Polestar Pilates

The Best Tool To Support Dancers: Pilates

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By Vikki Harris, Polestar Pilates Mentor and Practitioner

Supplemental cross-training, alongside technical dance training, is an essential ingredient to developing and enhancing a dancer’s learning and longevity.  With the increasing athletic demands and challenging choreography on dancers’ bodies, the Pilates environment provides an opportunity to support optimal performance and reduce the risk of injury. 

Many Pilates teachers are seeking advice as dancers venture into their studios for support with their technique, strength, flexibility, management of hyper-mobility, or rehabilitation from injury.

As Pilates teachers, we have valuable tools to support their learning. Of course, this is not new as many dancers sought the support of Joseph Pilates in his New York studio. Though Contrology was not specifically designed for dancers, George Balanchine and Martha Graham were clients of Joe’s who then sent their dancers to his studio for support with their strength or rehabilitation.  In this article, we venture into the nature and demands of a dancer in the current age to explore an approach for this population.  

The Dancer’s Goals

There are a wide variety of dance styles and techniques ranging from classical ballet, contemporary, commercial, street, ballroom, Latin, tap, jazz, musical theatre, and many more. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on the classical ballet technique, which forms the foundation of many dance programs. When approached by a dancer it is important to understand the nature of the dancer and their goals.

  • Are they professional dancers currently performing?
  • Is their training schedule full or part-time?
  • Are they dancing for recreational purposes?

The age of the dancer is incredibly relevant, as the length and quality of their dance training. What is the dancer’s capacity?

A thorough screening assessment and interview, with support from the dance teacher, choreographer, or therapist will gather valuable information.  Dancers are often driven, committed, and motivated with perfectionist traits and have busy training or performance schedules. Supporting a dancer’s mental health as well as physical health is hugely important. 

The Demands On The Dancers

The demands of the dancer require a balance of flexibility and strength. Desire is for full ranges at joints within the capability of control throughout the range. Dancers learn through barre work, adage, and allegro exercises to develop a well-tuned repertoire of proprioceptive kinesthetic awareness. A well-programmed dancer has good motor skill recall, an attuned sense of balance, ear and eye vestibular turning skills, and all navigated within gravitational changes and forces with the required speed and reactivity.  

This is all possible by utilizing a full-body approach and integration of core stability, along with understanding good breathing dynamics of the diaphragm. This provides benefits for the heart and lungs to fuel muscular activity and for artistic expression and stability. 

Pilates & Dance Research

A famous study at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York (1975) compared all forms of sports, including dance, in terms of the athletes’ physical fitness capacities.  Ballet, boxing, and hockey were ranked at the top. These activities require high levels of strength, endurance, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, and other measures of fitness. 

An experimental study by McMillan and associates found that a 14-week Pilates intervention improved dynamic alignment in ballet students.

As well, a study by Amorim and Wyon found that dancers who participated in a 12-week Pilates mat intervention increased their levels of muscular strength and flexibility. This is compared to a control group who showed no changes in participating in normal dance class. Due to these muscular adaptations, dancers were able to hold a developpé position for an average of 9 seconds longer and increased their height 4-10°. McMillan A, Proteau L, Lebe R: The effect of Pilates-based training on dancers’ dynamic posture. J Dance Med Sci. 1998;2(3):101-7. 

The placement and alignment of the structure and understanding of the bone rhythms educate the dancers’ mechanical relationships for congruency, ease, and control. For example, the pelvic bone relationship to the femur to support optimal turnout in external rotation required for classical ballet.

This also allows for maximum movement efficiency using the myofascial communication network for storing and releasing potential and kinetic energy resources, reducing stress on joints and tissues. The rhythm of the lower extremity bones of the knee, ankle, and foot, for example, supports the strength when standing en pointe.  The use of the foot and ankle is vital for speed, agility, and awareness of the supple plié for maximum ground force reaction that is necessary for allegro elevation. 

The Complexity Of Dance Training

Instructors working with dancers must also remember the use of the ports de bras, carriage of the arms lines, the head, neck, and upper extremity, and understanding the integration to the torso for support.  The dancer is required to look effortless with strength for lifting, floor work, choreographed falls, rolls, and dynamic powerful acrobatic skills. 

Dancers are required to learn and remember complex challenging enchainments, or sequences of choreography. These include changes of direction and weight transfers, sometimes off-balance, suspended with a center of gravity shift.

Alongside the speed and accuracy, the dancer must have an innate sense of spatial awareness and what is known as the dancer’s radar, not only for themselves but others on the dance floor.

Dancers are often aware and need support with compensation strategies that appear due to their individual structural design or mobility issues.  For example, rolling or sickling in the ankles or feet: a pronated, supinated, inverted, everted alignment issue. Dancers may develop shin splints from poor dance flooring, raked stages, or lack of ballon bounce or elevation. It is also common to develop an inability to land with their heels down from a jump from the over-tensioned Achilles tendon.

Supporting Young Dancers

It is important to understand the adolescent dancer and the growth pattern where bones grow faster than tissues reducing flexibility for a period of time. The speed of growth may also affect the awareness of the center of gravity, and suddenly pirouettes turns aren’t as easy as they were. Dancers may also be working with changing hormonal maturity at this time.  Osgood-Schlatter disease is common in young dancers and most often occurs during growth spurts when bones, muscles, tendons, and other structures are changing rapidly.  

Starting pointe work too young or pushing the body into extreme positions can limit dancers’ careers and damage young bodies for life. Supporting dancers to be individuals, and therefore encouraging positive experiences and building self-esteem, with sound training, attention to detail, and anatomical awareness is the basis of health in any body and its longevity, especially from the athletic demands on dancers in the profession today.

Vikki Harris is a Polestar Pilates Mentor for Polestar UK and ex-professional Principal Dancer of the Drusilla Duffill Theatre School  and owner of V Pilates Studio Burgess Hill

Graduate Highlight: Chrissy Lomax

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To me, the principles of Pilates are present in my every move, everyday, and go with me everywhere. I am forever a student. Whether on the Reformer, race-walking or recording vocals in the studio, the principles are always active. The more I learn, the more I learn what I don’t know. Everybody and every body can do Pilates, and that is what I share. – Chrissy Lomax

Watch Pilates Hour, Episode #90 with Chrissy Lomax, “Breast Cancer Awareness”.

Polestar: What do you love about teaching Pilates and owning a studio?  Where did you take your training and who was the educator?          

CL: I have always been passionate about helping others achieve goals, overcome physical limitations, become stronger, and believe in themselves. Pilates ties together everything that I have ever worked toward to bring me the balance I need to stay whole and in tune with myself.      

My fitness & well-being journey began over 30 years ago when I spent 4 years recovering from a serious car accident. I had to dig deep and heal from broken ribs, a punctured lung, a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, and multiple skull fractures that took away my vision and memory for a few months. On top of that I was told that I may never walk again due to the injuries in my legs. I educated myself on rebuilding and healing my body, mind, and spirit.     

I called them “floor exercises” then, and I committed myself and worked hard to walk again- without a cane! It really was a miraculous recovery. During my recovery, my 41 year-old mother was diagnosed with colon cancer that took her 9 weeks later. My journey now included helping others prevent cancer.     

My music career brought me to California from Toronto, and I continued my quest to help others get fit and healthy and stay cancer free. I was a fundraiser for the Jonnson Cancer Center/UCLA, an Ambassador and Leader for Weight Watchers, a marathon coach for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s TNT, and an AFAA personal fitness trainer.       

In 2005 I had my first official mat Pilates teacher training and realized that this is what I had been doing all along. The healing powers of Pilates in body, mind & spirit was something I was already embracing, so I knew this was a good fit.      

6 years later a friend invited me to partner with her to become a Polestar certified instructor. Until that day I had never even been on a reformer. A year later I started teaching reformer classes at a physical therapy/rehabilitation facility where I did my training. 

Polestar: What are your current inspirations?

CL: I just beat HER2-positive breast cancer; 20% of BC diagnoses are this aggressive type. I am so inspired to help others diagnosed with breast cancer get through treatment as well as I did.

As challenging, painful, and sickening as it was, I did the work I had to do to make it through the dark tunnels of treatment. Some days I could move and some days I just couldn’t get out of bed. I took advantage of the good days and moved as much as possible, whether it was cleaning the house and doing laundry or preparing bland but nourishing soups in my Vitamix. My treatment lasted a whole year and just ended last July in 2018. I had six rounds of strong chemotherapy including Herceptin and Neulasta, then surgery, then 35 radiation treatments. My targeted therapy Herceptin was infused every three weeks for a whole year through a port in my chest.

My last infusion was July, 2018, and my last surgery to remove the port followed. I had the best possible outcome from my treatment – a pathologic complete response. I believe this is because I allowed my oncology team to do what they needed to do to fight the disease while I did my job of nourishing my body, mind, and spirit. I feel responsible to help others do the same, show them how easy it is when you make a choice, and treat yourself with as much love as you do everyone else in your life.         

Polestar: What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

CL: To be honest, I think I talk constantly while I am teaching. There is so much going on in our bodies when we move, and I get excited about it! I hope my teaching encourages others to be thoughtful as they move not just on the reformer or mat, but as they move throughout their day.       

Polestar: Where would you love to vacation?

CL: Hawaii is my favorite place to go on vacation. I use visualization to make it through challenges like getting to a marathon finish line, so I visualized it during my radiation treatments. I would visualize my toes in the sand under the banyan tree in Waikiki. It has been years since I have been there, and when I do get there again I will welcome the sunrise on the beach with a morning mat workout! 

Polestar: What is your favorite quote?  How do you live or embody this?

CL: My favorite quote changes all the time, but I do love the blessings of John O’Donohue. Currently, I read this one daily as I continue to heal: 

“May I have the courage today To live the life that I would love, To postpone my dream no longer/ But to do at last what I came here for/ And waste my heart on fear no more.” 

John O’Donohue

And this is on the back of my business card: “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness” -Joseph Pilates

Polestar: Describe your movement style.

CL: Thoughtful, purposeful with intention.

Polestar: What is your favorite apparatus or favorite way to move?

CL: There is such a playground of toys to use, and although I do believe the Pilates Reformer workout is all you ever need in life, the Pilates Ring (Magic Circle) has been my most valuable apparatus during treatment and recovery.

With my blood counts compromised and low during treatment, going into a gym or Pilates Studio was out of the question, and I don’t have a reformer at home. In bed, sitting on the side of the bed I was able to work just about every part of my body, with or without the ring; throw in a band and BOOM- you have a great total-body workout. I always recommend that my clients put a ring and a band in their suitcase first when packing to travel and they can workout anywhere. 

Polestar: What are you reading or learning about?

CL: I am currently reading Tripping Over The Truth, which is about the metabolic theory of cancer. I am learning everything that I possibly can to stay cancer-free and to help others do the same. To me, Pilates movement is so thoughtful, methodical, self-loving, and healing. 

Polestar: How does Pilates inform your profession?

CL: To me, the principles of Pilates are present in my every move, every day, and go with me everywhere. I am forever a student. Whether on the Reformer, race-walking, or recording vocals in the studio, the principles are always active. The more I learn, the more I learn what I don’t know. Everybody and everybody can do Pilates, and that is what I share. 

You can find Chrissy at Daily Breath Pilates and check out her awesome music at ChrissyLomax.com

Community Highlight: Edwin Carvalho de Oliveria

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What Three Words come to mind when you think of Polestar?

  • Community
  • Movement
  • Quality

What do you love about teaching Pilates?

ECO: I love the possibility to offer people a better and more active lifestyle.

Where did you take your Training and who was the educator?

ECO: I am going through the comprehensive teacher training in Jacksonville, FL with Polestar Educator Lynn Peterson.

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

ECO: I started to practice Pilates when I was performing in a dance company with my Pilates teacher, Selma França, an educator from Brazil.

Why Polestar Pilates?  How did you come to join the Polestar Community?

ECO: I used to practice Pilates and many other systems of movement we had to in the dance company. In our schedule, we had Pilates three times per week. Years after practicing with Selma at Bale Jovem de Salvador, I started going to Physio Pilates Ondina with Alice Becker to watch and assist her classes.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

ECO: Hope and reliability.

What is your favorite Quote? 

ECO:

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”.

ECO: I apply this teaching 4 days a week, I also move my body every day. I love what I do.

What is your Favorite Apparatus or favorite way to move?

ECO: I love Mat work because of all the possibilities it offers, it also gives you autonomy to practice no matter where you are!

You can find Edwin on Social media @edwiincarvalhoo

For more information on Teacher Training visit our website polestarpilates.com

A Yoga State of Mind

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Christi Idavoy has dedicated her life to movement.  As a young dancer and philosophy student at NYU she found an instant affinity with the science and practice of yoga.  The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in NYC was Christi’s second home as she studied the traditions of Swami Rama from 1999 – 2001.  On a voyage to share her passion for yoga as a healing art she moved to Costa Rica where she taught yoga and furthered her studies as a graduate student at the United Nations University for Peace.  In 2005 she stumbled into a Pilates studio in San Jose, CR where she started her career as a Pilates instructor. 

Today Christi has lectured and taught yoga and Pilates in many Latin American countries thanks to her role at Polestar Pilates Education.  When she met Polestar founder, Brent Anderson in 2009, she knew she had found the organization that would allow her to bring together her passion for international relations and development with her career as a movement practitioner.  With her extensive experience as a Polestar Senior Educator, Ambassador, and Examiner Christi is a truly a “teacher’s teacher”.

What if yoga were a mindset, a state of being, a way of identifying with ourselves?  What if we could bring this yogic identification into all of our activities, classes, and relationships? 

In celebration of International Yoga Day, we will have a look at what yoga is, how we can benefit from it and bring into our everyday lives. 

There is a universal order to which all things belong.  When we contemplate the natural rhythms of day and night, the way a seed becomes a tree, the rise and fall of our breath and heartbeat, we can see that there are patterns that repeat themselves, which are not dependent on our knowledge or understanding of them.  If we reflect on human development and the processes of the natural world we will find again and again a series of innate, unconscious living patterns that our lives depend on and yet, they do not depend on our cognition.  The observation of living organisms is what gives rise to many ancient schools of thought, including classical Hinduism. 

Just as these universal patterns inhabit and animate us, so are we able to witness and observe them with the right stimulation, guidance, and focus of the mind…this is where the yogic state of mind comes into play.

We often think of yoga as a series of movements and breathing exercises and while physical movement and breath is a part of the yogic system, yoga is actually a philosophical school of thought that addresses all aspects of life.  There are six schools of classical Hindu philosophy that originate in India, one of which is yoga.  The Indian sage Patanjali systemized yoga circa 200 BCE in the Yoga Sutras. 

Although references to yoga already existed in older Hindu scriptures, it is believed that the ancient texts were very varied and too complex for the general public.  It is also believed that Patanjali authored the Yoga Sutras by compiling the already existing teachings into a simpler and more concise format.  The Yoga Sutras are the most commonly referenced yoga text, making Patanjali the father of yoga in the eyes of many.  A sutra is a literary aphorism, or a small amount of text that contains a universal truth.  The word sutra literally means thread or string.  The Yoga Sutras are a series of brief statements weaving together universal truths, namely truths that are self-evident.  

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.2, defined yoga as the cessation of the fluctuations, or whirlings, of the mind.  We see here that the central focus of yoga is not the body or the breath, but rather the mind.  What is really interesting is that yoga is a verb. When we look at the etymology or origin of the word yoga, we find that the word yoga comes from the root ‘yuj’ meaning to yoke; to unite or bring together.  

It is something that we do.  So the question becomes, what is it exactly that we are bringing together?   

The human mind has the ability to travel in time.  We can spend countless hours reminiscing on the past or dreaming of what the unknown future has to bring.  Although it may not feel like it at times, our will determines where our mind goes.  We can choose to travel down the endless corridors of the imagination and we can also choose to think about how we feel in any given moment.  What we are yoking together in yoga is our mind with the present moment. 

The body and the breath are tools or vehicles that allow us to practice and embody presence.  Presence is the state of existing, fully immersed, in mind, body, and breath, in a present moment.  Realizing that you are not separate from your experience, but rather you are the essence of an experience. 

You are the agent of all that occurs because without you there would be no occurrence.  In order to simplify this concept let’s recall a moment when we experienced great bliss, happiness and joy.  So much so that it felt as if time and the world around us ceased to exist.  All we experienced and can remember to this day is that enormous sensation of joy that ran through our entire being, to the extent that the mind became fully immersed in that particular moment.  This absolute consumption of mind and body in the present moment is a yogic state of mind.  Sometimes it occurs during confusion or exhaustion. 

For example, have you ever been in a movement class where you are so focused on what you are feeling that your mind just doesn’t have the opportunity to jump out of that particular moment?  Or that when it does you are able to notice the wandering mind and bring it back to the moment when cued by the teacher?  Here you are moving in and out of a yogic state of mind.  

In order to ‘cease the fluctuations of the mind’ or practice yoga, you do not need to do any physical exercises.  Yoga as a mindset is achieved through the same non-judgmental observation our ancestors engaged in.  The accepting and curious mindset is the one that arrived at the axioms that form the foundations of the modern world we enjoy today.  Perhaps our greatest power lies in our ability to observe and listen.  To guide our mind into our body and feel how we expand as we take a slower, deeper breath.  To guide our minds, without judgement or the need to classify sensations and perceptions as good or bad, right and wrong, but rather simply accept what is, opens us up to endless possibilities.  When the movement of the mind is centered on anything occurring in the now moment we feel can feel presence.       

As movement teachers and practitioners we have endless opportunities to bring ourselves and others into presence. 

How one acquires this skill takes time and is quite simple.  Notice your body and breathe.  Acknowledge how you feel. Do this over and over again until it becomes a habit.  When you are in a Pilates class, notice where your mind is, are you wondering if you are ‘doing it right’ and if so, pause and shift your attention into noticing what you feel, what you are doing, and how you are breathing.  Keep asking your mind to notice, acknowledge and accept what is, for here is where every now moment is occurring.  

You can find Christi on Social Media @christiidavoy

Community Highlight: Polestar Mentor Valentine Hilaire

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In your own words describe “the Spirit of Polestar”:

VH: A benevolent environment. It helps you to understand that the most important thing is not only about what you do but how you feel. It has guided me to connect with myself.

What three words come to mind when you think of Polestar Pilates:

Observation

Freedom

Serenity

What do you love about teaching Pilates?

VH: I love Pilates mostly because the practice isn’t about the person adapting to Pilates, but Pilates adapting to the person. Polestar Pilates gives you a sense of observation which helps you to understand each person individually. I did my training in Paris with Alexander Bohlander, Birgit Scheffe and Yaelle Penkhoss. They all helped me train my eye.

What are your current Inspirations?  

VH: I love to explore movement. As a dancer I learned how to move with music, now I love to move with my own rhythm, to find fluidity and connection between exercises, and to create a harmony that makes sense with how I feel in the moment.

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

VH: I began Pilates when I was in a professional dance school. I was 14 and it helped me to find both mental and physical balance. Since my first Pilates class, I felt that something had changed not only in my body but also in my way of visualizing my body.

Why Polestar Pilates? 

VH: My Pilates teacher told me it was surely the best Pilates training. I came to the Pilates studio, took a class, and knew it was where I wanted to be.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

VH: That everything is possible! I remember one of my clients who came to me because he had pain everywhere; low back pain, hip pain, and shoulder pain. At the time he told me “I thought I couldn’t do this anymore” speaking of a specific movement. Today he can, and he’s free of pain. I hope to convey that there’s always a way to feel better.

Do you have a favorite Quote? 

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

Vivian Greene

To me this means to remember that the most important thing isn’t what happens to us, but what we do with it.

What is your favorite apparatus or favorite way to move?

VH: Of course I love each apparatus, but If I had to take only one apparatus on a desert island it would be the reformer because of its fluidity and its ability to adapt to all our needs.

Valentine is a Mentor for Polestar Pilates France – You can find Valentine on Social Media @valentinehilaire

Educator Highlight: Claire Sparrow

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Describe “the Spirit of Polestar”:

CS: Polestar is a true community that empowers people from where they are to grow and succeed. Not without challenge but by providing a safe and positive environment that makes it easy for people to move forward in new ways.

What Three Words come to mind when you think of “Polestar Pilates”?

Community

Creative

Empowering

What do you love about teaching Pilates? 

CS: I love that moment when people discover something new in themselves that feels like an uncovering or unravelling of their truth, their inherent movement – like it was something that was always there they just didn’t know how to look for it or find it. My first Polestar training was at my own studio in Leeds with the amazing Alastair Greetham. We were a small group new to Polestar in the North of England and were overwhelmed by the generous and knowledgeable teaching from Alastair.

What are your current Inspirations?  

CS: I recently took up mediation and I love how this restores my mind and body. I am also doing business coaching because I think it is possible and important that we strive to build our industry as a viable sustainable business. I feel a responsibility to do what I can to build a solid foundation for the future of our industry through the quality of teaching and approach to business that doesn’t sacrifice our values and ethics.

Why Pilates? 

CS: I was studying dance at university and suffered knee injuries preventing me dancing for almost an entire academic year. I was blessed to have a Pilates studio on site and spent my days there on the Reformer and assisting the teacher. I wasn’t a fan at the time and then when I returned to dance and felt the results in action I knew I would love Pilates forever. I always say that Pilates isn’t here to help us get good at Pilates it is here to help us get good at life and all we want to do with it!

Why Polestar Pilates? 

CS: I had trained with many other schools before discovering Polestar. I had looked at Polestar over the years and never pursued it because I was scared of the physio influence and that it would be over my head. It turned out to be exactly what I needed to answer all the questions I had. I am creative, lateral thinking, and intuitive so learning scripts, teaching rote, and not knowing the why behind what we were doing really never worked for me. Polestar allows us to be creative, to be who we are as humans, and teach from there.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

CS: There are no boundaries. There is always something you CAN do!!!

What is your favorite Quote? 

CS: Wow this is tough! I am a real quote person and there are so many. I even wrote a series of blogs about my favourite Joseph Pilates quotes. I have some great Brene Brown and Maya Angelou ones and right now it is actually this quote that I have kept with me throughout lockdown.

“Time is like a river that carries us forward into encounters with reality that require us to make decisions. We can’t stop our movement down this river and we can’t avoid those encounters. We can only approach them in the best possible way.”

Ray Dalio

When we accept that in our lives there are going to be many things that happen that are out of our control and we know they will come, we can bring our attention and focus to how we respond and work with these situations and events. We can ride the wave rather than trying to swim against the tide. In our movement and our Pilates life we can accept that we may develop inefficiencies, imbalances, or even injuries and that it is normal. We don’t have to berate ourselves or diagnose – only accept and move from there with the support of ourselves and the method. I also love the part about carrying us forward, we are in a time that only moves forward and I don’t like to look back and use energy comparing me today with me in the past and the same in my relationships with others. We have to forgive and accept ourselves and others to stay healthy and move forward “in the best possible way.”

What is your Favorite Apparatus or favorite way to move?

CS: I come back to the Reformer because of the moment you lie down it’s like a hug and the soothing rhythm and sound of the springs as you do footwork immediately brings me into myself.

You can find Claire on social media @Clairesparrowpilates and @polestarpilatesuk