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Summer Intensive Auditions and Recurring Ankle Issues

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Julian returned to the School of American Ballet (SAB) only to learn that his MRI actually had shown a small tear in a tendon in his right ankle. I’m not really sure why the physical therapists here didn’t know about it, but the doctor in NYC only received information on the left ankle…twice…and didn’t notice. So, when Julian was told to he could return to dance, he actually should have been resting. Had he not danced for five or six weeks, he might have healed the tear. Instead, he danced and it never had a chance to heal.

Now, Julian is facing a tendon torn in such a way that it has split and become swollen and enlarged so it can’t move through the small area it has to move through. He is going to physical therapy in NYC, and dancing some. He isn’t doing large jumps or anything where he lands on just his right foot. He saves himself for auditions and for the upcoming big Workshop, the show that all the advanced men and the graduating class performs in.

If the tendon doesn’t heal, he may face what I’m told is a fairly minor surgery to repair the tear. He’ll be in a boot for four weeks and then have a four week recovery period with physical therapy and some dance. No summer intensive.

In the meantime, he is hoping it will heal with massage, acupuncture, laser stimulation, and some care about what he does. And he continues to dance and to audition for summer intensives–and soon for companies.

As for summer intensives, that’s been interesting. Although some of the other boys got large scholarships to Boston, Julian did not. He also got only a partial scholarship to Pacific Northwest Ballet. He did, however, get a full scholarship (even housing) to San Francisco Ballet, and his name will be placed on their training list. That does not mean that he is a shoe in for their training program. It means that if they like what they see while he is there, they will offer him a spot.

Now…we just need to get his ankle healthy enough to do a summer intensive. The good news is he’ll be close to home. He can go for all the great therapies that helped him while he was home — if he doesn’t need surgery.

This intensive is only four weeks long. So, if his ankle is healthy, maybe he’ll attend Complexions later in the summer again. We’ll have to wait and see.

Oh…I’m wondering if he’ll be able to audition for Juilliard. He has a piece choreographed, but he can’t really rehearse it right now because of his ankle.

So, that’s the news.

Don’t forget to get your copy of The Summer Intensive Handbook! Click on the cover on the right…

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Posted in auditions, foot problems | 10 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 »

Three Days Until Take Off and Counting…

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

All performances have been completed, finals have been taken, graduation is (almost) over, and suitcases are being purchased as I write. In three and a half days we take off for New York City and Julian’s second American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive. I am nowhere near as ready!

Julian’s TDC performance was phenomenal! I am my son’s biggest supporter and his largest critic. While I always tell him how well he dances, I also can find things to suggest he improve–and I share these as well. I may not have the technical eye of his dance teachers, but I see enough…more than Julian would like. This time, however, I saw little to nothing. In fact, I was really impressed with the amount of improvement Julian made this year. I watched my son on stage dancing and instead of just seeing my son, I saw a dancer. Wow.

I went up to each of his teachers and the director of the program and said, “This year my money was well spent. I have seen significant improvement in Julian’s dancing.” And they all agreed. They said they had been pushing him, which is what Julian asked them to do, and they, too, saw the results.

Yeah.

I even got the program’s director to agree that Julian’s work at Los Gatos Ballet had helped as well–which it has, given him necessary classical ballet partnering skills and experience.

Anyway, Julian and I are now very curious to see where he will be placed at ABT this summer. He has high hopes, of course, of moving up. We’ll see… No matter. I know he has improved significantly and that this summer will just continue his growth.

Of course, as one of his teachers pointed out, his physical growth has made it hard for him to dance in his body, and now he may actually be starting to feel more “at home” with his new height. He definitely looks more like a man than a body, with a real dancer’s muscle tone, that ‘s for sure. He still needs some flexibility, and we hope that will come as his muscles  and tends have a chance to catch up with the growth of his bones. That said, the doctor says he wills till grow to or three inches.

On another note, my stress level went up considerably when I discovered that Julian had been nursing (or not nursing) a swollen big toe for four weeks. He told me this the week before TDC’s Spring Concert and a week and a half before leaving for NYC for the ABT summer intensive (and 6-hour days of dance). Turns out he hurt the toe playing soccer. Yes…remember when I was worried about that activity? Well, not only did he play soccer, he played soccer barefoot. (Okay, don’t ask what I called him when I found that out. My husband says I owe him an apology for that….I’ve not apologized totally, but I did threaten to cut off TDC tuition payments if I ever catch him playing soccer barefoot again. I almost included soccer in total but restrained myself.)  So, I took him to the magical acupuncturist on Wednesday, who felt sure it was a sprain. I then took him to the chiropractor who said he thought it was a sprain but suggested we go to a podiatrist for an x-ray and exam to be sure the toe didn’t have a bone chip.

Bone chip! That could require a cast. Ack! I had visions of Julian sitting on his bum at ABT watching the other dancers as his muscles atrophied. I was livid…and stressed.

Yesterday we went to the podiatrist first thing. She told us the toe is just sprained and will remain swollen for at least another 6-8 weeks, but he can dance one it. Phew. I was relieved. I apologized for being so angry, but really…soccer barefoot? Is that not asinine? His feet are his tools.

Well, with that behind us, we can start packing. My office is almost mobile; I have a few files yet to copy and prepare and books to assemble. I have to go outside today and finish weeding a few gardens. I have to shop for an outfit for a high school reunion I’m attending. I have to book one more college tour and print info on all the other ones we scheduled. (I’m not organized, let’s put it that way.) I might be ready by Tuesday night.

See you all in NYC. I doubt I’ll write again until the first day of ABT…happy traveling to NYC! See you in line outside the building. Well be the mom and her son near the front of the line…

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Posted in foot problems, performance, summer dance programs | No 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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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…

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

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 »

ABT Summer Intensive Takes Its Toll on My Boy

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Okay, well, I guess the New York Times article I read about the boy who went to the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive and suffered from shin splints and such painted a correct picture…or we’ve just hit some bad luck and made some bad choices. Julian is a week and a half into the ABT summer intensive himself and on Monday he slightly injured his left foot and tonight he has an upset stomach.

The slightly injured foot definitely comes from overuse and his tendency to pronate. (Remember, boys, think about this!) The chiropractor here in New York, George Russell, is a former dancer, and after he watched Julian do a few things, like plie, he saw exactly how Julian was straining his foot. Of course, he also has jammed his heel with jumps. I’ve been taught to adjust the heel, and that is helping, as is icing.

As for mistakes…well…First, we went off to a tap class with Jared Grimes at Broadway Dance Center last night knowing that Julian’s foot was not 100 percent. Also, he’d just danced 7 hours. He took a tap class at Broadway Dance Center last week, but it was nowhere near as strenuous. So, we didn’t help the foot, nor did we help Julian’s general state of fatigue.

And he is fatigued, let me tell you. He’s better this week, but last Friday after his first full week was over, he couldn’t lift his arms and he could hardly walk up the subway steps. His shoulders were sore to the touch!

The, second mistake, Julian didn’t drink enough water today. The studios are extremely hot, he says, and after lunch he began to feel nautious. He didn’t tell me this, however, and came home to eat some things he shouldn’t have eaten. And then he ate his salad at dinner but nothing else — which didn’t really help, even though it was healthy. Needless to say, not long afterwards he began throwing up. I hope it is a simple case of heat stroke and he’ll feel better in the morning and won’t have to miss classes.

I guess we won’t be doing any dancing this weekend…I think we’ll take it easy and go see some dance instead.

We didn’t get tickets to the ABT performance last weekend, because it conflicted with a trip to see his grandmother, who lives an hour outside of Manhattan. He failed to get the student tickets for Swan Lake, which opened this week, but I might just buy some.

We did go see In The Heights last Friday. It was awesome if you like hip hop and rap music. The dancing was really tremendous. The best of the dancers, a really classic hip hopper, told Julian it was great he was attending ABT. He said, “I went to Ailey and it changed my life.”

We met one of the young Simba’s from The Lion King while at Broadway Dance Center last week. He was sweet and polite and humble. He thought Julian’s tapping was awesome; he had just finished taking a beginner tap class. We saw Kiril Kulish leaving the theater after a performance, although we haven’t yet seen Billy Elliott. And Julian met David Alvarez at ABT, where he is taking some of the summer intensive classes but not all. Julian refrained from talking to him about Billy Elliott, since everyone else was doing so.

All in all, with the exception of the hurt foot and the upset tummy, it’s been a pretty good almost-two-weeks for Julian. He loves the ABT program. He’s made some friends with the guys both in blue and green levels as well as in yellow. He enjoys all his classes. He loves the partnering class and the boys class. He enjoys the teachers. He’s enormously glad he came, and he’s learned a ton in less than two weeks.

It’s been pretty good for me too (as long as I leave out some some details, like stopped up sinks, no TV reception which prevents us from watching So You Think You Can Dance, and me falling down the stairs to the apartment and twisting my knee and ankle).

Next time: How Julian feels about his level, info on his classes, his relationship with the boys, and what exactly is wrong with his foot!

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

Strengthen a Boy's (or a Girl's) Feet for Summer Dance Intensives

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Since I have yet to find an expert to write a post  on how to prepare for a summer intensive like the one Julian will be attending at American Ballet Theatre this summer, I thought I’d share the information I gathered when researching two articles for Dance Teacher magazine on keeping dancers’ feet healthy. Some of you may not actually read that magazine, so you may have missed it.

First, you can access my article on tappers’ feet here and the information on exercises for tappers’ feet here. The doming exercise is pretty much the same one described below, but some different points are made. Julian is using this one every night to build up some extra cushion in his feet. We figure this will help prevent broken bones and, possibly, shin splints. The extra muscle in his feet will give him extra cushion. It surely can’t hurt!

Second, here are all the exercises that were offered to me by the experts I interviewed for the general article I wrote on keeping a dancer’s feet healthy. Julian is doing some, but not all of them. I plan to print this post out, though, and give it to him tonight!

Exercises for Developing Strong, Healthy Feet In and Out of Dance Class

When it comes to helping dance students develop strong, healthy feet in and out of class, the experts suggest a few exercises that provide the most bang for the buck in terms of developing muscles in the foot itself, ankle stability and strength and foot and leg awareness. 

The Flamingo

Once students have learned good abdominal and pelvic alignment, which means good posture, so the nerves that go to the feet are not compromised in any way, Marika Molnar, a physical therapist and president of Westside Dance Physical Therapy in New York, NY, suggest they stand on one leg in parallel. The other leg is raised off the floor and doesn’t touch the body. The foot and ankle ligaments and tendons should be working hard to keep the body over the base of support. The bottom of the foot should share the support among the heel, ball of first and ball of fifth toe so dancers have a tripod beneath them.

Students should try this exercise for 10 seconds at first with about six repetitions and build up to 60 seconds. Once dancers can accomplish it for 30 seconds on one leg, they should switch to the other leg.

“This is a great exercise to increase the awareness of where you are in space,” she explains, adding one caution. “Make sure that the alignment of the leg is healthy without the knee hyper-extending beyond five degrees.”

The next part is more challenging: Have the students close their eyes and repeat the exercise. “Most dancers cannot do it at first, because they use their eyes for centering themselves. Closing their eyes forces them to rely on their intrinsic messengers: the information from the ligaments, tendons, muscles, etc. to the brain,” Molnar says.

The Foot Crunch

To perform a foot crunch, students simply pick up a towel (or a theraband or a pencil) with their toes. “This is a good general exercise to strengthen the muscles of the foot and the muscles that support the arch of the foot,” reports Dr. Chris E. Chung, M.D. a sports medicine specialist at South bay Sport & Preventive Medicine Associates, Inc., in San Jose, CA.  “Building muscles in the foot provides shock absorption. In the long run, increased muscle in the foot helps prevent injury to bone, to muscle and to joint.” Doing 15 crunches on each foot for two repetitions per foot provides a good daily workout.

Foot Doming 

In a similar fashion, Kim Gardner, a former professional ballet dancer who now working as a rehab trained, certified Pilates instructor and the lead dance medicine specialist at South Bay Sports and Preventive Medicine Associates in San Jose, CA, suggests dancers practice “doming” their foot over a tennis ball to strengthen intrinsic arch muscles. This involves simply holding the arch over the ball for five seconds at a time for up to 15 repetitions per day. Dancers should perform this exercise with one foot, and then switch to the other foot. This exercise can be done without a ball as well.

Pushing Sand

Another good exercise, especially for pre-point students, involves strengthening the arch of the foot and the muscles along both side of ankle and calf to create ankle stability. Gardner explains that these muscles “attach under the foot like stirrups, but you don’t want one pulling up tighter than another. The inner stirrup muscles help avoid pronation while the outer stirrup muscles help avoid supination.”

Doming over the tennis ball helps strengthen the stirrup muscles to some extent, but imagining standing in wet sand scooping the sand to one side or the other with the sole of the foot does a better job. While sitting, students should be instructed to move the inside of foot toward midline and to imagine they are scooping sand towards the center or their body and then pushing it away from their center and towards the outside or their body. “This can be done with a Theraband as well,” says Gardner. 

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Posted in Ballet, Dance Exercises and Stretches, foot problems | No Comments »

Finally Found: Ballet Tights that Fit a Teenage Boy!

Monday, May 4th, 2009

As a short breather to the Duncan Cooper series (and since I don’t have time right now to post another piece to that interview), I’d like to share that Julian has finally found some ballet tights that fit and that he loves. He says he can’t even tell he’s wearing them! So, I want to share the brand: MStevens Inc. of Los Angeles, CA, in case any other boys his age – 14 – have had trouble finding tights that fit. (He happens to have purchased the footed tights, Style 1099.)

This comes after a very long search for tights. In fact, he’s been wearing the same pair day in and day out. He has a second pair, but he doesn’t like them and won’t wear them. (One more purchase that was a waste of money.) We have found that Discount Dance Supply carries MStevens on line, and we are going to order two more pair. (This week they have some special shipping discounts.) Then he’ll be outfitted with ballet tights and dance shoes for ABT this summer. We still need to buy jazz pants, which he hates, some footless tights for hip hop (no sweats or shorts allowed at ABT), and a Pilates or yoga mat. Then he is set to go.

Today he had his year-end evaluation at dance; it wasn’t as intimidating as it was last time, and his Dad and I didn’t have any “stuff” up around the studio/company or anything like that. (We now are very happy with our/his studio choice.) So, it was pretty smooth sailing. They seem happy to have Julian, and he’s happy to be there. After a bit of a plateau in his dancing, he seems to be improving – or so they say. They also feel sure that going to NYC and dancing with a bunch of boys and under the tutelage of new and excellent teachers will be a superb experience for him. That made us all feel good about the decision, which is a bit of a hardship on our family, to say the least. He does need to work on a few things to avoid shin splints while at the intensive, such as landing and rolling through his whole foot and using his full plie on his jumps. And there was something or other about his hips or pelvis that related to his core. I know from writing about foot health twice now that that affects everything, the legs and feet in particular.

Speaking of feet, my story on how to keep a tap dancer’s feet healthy is now out in Dance Teachermagazine, for those of you who subscribe or want to purchase it. I guess the one about how to attract boys to a studio must have been in the April issue. They failed to send me that one, so I didn’t see it. Look for an article on three teen dance companies, including Julian’s company, Teen Dance Company of the Bay Area, in the July-August issue of Dance Spirit magazine.

Posted in dance attire, evaluations, foot problems, technique | 2 Comments »

Does Your Son Tap? Keep His Feet Healthy!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

I recently wrote an article for Dance Teacher magazine on how to keep tappers’ feet healthy. Previously, I wrote an article for them on how to keep dancers’ feet healthy, but tappers are a bit unique; they use their feet in more ways than most dancers, and their feet take a lot more pounding as well.

While I can’t share the information in that article here – you’ll have to purchase it when it hits the newsstands in a week or two – I can direct you to a little bit of  “overflow copy” they couldn’t use in the magazine and posted instead on line. It actually contains a really essential exercise to help create a cushion for all that impact a tapper’s feet are subject to and how to stretch – something a lot of tappers (especially boys) don’t do before dancing – to avoid injury. (Also, the exercise, called “doming,” was recommended for ALL dancers by the experts I interviewed for my story on keeping dancers’ feet healthy…hint, hint.)

To read this web exclusive, click here.

Check back here for some great information from ballet superstar Duncan Cooper. I interviewed him for a whole hour, and he gave me some super information…enough for at least three posts! I’ll be transcribing the tape and writing, and I hope to post something in the next few days.

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Posted in Dance Exercises and Stretches, dance injuries, foot problems, tap | No Comments »

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