5 Tips For Sustaining Leaps
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As a dancer, sustaining your leaps is crucial to achieving a strong and powerful performance. It requires physical strength, technique, mental focus, and control. Here are some additional tips to help you sustain your leaps and take your dance performance to the next level.
Sustaining Leaps – Preparation and Execution
- Work on your flexibility: Flexibility is essential for achieving a higher leap. Make sure you are stretching regularly to increase your flexibility, particularly in your legs and hip flexors. Make sure you are working on your splits daily.
- Strengthen Your Core: Engaging your upper body and core is crucial to sustaining your leaps. By pulling your upper body up and keeping your shoulders down, arms strong, chin up, and torso tight, you can stay in control and soar higher. Strengthening your core is key to achieving this control. Try incorporating a variety of core exercises into your routine, alternating among them each day to work all the muscles in your core. With a strong core and engaged upper body, you’ll be able to maintain your height and execute more impressive and powerful leaps.
- Think about your preparation. To achieve a higher leap, always start with a deep plié and push off of both feet. While it’s common for dancers to use their arms to gain height, the true source of power comes from the plié. Your plié acts as a springboard, a gas pedal, and an extra push. Whether you’re executing a run, step, chassé, or pushing off from a piqué or chaîné turn, the plié is essential to get the power needed for a sustained and impressive jump.
- While in the air: Once you are in the air, it is important to keep proper posture, so you are not being pulled down. This will help improve your air time as well. Keep your back up straight and shoulders back; don’t lean forward, and keep your head up! Looking down will bring your body down.
- Practice landing properly: Proper landing technique is just as important as takeoff. Make sure you are landing in a plié position to absorb the impact of the landing and avoid injury.
By incorporating these tips into your training and practice, you’ll be well on your way to sustaining your leaps and achieving a more powerful and impressive dance performance.
