Flexibility is a very important part of a dancer’s tool kit. Yet, with increasingly alarming stretching images and videos available on social media and the internet, loud warning bells are sounding about the risks to the body and the career in trying to copy these moves.
Cringe-worthy moves include the “scorpion” or “back mount”, and over-splits in second position (often practised by dancers with their ankles resting on a chair to achieve a split in excess of 180 degrees), are prompting teachers and physiotherapists to warn students about trying to perform these moves without instruction or supervision.
For 19-year-old dance student Jennifer Hogan, recovery from a stretching related injury has been a long and frustrating process. Ten months ago, the Centenary Dance Academy student in Brisbane felt a pop and a tear in her right inner thigh when performing a right front split in class. Only days away from her jazz exam, she got through on painkillers. When the pain worsened after the exam, she started seeing physiotherapist Melanie Fuller in an effort to heal her leg in time for an upcoming show. After the show she had a full two months off but when she resumed dancing the symptoms came back.
Her physio, Melanie Fuller at Pondera Physio and Pilates, has been helping her with her core pelvic alignment and strength building exercises as well as working to gradually increase her range of movement using trigger point and massage therapy. Reflecting on her recovery over the past ten months and with more months of physio ahead of her, Hogan says it feels like “very long recovery time” and adds that she has had to learn to be very patient.
This is an extract from an article by Michelle Dursun and Karen van Ulzen the current (Feb/Mar issue) of Dance Australia. Buy your copy now from your favourite retail outlet, or subscribe here, or download our app to purchase a copy online.
