STEP UP TO SHAPE UP
There is more to ballet. It has several benefits
for body and mind
Tanvi Mehra conducts her yoga classes in the
early hours of the morning, but the founder of the Tangerine Arts Studio makes
sure she's back at her work place for an hour on Wednesday evenings. This is
the time when little women in their tutus circle around Eun Yong Jung and
perform ballet. Mehra feels forced to drop everything else because of the
undeniable cutesy factor. Like at the arts and fitness studio in Bandra, ballet
classes have become all the rage with young mothers. Sessions in Villoo
Bharucha's School of Ballet, Dadar, and Malabar Hill's The School of Classical
Ballet and Western Dance are all trying to match Mehra, step for every step.
Jung, who also holds classes in Andheri and Malad, has been teaching ballet for
a decade.Pleased with the trend, she reckons the health benefits of ballet are
immense.
MIND-BODY BALANCE
Twenty-one-year-old ballerina Antaraa Vasudev
took to ballet when she was nine years old, first with the Russian Cultural
Centre in Delhi and later at the Imperial Fernando Ballet Company.She says she
owes a certain debt to ballet, for the discipline it instilled in her, as also
the poise and the grace. “For years, you end up practising the same movements
over and over again, until you perfect them, and that improves concentration
and helps you develop better focus,“ she shares.
Moreover, it's a great stress buster.When you
perform ballet exercises and movements, it relaxes your mind and your focus
shifts to concentrating on the music, movement and the placement of your legs
and arms, adds Jung.
According to Mehra, the ultimate takeaway from
ballet is “the super sense of balance between mind and body. This grounds you.“
Of all abilities, it is imperative that bal lerinas develop an immaculate
balance and great coordination.
Ballet dancers need balance to use the pointe
technique (where they support all their body weight on the tips of their toes)
for several min utes, or to be able to spin and turn without falling over.
“Dancers also need great coordination in order to combine the different moves and
interpret the space around them,“ adds Vasudev.
POSITIVE TO THE CORE
And for movements to look graceful, you have to
focus on your muscle strength. “Ballet exercises require the use of good
posture and alignment,“ says Vasudev. “Therefore, most ballet teachers teach
postural alignment exercises, extolling the benefits of good alignment when
carrying out your daily activities.“
The basic requirement of ballet is to stand with
your back erect, the spine straightened and the hips squared. This classical dance,
which originated as a mime play in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th
century and then later went to France (the French created the dance and added
tech nique to it), requires you to have confi dence in your own body and your
abili ty to move. A good posture helps decrease your chances of developing
musculoskeletal problems later in life.
Like any dance form, ballet is also physically
intensive and that comes with its own benefits.“When you are performing ballet,
you are using every muscle in your body,“ says Vasudev. “The rigorous exercises
and lengthening moves will result in long, lean bodies.“
To strengthen and develop the core muscles of
your back and abdomen, ballet is an excellent form of exercise. Over time, it
also helps bestow a more defined waistline. Strong abdominal muscles are
crucial in supporting the spinal column. To stand on your toes, for instance,
you don't just need a strong foot, but also a very strong core.
RIGHT TO EXPRESSION
Mehra, a trained ballet dancer, adds, “Besides toning
and strengthening of the core and back, ballet helps increase the flexibility
and mobility of the quads, glutes, hips, hamstrings, calves and ankles.“
Ballerinas practise `barre' to lengthen the
body. It is this stationary handrail that helps the dancer build technique and
base. “Many positions such as `arabesque' and the `attitude' require one leg to
be raised in the air, and your body needs to be lengthened and flexible to
perform that,“ adds Vasudev.
The dance form, though is more than just exercising
the limbs. It is also a form of artistic expres sion. Jung points out that most
of the performances are based on classi cal stories such as Swan Lake and Romeo
and Juliet.
“Unlike a musical, you aren't singing or speak
ing the words. Here, you are using your entire body to express yourself cre
atively,“ she says.
“You interpret each dance movement in your own
unique way and it becomes your own personal expression.“
|
Reema Gehi
|
MM9JUL15
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