Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 12/31/2008

Question
Hi! I'm currently a college student, and I'm looking into majoring in Dance. I'm 6'1, 175 lbs, and I'm a guy. I started with Swing and Ballroom about 9 months ago, and I decided to give actual dance classes a try. Starting in the fall, I took a total of seven classes: Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Hip Hop, Tap, Improvisation, and Continuum.

I loved every minute of it. This next coming term, I doubled the amount I'm taking. My instructors at school have told me that I should be careful and watch my body for injuries. Here's what it looks like:

Monday, Wednesday
Pilates
Jazz Dance
Strength Training
Stability Ball Fitness
Ballet
Yogilates
Hip Hop

Tuesday, Thursday
Tap Dance
Kickboxing
Dance Composition
Modern Dance
Hip Hop

I know it's a lot, but if dance is something that I really want to do, then I want to make sure I'm giving it everything I possibly can.

My main concern is dieting. It's so hard to find a good diet, and one that will allow me to gain lean muscle mass, but not gain fat from all the calories I will be consuming.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Answer
Hi Justin. Your schedule isn't really a lot, but is concentrated on four days. Ideally, it would be spread out over 6 days, with a day of complete rest.

Injury prevention depends on having the correct information regarding every move you make, and having teachers who will watch and correct you. In your ballet and modern dance classes this is especially important.

There are many articles on correct ballet technique at http://www.balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com as well as articles on healthy diets, including healthy fats.

If you go easy on the fat consumption and empty carbs, I don't think storing fat will be a problem for you.

http://www.iadms.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=2    is a link to a dance medicine page on diet for dancers which will give you some tips.

Also here's a link to an interview I gave on nutrition at http://balletconnections.com/DianneBuxton  with some links at the end, to other professional sites on diet, nutrition, including a great M.D. site, Dr. Spears.

Relaxing muscles is very important, and using a pinkie ball every day helps with that, especially before stretching.

http://www.theballetstore.com is where you'll find links to the writings of Deborah Vogel's "dancing smart" series, and also Lisa Howell's The Perfect Pointe Book, which I recommend to all male dance students as well as female. These are dance medicine specialists who have offered a wealth of data on mechanics and anatomy of dance, to students who just cannot include classes for kinesiology, anatomy etc., in their already heavy schedules.

Well I hope you don't think that I just gave you a year of additional homework - though actually, I just did. You can pick and choose from all these references to get the most out of your dance training and avoid dance injuries. Just always pay attention to your aches and pains so you know when one is persisting and not resolving with rest, relaxing and icing.

All the best! It sounds like you are off to a grand adventure.