
Strength training for South Asian dancers
Watching a good South Asian dancer is breathtaking. Being a good South Asian dancer is hard! South Asian dancers often practice 6-8 hours daily and perform 2-3 times per week with some performances lasting over 2 hours. The dance steps performed often push dancers’ bodies to the limits and can increase dancers’ injury risk – especially when fatigued. Dancers should thus have good muscle fitness to perform well and not get injured. Muscular fitness is a continuum from power to

The Importance of appropriate dance floors for Indian dancers
Background Five years ago, I was travelling to a technologically advanced South Asian country where I got an opportunity to attend a Bharatnatyam dance rehearsal. The rehearsal was at one of the more reputed Fine Arts schools, well known for its contribution to Indian classical dance. The dancer was accompanied on music by different musicians. The rehearsal was on; the choreography was intricate, bringing out the beauty of Bharat Natyam to the fullest; the dancer was bright,

Are performers worried about holiday weight gain?
Christmas and New Year are rolling around- Celebrations are times, we rejoice with our families and friends; where food plays an essential social role. Research says that the average American gain 5lb (2.3 kg) or more over the holiday period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day (New England Journal of Medicine, 2000). Holiday weight gain in the US The graph shows a 52% of annual weight gain during 12% of the year. Apart from the nutrients food provides, it has a powerful s

Foot exercises for South Asian
dancers
IN LIFE AS IN DANCE: GRACE GLIDES ON
BLISTERED FEET _ALICE ABRAMS As said by Alice Abrams when you see a dancer performing, all you see is the glory of the performance but have you ever thought the agony that the dancer faces while practising and
performing the dance? Many people are unaware of the stress and injury that occurs in a professional dancer, when people see them as performers, they often forget that they are the athletes who endure a great amount of physical tra

What is the quality of your sleep? and have you thought about how it might be affecting your recover
Nutritional health expert, Divya Arun writes about the correlation between sleep and health. Ever thought if your sleep really mattered to you?
Most of the time, sleep is something that is easily foregone or pushed back to our ‘Later –to- Do’ list. In the course of our busy lives, in between running a family and showing up at the workplace in time, we find it hard to get the desired hours of sleep our body really demands. Sleep forms one of the keystones of a healthy lifesty