Why some student progress faster than others

Do you wonder why some students progress in ballet class faster than others, when their developmental stages seem to be equal? It’s the internal make-up of the individual’s body structure, the inborn suitability for dancing. Ballet demands movement and movement comes from muscles.

Muscles are attached to bone through ligaments and tendons. When ligaments are exposed to a force that exceeds their resilience, the stress must be evenly distributed and intercepted by the muscles surrounding that ligament in order to prevent a ligament tear. This distribution and interception is called dynamizing the ligaments. Dynamized ligaments attach muscle to bone and are more elastic in movement. Passive ligaments attach bone to bone and are more rigid in movement.

There is significant variation in the ratio of passive to dynamized ligaments from one individual to another. Some students have more passive ligaments; some have more dynamized ligaments. This variation of elastic/rigid ligaments explains why, given the same training, improvement in performance is noticed in one student but not in another. As these individuals grow physically, this variation becomes more noticeable. Once they start to work with their physical growth, become aware of where the movement originates and works properly and diligently in every class, their training will not only strengthen their muscles but will increase the dynamized portion of their ligaments making movement more elastic which will be expressed in improved flexibility, strength, fluidity and grace.
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Just another definition for “Dance”

Dance --- the transformation of strength into beauty.

This information written by Syble Bracken. All Rights Reserved.