his foot is bothering him less. He drank a lot of water and fluids with electrolytes also. All in all, he seems to be doing better at this point.

Julian and I had a nice reunion when I picked him up on Friday…he even hugged me and told me he missed me. We went out for a nice Italian dinner, had Pinkberry yogurt and then came back and watched a two-week-old episode of So You Think You Can Dance on the computer (thanks to my mom, who sent us the recorded DVDs). We still have no television… (Julian bought the third book in the Eragon series yesterday, so I’m happy to say we will be spending some nights reading.)

We had a super Saturday: First, off to Broadway Dance Center, where Julian tapped with his old teacher and former (and current) Tap Dog Anthony LoCascio. Then we rushed off to the Metropolitan Opera House to see ABT perform in Sylvia. Then home and then out for a calzone and off to the West Side Highway to sit in “pens” on the highway itself and watch the fireworks over the Hudson River — along with about 2 million other people. The fireworks were awesome, but sitting there on the hard ground and having something wet get all over our towel and us was not so nice…nor was trying to get back by subway. That said, we had a really nice day and night.

Today, Monday, Julian was happy to get back to dance class at ABT and to see all his friends. He is very aware that the program is half over and time is running short. He wishes it would last longer, especially now that he is feeling good. He and three of the boys and one or two girls are the first in line each day (there about 45 minutes before they are allowed into the building to begin the trek up four flights of stairs — they aren’t allowed to take the elevator).

We are considering going to Michelle Dorrance’s tap class tonight. We hate to do a hard class early in the week, but we feel the pressure of our time here coming to an end. I wrote an article about Michelle and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and Chloe Arnold for Dance Spirit magazine a while ago; they are all in Jason Samuels Smith’s “Charlie’s Angel’s” show. Jason considers these three female tappers the best out there…better even than some of the men. I’d love to have Julian tap with her and to meet her face to face. I’m trying to set up a private with her as well… She’s not on the road with Stomp anymore but performing right here in NYC — in fact just about five blocks away from where we are staying. So, I think Julian and I will go see the show, even though we’ve seen it before. (I wonder if she can get us good tickets…or get Julian backstage to meet the cast?)

Tomorrow is Julian’s 15th birthday! I got two for one tickets to Hair…yes, Hair. What a birthday present…full frontal nudity, references to drugs, profanity, and implied sexual acts. Ah, well, it’s all about the education, right? If he wants to be on Broadway one day, he’ll have to know that he, too, might have to get up in front of an audience baring it all (meaning sans dance belt). Even Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, bared all in his role in Equus. Plus, we have tickets to see Pilobolus, the Connecticut-based company that is known to perform at least half naked. So…call me a bad mom. Maybe I am. I’m probably not showing him anything he hasn’t seen before — or won’t see behind the scenes at a ballet or other dance production anyway (if not on the stage itself).

And with that, I’ll sign off for now. I have a ton of editing and writing work to do, which is making it possible right now for us to see these show! I need to get us tickets to West Side Story next…the only other big dance production other than Billy Elliot, which we see at the end of the month.

(Oh, Julian texted me last week to say he’d had his best day ever at ABT: great jazz class, super partnering class, and 20 minutes in the studio after class messing around with David Alvarez, aka Tony Award-winning “Billy Elliot” himself! Now the ABT summer intensive girls are texting Julian asking for introductions since he is David’s “friend.”)

More in a few days…

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Two weeks down, four to go…

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Julian is sad that the weeks are flying by. He’s completed two weeks already and has just four to go. However, they are definitely taking their toll on him. I’d recommend that everyone – girls and boys alike – really get in shape for a summer intensive like the American Ballet Theatre six-weeks in New York. It’s grueling, especially if you don’t normally dance seven hours a day (in humid, hot conditions). It also makes a difference if you don’t normally give 150 percent in your classes but you feel pushed to do so once at the intensive – both by the calibre of teachers and students.

After a day at home sleeping off a night of stomach upset, Julian went back to the intensive only to find himself sick again at the end of the day. He managed to throw up just once and then hobbled through watching the ABT performance of Swan Lake. We did, however, have to take taxis there and back. Once home, he suddenly got hungry and at the rest of the soup I’d made for him and then slept for 10 hours and woke up hungry.

While there we ran into a former Teen Dance Company artistic director, and a current master class teacher, professor at Buffalo State University in New York and choreographer for TDC (who will also be teaching at the upcoming TDC summer intensive), Carlos Jones, and he commented, “This is how you are supposed to feel.” This was after we asked him to come down to Julian’s seat at the Metropolitan Opera House to see Julian, who could not bring himself to move from the spot without feeling sick! (I guess that made us feel a bit better, although we haven’t heard of anyone else feeling this way. Of course, Julian is coming from a very dry climate – California – and Carlos said the humidity would be a tough climate change for him.)

I promised some more accurate information on the levels at ABT. They are from lowest to highest: yellow, red, blue, green, violet, aqua, indigo. Green and below are intermediate and everything from violet and above is advanced. The boys of all levels have men’s history and conditioning classes together. Otherwise, they are separated. So the intermediates, for instance, have partnering and men’s class together.

Julian is actually very satisfied with his level. He wanted to be in green but when he saw how good the boys in green were, he knew he was in the right level. Plus, the boys in green spend a fair amount of time with the boys in blue. In fact, Julian has friends in green, and they all seem to hang out together and help each other and teach each other things. Julian sometimes knows something a fellow green dancer doesn’t know and vice versa, so it works out well.

As for competition, I assume the boys all push to do better than the next, but at least at the intermediate level, the boys are friendly and nice and don’t seem to let competition get in the way of freindship.

Julian really adores his classes at ABT. In particular, he is getting a lot out of the partnering classes. This is the first chance he’s had to really work on ballet partnering. He hasn’t done much “guy stuff” in the men’s class, but he likes the camaraderie of being with all the boys. Technique classes are enjoyable also, and his choreography class, which is a jazz piece set to Elton John music, he says is awesome.

All in all, the classes, while tiring, are improving him already. He says he’s much better after just two weeks in New York.

As for his foot, which is better after one day off this week, the best I can do is to relate what chiropractor George Russell wrote to the physical therapist at ABT:

Julian appears to have a chronic sprain of the left anterior portion of the deltoid ligament of the ankle. It’s tender to the touch and hurts when he lands from jumps. the posterior part and the spring ligament appear fine. He’s pronated and in his barre work I coached him to even the two malleoli and get his weight a little more onto the heel, balanced inside to outside. I gave him a different foot exercise — lifting and spreading the toes, looking at the balanced malleoli and lifted arch in the mirror, and then letting the toes down without losing the alignment. He was doing doming over a tennis ball and resistance band work, which didn’t allow him to pay close attention to form and talar positioning.

Adjusting and icing the foot has helped, as it has in the past. Two days off will help as well. Julian does not plan to dance over the weekend. We had hopes of using the weekends for dance classes, but at least right now, he’s way too tired and needs the weekends to recover.

Tomorrow we go to see Marymount Manhattan and to find out about it’s dance program. We’ll get a tour from a TDC alumni.

Julian will be staying with another dancer and his mom for five days next week while I’m at a conference. I pray he stays healthy while I’m away! I really hate going at this point, but I can’t get out of it now. Hopefully it will all go smoothly. I will instruct him to drink lots of Gatorade and to use the packets of electrolytes that I have purchased at Whole Foods as well as better tasting Emergen-C packets. He’ll get much more sleep at their place, and it’s air conditioned. So, hopefully he’ll be okay. They do go to Broadway Dance Center twice a week to tap, but I told him not to tap if he doesn’t feel up to it. He can just watch. Or he can take part of the class.

Ugh…my nervous, worried mother is setting in. Why did I ever think I could leave him here in the city without being a wreck? If he hadn’t gotten sick this week, I’d probably be fine with it, but now… Okay, positive, creative thinking: It will be just fine. He’ll be just fine. I’ll let you know when I get back in a week.

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Posted in dance injuries, foot problems, illness, recovery from dance injury, summer dance programs | 2 Comments »

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