Periodization: A Framework for Dance Training 9781350194519, 9781350194526, 9781350194557, 9781350194533

Table of contents :
Cover
Halftitle page
Title page
Copyright page
CONTENTS
FIGURES
TABLES
PREFACE
Introduction FIT FOR A REASON, MOTIVATION OF THE CONCEPT OF PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE TRAINING
Gaby Allard’s story
Matthew Wyon’s story
PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION: FIRST INTRODUCTION
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE COLLABORATION: HOW DANCE EDUCATION AND APPLIED SCIENCE MET
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
ON A PERSONAL NOTE: ‘ARE YOU AWARE OF THE RISKS YOU’RE TAKING?’ APROPHETIC WARNING OR DISCLAIMER?
PART ONE Explanation of the concept
1 From the educational/didactical perspective
ArtEZ School of Dance: periodization for dance education
The curriculum outlines
Design principles
One four-year training cycle; four annual plans
Learning tracks and cycles
Circle of Guides
Periodizing theory and practice
Making it all fit
2 Periodization: A sport science perspective
Importance of planning
Development of the biomotor abilities
Coaching teams
Athlete education
3 Periodization: A psychological perspective
Introduction
Theory
The complex system of training successful dancers
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model
Gagné’s Integrative Model of Talent Development
Self Determination Theory and motivational climate
4 Developing a coaching philosophy for talent development
Indicators of coherence
Diversity of coaching styles within the coaching team
Coach development
Summary
5 Getting the most out of class: Motor learning in a person-centred dance education curriculum Derrick Brown
Introduction
Cognitive stage
Associative stage
Autonomous stage
The interwoven, integrated process of learning
PART TWO Culture change: more than a schedule – a radical turn around
6 The start
One for all, or all for one?
Finding the end goal
Identifying the (new) end goal
7 Who does what?
Back to the origin of the (dance) class
8 Train the trainer
Intensity vs. difficulty
9 Beginner’s mistakes
Dancers just want to dance: the importance of feedback and feedforward
From the teacher’s perspective
From the student’s perspective
PART THREE Applying the science
10 Periodization
Goal-setting
Annual phases
In-phase priorities
11 Macro- and micro-cycles
Timetable priorities
A note about guest teachers and choreographers
Be flexible
12 Goal-setting revisited
13 Training load
Fatigue and technique
Technique emphasis
Training intensity and load
Preparing for rehearsal and performance
Monitoring the training load by dancers/students
PART FOUR Curriculum change: it doesn’t happen over night
14 The influence of the external
Working with guest teachers and/or choreographers within a periodized programme
15 The risk of relapse: Look who is stressing now
Resisting relapse: old habits die hard
16 The power of self-regulating students
Empowering the students’ voice
17 The teachers’ perspective Erin Sanchez
Introduction
What was your previous knowledge of periodization at the start of the project?
What do you see as the key moments in the process of the innovation of periodization?
How has periodization changed your current teaching practice?
What’s the most rewarding part of working with periodization as a method for structuring the education programme?
What’s the most difficult part of periodization?
How do you inform the students about what you expect?
What do you see as the benefits that are measurable from periodization?
What has changed in the build-up of your classes?
What has changed in how you see your contribution to the curriculum?
How could an outsider recognize an ArtEZ dancer in relation to the system of periodization?
Is there anything else you want to share about your experiences with periodization?
PART FIVE Other things to think about
18 Physical fitness training
Cardiorespiratory components
Muscular training
Plyometrics
Core training
Flexibility
Warming up and warming/cooling down
Fitting it all in
Rest and holidays
Fitness testing
Training programme examples
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
INDEX

Citation preview

Periodization

i

ii

Periodization A Framework for Dance Training Matthew Wyon and Gaby Allard

iii

METHUEN DRAMA Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Methuen Drama logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2022 Copyright © Matthew Wyon and Gaby Allard, 2022 Matthew Wyon, Gaby Allard and contributors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work. Cover design by Ben Anslow Cover image: Male in paint posing (© Jonathan Knowles / Getty Images) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: PB: ePDF: eBook:

978-1-3501-9451-9 978-1-3501-9452-6 978-1-3501-9453-3 978-1-3501-9454-0

Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.

iv

CONTENTS

List of figures xi List of tables xiii Preface xiv Introduction 1 Fit for a reason, motivation of the concept of periodization for dance training 1 Gaby Allard’s story 1 Matthew Wyon’s story 5 Periodization for dance education: first introduction 9 A short history of the collaboration: how dance education and applied science met 11 How to use this book 16 On a personal note: ‘Are you aware of the risks you’re taking?’ A prophetic warning or disclaimer? 18

Part One Explanation of the concept 1

From the educational/didactical perspective 23 ArtEZ School of Dance: periodization for dance education 24 The curriculum outlines 26 Design principles 27 v

vi

CONTENTS

One four-year training cycle; four annual plans 29 One study year; four phases, meso-cycle 31 Learning tracks and cycles 33 Circle of Guides 37 Periodizing theory and practice 37 Making it all fit 39 2

Periodization: a sport science perspective 41 Importance of planning 44 Development of the biomotor abilities 45 Coaching teams 46 Athlete education 46

3

Periodization: a psychological perspective by Erin Sanchez 49 Introduction 49 Theory 50 The complex system of training successful dancers 51 Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model 51 Gagné’s Integrative Model of Talent Development 53 Self Determination Theory and motivational climate 56

4

Developing a coaching philosophy for talent development 65 Indicators of coherence 67 Diversity of coaching styles within the coaching team 67 Coach development 70 Summary 70

5

Getting the most out of class: motor learning in a personcentred dance education curriculum by Derrick Brown 71 Introduction 71

CONTENTS

Cognitive stage 73 Associative stage 77 Autonomous stage 79 The interwoven, integrated process of learning 81

Part Two Culture change: more than a schedule – a radical turn around 6

The start 85 One for all, or all for one? 85 Finding the end goal 88 Identifying the (new) end goal 88

7

Who does what? 93 Back to the origin of the (dance) class 93

8

Train the trainer 95 Intensity vs. difficulty 95

9

Beginner’s mistakes 97 Dancers just want to dance: the importance of feedback and feedforward 97 From the teacher’s perspective 98 From the student’s perspective 98

Part Three Applying the science Introduction 101 10 Periodization 103 Goal-setting 103

vii

viii

CONTENTS

Annual phases 104 In-phase priorities 106 11 Macro- and micro-cycles 109 Timetable priorities 111 A note about guest teachers and choreographers 112 Be flexible 113 12 Goal-setting revisited 115 13 Training load 117 Fatigue and technique 117 Technique emphasis 118 Training intensity and load 119 Preparing for rehearsal and performance 125 Monitoring the training load by dancers/students 129

Part Four Curriculum change: it doesn’t happen over night 14 The influence of the external 133 Working with guest teachers and/or choreographers within a periodized programme 133 15 The risk of relapse: look who is stressing now 139 Resisting relapse: old habits die hard 140 16 The power of self-regulating students 145 Empowering the students’ voice 145

CONTENTS

ix

17 The teachers’ perspective by Erin Sanchez 151 Introduction 151 What was your previous knowledge of periodization at the start of the project? 154 What do you see as the key moments in the process of the innovation of periodization? 155 How has periodization changed your current teaching practice? 159 What’s the most rewarding part of working with periodization as a method for structuring the education programme? 161 What’s the most difficult part of periodization? 165 How do you inform the students about what you expect? 168 What do you see as the benefits that are measurable from periodization? 169 What has changed in the build-up of your classes? 171 What has changed in how you see your contribution to the curriculum? 174 How could an outsider recognize an ArtEZ dancer in relation to the system of periodization? 175 Is there anything else you want to share about your experiences with periodization? 177

Part Five Other things to think about 18 Physical fitness training 183 Cardiorespiratory components 185 Muscular training 189 Plyometrics 194 Core training 196

x

CONTENTS

Flexibility 197 Warming up and warming/cooling down 199 Fitting it all in 203 Rest and holidays 205 Fitness testing 206 Training programme examples 209 References 215 Appendices 229 Annual training plan 229 Macro- and micro-phase goals 230 Index 231

FIGURES

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2.1 3.1 4.1

4.2 5.1 5.2 10.1 10.2 10.3 11.1 13.1 13.2 13.3

Preparation, Crafting, Integration and Transition phases across the four-year programme Summary of annual plans from the four-year training cycle Example of learning tracks embedded into the four phases across a year Progress of the dance techniques across the years How active learning integrates with the wider curriculum A working version of year 1 Annual training plan divided into phases and cycles The Integrative Model of Talent Development (IMTD): from theory to educational applications Different coaching styles in athlete development (A) the straight and narrow pathway, (B) the long and winding pathway and (C) the goldilocks pathway adapted from Webb et al. (2016) Coaching epistemology styles within athlete development adapted from Webb et al. (2016) The stages of learning from the Fitts and Posner model Integrated process of learning Phase hierarchy across the framework Phase and sub-phase foci Macro-cycles within a phase Macro- and micro-cycles Training load calculation Eight-week programme example Weekly training load for an academic term incorporating two macro-cycles

28 31 33 35 36 40 44 56

66 69 72 81 106 107 108 110 119 122 124

xi

xii

FIGURES

13.4 Difference options at integrating daily training load with a micro-cycle 13.5 Tapering for performance: daily volume and intensity changes in the week prior to performance 13.6 Planning the performance day 17.1 Physical fitness components 17.2 Physiological adaptations to progressive overload and unloading Annual training plan Macro- and microphase goals

125 127 128 184 190 229 230

TABLES

1 Phase descriptors 2 Phase importance 3 Example of class intensity guidelines for ballet and Graham 4 Summary of responses from ArtEZ teachers about periodization 5 Aerobic capacities of dancers and other athletes 6 Continuous aerobic training 7 Aerobic interval training 8 Lactate interval training

104 105 120 152 186 187 187 189

xiii

PREFACE

Periodization: A Framework for Dance Training highlights a collaboration between art and science in an endeavour to optimize pre-professional and vocational dance training. It introduces a framework: periodization, with its core principles in the science of physical training, and via trial and error and most importantly dialogue, combines theory and lived practice to enhance talent development and sustainability of pre-professional and vocational dancers. The book comprises several voices: dance educator, scientist and dance researchers each offer chapters on training analysis, change management, ways of learning and the performance psychology. It is the result of a ten-year collaboration between principle researchers Gaby Allard and Matthew Wyon. Periodization: A Framework for Dance Training provides a truthful examination of the process, its theoretical foundations, the questions it poses, the answers that were found. Hopefully, it will not only provide a road map for others to follow but also inspire the courage to apply the core principles to your own dance educational setting.

xiv

Introduction

FIT FOR A REASON, MOTIVATION OF THE CONCEPT OF PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE TRAINING Gaby Allard’s story On several occasions, when presenting on the concept of periodization for dance training at international dance and healthrelated conferences, I noticed that what seemed logical and organic to me on this matter, was conceptually new to (many) others. This made me realize that what spoke to me so naturally had actually taken years of researching of and lingering in the subject myself, ultimately resulting in what seemed like the obvious way forward into the design of an educational dance training programme. The lineup of experiences and insights along the way motivated and underpinned the decisions taken during the process and reveal how the didactical approach developed over the years, as well as the effort to keep the subject constantly on the agenda. It was based on personally lived experiences as a professional dancer that instigated an intrinsic curiosity and motivation to develop more knowledge on the subject and its possibilities for a more sustainable outlook on training. I never meant to become a researcher or had the ambition to become an ‘educator’. I just wanted to better my practice from within and solve a challenge I faced as a dancer. It turned into a 1

2

PERIODIZATION

long-term commitment and a continuing curiosity on the subject. It took a great deal of courage, perseverance and persuasion, in the good company of a few ‘believers’ (who gave me complete freedom and their support) to realize what we now recognize as an approach for the periodization of dance training. In the 1990s, I was under contract as a dancer at the company Dance Works Rotterdam. The company, under the artistic direction of Käthy Gosschalk, performed a diversity of contemporary repertoire. In addition to the work of Gosschalk and resident choreographer Ton Simons, the company worked with choreographers such as Amanda Miller, Tere o’Connor, Anouk van Dijk, Jacopo Godani and Pascal Touzeau on new creations and performed repertoire from Merce Cunningham, Stephen Petronio and many others. With an ensemble of only ten dancers, each dancer took part in the creation of at least two pieces of the annual ‘triple bill performances’, performed approximately eighty times a season. In addition to the touring programme, the company frequently performed for young children and adolescents during the day. It was therefore a great challenge for us dancers to get through the season injury free. At the time, as well as being a lead-dancer in the company, I was the company rehearsal director, which entailed teaching company class and rehearsing Simons’ repertoire; first in his position as resident choreographer and later as the artistic director of the company. The work of Simons is Cunningham based and Balanchine influenced which makes it technically challenging and also demands a high level of virtuosity. The morning training sessions (company classes) were steered towards being able to dance his and the additional repertoire. It alternated between academic or Limonbased training taught by the company repetitor, guest teachers and by Simons himself. In addition to Simons’ work, the repertoire consisted of rehearsing and performing other choreographers’ work. Without exception, their choreographies often differed creatively and technically from Simons’ work and asked for completely different use of the dancers’ bodies and skills, particularly the ability to alternate between diverse training systems. This demand, in addition to the extensive workload due to being a small-scale company, required mentally and physically fit dancers with a large training load adaptability. In my role as rehearsal director, teacher and

INTRODUCTION

3

dancer in the company, it became clear to me that there was a need to find out more about ways to influence the level of the dancers’ fitness. Thereby supporting the dancers to be able not only to survive the season, but also to excel in their artistry. I had, at the start of my professional career with the company, fresh out of school, already understood the influence of the diversity of training systems and their impact on the dancers’ task: performing specific and diverse repertoire. In 1989, as part of an interview about moving into contemporary dance after originally being trained as a ballet dancer, I referred to it as ‘feeling like a guest in my dancing body and to my own technique which required me to re-discover and redefine the way they functioned’. The sense of alienation became apparent as I was mastering the Cunningham repertoire and technique. Being unfamiliar with it, searching for the source and origin of the movements; the initiation, the centre of gravity and the use of weight moving through space, the strange coordination and use of focus (strange to me, at least), made me feel unsure of my own abilities. I lost my balance, literally and figuratively, and could no longer rely on the system of learning I had acquired through the classical ballet technique and training which I had enjoyed. Looking back, it was easy to see that I was ‘locked into’ my bodily practice, which forced me to fundamentally change my understanding of the role and importance of training. When I was given the responsibility of both the company dancers’ well-being and the touring schedule, I was receptive to learn more about different methods to alter the way we prepared the ensemble for their daily repertoire and performing workload. This included how we looked at, or could look at, new ways of taking class as ‘target training, maintenance class or warmup’. Fortunately, I and many others had learned about the status of the fitness of dancers through the revealing findings of the Healthier Dancer surveys (Fit to Dance) (Brinson and Dick 1996; Laws 2005), conducted and published by Dance UK. This made me realize more than ever the extent of the influence and power of ‘the person making schedules and deciding on the training pallet’ of the dancers/students. And how crucial it was that additional research was conducted to develop more knowledge on the subject. Both inspired and frustrated by my lack of understanding of how I could make and keep the dancers better prepared for their tasks during the season, I initiated a research project looking into the

4

PERIODIZATION

actual fitness of the dancers in the company and the effect of placing physical condition training in their morning class structure. I must give credit to Ton Simons, the artistic director, who gave permission to ‘experiment’ with the training programme of the company; at that time most artistic directors were not particularly open to the idea of making radical changes to existing routines, let alone spend more money on it! And credit of course to Matt Wyon, my wonderful long-term partner in crime, even though at that time I could not even imagine what was yet to come. At that moment I had not yet met him in person, had just learned about his work, which gave me hope and inspiration. This book will unravel how much more it became. Back to the research project; in my experience, it was not difficult to persuade the dancers to take part in the study. Most of them experienced the daily, monthly and seasonal load as being very demanding, and recognized the great impact it had on their wellbeing and injury risk. Some of the dancers enjoyed training outside the company building; to optimize our training we used the Feyenoord Stadium that housed the training facilities of Rotterdam football club. There are more details of this research project later in the book, but for this introduction it is vital to emphasize that it was not the result of increased fitness that ultimately struck me in the analysis of the quantitative data. Those data reaffirmed the research findings of the Fit to Dance survey; it was a finding in the qualitative part of the research that became my essential driver and the stimulus over all the following periodization projects which I have been able to initiate over the last twenty or so years. Independently, several dancers stated that one of the effects of increased fitness was that it enabled them to be more focused on the artistic interpretation of the choreography. They experienced a decline in ‘thinking’ about steps and the possible risks a challenging sequence brought to a particular moment in the choreography. They claimed to feel ‘more ready to prepare for their next stage entrance instead of dealing with the implications of their last stage exit’. Even though it sounds like this could be the only possible and logical result of the intervention, this was a point of view that up until then I had not come across in the publications on dancers’ fitness (e.g. Wyon 2004). Dance medicine and science research was, and often still is, driven by questions about injury prevention and drop-out reduction, but for me personally, it was the start of

INTRODUCTION

5

thinking about periodization as a systematic approach to support and enhance creativity and artistic performance. And since then I have been, with the help, dedication, knowledge and perseverance of many, many others, trying to understand and perfect it ever since.

Matthew Wyon’s story This section provides an insight into the background of why I came to the conclusion that dancers needed to be trained differently. As a child and adolescent, I found that I loved the technical demands of ballet but the physical demands of sport, and I felt that they complemented each other. It was while I was at university studying sport science that I realized I could mix the two together again, this time from a research perspective. Rambert Dance School was on campus and they became participants in my undergraduate and master’s dissertations. I had the opportunity to work on the first Fit to Dance survey, a national-scale retrospective study of dance injury in the UK, as a research assistant, and that progressed into a PhD on the cardiorespiratory demands of contemporary (modern) dance. At the same time, I started to give Healthier Dancer Talks for Dance UK. This allowed me to meet and talk to many dance students, teachers, choreographers and heads of schools. Through my observations, data collecting for my PhD, informal talks with those in the dance industry (students, dancers, teachers, ballet masters, choreographers), and the outcomes from the Fit to Dance survey, it became apparent that dancers weren’t physically prepared for the demands being placed on them (PhD), and they seemed to be overworked and in a constant state of fatigue (Fit to Dance research). There were several key indications of the problems: dance teachers and school heads were trying to desperately prepare the students for the demands of the profession, trying to squeeze every hour possible for classes in different genres, rehearsals, exam preparation, galas, end of year shows; they ‘complained’ that students weren’t learning quickly enough, meaning more time had to be found for more training. Dancers were getting injured too frequently for the activity they were engaged in, they had similar injury rates as contact sports (but no one was tackling them in class). It became apparent to me that the dancers were doing too

6

PERIODIZATION

much and were overtrained (Koutedakis 2000). Professor Yiannis Koutedakis noted that dancers actually became physically fitter after a holiday (Koutedakis et al. 1999) which seemed to reinforce my observations. There was no spare capacity in their training schedules, no planned rest, no time for recovery or reflection. Dance classes, which seemed to make up most of their training, were all very similar in format irrespective of what had been done before or what was happening after each class, and every teacher wanted 120 percent effort from the dancers for their class. The dancers did not seem to have any autonomy over their training and every class/ rehearsal/performance was controlled by someone else. Something had to change. This was the opposite of my experience in sport; it had its eureka moment in the 1980s when coaches and athletes suddenly realized that more doesn’t mean better and the focus moved to training quality rather than training quantity and long-term planned progressive training. This didn’t happen overnight and there are still coaches and sports that promote long hours of training. As I progressed as a sportsperson, training became more democratic and we were expected to take on more personal responsibility. This manifested itself as we had an input on and a say in the focus of aspects of some training sessions; we were allowed and expected to bring our ideas/solutions to problems; we were responsible for our own physical fitness training; we were expected to do our own individual skills training in our own time; we had planned rest days. The coaches worked as a team and knew what other coaches were doing and how sessions flowed between them. I know that sport is a very different animal to dance with very different outcomes, training methods and financial support, but I felt some things could be replicated or adapted to fit the requirements of dance. The below were and still are some of my questions and thoughts: ●

I felt the biggest areas of concern and possible change were training time and intensity, e.g. workload. Teachers often said that dancers were too tired during the last class of the day and they never retained what they had been taught, so why not cancel the class? Can some classes be physically demanding, whilst others are technically demanding but physically easy? By doing less, can we achieve more as the

INTRODUCTION

●

●

●

7

students are less fatigued? When do dancers have the time to think about what they have learned? Do dance classes always have to be ninety minutes long? Do they always have to follow the same format? If I have come straight out of one class, do I need to start with the barre/warm-up in the next? Were the goals of the last class built upon during the next class? I rarely hear the dance teacher stating what the goals of a class were at the beginning, so the students didn’t know where to focus their effort. I had read a book called SuperLearning (Ostrander and Schroeder 1979) which suggested we could only cope with learning three things at a time and only concentrate optimally for twenty minutes. In sport, I had always been told the focus of the session and then in the next session how what I’d just learned in the previous session would form the foundation of the current session. Each session had numerous water-breaks and time-outs to refocus when concentration was slipping. I felt these things could be transferred easily to dance. The issue with a monotonous class structure is that both teacher and student fall into an unconscious rhythm and start ‘knowing’ what to expect next, switching to automatic pilot. By having a varying structure, it keeps both parties focused and engaged. In sport, we often started with small-sided games which were then reviewed as a group for areas of weakness/problems, these were then trained (discrete skills) before returning to the game scenario to see if the discrete skills could be implemented. So, could a dance class be sometimes taught differently, in fact back to front? Dance a sequence first, then the teacher might focus on a specific area that caused problems in the sequence, before integrating them back into the sequence again. In the first few weeks of term, there was an increase in lower limb pain, possibly because of going from no jumps during the holiday to suddenly doing over 250 per class and maybe going from doing one class a day to three; our bodies can’t cope with this sudden overload and it breaks down. A progressive increase in workload and gradual introduction of jumping over a four-to-six-week period could help reduce

8

PERIODIZATION

●

this injury spike. A physically easy class can still be very tough technically, so a reduced workload would not limit skill development. School terms could fit nicely into a periodization concept called phases. Each term could be split into two phases of six to seven weeks each side of the half-term break. Within this format, intensity of training could gradually increase over this week period before an unloading/recovery period (half-term) before repeating the gradual increase in training intensity until the next holiday period. This would introduce the concept of progressive training (Bompa and Buzzichelli 2018).

I had all these ideas bouncing around about how dance training could be manipulated by changing the framework but keeping the knowledge, expertise and skill of the teachers. I felt that dance teachers often felt constrained by what they should be seen to be doing rather than trying something different. It was about taking a risk. In 2004, I presented and wrote an introductory piece on how a periodization framework could fit into dance (Wyon 2004) at Not Just Anybody and Soul, Netherlands and met Gaby for the first time in a church crypt. Between 2004 and 2010 I tried to find a dance institution that was willing to experiment but without any luck. In 2010, I wrote another article on the subject (Wyon 2010) and soon after Gaby invited me to ArtEZ to work with her colleagues on a huge, high-risk experiment to see if a four-year periodized vocational dance training framework would produce creative, skilful, adaptable, self-sufficient dancers. The following chapters I have written are the nuts and bolts of what occurred. My eternal gratitude goes to Gaby, all the staff and the students at ArtEZ for taking a huge risk and to being open to a scientist challenging their traditions. In the process, I have made some wonderful friends, learnt an enormous amount and been humbled by the trust they had in me. I have seen Gaby allow her teachers to take risks and experiment with new ideas. I have seen a mature ballet teacher walk into class and say ‘the focus is on tendus today, don’t worry about your arms’, finish class after forty-five minutes as they had achieved the goals of the class, but stay to help individual students with specific points. I have heard discussions between students on how to perfect a new skill and students giving corrections/feedback to each other during

INTRODUCTION

9

class. I have seen a rehearsal director incorporate tapering before a performance/tour. Periodization is a living framework that should adapt to the people it serves, the students. There is no right or wrong way to do something just the way that works at the time for the people involved; tomorrow is a new day, with new things to discover, challenges to overcome and successes to share. One of the biggest things I saw was the shared ownership of the programme between staff and students.

PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION: FIRST INTRODUCTION Periodization is the process of dividing an annual training plan into specific time blocks. These short-, medium- and long-term blocks of training are often classified as micro-, meso- and macro-cycles. Dividing training programmes into these cycles is a form of scheduling that is common in sports. To allow the athlete to peak at the most important events throughout the year, each block has a particular goal and provides the athlete’s body with different types of stress. Research on periodization in sports shows it helps to improve training results. Can we also use this knowledge to improve training results in dance? From the premise that dance training has artistic growth and performance as its transcending goal, we train by means of anchoring acquired (dance-specific) knowledge, increase of strength and flexibility and a more refined control of the body. This requires optimal training adaptation, which can be assessed through a periodized training programme. By nature, practising dance is based on training cycles. The easiest identifiable cycle is that of an artistic process, from creation to performance. This cycle consists of a period intense training (rehearsal to premiere), short recovery (period after premiere), a series of peak performances (touring) and reduced workload (short rest period); this reoccurs several times per season.

10

PERIODIZATION

So far it resembles a multiple-peak season for an athlete. Striving to achieve excellence from competition to competition equals working from performance to performance, both of which require specific targeted training to be able to excel at the right moment. The layout of the periodized programme depends, however, on two crucial base elements: clarity of the identified performance moments and the definition of the desired performance itself. Periodization is an approach that can lead to optimal performance, not a structure that overrides your training schedule. What type of exercise you practice, the status of each training element in relation to the goal and the division of the training goals over the short, medium and long-term cycles all depend on having a clear definition of ‘success’. Whether it is auditioning for a particular role, acquiring a new technical skill, or getting and/or staying in optimal shape for a series of performances, you will need to be clear about what your goal is so you know how to train to reach it and also to know when you have achieved it. So, when we introduce the main principles of periodization into our dance schedules, we can base training sessions on the long-, medium- and short-term desired outcomes. A year can initially be split into three distinct phases of preparation, performance and transition. The first two are divided into sub-phases; preparation: into general preparation (technique development) and specific preparation (choreography); competitive: into pre-performance (rehearsals) and performance (shows/tour). Similar divisions can be detected within a dance educational curriculum. Schedules are based on specific educational modules (technique classes / rehearsals/ impro-compo/theory etc.) with a clear learning goal. The sub-phases are then divided into two to three macro-cycles. Each macro-cycle has a specific goal and focus, for example development of advanced Graham technique. This is further divided into micro-cycles, again with specific and distinct goals that together accumulate in the attainment of the macro-cycle goal. Each session/class/rehearsal in the micro-cycle has outcomes (e.g. pirouettes/turns) that are focused on achieving the micro-cycle goal. In dance, this covers the period of creation, rehearsing, cleaning and running the production. A cluster of these learning sessions form the micro-cycle (quarter, trimester). The student cycle of intense training load (regular classes towards the test class at the end of term), recovery (start of the next semester), artistic growth

INTRODUCTION

11

(performance period) and reduced workload (transitions/holiday periods) is repeated several times per school year. The annual plan or educational year has as its transcending goal artistic growth by the increase of dance-specific knowledge, strength and flexibility. This makes periodization extremely suitable for designing a balanced dance curriculum. And behold: the art of planning becomes the planning of art.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE COLL ABORATION: HOW DANCE EDUCATION AND APPLIED SCIENCE MET I learned about the conclusions of the Fit to Dance survey and the Dance UK research I mentioned earlier at the conference Not Just Any Body. The conference, which took place in 1999, was organized by the Stichting Gezondheid voor Dansers, the Dutch Foundation for Dance and Health and the Holland Dance Festival. At that time in the Netherlands, it was not common for dancers to train their physical fitness as a part of their curriculum or company training programme. Research on dancers’ fitness had been conducted sporadically but the implications of those findings were not yet structurally applied or taken up in regular practice. We were only at the beginning of our journey to something that is now much more embedded in the dance practice. In Amsterdam, Margot Rijven, who at that time was working at the Amsterdam Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (AHK) as health coordinator, in collaboration with Prof Jacques van Rossum (Vrjie University) was one of the few people in the country who was carrying out research on the impact of conditioning (and many other health related subjects) and applying the findings to the dance educational programmes at the AHK. Margo was also the co-founder of the SGD, the Dutch Foundation for Dance and Health and helped bridge the gap by bringing the research evidence into the dance studio. It inspired me to initiate a

12

PERIODIZATION

research project within the Dance Works company looking into the actual fitness of the dancers in a company setting and the effect of introducing physical fitness training within their dance schedule.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION IN TRAINING PROFESSIONAL DANCERS;; G. ALLARD,, B. RIETVELD,, C. VERVOORN, D. DE WINTER, A. SCHÄRLI; DANCE WORKS, ROTTERDAM (2002–3)

W

e started the research with a baseline assessment of aerobic fitness using the DAFT test (Wyon et al. 2003). This way we could establish the level of fitness of the dancers at the start of the intervention and measure the impact on their actual and ‘feeling of’ readiness for their daily and yearly tasks. Every three months we repeated the test to collect data. We replaced one dance class a week by a fitness training session at the Feyenoord Stadium training facility, home to the Rotterdam football club. As the facility was equipped for training professional soccer players, both the training content and the training surroundings provided the best conditions for intervention. We were aware that we did not measure the impact of the training without the intervention because the company was too small to set up a control group. However, we were not only interested in the impact on the fitness level and injury rate, but also on its implementation within a professional dance company setting and the benefits for the dancers. The qualitative part of the research consisted of interviews with the dancers on their perception of the result of the altered training programme, the effect of interventions in their regular programme and their observations on their fitness performance at the end of the research. After a year we analyzed the results of the research and the impact the changes in the training programme had made. All dancers had increased their levels of fitness. In addition, they stated that the change of training scenery and training content was a pleasant change in their weekly schedule. The dancers also fed back that they felt less tired while performing and, therefore more focused towards their artistic presentation, and, above all, they experienced the feeling of needing less recovery time.

INTRODUCTION

13

As mentioned in the introduction, the research had basically reaffirmed the research findings of the Fit to Dance survey, so the outcome did not lead to totally new insights. However, it triggered my wish to learn more about what periodization could offer to my understanding of dance training and education. This was also the base of the second research project I conducted. At that time, my career had moved into another phase, with my active performance career coming to an end and me leaving the Dance Works company, I started work at the Codarts Dance Academy. As well as coordinating a bachelor programme, I taught physical fitness training and developed a Dance and Health programme in my role as dance and health coordinator. To support this development, the academy appointed a professorship in Excellence and Wellbeing (Anna Aalten, Codarts University of the Arts, Rotterdam 2004–8). I became part of the professor’s research group, looking into further possibilities of the development of periodization for dance education.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION IN EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, A. AALTEN; CODARTS UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ROTTERDAM (2004–6)

A

s part of the research group at Codarts, following the research I conducted at Dance Works, I examined the extent to which the teaching staff related to the concept of periodization. I interviewed the teaching staff and questioned them about their level of information and if and how they applied the periodization principles. In addition, I examined the class content of their training programme. I specifically focused on the training weeks following rest and recovery periods i.e. after holidays, at the start and at mid-term of an academic year. This helped me to relate their knowledge to the actual practice. Parallel to the interviews and class content enquiry, I examined the students’ injuries (type of injury, cause, period, frequency and number of reoccurrence) before, during and after the training period in comparison to their training schedules and workload. The research offered a great deal of information about the level of understanding of the underlying theory and the possible

14

PERIODIZATION

applicability of periodization within dance education. It became obvious that even though almost all teachers were confident that they were applying periodization principles to their classes and/ or build up, there were significant differences in expertise throughout the teaching team. By offering a few simple guidelines as to how to structure class material, the teaching staff became more aware and knowledgeable. A few minor adaptations in their regular practice resulted in a significant decrease in the student injury rate. By composing the sessions differently, altering the content and their sequence, and becoming aware of the training schedule of the other teachers, training outcomes were significantly improved.

The outcomes of the two research projects, the first at Dance Works Rotterdam and the second at Codarts, made me aware that a periodized training programme could only reach its full potential if and when the concept is fully embraced and the training programme (curriculum) radically altered. It was when I became the director of the ArtEZ School of Dance in 2006 that I felt that I could facilitate this ‘radical change over’. The word radical might sound alarming, however, it meant that I realized that at the start, and the heart of such a turnover, three critical factors needed to be in place: ● ●

●

outside expertise and support was needed time and resources were needed as this was not going to be an overnight change staff expertise and input would make or break the deal.

The first was organized by inviting and appointing Dr Matt Wyon as associate professor. I had met Matt over the years at several symposia and seminars as a guru of periodization and we had a mutual respect for each other’s work. The second was to appoint Luc Corstens and David Berg, both educational quality insurance experts as we were going to re-design an educational programme and every step of the way was required to be documented and didactically secured. The plan was brought to the attention of the board of ArtEZ and resulted in a thee-year plan to accommodate time and finances for research support, extensive dialogue, work sessions and individual

INTRODUCTION

15

work tasks for staff members. The long-term research commitment was the most inspiring, crucial and, as you can imagine, the most difficult aspect. It meant honest listening from me, an open-minded attitude from the staff and a great deal of dialogue and reasoning. At times it made me desperate and inpatient. But it taught me, what I already knew and that was to respect the overwhelming expertise of staff, particularly to see and treat them as experts. As a result of the project, we not only changed the curriculum but also influenced the career perspectives of our students. It also shaped me in my leadership role. It is true to say that neither this project, nor my current outlook on management, would have taken place without the incredible work and effort the staff put into this change over.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM (2007–12)

T

he research consisted of creating a complete periodized programme, especially created for dance education. By systematically fine-tuning all aspects of class, rehearsal and performance, this curriculum aimed to improve the students’ individual aptitude for learning and artistic development. The qualitative part of the research consisted of interviews with lead and guest teachers to capture their experience and understand how their increased understanding of the periodization concept had influenced their outlook on training and teaching. The quantitative part of the research monitored the students’ injuries (type of injury, cause, period, frequency and number of reoccurrence) prior, during and after the periodization re-training period in comparison to their training schedules and workload. The results were compared to the injury data that had already been collected over the past years.

When we started, we did not know the outcome of our experiment. However, for those of you who want to use the framework and alter your training programme, we now know how it functions and

16

PERIODIZATION

the basic principles of the concept have been tested longitudinally, to ensure the ‘change’ is within manageable risk parameters. Periodization for dance training is not a rigid format, but an approach and when it is done well, it is flexible, adjustable and relates to the set targets and group or individual you periodize for. It develops continuously and allows for daily interventions in the training programme. It requires constant dialogue and alignment. It challenges everything you know.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Periodization for dance education includes much more then dividing education into phased training blocks and/or a tool for injury prevention. It enables a more dynamic and challenging environment, among other things, by providing a larger variety in didactical methods and structuring of the curriculum. The concept of periodization plays a key role in periodically changing workload, within semesters, within the school year, as well as over the whole education programme. It feeds opportunities for students to effectively develop their physical skills as well as developing a more in-depth understanding of the profession and field of dance. It enables students to take more responsibility for their own growth and development. We refer to this as embodied learning, in which creative intervention – as well as conceptual (critical thinking) and social (collaboration, communication) learning – is embedded. At the heart of the transformation of dance pedagogy by using periodization as a tool, is the notion that we do not just ‘think’ with our brain, but that our body ‘reflects’ as well. It ‘thinks’ via its skills, techniques and media or means. We interact with other ‘bodies’ and there is permanent feedback from this interaction. Periodization is therefore a pedagogical-didactical approach towards contemporary education. It contains, besides a physical and mental approach, a social embedding. It is the central idea behind a successful strategy of educating dance students towards an effective and resilient artistic professional practice, in a society that progressively demands these new competences. How?

INTRODUCTION

17

In developing their dance skills, students share embodied knowledge with each other. In becoming skilled dancers, they adopt and adapt on at least three levels: physical, social and mental. Embodiment is not exclusively physical. First and foremost it means all embodying creativity, communication, collaboration and eventually critical thinking in a medium. Students need to actively embody (physical), share (social) and reflect (mental) to be prepared for the artistic participation that society requires. For education, this means that those three aspects are constantly looped into each other, with different emphasis in different stages of the education. It is precisely this that supports the underlying principle of a periodized curriculum. Each phase has its individual goal, but it is the multiple year trajectory that does the trick in allowing students to reach their full potential. The trajectory consists of a large number of required skills and knowledge of ‘how to or knowhow’. These skills are purposely divided into periods (phases) to create the opportunity for crafting and adaptation. This is of enormous help for educators and staff and for the development of a contemporary curriculum. Reflection and action are fully integrated, but the bottom line from the students’ perspective is the awareness that they are constantly in the act of learning and researching, from the first minute they enter the studio. As such, embodiment triggers (self) care and (self) reflection. This mental attitude within social practices, conditions the dancer as a reflective practitioner, acquiring embodied knowledge, inspired by the twenty-first century skills (Saavedra and Opfer 2012). This lifelong learning never stops. It forces us to alter our educational practices within a new paradigm, parts of which have already been developed, but the coherence of which is not yet formulated. We have to import didactical (working) forms that support the digitalized and globalized world we now live in (Kelly 2010), taking into account that participation and inclusiveness are structurally but not yet factually part of this. We realize that we will have to invest in new equipment, new didactical models, training of our staff, etc. to provide the conditions that will stimulate reflection and independent attitudes of students. We have to distance ourselves from the master/pupil model and the division we often create between practice and theory and between class and creation. Bringing new concepts to this participatory context acknowledges

18

PERIODIZATION

the transition we are in and urges us to perform an education paradigm shift (Allard and Oosterling 2018). This change in operation and value will redefine our present discursive practices. Periodization for dance education aims at a more sustainable embodiment that, next to the basic physical embodiment, also includes social and mental aspects. This book therefore offers a rich insight into periodization for dance training. It provides a practical translation, theoretical underpinning and didactical motivation of working with periodization principles combined with personal testimonies and lived experiences. It aims to support those who want to bring periodization principles into the educational framework, the art educational institute, the dance curriculum. It addresses crucial factors to take into account when starting a radical curriculum change over. We hope you enjoy getting to know more about our research, the lessons learned and all the possibilities that periodization for dance training has to offer you, as it did for us.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: ‘ARE YOU AWARE OF THE RISKS YOU’RE TAKING?’ A PROPHETIC WARNING OR DISCL AIMER? To finalize this introduction providing information about the background, motivation, concept and how to start and use this textbook, let me finish with a personal note. Interestingly, I never asked myself the risk question when starting the periodization research and development project. Even though at that time what we were doing was unique, as we could not rely on previous practice and brought some rather revolutionary thoughts about training into the daily routine of dance education. It is, however, a question that has been raised in many conversations following the research and implementation period.

INTRODUCTION

19

When informing colleagues about the general concept, while explaining how to go about it when they were interested, and while unpacking the possible benefits for their practice and training environment, I often heard them reply, ‘I cannot take the risk . . .’, ‘the outcome is too insecure . . .’, ‘I do not dare to start . . .’. Even Matt refers to the risk factor in his introduction where he speaks of the staff taking risks and to being open to a scientist challenging their tradition. But for me, it never felt like a risk. In a profession in which we respect tradition, acknowledge the hard labour of our pre-assessors that are often our mentor/teachers, and where the result of the long training period (from childhood to adolescence) ends in a career that is known for its limited duration, we might be inclined to rely on the way we know, or the manner it has been done up until now. And maybe that is taking a risk as well; I have witnessed training sessions, which in themselves proved to be excellent, but were silently undermined by the training sessions scheduled before or after, and therefore the students ultimately did not reach the desired training goal. Each training session is influenced by its position within the schedule of the day, in the week, even year or within the phase of the goal setting. Therefore, the full potential of the training programme, and therefore ultimately the potential development of the student, relies on looking at it holistically. In dance training, this is (or was) not common practice. I was intrigued by the concepts developed in sport and the knowledge gained on goal setting within training to improve performance. I wondered if and how this could be applied in dance. I plunged in deep, became more knowledgeable through trial and error. I maintained a close dialogue with staff and students and was in constant consultation with the scientists. We not only had the courage to try out and experiment, but also to make radical changes if needed based on experience. Like creating a ballet, we learned in and of the creation itself. And one thing led to another . . . Periodization: a framework for dance training – training tomorrow’s pre-professional.

20

PART ONE

Explanation of the concept

21

22

1 From the educational/ didactical perspective

The concept of periodization for dance education is often presented as a helpful tool to improve the health and well-being of dancers, and rightfully so as we look at the impact it can have on injury reduction and the creation of a more sustainable layout of a 3–4 year educational training programme. However, the focus was initially on the more important artistic (so didactical) question the school or company faced, which in turn positively influenced health-related challenges that are always associated with a training environment. In the research project conducted at the contemporary dance company Dance Works Rotterdam, the artistic staff were not only keen to get a better understanding of how to support the dancers with a training programme that made them more physically fit, but also to understand the effectiveness of the schedule on the artistic output. A small number of dancers in the ensemble had to perform a full programme of diverse repertoire; the often extreme range of dance movement vocabulary used in the various choreographies forced a rather harsh shift for the dancing body going from the day time rehearsals to the evening performances and this placed a big physical strain on the dancers. This sparked the need to understand what type of preparatory training would be needed to best protect the dancers from getting injured. In the research on Excellence and Wellbeing at the Codarts Dance Academy, the question was raised of how to best support the students considering the great differences in their training background. As well as looking at the cause, frequency and number 23

24

PERIODIZATION

of reoccurring injuries of the dance students, the possible impact of the didactical approach towards handling these differences was also examined. Data from interviews with the teaching staff showed that there was a difference in the didactical approach towards the students who had had several years of training prior to starting the course (pre-starting) and those who had not. It had an impact on the type, cause and above all number of reoccurring injuries; most unexpectedly, students who were seen as the most prepared and therefore identified as the ‘capable’ group were found to have the most increased injury incidence. This was related to the expectation that due to their pre-education, these students, unlike the others, were ready for a full training programme at the start of their dance education. During the major curriculum renewal at ArtEZ School of Dance, the artistic ambition was to combine a dancer and maker (choreographer) profile into one bachelor programme. To enable this, we turned to the concept of periodization (Allard et al. 2012). Periodization for dance training can only be successful when applied tailor-made to the specific question it is trying to provide an answer for. It is an approach that requires constant reflection and adaptation, and is not a system that can be implemented as a format. Therefore, it is vital to state that it is crucial to identify the artistic, and therefore the didactical, driver to start implementing periodizing principles within the training programme. Using the case study of the curriculum renewal at ArtEZ will provide more insight. The programme deployed periodization for optimizing the effectiveness of the entire four-year programme. It will demonstrate how the artistic (didactical) ambition translated into a new dance training programme (curriculum) using the periodization approach.

ArtEZ School of Dance: periodization for dance education In the 2012 accreditation, the ArtEZ School of Dance was awarded an internationally recognized special feature for their innovative Dancer/Maker programme: Periodization for Dance Education (NVAO 2012). The Dancer/Maker Bachelor’s degree developed a

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

25

technically periodized programme, which combined both the Dancer and the Maker curricula.

Ambition as drivers behind the change in orientation The strong links with the professional field, through for instance the guest teachers and staff who sat on relevant professional bodies (renowned dance companies and Arts Council), had allowed the programme to closely monitor how the professional field had been changing. The field was continuing to evolve, a development which at that time was made only the more pressing by the financial crisis and funding cuts to the worldwide cultural sector. This resulted in the traditional goal of belonging to a dance company, as a dancer, to no longer be the only norm. The programme staff decided that their approach to contributing to the field of dance was to train the Dancer/Maker into an individually unique artist who conceives of dance as the expression of movement research and reflective practice, in which the technical capability and physical abilities are crucial to a more visceral experience. In their vision, the Dancer/Maker needs to embody the complex qualities of adaptability and self-sustainment of both personal and artistic vision. They must be responsible for the cultivation of a professional ecosystem in which they can learn, share, grow, practice research, conceptualize, create, produce and reflect. Ultimately, the ArtEZ Bachelor of Dance aimed to provide an environment that not only trained Dancer/Makers who were able to sustain themselves, but who could also (re)generate, create and build themselves to meet the new and continually adapting environment, which was and still is the present dance profession.

Integrating the Dancer and Dance Maker ArtEZ developed one Dancer/Maker programme, replacing the former two separate specializations, Dancer and Dance Maker. In the new Dancer/Maker programme, the essential elements of the former Dance Maker specialization that used to take place in year three and four only for those who chose to become a maker, were

26

PERIODIZATION

now introduced in the first two years. The individual student’s development and exploration of their unique signature grew in significance, while still maintaining the opportunity for them to emphasize on either the maker or the dancer dimension. The choice was also made to include complementary curriculum components that would allow the Dancer/Maker to flourish as a freelance practitioner in the final qualification profile. These components included the ability to create and find work, as well as information on how to stay mentally and physically fit. The programme offered a curriculum that focused on qualitative rather than quantitative technical proficiency. Periodization contributed to the sustainable ArtEZ Dancer/Maker graduate. He or she: ●

●

●

is an artistic contributor, who is able to share, develop, adapt and perform choreography (professional, active, knowledge); is an independent artist, who is capable of developing and using his or her unique Dancer/Maker signature to effectively map out and advance his or her career (flexible, active, professional); acknowledges his or her physicality and will therefore apply periodization to prepare the body for optimal performance (knowledge, flexible, active).

The Dancer/Maker programme provided a relatively small-scale learning environment with an individualistic approach. From day one, students were exposed to a rich and dynamic programme that required them to research and reflect. The study periods, often high in intensity, were followed by adequate time for recovery, reflection and finally integration of course work. The programme stimulated this by providing a wide array of choreographers, intensive studies and repertoire.

The curriculum outlines The curriculum of the ArtEZ Bachelor of Dance programme is based on the principle of providing the right information and training at the right moment. This means that throughout the year, as well as over the four years, students learn in four phases

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

27

(Figure 1.1). The programme maintains a coherent unity where the various subjects supplement each other. Subjects are developed within modules which are in turn aligned to specific learning tracks (Figure 1.3 p33).

Design principles The integrated curriculum is based on the following: 1 it deploys methods from sports coaching (and particularly periodization) for optimal learning (chapter 4); 2 it improves the programme’s effectiveness and efficiency; 3 it reduces drop-out and keeps preventable injuries to a minimum; 4 it builds an integrated curriculum where the Dancer and Maker components are interwoven, which strengthens them both; 5 it re-defines the function of the technique class in the specific phase and year in which it is located so that the goals of each class are aligned and will support the student’s learning capacity; 6 it strengthens core programme elements (learning tracks, phases and the Active Learning module) while also allowing space for flexibility (guest teachers, individual approach, etc.)(chapter 4); 7 it redefines the significance and position of the classical, modern and contemporary dance techniques in such a way that their essence and value are used to maximum effect; 8 it gives students the opportunity to cultivate independent learning early in the programme; 9 it enables students to achieve a qualitative technical proficiency; 10 it supports the students in their personal development plan. Here, they are guided by an active practitioner during their Transition phase (the Circle of Guides, see below and chapter 4) to develop into independent performance artists;

28

PERIODIZATION

11 it constantly reflects, evaluates and develops both the programme and the staff themselves, thereby generating new knowledge that can be shared with the profession.

A series of phases and cycles At ArtEZ, in each of the four years, the students progress through a cycle of four unequal phases: Preparation, Crafting (Skill Development), Integration and Transition (Figure 1.1). The arrow demonstrates how the curriculum progresses from entry at year one towards the transition into the professional field at year four. These four phases were developed based on the feedback and expertise of the teaching staff, who identified various key moments in the learning process of the students which were not supported by the standard division of working within a trimester and/or semester setup. This led to a choice of four alternative time frames in order to be able to cope with the demands of a professional education, both physically and mentally. Each programme year was designed as a series of macro- and micro-cycles in which the training intensity increased and decreased to ensure that the dancer developed and recovered without causing staleness or overtraining.

FIGURE 1.1 Preparation, Crafting, Integration and Transition phases across the four-year programme.

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

29

One four-year training cycle; four annual plans Each year of the programme serves a specific purpose in the dancer’s overall programme, on a physical, mental and cognitive level: Preparation (first year), Crafting (Skill Development) (second year), Integration (third year) and Transition (fourth year). Every year is also structured along the same four phases: preparation, crafting, integration and transition. Figure 1.1 is a visual overview of how the four phases structure the whole programme on different levels. What emerges is a curriculum in which the physical and mental build-up is managed and integrated within each module, learning-track and year. Each of the four years has a specific function in the development of the dancer that includes both their physical and cognitive beings (Figure 1.2).

Year one – Preparation The first year of the programme aims to build up each student’s body to prepare them for technical training and to support them in developing an open, flexible and strong mind. Preparation implies the student is equipped for subsequent phases: mentally ready, physically fit, having the right attitude, knowledge and development potential. Consequently, in assessment, focus is on attitude, development potential, adaptability, communication and collaboration skills, based on competencies and indicators in the final qualification profile. Although performance experience is important during the Preparation year, building the foundation remains paramount. The workload is slowly increased during the Preparation phase and is maintained throughout the Craft phase. In the Integration phase, the workload again increases before dropping into maintenance mode level during the Transition phase. In addition, the medical test during the audition informs the guidance of each admitted student, as well as playing a role in the first result meeting in November.

Year two – Craft Year two is centred around the development of craftsmanship and technical proficiency. The focus is also on coaching the student as a

30

PERIODIZATION

performer and creative artist. To enter the Craft phase, the student must be physically and mentally prepared for the intensive crafting (skill) classes. Crafting is intended to develop technical and choreographic ability. Hence, it is more than just applying knowledge and dance techniques, the focus is on measuring choreographic skills and creative capability. During this year, the curriculum focuses on dance technique, developing choreographic skills and applying them in performances. Performance, in terms of using the body to excel, becomes increasingly important in this second year. While the focus might be on other elements in the other years, craftsmanship remains an important criterion (especially during the crafting phase within those years).

Year three – Integration The third year focuses more closely on the artistic identity of the Dancer/ Maker, on the integration of the achieved skills in the final presentation and preparing the students for the transition into the professional field by guiding them in the formulation of a personal development plan. All third year classes emphasize the development and application of mastered technique skills. The focus is on performance: creating, integrating and using theatrical resources. Like the Integration phases in other years, students are assessed on their craft, but emphasis is on their artistic development, and how well they are able to integrate skills and experience. The minors, a significant element of the third year programme (explained in more detail later), focus on integrating practice and theory through practice-based research. At the end of year three, all students demonstrate their ability and progress in the ‘Finals’, applying all aquired knowledge and skills as a Dancer/ Maker.

Year four – Transition In the fourth year, students must venture beyond the school’s environment. They are expected to hone their artistic identity through a work placement in the field of dance, as dancer and/or maker or through an independent study relevant to the field of dance and dance-making. Auditions are regarded as performances during the final year. These performances are what the students

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

31

have been working towards (intensity peaks) but auditions also involve dealing with disappointment, success and overlapping peaks. Apprenticeships, independent study, a possible Erasmus exchange programme (a semester at another dance educational institute) and creating work constitute year four’s essential elements.

One study year; four phases, meso-cycle Like the overall programme, each year is divided into four phases: nine weeks of Preparation followed by fourteen weeks of Crafting, then fifteen weeks of Integration and three weeks of Transition. This division allows the total yearly workload to be monitored, thereby reducing the chances of overtraining/chronic fatigue that lead to reduced performance and an increased risk of injury.

Preparation phase – nine weeks Preparation starts with the acknowledgement that students, whether international or home, need time to arrive at their new learning environment and get ready (prepared) to learn. Injury data shows that most injuries occur between seven to nine weeks after the initial phase of increasing the training load (Eckard et al. 2018; Piggott, Newton and McGuigan 2009; Gabbett 2016). Taking time to get physically and mentally ready to adapt to the required and future loads is therefore crucial for successful training.

FIGURE 1.2 Summary of annual plans inform the four-year training cycle.

32

PERIODIZATION

Craft phase – fourteen weeks When the students have laid the foundations in the Preparation phase, they are ready to progress and are able to cope with increased training load, whether in terms of intensity or volume. The gradual increase in training during the preparation phase develops an eagerness from the students for more intense training sessions; this is a result of the body and mind being carefully prepared. Also, students often feel that they have been held back by the teaching staff and that they could have done more. The Craft phase therefore is packed with challenging training sessions, almost too much to absorb but full of technical instruction, time to practise, be corrected and master the required skills. In this period there is also ample time to reflect. Towards the end of this phase, students will start to want to reduce the amount of offered ‘new’ knowledge and become more competent in executing and applying the gained skills.

Integration phase – fifteen weeks Phase three combines creation, performance and exams; in the third year this includes auditions. The students are required to apply their acquired technical skills in a large variety of artistic repertoire. They are confronted with the choreographic differences both in style and physicality, and this requires time for analysis and reflection. The students will need and want to integrate what they have learned in the previous phases into a personal artistic interpretation of the choreographic work. Therefore, not much new technical information is given during technique class in this phase. Students are supported to embody the previously learned skills and apply them in rehearsal, or ‘train’ some additional choreographic skills.

Transition phase – three weeks This is both the most challenging and rewarding phase. Traditionally, this is when final performances are scheduled that often result in the students being both mentally and physically exhausted immediately prior to the holidays and a sudden cessation of training. By incorporating a transition period following the performances there

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

33

is the gradual reduction in training load and time for reflection and planning. Students ‘calm’ down after their yearly effort, think about what and how to bring the lessons learned forward to the following year. In this phase, students create a plan for the in-between period (holidays and/or transitioning into the profession).

Learning tracks and cycles The content of the curriculum is defined by the four learning tracks the students are expected to follow throughout the four years: Dance Technique, Mapping, Active Learning, Songlines and Conditioning. Almost all of the modules taught are part of these four learning tracks and vary in intensity and workload according to the phase and year the students are in (Figure 1.3). Each module has a different emphasis that depends on the students’ current programme phase. This means that classes on a particular subject in the first year will have a different function to those in the second or third year. The process of redefining the function of the classes in each specific phase and year ensures that the curriculum is continually aligned with the goals of the programme

FIGURE 1.3 Example of learning tracks embedded into the four phases across a year.

34

PERIODIZATION

and supports the students in their progress towards the role as an independent Dancer/Maker. The same applies to the daily and weekly training as the training load can be varied and built up both for a single week and also for a multiple-week period. This approach enables the third year student to go through all four phases even though their workload is higher than in the first- and second-year programme. The intensity of each learning track differs between each year as the learning track’s function differs based on its objective. In the Dance Technique Learning Track, students extend and improve their classical and modern techniques, and this forms a basis for the development of contemporary techniques (Figure 1.4). Ballet forms the foundation for this Learning Track; they will also learn to understand its value for the contemporary Dancer/Maker (Preparation, Crafting, Integration and Transition). Study time is spent on the individual student’s artistic development via the Mapping Learning Track, which has a similar timetable commitment as the Dance Technique Learning Track. The Mapping Learning Track’s modules support students in exploring the world of dance and choreography, while drawing up their own evolving map of their place in the dance field. The Active Learning module, which starts in the first course week, and continues until the final week of year four, forms an important backbone for each student’s learning path. However divergent these individual paths may be, they are characterized by a gradual handing over of responsibility to the student for his or her own learning process. In the Songlines Learning Track the Dancer/Maker learns to develop their own style, how to ‘sing their song’ and how to achieve a balance between body and mind. Courses in this learning track are often scheduled so that they find a balance between the fast, high intensity technique classes and the more low-key conditioning classes. The balancing of these classes opens up a space to learn about the body in various ways and also helps the student to process all the information received during the day. With the Conditioning, the stress is on health and the development of flexibility, mental resilience and strength. For example, warming up before a dance class can improve the learning capacities of the students and is also crucial in preventing injuries. In the first year, the students receive guided classes to learn about conditioning. In subsequent years, the students are expected to develop their own

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

35

conditioning plans. The Conditioning Track also includes lectures on anatomy, nutrition, mental coping strategies and injury prevention. In the following paragraphs the Dance technique and Mapping Learning Tracks are supported with a schematic representation of how they are shaped in the four-year programme. As can be seen the four phases described above are an important structuring element within each year.

Dance Technique Track In the first year of the Dance Technique Track, the Pilates technique prepares the students for the Graham technique classes. In the Crafting phase of the first year, students learn about the place of Graham technique in relation to both its historical context and other dance styles including contemporary dance (Integration). Limón technique is introduced at the end of year one (Transition). In the second year, students start with an intensive period of Limón technique (Crafting) while also continuing their Graham technique. In a similar manner, students are introduced to Cunningham technique during the Transition phase of the second year, before it becomes a focus in the third year. In year four, when the students are on campus, they can select the classes they want to attend. During the Crafting phase there are two distinct periods when the technique training has priority over all other aspects of the programme (Figure 1.4).

FIGURE 1.4 Progress of the dance techniques across the years.

36

PERIODIZATION

Mapping The amount of study time spent on the artistic development of the individual student in the Mapping Learning Track is comparable to the time reserved for the Dance Technique Track (Figure 1.3). The modules in this learning track support students in exploring the world of dance and drawing their personal, evolving map. The mentoring programme, shaped in the Active Learning Track, as well as the approach teachers take in their classes, challenges the students to become reflective practitioners (chapter 4). The Academy uses a student portfolio, to facilitate this. In year one (preparation) and year two (crafting) this means that students are asked to reflect on their development, the challenges they face and their artistic growth (Figure 1.5). In the Integration year (year three), students are required to write their own personal development plan and evaluate their learning progress based on the plan; in the Transition year (year four) their learning plan is used for assessment purposes. As they transition into the profession, the student has to determine how they master all the final competencies required at that level. As such, the final assessment during year four is based on a study plan prepared by the student during year three, written in consultation with the fourth-year mentor. The rules and criteria for the individual study plans are approved by the Examination Committee. The assessment form for year four describes the competencies that are explicitly tested in this year and are congruent with the

FIGURE 1.5 How active learning integrates with the wider curriculum.

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

37

internship forms through which the programme receives feedback about the students from the work placements. With the introduction of the Circle of Guides, the programme offers a new avenue for continual external assessment and reflection at some critical moments during the last year. Feedback from work placements and/ or exchange schools, the independent study programme during year four, input from the Circle of Guides and self-evaluation by the student, all form input for the final evaluation by the mentor and an external assessor.

Circle of Guides To support students in their transition, the programme has introduced a special mentor system – referred to as the Circle of Guides – for the fourth-year students, as an addition to the Active Learning module. The Circle of Guides consists of external independent choreographers, dancers and artistic directors from the professional field. The fourth-year students work with the guide of their choice from within the circle and receive support on further developing their area of interest/expertise and create a relevant network. Students will be challenged to reflect on their level of success in becoming a young professional. The Circle as well strengthens the individualized character of the programme.

Periodizing theory and practice The programme approach of integrating theory into practical classes strengthens the students’ theoretical understanding and helps them to develop a reflective attitude towards their dance and making practice. The Dancer/Maker programme has implemented practice-based research in its curriculum, in collaboration with the ArtEZ Theory in the Arts professorship. In former years, the loosely associated theory and history lessons used to focus on separate disciplines such as dance, art history and music theory. These courses have been integrated into the goals of the curriculum’s practical classes. Therefore, theory is not defined as the fifth learning track but as an integrated part of the other four: Dance Technique, Mapping, Conditioning and Songlines.

38

PERIODIZATION

To support this integration of theory and practice, students follow an intensive Reading/Writing module. The Reading/Writing module teaches the students communication skills (such as writing and presenting) along with research skills that involve formulating questions, considering research methods, selecting sources, analysing and reflecting. These are the skills that students will need for conducting artistic research and communicating their vision and work to the outside world. The writing module also has a contentbased component as an input for reflection and the discussion of theories. Therefore, the students will read and be introduced to aspects of communication theory, cultural studies, philosophy and history. Where possible, the module is linked to other curriculum modules and projects that students are involved in. In collaboration with the Choreography Masters programme at ArtEZ, the students work on their research skills during the Research Week. The Masters students conduct diverse and idiosyncratic lines of research in choreography, which mainly centre on the body in movement. In addition, students are encouraged and facilitated to participate in the choreographic work of the Master students. If possible, Master students teach (a.o. improvisation/composition) classes within the Bachelor programme and act as guides for students.

Minors (electives) ArtEZ students can select from a choice of interdisciplinary and subject specific minors in year three. A minor offers the opportunity to study a subject outside of their chosen programme or to explore their own professional field in greater depth. The minor dancer and the minor maker pathways are designed to interact with choreographers and deepen the students’ understanding towards their specific choreographic methods, inspirational sources and the theoretical context of their artistic research. The minors contain analysis of current and previous work of guest choreographers and the specifics of their vocabularies. Just as important as the research component is that the minors support students in building their network in the professional field. Through participating in one of the minors, in year three, students have the opportunity to further explore their artistic identity in relation to the offered collaboration with the guest choreographer of their choice and possible internship options available to them the

FROM THE EDUCATIONAL/DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

39

following year. For the professional choreographers, through focusing on process (research, collaboration and exchange) and not on product (rehearsal and performance), the minor creates an opportunity to discover the specific talents of the students in relation to their choreographic methods.

Making it all fit After reforming the programme based on the need to integrate theory into the students’ dance and making practice, peak moments within each learning track were integrated into the programme’s periodization approach. Like ‘physically demanding’ learning tracks, the staff created an overview of when the modules in the theoretically steered subjects demanded time to prepare, craft, integrate and transition. They brought this information into dialogue with other dance staff highlighting the required time and reflection space of the four learning tracks. Combining all these learning tracks into a four-year programme with its four distinct phases led to lengthy discussion between staff on how they would all fit together and provide the students with the proper time they needed to execute their assignments and become the reflective practitioners the programme desired them to be. Below is one of the many versions of the year one timetable that provides an example of the planning of the learning tracks with aims, goals and contact hours. ● ●

●

●

●

●

Each bar represents one week during the academic year. While some weeks have similar structures in terms of hours spent on certain learning tracks, the rosters of each week are different. The several learning tracks are represented through the different coloured blocks (legend at bottom of the page). During the Crafting phase, the Mapping Learning Track is reduced to give more space for the Dance Technique and Songlines Learning Tracks. The four phases are indicated at the bottom. The fading colours represent the physical intensity of the programme. The yellow balloons highlight some specific elements of the curriculum.

40

FIGURE 1.6 A working version of year 1.

2 Periodization: A sport science perspective

In sport, there has been a long history of athletes’ training plans being periodized. It is not a new concept and there is evidence that the ancient Greeks used a simplified form in their Olympics. Galen, in his book, De Sanitate Tuenda (Preservation of Health), describes a ten-month preparation plan followed by a thirty-day specific plan before the ancient Olympics, he also promoted the need to relax and have good nutrition after each training session. Another physician, Claudius Galenus, also incorporated ‘talk therapy’ (psychotherapy) to help his athletes. In the modern-day Olympics, the Germans were the first to use it with a four-year strategy of annual training plans to prepare their athletes for the 1936 Games. Post-war, a Russian called Matveev (1965) developed the system further with the addition of the annual training plan divided into phases, sub-phases and training cycles, and this allowed a coach or athlete to understand how a specific training session on a specific day fitted into the overall goals for that Olympic cycle or year. The focus of training is to optimize athletic performance by progressively improving skills and work capacity through an organized and wellplanned training programme. Subsequently, the framework has evolved and developed over the decades to meet the competitive needs of different sports (Bompa and Buzzichelli 2018), but at their base remains two main edicts: 1

the framework divides the training plan into smaller training cycles and phases, making it easier to plan and 41

42

PERIODIZATION

2

manage the training programme and ensures that peak performance occurs at a specific time; periodization structures the training phases to target bio-motor abilities which allows the athlete to perform optimally (physically, technically and mentally).

The objective of training is the development of a variety of attributes, these include: ●

●

●

●

●

●

●

General fitness. This is a strong multi-faceted fitness that will prepare the athlete for specific training; it includes endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and co-ordination. Sport-specific physical fitness. This is the development of sport specific fitness components e.g. a sprinter needs strength and speed, however, many sports, particularly field sports, require a blend of many attributes. Psychological skills. This is vital to the optimization of physical performance and these skills need to be developed to the same degree as the physical fitness components. The skills developed include, but are not limited to, goal setting, imagery, self-talk, arousal and relaxation. Technical skills. The ability to perfect technical skills is linked to general and sport-specific fitness and should also be trained under normal and unusual conditions. Tactical skills. This is the development of competitive strategies that take advantage of the athlete’s physical and technical abilities. Health maintenance. This is fundamental to athletic performance, and the health of the athlete should be monitored regularly. Periods of intense training can have a negative effect on the immune system therefore making the athlete more prone to upper respiratory tract illness, for example. Injury resistance. To reduce the risk of injury is to ensure the athlete has the physical and psychological characteristics to cope with their training and competitive demands. The management of fatigue and planning of focused recovery is an integral component of reducing injury risk.

PERIODIZATION: A SPORT SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

●

43

Theoretical knowledge. The athlete should understand why they are doing what they are doing: improving their knowledge of the physiological and psychological basis of training, nutrition strategies and training plans. This knowledge will help them to adhere to the training plan and also to set more appropriate goals that both the coach and athlete agree on.

A training plan is constructed by observing three principles (Bondarchuk 1988); finding the system’s forming factors, determining the system’s structure, and validating the efficacy of the system. The first principle is the accumulation of knowledge about the demands of the activity, training theory, scientific data, coaches’ past experience or other coaches’ practices. These then help form the system’s structure (second principle). Long and short training plans should be constructed that can be implemented by all the coaches but also be flexible enough to allow them to adapt/enrich it based on their own experiences. The last principle focuses on the constant evaluation of the plan to make sure it is meeting and delivering its goals. The results of the monitoring are fed back into the system and modifications made if necessary. The system does not solely depend on the coach but on the interaction of all factors that can impact an athlete’s performance (training facilities and equipment, the athlete’s abilities, coaches’ knowledge and personality, athlete’s background and heritage, competitions, etc.). The long-term training framework can be over any number of years, for instance adolescent athletes in academies are targeting Olympic Games in eight to twelve years’ time. The framework is then split into annual training plans that have accumulative goals that gradually develop the athlete to meet the overall goals. The annual plan is usually split up into three main phases: preparatory, competitive and transition, and these all have sub-phases, and macro- and micro-cycles to progress the athlete through their year. Each cycle and phase has a goal and a plan on how to achieve that goal that are realistic and achievable based on the athlete’s abilities, psychological traits and social environments. Within the example plan (Figure 2.1) there is only one competitive period (mono-cycle) and the athlete’s ability to perform optimally during this period is based on the physiological and psychological adaptations and development of skills during the preparatory

44

PERIODIZATION

FIGURE 2.1 Annual training plan divided into phases and cycles.

phase. The duration of each phase depends on the current physical condition and skill of the athlete compared with where they need to be to compete. This needs to be very flexible to allow for over and under achievement of goals by the athlete. Ideally, detailed training plans should only be developed one macro-cycle at a time so the schedule can be adapted according to how the athlete responded to the previous cycle. Bompa and Buzzichelli (2018) recommend that the number of competitive periods should be kept to one for novice and young athletes. This will allow the preparatory phase to be longer so more time can be dedicated to the development of technical, tactical and physical aspects. As the athlete develops in biological and athletic maturity, the number of competitive periods can increase according to the demands of the sport. Multiple competitive periods should only be attempted by well-trained athletes as the preparatory phase will be considerably shorter. For professional athletes, the length and competitive schedule will determine the length of each preceding phase and macro-cycle; but for less experienced athletes the coach should determine the length and number of events during the competitive cycle according to the biomotor and athletic maturity of the athlete.

Importance of planning The coach can structure the training process by using methodological, scientific procedures augmented by past experience; this allows for the elimination of random and aimless training sessions that increases the training load without contributing to the training goals. Central to the planning is an understanding of how the athlete will respond physiologically and psychologically to the training stimulus and the

PERIODIZATION: A SPORT SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

45

resulting fatigue. Bompa and Buzzichelli (2018) describe it as understanding how a training stimulus adds to the training goals, how much fatigue a specific training stimulus will elicit and how the athlete will respond to the fatigue. This is not just physiologically focused but the psychological stress of training, particularly skills training, must be accounted for. Therefore, planning revolves around optimizing the adaptation of a training stimulus without causing the athlete to over train due to a lack of recovery or over stimulus. It therefore needs to be adaptable so that it can respond to the athlete’s rate of progress as well as new knowledge gained. A long-term goal is an essential aspect of a training plan as it guides the athlete over many years in their athletic and biomotor development; it needs to include all the elements of training, skill acquisition, physiological and psychological components and competition. Bompa and Carrera (2015) suggest four training phases: initiation, athletic formation, specialization and high performance. Initiation (eight to fifteen years old) focuses on skill and tactical acquisition as these are factors that often limit young athletes’ performance and their enjoyment. Athletic formation (fifteen to eighteen years old) emphasizes the development of physical attributes alongside technical and tactical abilities. Specialization (eighteen to twenty-one years old) is the refinement of the physical, tactical and technical abilities in preparation for the high performance phase. This last phase prepares the athlete for performance.

Development of the biomotor abilities Each sport requires the development of particular biomotor abilities that need to be applied to the periodization model. This will determine the type of training included in each phase and cycle. To reach high levels of biomotor development there needs to be an order to the training, for instance to maximize muscular power, it needs to be preceded by maximum strength training that in turn needs to be preceded by anatomical development. Simultaneous development of biomotor abilities and skills are often a necessity due to time constraints (e.g. speed, agility and endurance for soccer players) for events that have short preparatory periods; events that have longer preparatory periods with lower skill requirements, such as athletics, can accommodate sequential development (Issurin 2008).

46

PERIODIZATION

Monitoring progress An important aspect of any training plan is monitoring the athlete’s progress, this eliminates a random approach to training. It should be regular and part of the training plan and incorporate not only the main training factors but also the athlete’s health and well-being.

Coaching teams Coaches rarely operate on their own and are often part of a larger multi-disciplinary team of other coaching and support staff. In these situations, a head coach needs to take the lead, in consultation with the other staff, in developing the over-arching plan. It is important that each coach or member of support staff who works with the athlete understands their role within the plan and how their responsibilities coincide and complement the other sessions led by other coaches. Therefore, the head coach needs to have a breadth and depth of knowledge to understand all the specialist areas of the other coaching staff. Obviously, the head coach cannot be a true expert in all areas, but they need to know a little about all areas of performance and development. The head coach needs to be able to understand what each specialist coach provides and manage their contributions against all the other areas, chapter 4 provides a more in-depth discussion on coaching philosophy. Regular staff meetings are essential so that coaches can report and discuss the athlete’s progress. This needs to be an open forum in which everyone contributes to the discussion and therefore the head coach needs to make sure the environment is conducive to do this by encouraging everyone to contribute their thoughts and ideas. It is then that the head coach can finely adjust the training plan according to the information received from all parties.

Athlete education The education of the athlete is an integral part of the training process. They need to understand the basic physiological and psychological underpinnings of their training plans and how to optimize their recovery and well-being. Time spent on athlete

PERIODIZATION: A SPORT SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

47

education enhances their performance as they become an active, rather than a passive component within their own training. Courses on nutrition, sleep, hydration, psychological skills, exercise physiology, work-life balance, to name a few, are integral to the holistic well-being of the athlete. This means they become less reliant on the coaches to provide all the minutiae and they gradually take responsibility for their general health and well-being and preparedness for training. As they mature in their technical and biomotor understanding of their sport, they become integral to the training plan development and become part of the coach planning process.

48

3 Periodization: A psychological perspective

Introduction Why is it be important to consider the psychological impact of periodization at ArtEZ? Dancers and Makers train intensively to prepare for their professional careers. In contemporary dance, this intensive period of training can represent the foundation of career preparation, a process that may be called talent development. The content, context and efficacy of this dance training may have farreaching impacts on professional experiences or outcomes in dance. Evidence from other domains indicates that the psychological skills established in talent development can play an important role in determining success at the elite level (Collins, MacNamara and McCarthy 2016). Success, however, is perhaps not the only outcome measure of importance. The mental health and mental health literacy of elite athletes is currently an area of focus in sport (Henriksen et al. 2020; Vella et al. 2021; Kuettel and Larsen 2020). Research has also examined the acute wellness care in training and tournaments (Schinke et al. 2021), and in the talent development process (Hill et al. 2016a). Evidence suggests that motivational climates perceived by training dancers can impact dance students’ anxiety, perfectionism, creativity, self-esteem, eating attitudes, relationships with peers, overuse injury, and dropout (Quested and Duda 2011). A growing body of preliminary academic evidence indicates that 49

50

PERIODIZATION

psychological experiences, support and education in dance training may also have both immediate (Pickard 2013; Aujla and Farrer 2015) and long-term (Goodwin et al. 2014) impacts on dancers’ mental health. The phased approach to training discussed in this book is novel in dance, and as a result, may significantly differ from what dance students, teachers, choreographers, support staff, parents or carers, and healthcare practitioners in dance are accustomed to. The implementation of periodization at ArtEZ fundamentally changed the training dance students received through a variety of mechanisms, as discussed throughout the rest of this text. In this chapter, we will explore the impact of periodization at ArtEZ through the eyes of the teachers and consider how these perceived impacts may provide insights into the psychological implications of periodization for training successful and mentally healthy dancers. Our approach to the psychological impacts of periodization will be divided into two parts: Narrative (see The Teachers’ Perspective section) and Theory (this chapter). In Narrative, we share ‘What happened?’ through the eyes of the teachers. In Theory, we explore previous research findings may be relevant to consider when reflecting on teachers’ experiences of periodization at ArtEZ. We consider the wider context in which training dancers develop their skills for a professional career, the talent development process, the interpersonal interactions between teachers and leaders and their potential motivational impacts, and the shared mental models that may exist in teams supporting dance training.

Theory We know very little about the empirical, measurable impacts of periodization in contemporary dance training, including the psychological impacts. Why does that matter? Exploring the impact of training practices like periodization may begin to assist us in framing questions about the benefits of integration of such programmes on dance talent development but may also begin to unpack the multi-factorial impact of the environment, social contacts, training approaches and support structures on other developmental results for training dancers, including psychological skill development and mental health.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

51

For example, within a dance class, a huge variety of factors interact, including social connections with peers and leaders, physical contexts, cultural norms, pedagogical approaches, and individuals’ physiology, psychology, anatomy, motor skills, creativity and somatic awareness. The blending of these elements in the environment to reach a specified goal is a delicate task, requiring a range of trialand-error scenarios.

The complex system of training successful dancers As discussed, the ultimate goal of most dance training is to develop individuals with the ability to have a successful professional career in dance. Talent development refers to the multitude of factors and processes which transform ability into talent. Training successful dancers is a talent development process. Literature in talent development has broadly focused on the characteristics of the individual or on the complex interactions between the individual and the environment that surrounds them. Reflecting on the perspectives of teachers shared in Narratives (see The Teachers’ Perspective), we will explore key theories relevant to talent development processes, including including the Bioecological Model of Human Development (Brofenbrenner and Morris 2006), Integrative Model of Talent Development (IMTD) (Gagné 2017) and Self Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci 2019).

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model The Bioecological Model of Human Development (Brofenbrenner and Morris 2006) is an overarching model proposing that individual human development is impacted by four key factors: (process, person, context and time) (PPCT). The processes in this model are interactions between the developing human and other individuals as well as objects and symbols in a sustained and regular pattern. These exchanges are the foundation for human development, and their form, power,

52

PERIODIZATION

content, and direction is determined by the aims of the development process, the developing human’s characteristics and the characteristics of the environment (Bronfenbrenner and Ceci 1993 p. 317). For example, an individual enrolled in primary education will have regular interactions which will gradually increase in complexity and will occur over a long period as the young person develops. Aspects of the social, biological and genetic characteristics of developing humans are encompassed in the factor of person. Characteristics are divided into three categories. Demand characteristics stimulate or inhibit behavioural reactions in social situations, and include immediately discernible aspects such as age, gender, appearance or disposition. Resource characteristics include psychological (skills, experience, intelligence) and tangible resources (access to healthy food, early years education and supportive carers) that similarly support or limit interactions but may not be directly observable. Force characteristics describe the developing human’s motivation and persistence. The young person who is attending school may have characteristics such as bright cheery disposition and appear older than their peers of the same age (demand characteristics). They always bring a healthy packed lunch to school with them and their parent drops them off and picks them up on time each day from school (resource characteristics). They may be curious and have a strong desire to get high marks from the teacher (force characteristics). The context includes environments at increasing distance from the developing human. The microsystem includes direct social interaction including family, peers and school or home environments; the mesosystem is the interaction between different parts of the microsystem, such as the interaction between peer and school environments, the exosystem describes the social interactions that affect the individual but that they do not have participation in or control over; and the macrosystem encompasses the wide societal context in which the development of talent takes place (Bronfenbrenner and Ceci 1993). The microsystem for our young person in primary education may include their interactions with their parents and grandparents who live with them and like to play games, read and help with homework. In the young person’s neighbourhood, they meet other students from the same school and often play together in the park outside of school hours (mesosystem).

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

53

The young person lives in a part of the city that has a large park and play space for young children (exosystem). The park was an initiative developed by the local government to enhance access to open outdoor spaces for play and exercise (macrosystem). The final element of the Bioecological Model is time, which is parsed into three categories. Microtime describes the time involved in an interaction described in the first element of the model process, mesotime addresses endurance, frequency or recurrence of processes, and macrotime encompasses the historical events and conditions that impact on the developing human. For the developing young person, microtime could include the time spent reading with their grandparents. Mesotime may include the time they spend in primary education, including regular attendance at school, frequent educational field trips and regular after school physical activities depending on the season. Macrotime may include having a local government investing in play and exercise spaces, as well as high quality local education for children. The Bioecological Model provides a useful overarching framework to understand how individuals interact with the environment, people, symbols or objects around them, however, when applying this to dance talent development contexts, clarity about the nature and building blocks of talent and the potential phases of the process could be enhanced.

Gagné’s Integrative Model of Talent Development Gagné’s Integrative Model of Talent Development (Gagné 2021, 2017) provides a perspective on how an individual’s biology, interpersonal characteristics, environment and chance come together within development processes to nurture talent. He states: Talent development (TD or D) corresponds to the progressive transformation through a long-term learning process of biologically anchored, informally developed, and above average natural abilities (some of them gifts) into outstanding (top 10%) systematically developed competencies (knowledge and skills), the talents, thanks to constant positive and negative modulating

54

PERIODIZATION

interactions with two large groups of catalysts, intrapersonal characteristics and environmental influences. Gagné 2021, p. 81 The Integrative Model of Talent Development begins with genotypic foundations being transformed into natural abilities (Gagné also calls this the Developmental Model of Natural Abilities – DMNA (Gagné 2013). These foundations include gene mutations, gene expression and phenotypes influencing both structure and function of the human body. In the context of dance, we might consider these foundations to include gene mutations such as those that cause Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (impacting on joint mobility), gene expression that may impact energy production through ATP (impacting dancers’ training and fatigue levels), and phenotypes influencing both structure and function of the human body (including such aspects as the height of the arch of the foot or the shape of the bones of the hip socket). Importantly, proceeding through the Model, Gagné specifies that although biological foundations underpin some components that may later manifest in natural abilities and be important to talent development, these genetic foundations are impacted on their course to expression by environmental and interpersonal catalysts and a development process including maturation and informal learning or physical activities. Environmental catalysts include milieu, individuals and resources. These catalysts are filtered by interpersonal catalysts, including physical and mental traits, and goal management including awareness, motivation and volition. For example, an individual with a phenotypically highly arched foot (physical trait) may have a powerful intrinsic motive to engage in dance (they just love to dance!) This may influence their supportive parent or carer to take them to a well-trained dance teacher in their local area (milieu and resources). The dance teacher may also collaborate with with a dance specialist physiotherapist (individuals). Through these interpersonal and environmental catalysts, the young dancer learns to stabilize, strengthen and prepare the foot. The model also recognizes that natural abilities can and do develop over the life cycle, with giftedness marked by rapid progression and seeming ease of learning. For example, the highly arched feet may belong to an individual who discovers dance later in adolescence

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

55

after an early childhood of play, sport or other physical activities which together act to prepare the foot to be stable and strong. Once genotypic foundations begin actively developing into gifts, we move to the next stage, where natural abilities are transformed into competencies or talents Gagné also calls this the Differentiating Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) (Gagné 2021). The model also intentionally differentiates the initial raw abilities of the individual from their developed competencies following a structured developmental process: ●

●

Giftedness (G) designates the possession and use of biologically anchored and informally developed outstanding natural abilities or aptitudes (called gifts), in at least one ability domain, to a degree that places an individual at least among the top 10 per cent of age peers. Talent (T) designates the outstanding mastery of systematically developed competencies (knowledge and skills) in at least one field of human activity to a degree that places an individual at least among the top 10 per cent of ‘learning peers’, namely, those having accumulated a similar amount of learning time from either current or past training. (Gagné 2021, p. 80)

Natural abilities are considered to manifest across six domains: intellectual, creative, social, perceptual, muscular and motor. Although the influence and interaction of environmental and interpersonal catalysts remain similar, the development process now consists of activities, investment and progress. What emerges from the developmental process is a range of competencies and talents across fields including technical, science and technology, arts, people services, management/sales, business systems, sports and athletics and games. Gagné also recognizes that chance plays a role in talent development processes, with potential to either support or prevent talent development. Without both the environment and the interpersonal developments, the genetics of the dancer would be unlikely to allow them to develop what could be spotted as a natural ability in an audition. The Integrative Model of Talent Development provides a clearer picture of some of the dynamic, interacting factors that may go into

56

PERIODIZATION

the specific process of talent development for human beings, however, the details of the catalysts that may impact these processes, such as motivational approaches and team connections in development environments are important to understand in more detail.

Self Determination Theory and motivational climate Self Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan and Deci 2019) is an overarching framework focusing on human motivation and personality. Central to SDT are the three basic psychological needs (BPS): 1 2 3

autonomy, or the sense of authenticity, being in control of choices and having a voice; competence, or the sense that you have the capability to do what is asked of you based on your skills or knowledge; and relatedness, or the sense of significant relationships and connection with others.

FIGURE 3.1 The Integrative Model of Talent Development (IMTD): from theory to educational applications.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

57

Fulfilment of basic psychological needs enhances wellbeing and sustains or obstructs intrinsic motivation, or the desire to do an activity out of internal interest or gratification (I just love to dance!). For example, a person may feel that it was their choice to pursue dance training because of this love of dancing (autonomy). They may also feel that they have some reasonable skills to do the movements set in class (competence) and that they have close friendships with their peers in dance (relatedness). Intrinsic motives can be enhanced by rewards that are perceived by the individual as autonomy supportive or informational (the teacher says: I see you’ve been working intensively to improve your performance. Given what you’ve learned, do you think trying this strategy could be helpful?), providing choices that are meaningful (the teacher says: We’ve reviewed the audition criteria and options for solos to present and we’ve discussed how each solo showcases your skills and abilities, allows you to express yourself. Which solo would you like to present?) or seeing and taking the viewpoint of the individual (the teacher says: You’ve mentioned that it’s important to you that you have a chance to review new material a few times on your own. That sounds like a good plan to help best prepare you for the performance). Intrinsic motives can be thwarted by rewards that are perceived as controlling (the teacher says: You’re doing so well – see I told you if you did it my way it would get better). Feedback, response to failure, and evaluations also impact intrinsic motivations. For example, a response to possible future failure may be a threat (the teacher says: If you don’t get it right this time, we’ll be staying here all night until it’s perfect) implying the control over when everyone goes home is based on the subjective evaluation of the teacher that it was ‘right’ or ‘perfect’. Extrinsic motivation is doing an activity to reach a specific outcome or reward that is beyond that of doing of the activity itself. Extrinsic motives may be based on a person’s inner drive (identified and integrated motivations) or on a feeling of being controlled (external regulation or introjection). For example, doing an activity because it benefits the individual, is a part of their identity, or they value it in their lives would be examples of autonomous extrinsic motives (Dancing is a part of who I am, learning about movement, expression and musicality by dancing is valuable). Controlled extrinsic motives include external pressures or rewards (I must do this because I feel

58

PERIODIZATION

obligated/I will be recognized if I do this), coercion (I am being threatened, so I will do this). Another kind of controlled extrinsic motive includes pressures the individual places on themselves such as contingent self-worth (I am only okay with myself if I am doing this/ being recognized for this). The social setting, or motivational climate, created by leaders and peers defines the achievement goal orientation (Duda 2001) and has impacts on both performance and wellbeing through the extent to which basic psychological needs are met (Reinboth and Duda 2006). The motivational climate is a psychological atmosphere that is created by leaders and perceived by dancers. Broadly, there are two styles of motivational climate: 1

2

Task involving climates. In these environments, skill enhancement, personal development, effort and hard work are emphasized. Each individual has a valuable role, and each person is recognized for their effort, work and contribution. Making mistakes is considered a natural part of the learning process. Ego involving climates. In these environments, being the best or outdoing others is the primary focus, competition between people in the group is encouraged, mistakes are punished, and those who are the best receive the most praise, feedback and rewards.

Considerations for dance The Bioecological Model and Integrated Model of Talent Development. In dance talent development, motivation, learning and training persistence are influenced by social interaction with both leaders and fellow dancers. The dance class environment has been described as a cultural setting, with rules dictating dress, physical and conversational behaviours, attentional focus, and social stratification between members of the group (Wulff 1998, pp. 69–70). The culture of the dance class may be seen to be dictated in many ways by the leader and influenced significantly by leader-dancer interactions. The potential impacts of these interactions on emotional health of dance

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

59

students have been described as encompassing development of autonomy and managing the competitive nature of elite training and careers (Buckroyd 2001). Although students have stated that social support is not important in technique class (Rafferty and Wyon 2006), teachers who combine supportive and open behaviours with challenging expectations are valued by dance students (Pickard 2006). Peer interactions among adolescent dancers potentially enhance training persistence (van Rossum 2006; Quested and Duda 2009a) and similar lifestyles and schedules, and the long-term commitment required to train in dance create intense bonds (Wulff 1998). Peers may also provide support and facilitate learning processes by watching, explaining steps or rehearsing together (Wulff 1998). Although strong peer group interaction and relationships are valuable, developing dancers should also have the opportunity to interact with a wider peer group outside of dance for healthy emotional development (Buckroyd 2001) and avoidance of potential identity foreclosure (Willard and Lavallee 2016).

Self Determination Theory. In dance, motives may be drawn from both intrinsic and extrinsic foci such as physical benefits and receipt of financial and reputational recognition or rewards. Professionally engaged dancers may lack a sense of autonomy within dance, where many external drives come from the dance leader – teacher, coach, artistic director. These leaders decide the goals of the training, and determine who is successful in reaching them. They provide constant critical feedback (correction) in the dance environment. Encouragement from the teacher in dance may also espouse a motivational structure that is about the teacher’s wants and needs, rather than the dancer’s. Van Staden suggests that ‘sense of self-worth depends on their ability to do things right, and as a result they may often feel inadequate and “under threat” within the ballet environment’ (van Staden, Myburgh et al. 2009, p. 21). Measures of ability or excellence are unique in dance and may influence fulfilment of basic psychological needs, specifically the subjective nature of this criteria and how it can impact on the ability to be successful. Dance genre measures ability and excellence based on the opinions of respected and accomplished members of the dance profession, on critical commentary of public performance, funding from donors or public bodies, and on ‘credits’ of individual performers,

60

PERIODIZATION

or a list of the performing jobs they have been hired to do. In dance, these are the sole criteria, whereas in other domains, these may be a part of a system of criteria including both objective and subjective measures. Winning, losing or scoring based on objectively measurable phenomena does not exist in dance. Although there is no shortage of competitive contexts within dance, the measurement of talent, success and ability is not codified, agreed or objective. An excellent example of this is in a hip-hop battle (for genre such as breaking, popping and locking) where dancers dance for three rounds of two minutes for each dancer. At the end of the rounds, three experts who are judging the battle point to the dancer they believe won the battle at the same time. There are no rules to who should win, and there is no training for judges. In a ballet company, ranking or the hierarchal status of the dancer is determined subjectively by the artistic director, who has usually been a dancer or choreographer themselves but will probably have no other direct training for identifying potential or excellence through objective means. Although criteria are subjective, a shared understanding and a community commitment exists to maintain a standard of excellence. Knowledge of these criteria comes through experience in dance, rather than a standard that is written. This may be why most people who make decisions about whether dancers are skilled have been dancers themselves (the exception here would be critics – who will usually have had a great deal of experience watching dance). This shared understanding of the subjective criteria is important because it is endowed into the dancer through the experience of training. The young dancer will observe other expert dancers and be exposed to comments about their valuable qualities (on social media, in performances and in images). The young dancer will also witness and experience feedback provided by their dance teacher – comments which although not based on an objective observable phenomenon (scoring a goal in football), will be constant and will be the only guidance the dancer can receive about how to progress in their training. This results in a challenging situation where the opinion of the teacher becomes an irrefutable reality – for good or bad. Further, these criteria seem to evolve over time, the goal posts get further away as the standard of practice improves. The criteria a dancer must meet to be considered capable are unwritten, subjective and evolving, and these criteria are shared through the culture of dance, from audience to gatekeepers.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

61

Dancers should be aware that subjective criteria are applied to their performance constantly, and thus potentially be directly educated that their initial rejection is not necessarily an indication of their future success or their achievements previously. Currently, the object of goals may be heavily swayed towards ‘win or lose’ performance measures, and not on expressive or creative goals. The understanding of these types of goals and the short-, medium- and long-term goals that may facilitate expressive and creative goals may be subjective and thus difficult to measure and achieve objectively. The psychological traits and training behaviours that a young dancer may be prized for in their early development may turn into liabilities for continuing training and mental health in the longer term. Extreme commitment to training could become rejection of adaptive rest; drive for improvement could become a rigid engagement with critique and a focus on the constant inability to achieve perfection (as there is not an objective criterion to reach), self-control around food to maintain an aesthetic may become a controlling and negative relationship with food, disordered eating or an eating disorder. Although none of these ‘tip over’ effects are unique to dance, the lack of objective criteria for performance goal focus is unique to dance and may make these dangerous ‘dual effect’ characteristics (Hill et al. 2016b) even more deleterious in dance contexts. Considering the role of psychological needs fulfilment among dancers, this same subjectivity may result in a constant search for fulfilment where none can be had because of the inherent subjectivity and uncertainty of the ‘correct’ goals to strive towards. The potential for extrinsic focus among decision makers/gatekeepers could lead dancers to learn to adopt controlled extrinsic motivations within dance, leading to mental health issues and maladaptive, short-term motivational strategies and thus a poor motive structure for the likely long, intensive and challenging training required to reach elite status in dance. To address this concern, we should be aware of the specific context of dance, support the development of intrinsic motivational strategies, task focused definitions of competence and adaptive perfectionistic strategies – but crucially – educate dancers about the key skills of coping with uncertainty, self-direction, self-regulation and an understanding of the mechanisms that underpin gatekeepers’ decisions about progression.

62

PERIODIZATION

An additional concern with subjective measures of ability is the development of what could be called subjective exactness. The shared understanding of the criteria needed to be able and a dancer, and the competition for recognition and roles, result in a very narrow view of the acceptable standard required, and indeed, the method to achieve it. Although each person’s opinion will vary, there is probably a narrow range within each individual’s conception of ability, of those who will be successful. Anecdotally, speaking to a single individual responsible for selecting talent, they will have a clear and extremely specific picture of the dancer they are looking for and, as a result, all the specific criteria they will not accept. In addition to being narrow and extremely competitive, it is also extremely rare that this criterion will be based on objective requirements or that they will be communicated to the dancers seeking the opportunity. Evidence from research based in achievement goal theory in dance indicates that motivation has implications on performance and behavioural outcomes and psychological well or ill-being. Teacher relationships in ballet settings have been suggested to be linked with body image, self-esteem and eating disorder concerns, and that leadership behaviours should change to support enhanced outcomes: Where a culture of dependency and acceptance exist, selfreliance, autonomy and critical thinking cannot . . . Recommendations. Management, directors, and choreographers (in schools and companies) should: . . . Discard the traditional dictatorial authoritarian model, which damages self-esteem, creativity, and artistic integrity, and instead lead the way in fostering respect and communication. . . . Recognise that dancers possess intrinsic motivation, passion, and artistry, which can, and needs to be, cultivated. Benn and Walters 2001, pp. 28–9 Specifically, training environments in which leaders support basic psychological needs of autonomy, belongness and competence, and in which tasks involving teaching methods result in greater adherence and persistence, better learning and improved well-being (Quested and Duda 2009b). Greater autonomy results in more

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

63

positive mood states, whereas controlling leadership behaviours are predictive of greater physique anxiety (Carr and Wyon 2003). Selfdetermined motivation is also predictive of increased learning quality and more satisfying performance experiences, enjoyment and persistence (Quested and Duda 2010). Implementing measures to improve motivational climate among dancers, and thus increasing the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs, may also protect dancers from experiencing global burnout (Quested and Duda 2011). Empowering Dance™ training, a practical application of the self-determination evidence and research has previously aimed at reducing childhood inactivity and obesity by trying to create a sport environment promoting positive experiences, emotional health and psychosocial growth and development. It resulted in increased wellbeing, enjoyment, vitality and self-esteem, reduced drop out, and increased physical activity both within and outside of school. Adaptive motivational climates focused on self-referenced learning, individual improvement, cooperation and effort have consistently resulted in greater satisfaction of dancers’ basic psychological needs, greater sense of autonomy and greater overall wellbeing (Quested and Duda 2010); positive body image, increased self-esteem, enjoyment and less weight-related pressure (de Bruin, Bakker and Oudejans 2009); increased mood state (Quested and Duda 2010), decreased perfectionism (Carr and Wyon 2003) and increased feelings of creativity (Miulli and Nordin-Bates 2011).

64

4 Developing a coaching philosophy for talent development

In addition to the athlete potential, one of the most important external factors is the organizational and coaching environment that develops the athlete’s potential. This development is now considered to be a non-linear, complex dynamic process in the attempt to develop senior (adult) elite athletes. The coherence of the coach team to a structured, complementary programme that has long-term goals is often considered vital to the effective development of an adaptable, independent and resilient senior athlete (Martindale, Collins, and Abraham 2007). Senior sport coaches/managers have often claimed that athletes leaving talent development programmes are not ready for elite performance (Larsen et al. 2013). There is rarely a clear understanding or definition of what the typical end product (athlete) should be as it will vary across different clubs even within the same sport. Within sport, other factors such as the typical number of development years it takes to reach senior level, the constancy of the sport’s rules, the internal consistency of performance goals and its socio-political and financial stability. Henriksen et al. (Henriksen, Stambulova and Roessler 2010a, b) suggested that ideal systems are fixed into their contexts; therefore, for sports or clubs with a deep-rooted playing style and culture, a highly focused talent development plan would provide players that perform in a specific style suited to that club or sport. To produce such an athlete, it would be advantageous for the athletes to be exposed to similar types of coaches and coaching styles that take 65

66

PERIODIZATION

the athlete along a similarly structured development route that occurs in a similar environment with similar support staff (Figure 4.1A). Collins and McMamara (2012) suggest this method will allow the athlete to develop quickly, but will be only able to perform in a very specific way which leads to problems if the rules change, or needing to adapt tactics for a specific opponent or changes in player availability due to injury. If athletes can peak later or are in a sport where they might have to cope with different playing or management styles, then it might be worth developing athletes who can cope with these dynamic contexts. This would mean that in their development athletes would engage with coaches with different coaching styles and sessions in different environments and with a variety of different support staff scenarios (Webb, Collins and Cruickshank 2016). In this instance the athlete bounces back and forth between different coaches and environments as they progress through the development (Fig 4.1B). This does require the athlete to be determined to succeed and be skilled in goal setting, coping and reflection (MacNamara, Button and Collins 2010a, b). Webb et al. (2016) proposed a ‘goldilocks’ option which was a mix between the two aforementioned styles (Fig 4.1C). This would allow the athlete development to occur in a reasonable timeframe but also expose the athlete to the necessary adaptability and resilience required to cope with different playing/coaching environments. The idea is then to expose the athlete to different

FIGURE 4.1 Different coaching styles in athlete development (A) the straight and narrow pathway, (B) the long and winding pathway and (C) the goldilocks pathway adapted from Webb et al. (2016).

DEVELOPING A COACHING PHILOSOPHY

67

coaches and styles of coaching but not too different, be a part of different training environments but not too different and have differing types of support but not too different. The athlete will still bounce back and forth but not too much or too little. The variability (the bouncing back and forth) of the development pathways needs to be applicable for how the sport is organized, its challenges, etc. It will also reflect the coherent introduction of variability at optimal times within the athlete development.

Indicators of coherence The coherence of an athlete development pathway is based on its logical, progressive and intentional coaching methods. These will be balanced and adaptable to the changing demands, specificity and stage-appropriate requirements of the athlete’s development. The idea is that each training phase will align with the pathway’s shortand long-term goals and fit into what preceded and follows it. This will mean that both the coach and the athlete have a shared mental model of what needs to be done to achieve their goals and how and why each session helps to meet them. Obviously, a wide range of factors can affect this coherence; at the macro level not having a clear definition of the goals they want to achieve or the ‘make-up’ of their ‘graduating’ athlete. At the micro level, if coaches don’t understand how they fit into the big picture or the overall skill-set of the coaches is not adequately balanced and complementary to provide the necessary training opportunities and challenges, cohesion is compromised (Martindale and Mortimer 2011). It can be further compromised when either coaches or athletes do not have the adaptability to cope with the variation in the training environment. Coaches’ personal motivations and self-interest can cause major ripples through a coaching-team that can also cause a loss in cohesion.

Diversity of coaching styles within the coaching team A shared ideology but not necessarily the same fundamental coaching approach is needed between the coaching staff to develop

68

PERIODIZATION

athletes with the required adaptability and resilience as mentioned before. This requires firstly, the management to have specific and general aims on what style of coaching they want throughout the pathway; and secondly, the coaches to have a self-awareness of their own values and beliefs and how these align with the coaching peers. Grecic and Collins (2013) highlighted the importance of a coach’s ‘personal epistemology’, this is a multi-dimensional construct that determines how we perceive, think, make decisions and act. Schommer-Aikins (2002) presented four types of epistemological beliefs; the stability of knowledge (certain to tentative), the structure of knowledge (isolated facts to integrated concepts), the control of learning (genetically determined to enhance through education and experience), and the speed of learning (quick to gradual). These are obviously more complex than suggested above and Schrommer highlighted that someone could be at various stages of transition on each of these scales. Grecic and Collins (2013) used this construct to develop an ‘epistemological chain’ that links the coach’s core beliefs with their actual behaviours. They provided two broad types of personal epistemology: sophisticated and naïve. Sophisticated epistemology describes a coach who sees knowledge as complex, uncertain, tentative and learned gradually through reasoning; they blend their knowledge and experience to provide individualized support to the athlete. The coaching style will be systematic, integrated and tailored to the athlete’s development and expecting the athlete to be actively involved in the coaching and goal setting process. This type of coach will reflect on the athlete’s development and the effectiveness of their coaching intentions and adjust their behaviour/coaching accordingly. A coach with a naïve epistemological approach believes that knowledge is certain, clear, specific and unchanging residing with established authorities and respected peers who hand the knowledge down. This often results in a coach who knows many drills but not much regarding the ‘why, when, how, where, and with whom’ aspects of coaching. They are more likely to be coachcentred, using their authority to dictate the athlete’s programmes with no athlete input and the athlete’s progress is often compared to previous ‘stars’ they have worked with. Coaches at the extreme of either the sophisticated or naïve epistemological approaches will

DEVELOPING A COACHING PHILOSOPHY

69

generate significantly different training environments and coaching practices. It would seem that coaches with a sophisticated epistemological approach would be the ideal choice within a coaching team. However, each approach has its benefits at different times within the athlete’s development pathway. A naïve approach might be better when an athlete needs to learn a new technique or when an athlete prefers ‘this is the only way to do it’ approach; while sophisticated approaches would benefit the athlete more when learning to apply the skill to an open environment. As Webb et al. (2016) highlighted previously the importance of coaching cohesion within the goldilocks pathway is the use of different coaching styles within a defined pathway, not just coaches who are equally sophisticated or naïve. The aim is to use coaching styles that are different but not too different. The amount of variation, bandwidth or the extent of bounce back and forth will be sport-specific and needs to be intentionally defined and sustained and developed through coach-management reflection and review. The manager should decide on the placement of coaches according to their epistemological approaches with regards to the overall goals of the development pathway. Sophisticated coaches would be used when the training goals are for the athlete to take ownership of their own development; while a naïve coach is ideal when the goal is to learn new techniques, rules, or embed skills quickly within a narrow environment (Figure 4.1).

FIGURE 4.2 Coaching epistemology styles within athlete development adapted from Webb et al. (2016).

70

PERIODIZATION

Coach development The ‘community of practice’ environment in which a coach finds themselves is determined by the manager. The latter needs to provide programmes, resources and time for coaches to develop within their chosen epistemology and how it links with peer-coaches and pathway goals. This helps reinforce cohesion by helping coaches understand their precise role within the pathway and why they need to coach in a style possibly different to their peers or ‘renown’ coaches. An important aspect of this cohesion is to see the athlete as ‘our’ athlete and not ‘my’, within this construct developing open and constructive dialogue between the coaching team means that progression of the athlete from one stage to the next is planned rather than left to chance.

Summary The coaching staff in a talent development pathway determine whether an athlete’s potential is maximized in a way that it prepares them for ‘senior’ level competition/clubs. The cohesiveness and balance of the employed coaching team is the responsibility of the management which needs to make sure it has the coaching staff to provide the athlete with the decided end-user skills. This chapter has highlighted the benefit of a variety of epistemological coaching approaches to an athlete’s development as long as they are kept with a pre-determined bandwidth and employed at the correct times.

5 Getting the most out of class: Motor learning in a person-centred dance education curriculum Derrick Brown

Introduction The capacity to learn intricate movement patterns and reproduce them when needed is a hallmark of dance education. In some cases, falling and recovering or generating many errors along the path to success is immediately recognizable in a dance studio. This learning moment is also daunting for teachers. They must distil their vast knowledge of dance movements acquired over the years to simple fundamental basic steps that a beginner or someone learning a new technique can understand. Put differently; it is surprisingly difficult to ‘think’ like a beginner once you have acquired the skills to execute a movement. This chapter highlights some principles that are observed in human motor learning and specifically applied to dance and dancers. At the outset, few terms require context and clarification. The term ‘beginner’ can have many meanings. Beginner includes typically a person who has little to no formalized dance 71

72

PERIODIZATION

training. However, it can also include a dancer learning a new dance technique in a different dance genre (e.g. a ballet dancer learning krumping for the first time) auditioning for a choreographer and consequently learning a new style. In this chapter, the term beginner predominately refers to one learning formalized dance genres for the first time can also be applied when a dancer learns a new style or technique with little crossover from their current movement repertoire (e.g. a Butoh dancer learning classical ballet). While there are basic steps that may overlap, the skill nevertheless must first be mastered. Additionally, a distinction can be made between learning and performance; often called the learning-performance distinction (Salmoni, Schmidt, and Walter 1984). Learning is often characterized as a permanent change in motor (movement) performance brought about by experience. We exclude changes due to growth and maturation or injury and degeneration although these are also important for dancers. Performance in contrast, is characterized as a temporary occurrence, between the observed (motor) behaviour during practice (i.e. motor performance) which necessarily fluctuates over time (Kantak and Winstein 2012). Regarding learning, an important characteristic, whether doing a head spin in an urban class or executing a grand jeté in ballet, most of us learn step by step or move through stages as we gather and perform new skills. In motor learning, several models help explain

FIGURE 5.1 The stages of learning from the Fitts and Posner model.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CL ASS

73

how we learn. Motor learning, in particular in youth and adolescents, involves a conscientious effort to develop an idea of the movement (Gentile 1972) or understand how the movement or a movement phrase is coordinated (Newell 1985). According to Fitts and Posner (1967), thus learners rely on cognitive process to solve problems. For our purposes we introduce the Fitts and Posner model to describe and contextualize how the curriculum concepts presented in the proposed periodized framework, developed from a dance pedagogy and creative perspective, align with motor learning theory. The model suggests that motor skill acquisition follows three stages: the cognitive stage, the associative stage, and the autonomous stage. Presented below is an overview of the stages separately with a discussion of their relevance do dance education.

Cognitive stage In the first stage, beginners are confronted with a partially (e.g. new choreography or genre) or totally (e.g. beginner) unfamiliar task. Their initial challenge is to get a general idea of the movement. Another way of reflecting on this stage is by seeing it as the ‘what’ stage. In other words, a relatively large amount of time is devoted to conscious control of movement components (e.g. a plié in 1st position) or movement phrases (e.g., how a plié fits into a dance phrase). Thus, during the cognitive stage, beginners are learning by approximation. This strategy often encompasses different ways of imitating what the student sees from teachers and peers and imitating what they hear. Both empirical and practice-based research reveals that learning from observation yields better learning outcomes in terms of recall and approximation of the movement phrase, meaning that learning a dance movement first from observation is more beneficial than verbal instruction only (Bläsing et al. 2018). Imitation or mimicking of the movement sequence thus provides the student with a visual model of the ideal outcome. Imitation, especially in children and adolescents, forms a critical source of visual information as movements copied over time form unique mental representations as memories (Heyes 2016). Imitation is not without its problems, however. Let us take a movement that appears reasonably simple; in classical ballet a port de bras moving from bras bas to 1st position. To start, this movements phrase

74

PERIODIZATION

appears easily copied by a novice imitating a teacher. Upon closer inspection, however, we can see that even moving the arms from the start position (bras bas) to first position is challenging. How curved do the elbows need to be? What is the position of the hands? Where should the fingers be placed and more importantly, the thumbs! Here we see that beginners will instantly lock the elbows and flex the hands to create the movement. This locking of the joints in motor control terms is a well-established phenomenon underscored by the neurophysiologist Nicolai Bernstein. It is known as freezing the degrees of freedom in movement possibilities (Latash and Latash 1994). To coordinate the different parts of the arm (e.g. hands, forearms, elbows) to match the teacher’s visual image, a novice locks the elbows to control or coordinate the joint angles. Freezing is an essential aspect of coordination and with practice improves to reveal the finer motor control of the movement. In addition to visual stimuli, the student relies heavily on details of the movement explained verbally whilst thinking (cognitively) on understanding and implementing what is being said. The teacher uses a variety of tools to transfer the skills needed, amongst them, words and sounds (Bläsing et al. 2018), and we find elements of auditory/verbal cuing in dance making as well (Vass-Rhee 2010; Waterhouse, Watts, and Bläsing 2014). For example, introducing terms and concepts unique to the dance vocabulary or technique (Starkes et al. 1987) as well as using imagery to reveal the aesthetic aspects of the dance combination or sequence at this stage (Pavlik and Nordin-Bates 2016). Instructors will often ‘sing’ the counts or the melodic phrasing they wish the students to emulate. Thus, auditory cueing within the music’s structure and melody provide anchors for executing movement sequences. In a studio you might hear a classical ballet instructor sing ‘tombay pa da boo ray’ (tombé pas de bourrée) enunciated such that the counts and rhythms offer memory strategies for movement retrieval later (Opacic, Stevens and Tillmann 2009). By now you might feel overwhelmed just reading through some of the strategies used by student and teacher alike. This is only a fraction of the information a student must filter and process even when doing something as simple as lifting the arms! The teacher, therefore, should provide an optimal environment for learning, which may mean removing large distractors. This will depend on the level and age of the group. The challenge is understanding that a distractor can also be an aid and thus timing

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CL ASS

75

and finesse are important. Music, for example, facilitates the learning process of dance. However, complex music, for example, with too many overlapping melodies or counter rhythms, can distract from the learning process as students may struggle to understand where the beat is in the music. Removing or reducing an emphasis of a melody in the early stages, and using rhythm, for example, may help establish a more stable foundation that serves for more complex artistic and aesthetic music choices at a later stage. As the student grapples with the varying sources of information input (visual, auditory, verbal), errors can and should occur. On the path to understanding how to coordinate or phrase the movement, synchronization of movement is choppy or erratic and even large movements like stepping forward or backward can be hindered when dance learning. It is important to remember that while new dancers may be accomplished at imitating movements seen, they will need more time to decipher, embody and consequently correct incorrect movement patterns. Take an example of professionals and beginners or non-dancers dancing at the same time. Research has revealed that, for example, when given three different movement sequences (dance team, contemporary and disco) and they attempted to synchronize their movements, dancers were more successful than non-dancers or beginners (Washburn et al. 2014) at synching their moves to their partners. This finding seems obvious to those who teach or have ever tried to dance with a beginner, yet it gives valuable information on how important time and errors are when starting to learn a new task. A surprising distractor or constraint in this stage is overly complex movement sequences. Take, for example, a head-spin in hip-hop dance. Seen as a power or athletic move, it would be unwise to start with beginners even though it looks, and no doubt is, great fun to do. For complex moves, the basics must first be established. It may be hard professional dancer new to teaching, to remember how difficult it was to go slow and build up to more complicated fun moves. Thus, an important skill set for new and established teachers to develop at this stage is ways to help students conceptualize movement sequences by their function. Understanding functional movement and subsequently choosing which type of sensory modality to engage in (e.g. vision via the mirror or auditory via music or physical feedback via touch) is important here. This can

76

PERIODIZATION

reduce the cognitive load of the beginner and allow them to scaffold the learning on a few key movement features before progressing to the next set of learning goals. Given the diversity of dance styles and genres, one of the challenges of bringing motor learning principles into the dance studio lies with enhancing functional skills without sacrificing the aesthetic and artistic quality of the dancers’ movement (Mainwaring and Krasnow 2010). A proposed model from sport by Hossner and adapted to dance by Schärli (2017) is a functional movement analysis for dance. This approach fits well within the cognitive stage of learning as it characterizes not only the objective performance criteria, or the what (jeté or a windmill move in breakdancing) but it also describes the why, or the aesthetical components. So, analysing the overall task (tombé pas de bourrée glissade-jeté) into simpler steps or sub-actions, a teacher may enhance the learning of the students; at the general level by offering different cognitive strategies for the group, and at the individual level by offering verbal, visual and auditory cues relevant to one student. For example, a general auditory cue would be to ‘sing’ the movement phrase required (tombé pas de bourrée glissade-jeté) to complete the aesthetic quality. Then for a specific student who is struggling with the sub-action (pas de bourrée), a specific musical rhythmic cue could be given to indicate when to start/finish the sub-action. This principle of whole-part learning (Thoms 2001) puts the student first as the complexity of the skill to be learned and the learner’s current ability, determines whether it is more efficient to teach the whole skill or break the skill into parts. It should be noted that mastery of individual parts of a dance sequence does not guarantee effective performance of the entire movement sequence. Individual learners should also practise making adjustments in some components based on the action of previous ones. Schmidt and Young (1987) noted that when a fast action (for example, in a dance sequence) is broken down into arbitrary parts or sections, these parts change from how they operate in the whole; thus practising sections out of context contribute little to the ultimate performance of the movement phase. A novel yet under-used technique that could help facilitate this verbal-cognitive stage is letting the dancers talk amongst themselves to come up with strategies for the aesthetic or technical performance of the given movements (Enghauser 2003).

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CL ASS

77

Regardless of the type of modality used in this first, critical learning phase, there is nonetheless much trial and error, while beginner or professional attempts to understand what must be done. Thus, failures at this stage are the building blocks of success which the student can take forward in later stages. In turn, this will facilitate the student’s development of enduring movement patterns which become skills. Using the appropriate relevant cues, often choosing one that works for the goal at hand instead of many (e.g., musical, visual, auditory, touch), external feedback not only builds self-confidence and esteem, but it will also function to transfer the knowledge that will later become automatic to the student.

Associative stage The associative stage is characterized by the speed in which information flows. As a dancer progresses, an instructor in the associative phase may spend less time on, for example, the functional movement components and technique and move on to more aesthetic elements. For example, in hybridized dance forms, in contemporary and urban dance, small ‘mistakes’ may be overlooked to help the student understand the overall aesthetic arch of the movement sequence. In more codified genres such as classical ballet, a more iterative approach is important in the associating stage as errors will occur more in service of matching and fitting a dancer’s unique style of moving into a more rigid set of movement requirements. As an example, the 5th position of the arms in the Vaganova School of Ballet has specific aesthetic requirements of how vertical the arms are in relation to the head. Learning to associate these nuances can be challenging and the student will still need a combination of cognitive (verbal) and sensory (vision, sound, touch) correctional feedback before progress is solidified. At this stage, smaller gains in performance may be seen, as conscious adjustments are made as the student learns to anticipate the perceived error and try to self-correct, making awkward and disjointed movement, and taking a long time to complete the movement phrase. This stage is also called the motor stage (Adams 1971) since the challenge in the associative stage is learning how to perform the skill (Schmidt and Lee 2005). In the associative stage, a dancer will also learn to ‘associate’ elements of one teacher’s style or

78

PERIODIZATION

technique with others as they gain a movement repertoire. This transfer of learning refers to associating and using the student’s prior experiences of skill acquired in one task to help with the learning of a new task. Within dance this is especially helpful across different styles, where a discrete skill may be universal across a number of genres, but manifests slightly differently within each. For example, tendu à la seconde at the barre, transfers to tendu à la seconde as a preparation for glissade jeté or grand jeté balloné where the gesture foot moves from tendu through dégagé before the jump is initiated. This same basic principle of tendu can also be applied to contemporary and jazz genres when the take-off before a jump is preceded by brushing the foot along the floor. Transfer of learning can also be applied to complex skills that are broken down into discrete parts and the success for learning of each part allows the dancers to transfer these skills to the more complex whole. While gains in proficiency during this stage can be rapid, they can also be awkward, inconsistent and, musically, poorly timed. An additional tool in the teacher’s repertoire here is the use visual demonstration of the desired movement. Regarding visualization, a key aspect of knowledge transfer in dance is the use of the mirror. The mirror is often perceived as a tool which can thwart a dancer’s success. For example, some research suggests that when used too much and too often it can impede a dancer’s feelings of self-esteem and positive body image (Radell et al. 2011). This might certainly be the case in classical ballet which emphasizes a specific body type and aesthetic as ideal. In contemporary dance an overreliance on external visual feedback may diminish the much-needed multisensory attention to action in dance (Brodie and Lobel 2008). However, more recent research has pointed to potential positive use of the reflected surfaces via mirror-mirroring or the act of interacting with a partner may have positive effect when coordinating with a partner as we would find in when working in a chorographic and collaborative process (Brown and Meulenbroek 2016). This positive effect is also seen in some hip-hop dance styles where the mirror is used positively to evaluate the visual quality of the movements (Engel 2001). Similar findings in dancers who construct improvisation (Brown, Bosga and Meulenbroek 2020) reveal modest gains in improvisation variations when using the mirror, which like choreography making, is a creative process where a dancer takes advantage of all the visual (sensory) information available.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CL ASS

79

Autonomous stage During this final stage of learning, the motor skill becomes mostly automatic. Here we start to see little difference between the ‘what’ and ‘how’ as integrated seamlessly. Development at this level of learning allows the student to perform the technical movement or choreography in any environment (classroom, rehearsal and performance) with increasing mastery. This cycling in and between cognitive and motor factors make up a concept known as bilateral transfer. Bilateral transfer involves motor (movement) control and a cognitive (thinking) behaviour such that motor patterns learned on the left side of the body are transferred easily to the right. Another example is a movement phrase learned in prograde, or forward, is efficiently performed in retrograde or backwards. This development is critical at this stage for instructors and dance makers may no longer demonstrate but rather indicate, in words or gestures, what is desired or needed. The movement outflow to other limbs thus becomes important when performing the new phrase or its variations on themes. In other words, the teacher’s intuition in codified techniques like classical ballet to expect the advanced student to transfer movement across body parts or in space is accurate. However, research has also brought to light that teachers should also teach to the nonpreferred or least dominant side of the body in order to maximize the transfer in different situations (Puretz 1983; Kimmerle 2010). No ballerina ever starts out doing a faultless set of thirty-two fouettés, nor does a dancer complete a krumping sequence technically and aesthetically flawless at the first go. Success in dance performance begins in the dance studio, refining the dancer’s individual movement repertoire over many hours. The dancer is busy creating learning loops as they were cycling between all three stages, especially the cognitive and associative stages, honing their skills over time. Keep in mind that the learning loops or cycles can take different lengths of time for every individual. Technical and aesthetic development can depend on a variety of factors such as the motivation of the learner, the feedback received, environmental stimuli, the organization of the classroom practice session, mental and physical fatigue and the presence of musculoskeletal or neuromuscular impairments. Nevertheless, this stage is marked by increased variability in the dancer’s choices which in turn leads to a

80

PERIODIZATION

progression in aesthetic distinctiveness as the student moves from beginner to expert to artist. The automatic stage occurs after the dancer has solved many of the strategic and motor skill challenges and has a general idea of the movement. Their focus now moves to refining the skill by organizing more effective movement patterns. The process is slightly different for fast and slow movements. Within fast movements (e.g. petite allegro) there is often little time to adapt the movement while it is occurring and therefore adaptation of the movement needs to occur in the rest periods between sequences. Within slower movements, there is more opportunity to process and use external (visual, tactile, verbal and auditory cues) and internal (proprioceptive) feedback to control the action. At this point, the dancers should learn to diversify the skill so that it can be applied to a multitude of dance styles and finally, choreographic possibilities. Feedback provided in this stage needs to be precise and specific to the parts of the movement the dancer is trying to refine. So, as mentioned earlier, fewer verbal cues can be given and more questions asked of the dancer to solidify refinement. Questions such as, ‘What could you improve?’ or ‘How does this run-through compare with the last?’ can help integrate self-referenced skills. At this stage, acquired skills can be carried without thinking about every component of the skill. This allows the expert dancer to engage in higher-order cognitive activities such as spontaneous movement adjustments while still conveying an emotion to the audience with increased self-confidence and the ability to detect minor errors or negligible variation within the movement. An important requirement for skill acquisition is a clear understanding of the overall goal. Across the learning continuum from beginning student to professional dancer, specific motor skills need to be mastered within the different contexts/environments. As the dancer advances, the onus can be placed on them to detect errors within their movements so that they can learn which sensations (biofeedback) that reflect good and bad performance and which are irrelevant. The latter is as important as the former two, as this allows the dancer to filter out extraneous information thereby allowing faster refinement and smoother movement. Schmidt and Wrisberg (2008) suggest that this type of feedback is not usually monitored and therefore teachers need to encourage dancers to become sensitive to movement-produced feedback. Once dancers can detect errors on their own, they need to be

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF CL ASS

81

guided on how to develop the necessary adjustments to correct their errors.

The interwoven, integrated process of learning The preceding text above highlights the importance of understanding how we learn from a theoretical, motor development perspective. It is, however, important to understand that these stages are not static blocks of time or periods within which skills are acquired, as is illustrated in figure 5.2 it is more important to see motor learning as an interwoven and dynamic process where stages overlap and integrate based on the individual’s needs. The idiom ‘practice makes perfect’ is true for skill improvement as we might see in the associative stages. However, repetition alone does not necessarily improve skill. Skill is acquired and emerges across all three stages. An interesting aspect of dance is what came first, technique or dance performance. This dichotomy has often resulted in technically proficient dancers who have forgotten how to dance, i.e. when you watch them move you can see a sequence of discrete skills rather than fluid movement. When observing dance class, discrete skills are practised first before they are joined together

FIGURE 5.2 Integrated process of learning.

82

PERIODIZATION

into a sequence. Another way of approaching skill acquisition could be by attempting the whole sequence first, before focusing on areas where errors have occurred (discrete skills), this is often referred to as whole-part-whole. This allows the dancers to understand how these discrete skills are integral/support to the dance sequence without losing sight that the sequence is the end goal and not the individual discrete skills. Once the discrete skills are mastered, they are integrated back into the sequence, before the other discrete skills are isolated for specific practice. From the cognitive perspective, the student is attempting to translate declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge. In other words, they are transforming what to do into how to do.

PART TWO

Culture change: more than a schedule – a radical turn around

83

84

6 The start

One of the most challenging aspects of implementing periodization is to create staff awareness and appreciation of the value of their classes seen from a group perspective, and how this contributes to the overall programme of training, rehearsing and performing. In education we relate to final qualifications and the syllabus, while in the company class we steer towards specific repertoire demands. We understand how we as an individual teacher or rehearsal director can, want and must contribute to the final ‘result’. We are highly capable and aware of how to systematically educate a pupil or mount a piece of repertoire, or create a choreography, to be ready at première night. But to actually structure your daily class or training based on a collaborative goal, set to be achieved in one to four years’ time, is not common practice, and that is the first major assignment of periodization planning. This chapter explains how to start working towards an annual training plan with specific time blocks, the weekly, monthly and year term blocks of training classified as micro-, meso- and macro- cycles.

One for all, or all for one? Dance is an ensemble art, but the various separate training sessions of the overall programme are often only marginally aligned. In dance education, each subject has its semester and/or yearly goals. The content or intensity of each session relates to the overall training plan of the subject. For example, a ballet teacher structures the day’s training session in relation to the overall goal setting in his or her educational module. This could be as simple as a short-term perspective of yesterday and/or tomorrow, or building on a previous semester 85

86

PERIODIZATION

and/or educational year. This is how we use to teach. We do not regularly relate the ballet learning line over the four years to the learning line of repertoire, dance history and/or compositionimprovisation classes. At ArtEZ, we use the term Learning Lines for themes that extend throughout the periodized cycled; these Learning Lines form Learning Tracks, for example the Dance Technique Learning Track is made up of a Ballet Line, Graham Line, Release Line etc. Changing this (often implicit) routine, while implementing periodization, creates immediate awareness of the level of effectiveness of your training programme. Do classes undermine or support each other, and the overall required outcome? It will require clear statements on the role, place and hierarchy of subjects within the curriculum, schedule and programme. Supporting the teaching staff in developing a more detailed insight in the teaching principles they use in structuring an effective way to start this process.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: EXCELLENCE AND WELLBEING: G. ALL ARD, A. AALTEN; CODARTS UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ROTTERDAM (2004–8)

P

eriodization demands a democratic outlook on the contribution to success. It is a team effort that includes inhouse staff, guest teachers and choreographers, teaching and rehearsing staff, and support staff, including the health team. Understanding and acting on a shared responsibility is such a critical factor for success that if not assessed or taken into account, it can easily undermine all the hard work that has been put in. As in all periodization projects within this book, but in particular in this case study in Rotterdam, we meticulously unpacked and clarified the underlying principles and at times the implicit rules of daily practice. To start, we examined the level of understanding of the leading principles of periodization. Secondly, we looked into the build up of re-training after holiday breaks and finally, monitored the implementation of a co-ordinated division of roles and responsibilities among the staff members to successfully meet the desired outcome. The study focused on the re-train programme in the first and second year. Interviews were set up to find how the teachers

THE START

organized their classes after the holidays and how they reintroduced the allegro (jumping) section. The interviews revealed a fairly significant deviation in knowledge level of the underlying theory. It also revealed that even if they had already applied periodization principles, they did so from their individual viewpoints on and assumptions of the theory. We examined the overall structure of the ‘re-training after holidays programme’ the academy used both at the start of the academic year and mid-term. One thing became apparent, in addition to having an equal level of understanding of the concept, the coordination of class content was crucial in achieving common goals. This immediately prompted the question of whether there was a problem with a specific style or craftsmanship across the whole teaching team. Strengthening the knowhow of periodization’s leading principles was step one, and the least difficult. By offering a few simple guidelines on how to structure class material, the teaching staff became more aware and consistent in setting the programme. Additionally, their awareness of the influence they exerted on potentially overloading the students was increased. Previously they had been working from a schedule built on unrelated demands, with a diverse pool of teachers and training goals. We addressed this by agreeing on how to collaboratively increase the training load within the schedule of the days and weeks after the holidays. Just a few minor adaptations in their regular practice, based on the understanding of the class content of the other team members, resulted in a significant decrease in the student injury rate in comparison to previous years. For example, by agreeing who would start to introduce the allegro exercises into the class routine and at what moment, thereby co-ordinating the increase in work intensity across classes and teachers. This ensured that on the fourth day of their re-training classes after the holidays, not all teachers started adding jumping exercises, but in conjunction with others, teachers gradually built up the training load. More challenging was persuading the team to discuss restructuring various curriculum components, letting go of the unwritten hierarchy of some of those components and the imminent threat of having to let go of their leading or precedence position. This required much more discussion and guidance.

87

88

PERIODIZATION

In the Rotterdam case study we did not go to the length of making radical changes to the curriculum. However, it influenced the implementation process in the ArtEZ case study later on, as you can read in the next case study.

Finding the end goal Where to start when aiming to make the change towards a periodized training programme? In this section we will share the experiences of the ArtEZ staff en route in redesigning their curriculum. Starting with a blank canvas and trying not to be hindered by the practice of ‘this is how we have always done things’, but from the perspective of ‘how can it be done?’ We started from scratch; the aim was to develop a radical new curriculum. The case study example here reveals the collective decision-making process and most importantly letting go of former and personal ways of doing things.

Identifying the (new) end goal A crucial factor in the design of any training programme is to determine the ‘goals’. As explained in the chapter Periodization: a sport science perspective, the layout of the periodized programme depends on the clarity of the identified performance moments or goals (i.e. test class, performance, audition) and the definition of the desired achievement itself (being able to execute a skill or to win a gold medal). It is therefore fundamental that there is consensus on the desired output. When identifying what type of training is to be placed where, based on long- and short-term goals, you will notice that the agreed consensus amongst those involved will influence the decisions on the duration and value of the training. And you will get an understanding of how much time to spend on one training session when working towards certain skill development and how other training (technique) sessions can overlap in reinforcing the set goals by aiming for similar outcomes. This way, the amount of valuable time lost in aiming for the same goal will become apparent, thereby freeing up the schedule. It will also reveal opportunities to create a more balanced programme by aligning training goals and sessions more closely.

THE START

89

But be aware, to create and facilitate radical change, accustomed behaviour and practices will be reviewed, challenged and trampled on.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM (2007–12)

A

t the start of the ArtEZ curriculum re-design, the use of a periodized framework, its guiding principles and what it entailed, had to be agreed by the teaching and artistic staff. Once it had been agreed to adopt periodization as a guiding principle, the staff was invited to create their ideal curriculum. We started by asking each staff member to give an insight of how their ideal class, series of classes or learning line should look in terms of duration, frequency and content. This gave everyone an understanding of what other staff members thought of the estimated time required to achieve their goals. Then we asked them what kind of physical condition, pre-knowledge or skill level the students should have to enable them to achieve the goals they had decided on. This gave a sense of their ideas of where their training sessions should ideally be placed; i.e. before or after a warm up or technique class; in the first or second year; which semester; needing basic anatomical knowledge; in a period of creation, or a phase of working on technical skills. These two initial questions led to a great deal of ‘need to know’. The next crucial step was to ask the staff members to create an ideal schedule that encompassed everything they desired. Initially, we did not give any restrictions, just forty blank A2 sheets, to write down week by week, the sum of all their individual requirements. The A2 sheets turned out to be too few for all their needs. This created a first collective insight into their ‘ideal’ schedule, and with it a realization that not even the most talented student would survive. They needed to cut back the training hours, but how? We gave the team a week schedule drawn on a large cardboard sheet with a pocket for each working day. Then we asked them to write their previous developed ideas of the ideal curriculum on small coloured squares of paper. Each colour

90

PERIODIZATION

represented a certain line within the curriculum, for example, blue for technique lessons and a dark or light version of that blue for the distinction between modern or classical ballet lessons. Then we asked them to place the little square papers in the daily pockets. Immediately, the staff realized that there were still too many classes to schedule if this was the preferred curriculum. Therefore, they had to schedule more smartly to not have to cut out entire sections of the curriculum. To further complicate matters, we provided the staff with information about progressive overload and over-training. The weekly training load should not be structurally too strenuous and exceed the limits of the physical load capacity otherwise overtraining will be more likely to occur. To prevent this, the weekly schedules should vary in intensity load, gradually getting more demanding before a short rest period. This was the game changer; the staff realized that they had to seriously look at how and where to reduce the load, capacity and/or intensity to create a curriculum in which learning and training recovery could also take place. It made them aware that they were depending on each another to provide the time, place and coherence within the overall curriculum to achieve a successful outcome. It supported the radical change over to start thinking as a team collaborating within an integral approach towards training. No longer did individual preferences or needs prevail. Now the team effort was targeting and working towards a successful educational outcome. The redesigned curriculum resulted, therefore, in a greater discussion about the team’s ideas on what was the end goal for the programme. What did they picture as the final skillset after four years of education? And did they agree on that? They realized that team effort was of key importance and that cohesion needed to be found. It cleared the pathway to a constructive dialogue on how each training session ultimately should support the successful achievement of these end goals. This paved the way for a conversation, or more accurately a negotiation, on the content of the various classes, the possible overlap among them and the potential to use the newly recognized team cohesion as a strength instead of weakness. The team discussed the value and necessity of each training session to gain an insight into the purpose of each session, and where and when it should be placed

THE START

in the training programme. This often meant killing off elements that were precious to them for the benefit of the overall goals. But most significantly, they ‘allowed’ each other to alternate in taking the lead position within the schedule. This was a radical change in attitude for staff, whether they were permanent practical and theory staff, guest teachers, choreographers or rehearsal directors. The redesigned curriculum led to a colourful curriculum booklet, measuring 10x1 metres, that became our Bible for every alteration we made. It helped to showcase how easy it is to schedule too much training, possibly leading to overtraining without necessarily achieving a better training result.

91

92

7 Who does what?

As we have learned in the previous chapter, understanding that the success of the training programme is truly a collaborative effort opens up the dialogue to examine the place, role and value of each subject and session as part of the bigger picture. This chapter exposes how working within a periodized training programme enabled the team the ability to (re)claim the original purpose of their (dance) class. This turned out to be an important factor to increase the willingness to hand over valuable class time and/or a leading position of their subject in the overall programme.

Back to the origin of the (dance) class While the relevance of fitness for dancers has slowly found its way into dance institutions (followed by dance companies), initially the implementation of fitness training was often seen as the responsibility of the ballet or contemporary dance teachers. Later, educational institutes and professional dance companies appointed not only health practitioners but also conditioning trainers to their staff. In the beginning, however, the regular teaching staff integrated elements of cardio and strength training into their ballet and modern/ contemporary routines. This led to an expansion of their teaching responsibilities, but not always accompanied by professional development opportunities on how to do this effectively; this lead to many teachers ‘doing without really knowing how’. Therefore adopting periodization also provided the teachers the opportunity to let go of, or hand over, some demands or expectations that had, for better or worse, crept into their teaching routine. 93

94

PERIODIZATION

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION: G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM (2007–12)

T

he artistic, educational or health-related staff of colleague institutions who want to start working with periodization often ask me many questions. For instance, how I managed to persuade the staff to agree to fewer classes a week or reduced class time from the standard one-and-a-half hour to forty-five minutes or at times just into a warm up. To be honest, there is no magic to this, over time many teachers had adopted elements of fitness training into their dance class routine to try to improve the physical fitness of dancers after research had highlighted the physiological disparity between dance class and performance (Wyon et al. 2004; Wyon and Redding 2005). However, many of their attempts, for example doing grand jetés on the diagonal for five minutes, did not lead to more fitness; in fact, without the proper basic conditioning, it can lead to more injuries. We therefore supported the teachers to re-examine the purpose of the additional ‘conditioning’ elements within their training and its training results. A large majority of the teachers indicated that they would gladly give up the additions, especially as they felt they did not always fit the learning objectives, and that they would be able to achieve a similar training outcome in less time if the students could arrive at class already warmed up, with increased general fitness allowing the teacher to focus on ‘just’ what they needed to achieve. The staff discussions on the curriculum redesign proved to be a key element for not only introducing the periodization approach but also for its full integration. It created the opportunity, where relevant, to reduce the training hours and load and to agree on the new division of place, role and value of the curriculum elements, it offered a solution that enabled us to bring subjects back to their basic training and learning. The fitness trainer was in charge of physical fitness and the ballet teacher for the finesse of ballet technique. As overlap and extra goals were eliminated it meant more quality time for specialized work and an opening to critically assess to what extent we consciously planned coherent optimal training.

8 Train the trainer

In this chapter we will address how we came to a division in training intensity among the teachers on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. To influence and control the capacity of load within the schedule, we needed to provide the teachers with an indication of their planned class intensity and specify this in the schedule.

Intensity vs. difficulty Dance training was originally developed and designed to master particular dance techniques. Therefore, the class (the training) is primarily based on the difficulty of attaining technical skills and less on the physical intensity. To a large extent, teachers know how technically difficult their class is to execute. In contradiction, it is less common for many dance teachers to understand how physically demanding their class is. For that reason, we developed an approach that clarified which lesson content related to which level of intensity. The case study example demonstrates how.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM (2007–12)

A

s overtraining is not caused by the level of difficulty, but by training too intensely for too long, it was important to work with the teachers to gain more knowledge of which lessons 95

96

PERIODIZATION

related to which level of intensity. For this we asked the team of teachers responsible for any particular technique to group together and create a description of class content for four levels of difficulty. We numbered the intensities, three for a basic training, five for moderate, eight for challenging and ten for the greatest training intensity. We then organized a series of classes in which the teachers taught these four variations to a small group of students. These students wore heart rate monitors so that the expected physical intensity could be compared to the actual intensity of these four variants. Interestingly, while the intensities three, five and eight corresponded with the dance teachers’ expected level of intensity, the ten class deviated from expected outcome. While this was no surprise to the dance scientists, it was an eye-opener for the dance teachers. In fact, they were surprised that even the toughest, most challenging technical training never reached a ‘number ten status’. This is due to the stop-start nature of the training and that a technically demanding dance class is not necessarily physically high intensity training. This was another reason not to try to incorporate technique and fitness training within one class; unless, of course, the training goal was specifically set for and steered towards that purpose.

9 Beginner’s mistakes

In this final chapter on culture change, we want to unburden you from the stress of making beginner’s mistakes when starting to experiment with the implementation of a periodized framework in your curriculum. Mistakes will be made but they form, together with dialoque with team and students, a great platform for the changes you are aiming for. Regular and structural feedback and feedforward meetings are crucial, as shown in this case study example, as they help you to identify and address issues that arise in the changeover to the new periodized curriculum. Do not underestimate the values of feedback and forward, even though at the start they demand perseverance and openness.

Dancers just want to dance: the importance of feedback and feedforward While implementing periodization at ArtEZ, we frequently reviewed with the students and teachers how they perceived the new curriculum. We introduced Phase Meetings, prior to and at the closure of each phase (Preparation, Craft, Integration, Transition). These meetings were held among the teachers (guests and staff) and for each student year group with their year mentor. These meetings served several purposes.

97

98

PERIODIZATION

From the teacher’s perspective First, anticipation: the meetings gave the entire teaching staff an insight of the content and correlation of every element of the training programme scheduled in the next phase. This provided an overview and increased awareness of how each single contribution to the programme was aligned to at least one other subject, learning line or training goal. These meetings turned out be crucial as many teachers did not meet in person during the phase itself (see Applying the science: annual phases), due to schedules or fragmented interactions with the students. These meetings provided them with the opportunity to build alliances within the phase set goals and on long-term learning goals that were built on team effort (see Applying the science: goal setting). It offered teachers the opportunity to negotiate with colleagues the time allocated to achieve their goals and in many cases these discussions led to adjusting the amount of class time, or the value (preparation, maintenance or build up), or the placing of the subject in a particular phase. Secondly, evaluation: the Phase Meetings were used to evaluate the outcomes of the previous phase in relation to the set goals. Were they achieved? Did they resonate? And if not, why? These evaluations led to immediate interventions if relevant and the documentation of any alterations that would/should be made in the next years to come.

From the student’s perspective The two main goals of the Student Phase Meetings were preparation and evaluation. It was very important for students to understand the ‘why’ behind the choices of each phase and to look ahead. Why were they not jumping in the preparation phase? Why did the number of classes vary week by week? Why did class lengths differ? Or why was ballet only scheduled three times a week? What lay ahead? Often, understanding the reasoning behind the schedule and what it would lead up to (i.e. very intense full weeks in the next phase, or a choreographer with particular technical demand coming in), made all the difference for the students. Their constructive feedback turned out to be crucial in the development of the periodized curriculum; this was highlighted in the accreditation by the Dutch/Flemish

BEGINNER’S MISTAKES

99

accreditation committee, awarding the internationally recognized special feature ‘Periodization for Dance Education’.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM (2007–12)

O

ne of the mistakes we made at the beginning was to forget how eager dancers are to dance. Maybe you think, how could they? But when redesigning a curriculum into a periodized programme, it is possible to become too focused on targeting training goals and forget that ‘just dancing’ is a goal in itself. The bottom line is we were too balanced, too perfect in the lay out. The curriculum was so well thought out and so streamlined that every single class or training session had its individual training goal aligned with all others. The curriculum was developed and refined as a team effort. But it was the student feedback that uncovered something fundamental. We had forgotten to add the goal ‘fun’, others might call it flow, a crucial element when striving for the ultimate goal of artistry. This is especially important for first year students starting their dance education, the experience of dancing is of itself of significant importance. Students rely on these positively charged moments to build the perseverance to deal with the unavoidable deconstruction and reconstruction of their skill base and technique. Starting dance education often comes with the realization that the students have several habits or misconceptions about the technical execution of dance vocabulary. This can be extremely confrontational for young adolescents who were often seen and treated as the ‘star’ dancer before they arrived at the academy. It was crucial to place the ‘flow’ training element in the first phases (introduction phase) of the first year (introduction year). In these classes, the students’ goal was not to improve their technique or learn new skills, but to enjoy applying developed competences in a very ‘dancy’ class. The main focus of the class was to make them feel completely in control and to be able to let go of focusing on technique. The teacher would give little to no

100

PERIODIZATION

corrections, creating a learning environment in which the student could fully enjoy the live musical accompaniment and extensive studio space; to support the student in finding their flow, by moving fully with very few interruptions and experience the joy of movement. This element entered the curriculum based on student feedback; they were the ones teaching us how to define goal setting and how to incorporate these goals into the curriculum educational learning lines (Songlines, Mapping etc.). We ended up placing these ‘dancy’ classes as part of the conditioning line for the first year students as they related to dance-specific cardiorespiratory training, ultimately developing into Songlines for the third year students; there it supported combining artistic expression and technical execution perfectly which is key in the third phase (integration phase) of the third year (Integration year).

PART THREE

Applying the science Training dancers for today’s profession is a complex task as there are so many competing elements that need to be slotted into the timetable and there are just not enough hours in the day. Dance is a high-skill movement form and is very susceptible to the effects of fatigue; in sport, studies have shown a 43 per cent decrease in technique during simple tasks such as ball throwing due to fatigue (Royal et al. 2006). In dance, there is increasing evidence that dancers feel their injuries are due to being overtrained/fatigued and being exposed to high levels of repetitive movements (Brinson and Dick 1996; Laws 2005; Allen and Wyon 2008).

101

102

10 Periodization

Dance is not alone in observing these conflicting demands and injury issues as many sports also have similar challenges (Fry, Morton and Keast 1992). Can this framework be applied to dance and will it help? Periodization is an adaptable and living framework that is specific to each environment and will vary according to the goals of the institution and its dancers. It is probably easier to apply these principles to vocational/pre-professional dance training than professional dance company schedules, as the latter often have multiple overlapping performance periods throughout the year that there is little time for the different cycles. The first step is a review of the current situation at your dance school, for instance: ●

● ● ● ● ● ● ●

What sets us apart from other dance schools? Do we have a specific USP? Do all staff agree? How do dance industry employers see us? What do we want our dancers to be known for? What is our employment rate? How is our drop-out/injury rate? Are we happy with our present system? Do we want to change anything? Do we want to add to the schedule?

Goal-setting Although led by the artistic director/head of school, all staff should be involved with the process in developing the long-term goals of 103

104

PERIODIZATION

the framework so that issues can be raised, and solutions discussed as this develops buy-in from all parties, which is vital to the implementation of the framework. Once these long-term goals have been finalized, the second aim is to map how they are achieved over the whole framework period (this could be three, four or eight years) and needs to include nondance related activities (e.g. academics). These long-term goals are made up of medium-term goals (annual) that allow skills/attributes to be developed over each year and provide a hierarchy of building blocks, for example, A must be mastered before B can start. As described below, each year is divided into a pyramid of phases, subphases, macro- and micro-cycles; the goals of the micro-cycles should meet the goals of the macro-cycles, that should meet the goals of the sub-phases, etc.; see the appendix for a goal schematic that can be used/modified to set these out over the complete training cycle.

Annual phases Each year is split into four phases: Preparation, Specific Preparation, Performance and Transition.

TABLE 1 Phase descriptors Phase

Description

Preparation

The main focus is on improving the students’ technical abilities. It can include core or foundation techniques as well as specialist techniques depending on the focus of the course and the year of study. For instance, at a contemporary dance school this could include Cunningham, Limón, Graham techniques as core techniques and the specialist techniques could be somatic practices or improvisation. It could include strength and conditioning sessions to prepare students for specific skills such as jumping or lifting.

PERIODIZATION

105

Specific Preparation

The main focus of this phase is to take the technical skills developed in the previous phase and extend the students’ artistic skills through both movement and non-movement artistic principles applying them to dance either through structured rehearsals, improvisation, or selfgenerated choreography.

Performance

The main foci of this phase are actual dance performances, but can also include showings, auditions and tours.

Transition

This phase is focused on reflecting on the performance phase, determining the goals achieved and missed, planning rehabilitation and prehabilitation training for the summer break and setting goals for the students to achieve before the start of next year’s Preparation phase.

These phases vary in length, and therefore importance, across the years according to the skills the students have acquired and the skills they need to achieve to move through the framework.

TABLE 2 Phase importance Position in total cycle

Description

Early

Main focus is on the preparation of the dancers’ dance technique and creative development, their physical conditioning, psychological skills and learning strategies (preparation). A moderate emphasis is placed on the specific preparation phase (choreography), and the performance phase (rehearsal and performance) is limited to in-school showings. (Continued)

106

PERIODIZATION

TABLE 2 Continued Position in total cycle

Description

Mid

The main foci are on the preparation and specific preparation phases which carry equal weight. The performance phase is limited to in-school shows and one end of year show.

End

The preparation phase is about technique maintenance while the main emphasis is on the performance skills and preparation for the profession (specific preparation and performance phases).

An example of how this might look can be seen in Figure 10.1.

FIGURE 10.1 Phase hierarchy across the framework.

In-phase priorities Within each of the phases there are primary attributes that need to be developed, while other attributes (secondary) need to be maintained. For instance, during the Performance phase the emphasis is on performing but the skills learned during the Preparation (dance techniques) and Specific Preparation (rehearsals) phases need to be maintained. The phases will have sub-phases to

FIGURE 10.2 Phase and sub-phase foci.

107

108

PERIODIZATION

provide more focus to the planning; for instance, in the Preparation phase, these will include the different technique genres; in the Specific Preparation, these could include improvisation or specific choreographic styles, and the Performance phase, rehearsals and performances. Figure 10.2 provides a basic example of how training might be split across a year. When a phase, or its sub-phases, is a priority then more time and ‘intensity’ is focused on the sessions specifically designed to achieve its goals (see Training Load chapter). Subsequently, the other phases are in maintenance mode with reduced timetable time and intensity of sessions. The focus of the maintenance sessions can either be complementary or mismatched with the phase priority; for instance, if the focus of the Performance phase is a contemporary dance performance, then the maintenance classes can be either complementary (genre specific: the same ‘genre’ as the performance) or mismatched (not genre specific: e.g. ballet). There are arguments for and against both options and ideally a combination of the two is required. The complementary classes provide direct technical support for the performance, allowing technical issues observed during rehearsals/performances to be addressed during class, while the mismatched non-genre specific class prevents the specific skills developed in the Preparation phase from deteriorating or being lost. Motor control research suggests that once a week exposure to a specific movement pattern is enough to prevent deterioration (Arthur et al. 2007), though at least two mismatched sessions a week is recommended to maintain the high skill, fine motor-control of dance.

FIGURE 10.3 Macro-cycles within a phase.

11 Macro- and micro-cycles

The sub-phases can be further divided into macro- and micro-cycles if needed. For instance, the Preparation phase for Early training is long and includes several sub-phases that focus on specific genres. Rather than try to develop all these genre techniques at the same time, each has a period of intense training (four to six weeks) while the others are in maintenance mode, for example, ballet, followed by Graham, followed by Release (Figure 10.3). These sub-phases can be split further into macro-cycles that have weekly goals and lastly micro-cycles that have goals for individual sessions/classes (Figure 11.2). Within this context each technique macro-cycle should have specific overarching goals, for example, for ballet – multiple pirouettes. These goals can then be broken down into weekly (weeks one to three balance, week four position of legs and feet, week five focus/spotting, week six musicality) and finally session goals (week one [balance]: class one – proprioception, eyes open/closed; class two – balance at barre from different preparations, eyes open/closed). Therefore, the teacher will know exactly how each class fits into the greater plan and this can be communicated within the larger teaching team allowing complementary sessions to be developed, reinforced or juxtapositioned. Within the micro-cycle the number of classes and the intensity of these classes (training load) needs to be manipulated to allow optimal learning and prevent the students becoming fatigued and more prone to injury. What is meant by intensity and how it relates to dance movement is covered in the Training Load chapter. Quality is more important than quantity and within this context it means the intensity of the techniques in maintenance mode are at a lower intensity and less frequent (one to two classes a week maximum) 109

110

FIGURE 11.1 Macro- and micro-cycles.

MACRO- AND MICRO-CYCLES

111

than the primary technique in that sub-phase. This requires that all the technique teachers know the ‘grand plan’, their role within it and that they will have a specific period where the whole schedule will prioritize their technique, but at other times their technique will take a secondary role. When a technique is in maintenance mode it doesn’t mean that learning/skill acquisition has stopped but that it has less of a priority. A different focus can be applied to the sessions that could reinforce technique or creativity in an environment that is at a reduced physical intensity – a session can be technically difficult but physically easy.

Timetable priorities The next stage is to review current timetable priorities (exams – dance and academic, performances, competitions) and how they fit within the new annual goals and phase/sub-phase schedule. Each priority should be reviewed as to its importance and mobility in the context of the new annual goals. The important priorities (1) that cannot be moved should be timetabled (national exams, competitions) and the others ranked as 2: important but mobile (can be done at another time of year), 3: not important and immobile and finally 4: not important and mobile. Priorities 1 and 2 would require the timetable to be arranged around them, though priority 2 might occur at a different time of the year than it is currently, to reduce workload peaks. For example, moving internal dance technique exams or a dance performance so they aren’t at the same time as academic exams (immobile and important). The importance of each priority might vary according to where the dancer is in their training. For instance, an external dance performance is classified as a 1 for those in the last years of their training and the whole of their training is focused on these events but as a 4 for those at the start and could be substituted by an internal showing that doesn’t disrupt other training priorities (technique development). The next task is to see how everything else can be fitted in around these priorities which might require the moving or removal of some priorities, lengthening or shortening phases, sub-phases or macrocycles. Doing this as a group activity allows each staff member to

112

PERIODIZATION

understand the complexity of timetabling and how they contribute to the overall programme. Within this activity, each aspect of training should be reviewed on how it will help the dancer achieve the goals of each year and therefore the importance of each activity will vary according to the overarching goals of the framework. It could mean that certain activities need to be done all the time, while others can be done at specific times of the year or in specific years. Rest is a major priority and needs to be planned at sub-phase, macro- and micro-cycle levels. This will allow the dancers to recover physically and mentally and reduce the incidence of burnout and injury.

A note about guest teachers and choreographers This type of planning should allow guest and cover teachers to slot easily into a schedule without causing a disruption to the goals of the sub-phases, micro- or macro-cycle. There is a tendency for guest/ cover teachers to feel a need to give the ‘ultimate’ class leaving the students fatigued and reeling at the end and unable to participate fully in the next session. In this context the ‘ultimate’ class is one that adheres to the prescribed schedule and means that all guest and cover teachers have to accept the fundamental concepts of the ‘grand plan’ and to adhere to the prearranged class intensities and possible goals set by the school director. Working with guest choreographers can prove complex. Their importance to the dancers’ training is undeniable but needs to be put into the context of the stage of training the dancer is in. If the choreographer is working with dancers at the end phase of their training, then the other aspects of their training is reduced to maintenance mode. The possible exception is if the whole year cohort is not being used equally within the choreography or the early rehearsals are low intensity, then other classes can have a higher workload. If the choreographer is working with dancers in the earlier stages of their training, then the goals and workload may differ and needs to be communicated to choreographer before they start so they can plan accordingly. The long-term health of the students is paramount and they will need to continue their training after the guest teacher/choreographer

MACRO- AND MICRO-CYCLES

113

has left. Consequently, the students may need additional supplemental training to prepare them for the specific movement of the teacher/choreographer, or the guest is asked to modify their movement accordingly.

Be flexible As with any plan, as soon as it is implemented adjustments need to be made. This could be students taking a longer or shorter time to reach a specific goal than initially planned, a guest choreographer needing to change the dates they can attend the school or a guest teacher not being able to attend. To overcome these adaptations, regular meetings between the teaching staff are required to discuss how the schedule should be manipulated to try to bring it back on track, which should be overseen by the school director who has the final say in the changes. These adaptations should be contained within the set training loads, so if there is a need to increase the number of classes/rehearsals then their intensities need to decrease, or other sessions need to decrease in number or intensity. An important aspect of any manipulation is to make sure sufficient rest is maintained in the amended schedule to allow students to recover and prevent increased fatigue. Dance staff should feel that they have the ownership and support of their management to change class intensity based on how the dancers are feeling. If the dancers are tired, then the teachers can reduce the intensity, or even cancel class, as learning capabilities will be reduced and faulty technique more prevalent. Increasing the intensity of a class must be done with care, if at all, as it could affect subsequent classes on that day or the following day.

114

12 Goal-setting revisited

As mentioned previously, training professional dancers is a complex process and communication within the teaching team is essential, especially if guest teachers and choreographers are involved. By working as a teaching team rather than independent teachers, a series of classes can be ‘joined up’ to enhance the learning experience and skill acquisition of the students. For instance, if three classes are blocked together, the teachers in the second and third class can use the previous class’s content and not necessarily start with the usual warm-up or have a truncated one. The first class could be at a low intensity (little or no travelling or limited jumping) but technically difficult; the second class could build on this, even if it is in another genre, with more time spent working in the centre and travelling and developing the skills started in the first class; the last class, recognizing that the dancers are probably fatigued, could be at a lower intensity (more rest periods) but still be technically challenging. The function of goal-setting is to help dance staff plan their training and for the dancers to achieve their goals. There can be long-term goals (what the dancer and staff want to achieve by the end of the course/training), medium-term goals (what the dancer and staff want to achieve by the end of each year) and short-term goals (what the dancer and staff want to achieve by the end of each term) (Kornspan 2009). It is important that both the dancers and the dance staff are aware of the decided goals as otherwise the effort and focus could be misdirected. A fundamental aspect of goal setting is that both the dancer and dance staff know how each session fits into the overall goal for that four-year cycle, annual cycle or macro-cycle. Therefore, the last session on a Friday or the first session on a Monday morning do not 115

116

PERIODIZATION

lose their importance as both staff and students understand how it fits into the greater plan. Constantly explaining the sub-phase, macro- and micro-cycle goals to the students helps reinforce the notion that there is a long-term plan that has been organized for their training.

13 Training load

An integral part of periodization is the monitoring of the training load that is placed on the body. Training load needs to be planned (external load) and its effects monitored (internal load). It can be calculated and measured in a number of ways though the acute:chronic work (training) load ratio has become prevalent at the moment (Hulin et al. 2016). From a timetable planning perspective, training load fundamentally provides an indicator of how much external load is being done; this is the calculation of time and intensity and compares the current week’s total training load with the previous three-to-fourweek average training load. This gives an idea of whether a dancer’s training load is greater, equal to or less than the preceding period. The larger the current acute training load relative to the chronic training load indicates an increased risk of injury (Bowen et al. 2017). Why does this matter? When we are dealing with complex schedules within vocational institutions, with multiple dance classes a day, controlling the intensity of each class will prevent students becoming overly fatigued and more prone to injury. In addition, it will also allow teachers to work as a team as they will know the intensity of the class preceding and succeeding their own class. The other important aspect of training load is understanding the dancers’ perceptions of the training load (internal load) and monitoring it to prevent increased risk of overtraining and injury. It is not about cocooning the students but optimizing their training.

Fatigue and technique Dance is a high-skill activity and therefore fatigue can have a major effect on placement, alignment and motor skill acquisition. Having 117

118

PERIODIZATION

a training loaded timetable means that not all dance teachers increase the intensity of their classes, e.g. introducing jumping, all in the same week or day. Our bodies can only cope with a certain increase in stress a week, approximately 5 per cent (Stone 1991). If the load increases above this for a period of time, the body is continually in a state of breakdown and more prone to injury. Within this context, schedules and training loads can be manipulated so if the students have a very heavy workload one day, the classes during the subsequent days can be of a lower intensity. Rest is a vital component and has often been ignored by the dance community, where there is always the tendency to add to a schedule rather than take away. Dance injury surveys nearly always report that fatigue, tiredness or overtraining are the most often self-reported causes of injury (Brinson and Dick 1996; Laws 2005). It took sport a long time to realize that training is about quality rather than quantity, and rest should be an integral training component of any programme (see Supercompensation below).

Technique emphasis The training load method, when applied with periodization, allows the school director to place emphasis on a specific genre, within this scenario the intensity of these classes would increase while other techniques play a supporting role, and therefore their intensities would remain low (see below). Within a more general mode, if all the genres being taught are of equal importance (maybe for first year students) the intensity scheduling will allow each genre’s technique classes to have a hard class irrespective of when they are scheduled in the week in the knowledge that the preceding class will be at a lower intensity, thereby not fatiguing the students. Teachers will be able to plan their technique classes knowing the condition the students will in be from the preceding class (i.e. already warmed up, just finished jumping, just finished a very hard class). For instance, if the preceding class has been at a low intensity (dancers are warm but not fatigued) then the teacher, working within the confines of the class intensity chart (Table 5), could skip or greatly reduce the warm-up phase of their class so that more time can be focused on achieving the class specific goals. If the preceding class had been hard, then the focus and goals of the class need to change

TRAINING LOAD

119

to take account of the dancers’ fatigue levels but still allow technique improvements to be achieved.

Training intensity and load Training load is calculated as the intensity of the session multiplied by the length of time of the session (Figures 10.2, 10.3 and Table 3). Measuring intensity can be problematic; within sport it has been measured as mean heart rate during a run, the total amount of weight lifted during a strength and conditioning session, the number of foot contacts during a plyometric session, or using the perceived exertion of the athlete developed by Borg (rate of perceived exertion – RPE) (Borg 1978). At ArtEZ we have developed four level-intensity descriptors for each dance/class genre to provide guidelines for teachers regarding movement intensity and then within these parameters the teachers can fit their technique training. These intensity descriptors are based on Borg’s concept of rate of perceived exertion, though rather than using a six-to-twenty scale we have used a three-to-ten scale (Table 4). When we have tested the different genre class intensity descriptors against dancers’ average heart rates during class they match up nicely with intensity three having a light heart rate demand (30–40 b.min−1 above resting heart rate) and not feeling fatigued after class; intensity five, a moderate heart rate demand (50–60 b.min−1 above resting heart rate) and feeling a slight fatigue post class; intensity eight, a hard rate demand (70–80 b.min−1 above resting heart rate) and feeling fatigued after class; and intensity ten, a very fast heart rate demand (90+ b.min−1 above resting heart rate) and feeling extremely fatigued after class. There is no right or wrong number of intensity levels but we found that four allowed for enough diversity in intensity without it becoming too complicated; three intensities (for instance: four, six, ten) did not provide enough variety and meant that over time, workload increased too rapidly and five or six meant that it was hard to differentiate between the intensities when planning a session. For ease of use, these intensity numbers can easily be converted into a more user-friendly format for teachers and students; with three being ‘Easy’, five ‘Moderate’, eight ‘Hard’ and ten ‘All out/Maximal’. Training load = Intensity(Table 5) × Time(hr) FIGURE 13.1 Training load calculation.

120

PERIODIZATION

TABLE 3 Example of class intensity guidelines for ballet and Graham

The training load of each session, day and week are calculated and can be manipulated to prevent overtraining, sudden increases in training load and injury. The human body is a reactive organism and needs increased training stress of sufficient intensity, duration and frequency for it to adapt. Research has shown that presently there is little weekly increase in the training load, with the dancers’ fitness levels adapting minimally from the start of classes to the start of performance (Wyon and Redding 2005). Christensen (Christensen 1931) demonstrated that over time, if a person is continually exposed

TRAINING LOAD

121

to the same exercise load the heart rate during the sessions gradually decreases until it becomes too low to elicit a training effect and that continually increasing training loads are required to improve performance. We have seen this within a dance context, where aerobic fitness levels of professional dancers did not increase when they were doing class and rehearsal but improved significantly during a performance period (Wyon et al. 2004). Therefore, to combat the effect we have seen in dancers, and increase the level of fitness within dancers which has been linked to injury prevention, training load should be increased gradually on a weekly basis. Scientific studies have shown that the body can cope with a 5–10 per cent increase a week, above this threshold the body becomes more susceptible to overtraining and injury (Maughan, Gleeson and Greenhaff 1997). The weekly increases in workload should last between four to six weeks (a macro-cycle) before a rest or low intensity training week is introduced (Plisk and Stone 1997; Hakkinen 1989). This allows a phenomenon called ‘supercompensation’ to occur (Siff and Verkhoshansky 1999). Supercompensation is the relationship between work and recovery/regeneration that leads to superior physical, metabolic and neuropsychological adaptations. Within the ArtEZ programme, a six-week macro-cycle has been implemented with the effect of reducing students’ perceptions of fatigue and reducing injury occurrence (Figure 11.1).

Supercompensation During a single session a dancer is exposed to a series of stimuli (metabolic, neuromuscular, mental and hormonal) that alter their physiological status. The greater the volume, intensity and duration of training sessions, the greater the physiological responses the body has to cope with. The immediate response to a session is fatigue as well as a reduction in muscle glycogen levels, lactate accumulation and ultimately a dancer’s performance capacity. The magnitude of these effects are dependent on the intensity and duration of the session, the number of sessions that day, and the dancer’s underlying physiological conditioning (the same session carried out immediately after a holiday and then later in the term will have greatly different physiological and psychological effects, with the former feeling much harder and taking longer to physically recover from compared to the later session when the dancer’s

122

PERIODIZATION

FIGURE 13.2 Eight-week programme example.

TRAINING LOAD

123

124

PERIODIZATION

FIGURE 13.3 Weekly training load for an academic term incorporating two macro-cycles.

conditioning has improved). Figure 13.3 provides detail on how the overall daily and weekly training loads can be manipulated to progressively increase the training load; week nine would be followed by an unloading week similar to week six. The nutritional status is of particular importance because an inadequate diet can increase the time needed for recovery (Burke and Deakin 2000). The poor nutritional status of dancers is well evidenced within the dance medicine and science literature (Koutedakis 1996; Sandri 1993; Soric, Misigoj-Durakovic, and Pedisic 2008; Dotti et al. 2002; Hamilton et al. 1987, 1988; Koutedakis and Jamurtas 2004; Toro, Salamero, and Krasnow 2005; Wyon et al. 2014); a recent study has also indicated that dancers with low body fat take longer to recover (Twitchett et al. 2008). Adequate protein, carbohydrate and micro-nutrient intake is vital in the recovery process (Moore 2015; Maughan, Gleeson, and Greenhaff 1997). At a weekly level, the training load of each day can be planned so that hard training days follow lower intensity days. Multiple training sessions on one day will elicit a greater physiological adaptation than just a single session, especially if this is followed by a lighter training day that can facilitate recovery (Hakkinen and Kallinen 1994). If the time between these hard days is sufficient, the body dissipates fatigue and replaces the energy stores allowing the body

TRAINING LOAD

125

FIGURE 13.4 Different options for integrating daily training load within a micro-cycle.

to rebound into a state of supercompensation (Nicol, Avela and Komi 2006). This allows the dancers to recover fully rather than having multiple hard days in a row accumulating fatigue that will have a negative impact on skill acquisition. Within the programme at ArtEZ, a series of different systems have been implemented to make sure that the dancers have adequate recovery within the week: these include, but are not limited to, hard-recovery-hard-recoveryhard (H-R-H-R-H) and moderate-hard-recovery-moderate-hard (M-H-R-M-H) daily schedules (Figure 13.4). The intensity progression of each session’s daily and weekly training load is dependent on the goals of that macro-cycle. This is where periodization becomes an art-form as much as a science. It also needs to be adaptable so that teachers can feedback to the programme coordinator if students are becoming too fatigued or could cope with increased intensities. The programme co-ordinator must take responsibility for this, rather than individual teachers, so that a global overview is maintained. Figure 13.2 is an example of how these training loads can be progressed across an eight-week period.

Preparing for rehearsal and performance Performance is the raison d’être for dancers and sportspeople alike, though presently the lessons learned in sport haven’t been transferred to dance. Sport research has shown the benefits of decreasing

126

PERIODIZATION

training volume but maintaining intensity in the days prior to a competition/performance (Mujika 2009). This is called tapering and the emphasis of this phase is to elevate the dancer’s preparedness for performance by introducing a supercompensation period immediately prior to the performance date. The aim is to manipulate both the volume and intensity of the dancer’s workloads thereby allowing them to rest and regenerate before performing. The athlete is instructed to remove all extraneous activities that can lead to fatigue and they are encouraged to use free time to rest and recover. Presently, in dance, work volume and intensity often increase as the performance day looms, with last-minute rehearsals sometimes taking place on the actual day of the performance. This had a detrimental effect on the dancer in two main ways; firstly, as they are still learning/perfecting movement their goals are focused in mastering the movement (Roberts 1984) when ideally their goal focus should be on the performance. Some people can switch between the two very quickly but for others this change in emphasis takes time. Secondly, this will decrease muscular energy reserves, increasing the susceptibility to fatigue. First-night adrenaline has been reported to get many dancers through a performance, but the following nights’ performances have been described as hard work. Within sport there are many different tapering methods (Bompa and Haff 2009) and a version adapted for team sports is probably the best fit for dance. This recognizes multiple performance periods that encompass multiple performances, though sport rarely has the total number of yearly performances that dance companies have (England Premier League soccer clubs, thirty-eight to fifty matches a year; UK ballet companies, 150–240 performances a year). Within a dance vocational/pre-professional training environment, dancers can perform twenty to forty times a year in their last year at school. Within the final week of rehearsals, the first performance being on Saturday night, full rehearsal days should ideally stop on the preceding Wednesday. Thursday and Friday should encompass class, full dress rehearsal and video analysis, and possibly very specific, short duration rehearsals using as few dancers as possible. Obviously, the main hurdle to overcome is the choreographer perceiving they have reduced rehearsal time; at the time of engagement the choreographer should be given the date by which the piece has to be finished (the Wednesday, not the Saturday), so they can work to that date, if needs be they can think of this is the first night! The focus for

TRAINING LOAD

127

the Thursday and Friday is to recover physically from the rehearsal period and to change their mental approach to the dance piece from mastery to performance. If each dress rehearsal is filmed, then the performance can be reviewed while resting/recovering, with the choreographer/artistic director giving pointers and directions on what needs to be changed and areas that went well (both aspects are important to instigate corrections and increase/maintain perceptions of ability and self-confidence). Short rehearsals of specific areas can be used for fine adjustments if required but only the specific dancers involved should be invited so that the others can rest and keep in performance mode. The performance days should also take on a format that is different from the current practice. Rather than having a late morning class, followed by rehearsals, quick break, warm-up class, costume and performance, the majority of non-performance dancing (class and any rehearsals) should occur in the morning and early afternoon. At around 3pm the company should break for food and rest until the warm-up class for the performance. Having the break in the afternoon allows the dancers to rest and eat at the optimal time for the food to supply the muscles with energy, digestion of a meal takes three-to-four hours, in time for the

FIGURE 13.5 Tapering for performance: daily volume and intensity changes in the week prior to performance.

128

PERIODIZATION

FIGURE 13.6 Planning the performance day.

TRAINING LOAD

129

performance. The rest period could be spent watching a video of the performance and seeing if there are areas that could be worked on or using imagery with the same goal.

Monitoring the training load by dancers/students Understanding how the planned training regimen affects the dancers is vitally important and needs to be carefully monitored. This is known as the Internal Load and encompasses the individual’s physiological and psychological response to their training (External Load) and other daily life stressors. It can be monitored a number of ways (Carfagno and Hendrix 2014) from objective measures such as heart rate (Jeukendrup and Diemen 1998), heart rate variability (Lucini et al. 2017), creatine kinase (Hartmann and Mester 2000), blood lactate to subjective measures such as rate of perceived exertion (RPE) (Surgenor and Wyon 2019) or mood state (Hooper and Mackinnon 1995; Morgan et al. 1987). It is important to remember that the same training load can elicit different responses from different dancers and therefore this means that the group/class and the individual’s response to the external training load needs to be monitored. The group monitoring will allow an indication of the group response to the training load over time and how it matches the changes in external training load, while the individual data monitors the individual’s response against the external training load and the group average, and will allow the medical support staff to spot a dancer at increased risk of overtraining or injury and intervene. There are a number of factors that should be taken into account when deciding what method of monitoring to implement. For the majority of objective measures, there is a cost implication and with the subjective measures honesty is vital, the dancers need to report what they actually feel, not what they think others want. Consequently, it is recommended that the data are collected by either the medical team or administrative staff (depending on the chosen method and the skills required), rather than the dance staff. The most important aspect, irrespective of the method chosen, is the dancers’ compliance as missing data will affect the accuracy of

130

PERIODIZATION

the chosen monitoring system. The frequency of data collection should be viewed with the effort and time that is required to get the data. Although the internal response to each session might be ideal, the continued long-term compliance is remote, therefore it is proposed a daily global datum is used. Daily RPE is the easiest method of monitoring especially with large numbers of dancers, though the use of a truncated profile of mood state (POMS) (Terry et al. 1999) is beneficial but requires greater analysis. Initial responses might fluctuate a lot as the dancers get used to the monitoring, especially at the start of a term as they are also adapting to the external training load after a break, but data should smooth out after a couple of weeks.

PART FOUR

Curriculum change: it doesn’t happen over night

131

132

14 The influence of the external

In the next three chapters, we will use one case study to offer information from three different viewpoints: the guest teacher/ choreographer, the permanent teaching staff and the students. We will aim to provide an insight into how the diverse perspectives of these parties contribute to the complexity of curriculum planning, and highlight the need for a coordinated approach in the implementation of the periodization principles. In the first chapter we will discuss the influence of externals as soon as progress in the adaptation and execution of periodization is made and interacts with external parties, it will be challenged. These interactions create great learning moments but can also cause considerable disruption to the (new) standing practice. It is therefore crucial to explain to guest teachers and choreographers what periodization entails and how they are expected to contribute to the process while teaching and choreographing at the school.

Working with guest teachers and/or choreographers within a periodized programme Periodization is simply an approach to divide training over a longer period of time and to excel in the right pre-determined moment. Therefore, you should encourage discussions among the staff and the guest teachers/choreographers before and during their stay. One of the goals of periodization is the increased ability of staff to tune into the needs of the dancers/students by being adaptable 133

134

PERIODIZATION

with their training plans. Guest teachers/choreographers are required to determine and agree on collaborative goals in their working process and provide clear agreements in advance. Can a guest rehearsal director work responsibly within the periodized framework to finish the artistic process in time for premiere night? To what degree do students have a say in the rehearsal process and speed of progress? Where does the responsibility lie for the dancers to finish the process in a fit and healthy state and is the end of the process the opening night show or is that just the start of a touring period? Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate open dialogue more and more: the ability and willingness to reflect on your own behaviour and have the strength to show the honesty of not always knowing what is next and using the community wisdom to find answers. So, if you manage to set up a dialogue that will allow the guest teacher/ choreographer to see the benefits for not only the students/dancers, but also their contribution to the artistic process; you will often witness many eye-opening moments and the development of a curiosity on the what and how of periodization. However, sometimes discussions can also lead to increased tension within the team, or between the team and the guest. This happens when internal and external working methods conflict, or when the flexibility to intervene during the work process is not available. Scaling up or down the training load during the artistic process is not that common in dance. Unlike sports, where coaches constantly measure the athlete’s training load while heading towards a tournament, in dance we follow a preset schedule to arrive at opening night. In a periodized training programme we intervene when we see potential overload, this means we are not hesitant to flip the schedule around. It is obviously very challenging to keep all parties aligned especially when the guest is used to working with a preset workflow as described in this case study. You might need to negotiate with the guest rehearsal director/choreographer: ‘If you schedule two days working with the females only and then change to working with the men, then both parties will have two recovery days, without interruption in your rehearsal schedule’; or even ‘A break to drink every hour, makes the muscles less sore’. Within a school environment, it is helpful to remind the students to be smart and not always dance full out during rehearsals, and as an informal influencing tool, regular studio visits by the artistic/

THE INFLUENCE OF THE EXTERNAL

135

school director or health coordinator helps reinforce the periodization principles.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM 2007–12

A

s is common in today’s educational institutes, we were fortunate to have a leading guest rehearsal director working at the school to mount a choreography of a prestigious choreographer. The piece was part of a performance project programming the work of several renowned choreographers. The rehearsal director as expected, worked according to his usual method of mounting a choreography, starting in the first week with the opening scene of the piece, followed in the second week with the consecutive scenes of the choreography, then leading to mounting the female parts, the duet, to arrive at the finale of the piece, and ending the rehearsal period with time for cleaning up the details. This is a proven method, used in many schools and companies, but one that calls for re-evaluation in the light of a periodized training programme. Based on the observation of the increasing number of students visits to the in-house physiotherapist and the observations of the health coordinator from informal visits to the studio, it became very clear that after two-and-a-half weeks of the rehearsal period, the intensity and accompanying strain on and among the dancers were increasing considerably. We managed to take some shortterm pressure off the rehearsal process by increasing access to physical therapy and some mental coaching gave the dancers ‘room to move’ for the time being. Empathy for the dancers and listening to how they perceive their training is vital! However, the rehearsal director seemed unable (or did not feel sufficiently empowered yet?) to really change the rehearsal process structurally, and after a further three-and-a-half weeks the dancers’ injuries and stress levels rose to a critical level. We feared a major dropout if we did not intervene in the process and take structural action. On the recommendation of the health coordinator, we decided to significantly limit the number of

136

PERIODIZATION

training hours in the following week. We achieved this by shortening the rehearsal by half an hour and reducing the class time to half-an-hour warm-up. This way, the dancers considerably reduced their workload and had more recovery time. Importantly, it reduced some of the conflicting differences between the class and rehearsal goals. In fact this intervention was not new to the teaching team who had dealt with these kinds of decisions in previous years. Nevertheless, this time it caused great outrage after the decision was made, even though it was made clear that periodization is an active real time system that is designed to adapt to these situations. Concerns raised included: ● ●

●

●

●

● ●

Half an hour was far too short for their class! How could they then still prepare the dancers for the premiere? Didn’t they at least have to jump and build strength during this last week before the premiere? Why did the rehearsal have priority over class and development of technique? Why didn’t we trust that they as teachers could arrange/ organize this themselves in their lesson after all these years of working with periodization? There weren’t that many injuries, were there? How do I stuff one and a half hours of material into half an hour?

It became clear that it was largely the inflexibility of the guest rehearsal director to come to a collaborative solution that trigged much of the outrage. The permanent staff felt as though it was up to them to adjust to the needs of the external and they gained nothing in return which endangered the feel of a group effort. In retrospect, perhaps it was not realistic to expect this adaptability from a guest. However, suddenly the internal permanent teaching staff started to react like individuals and demanded equal rights on schedule time to pursue their independent goals. A team meeting, in which tempers ran high, was necessary for everyone to regain confidence and start working from the leading

THE INFLUENCE OF THE EXTERNAL

137

principles of periodization again. In this conversation, trust was definitely the keyword. Could the team work around a rather inflexible element in the overall programme and therefore adopt the task to provide the necessary counterbalance? In other words, could they support the decision to reduce their class hours and priorities, and focus on the artistic process instead of technical development? To find the answers to these questions we had to go back to basics. Artistic work and rehearsals were placed in the integration phase because by then the students were no longer focusing on adding technical skills and stamina, but mainly working on applying them. Did the teachers trust the programme to have provided the students with the necessary technical skills, physical and mental fitness to perform this work at an earlier stage, namely in the craft phase? Could we therefore let the artistic process prevail? Self-regulation and reflection are subjects that are placed in the curriculum from day one, i.e. students are taught the skills to self-train their physical fitness condition and be responsible for their own warm up. In year three, free sessions or self-study time are placed in the schedule for students to use according to their needs (go swimming, yoga, fitness, rest, etc). Could we, and more importantly, shouldn’t we, trust the students to self-monitor and support their decisions? Last but certainly not least, periodization leans on the concept that all the training sessions lead to successfully achieving the overall goals or optimal outcome. Each training session is equally important, though we should not confuse this with equality in duration or training load. The integral nature of the programme is therefore a key factor in its success or failure. The whole team now shares responsibility for the schedule and no one individual is able to influence the optimal outcome by themselves. Periodized working requires regular and constant dialogue: listen, discuss and then adjust, based on reflection and findings. Include the teachers, the students, the health team, the guests; what are their concerns, where do they see the risk? Does this bring a solution, does this help to achieve the goals as planned, what does it bring you? As the students entered their final year, we needed to trust the foundational work we had done with them and also trust that they would implement the self-regulation skills they had been taught.

138

PERIODIZATION

The test, of course, was opening night. Did all the interventions lead to success? Did we succeed in keeping all the dancers fit while maintaining an optimal work process for the external rehearsal director and the other choreographers? Did we prepare the dancers technically enough even though we reduced the training time (tapering) drastically in the last one-and-a-half weeks? Were the dancers confident and recovered enough to perform at their best ability that night? Or did the taper time lead to poor physical condition, loss of concentration and shape? Did we, in the end, have to admit that somewhere in the process, we lost control, or did we support optimal performance? You will find out in the next chapter.

15 The risk of relapse: Look who is stressing now

In the previous chapter we examined a possible effect that guest teachers/choreographers can have on the schedule, and the trust and flexibility it requires from the in-house team to interact with the impact of these interventions (as they will be a constant occurrence). In this chapter, using the same case story example, we highlight the risk of relapse. Periodization requires flexibility at both the team and individual level. Despite having worked with and embodied periodization for many years, it is challenging to keep everyone onboard in times of stress. The success of the periodized programme lies in the integrated approach and is therefore owned by everyone. If one party is unwillingly due to contextual circumstances, the other parties need to support that inflexibility. They should facilitate certain demands in the learning process, which may not be optimal and can affect the periodized programme, by adapting their practice to bring balance back to the programme. Another challenge is that working with externals can trigger personal dilemmas in staff members; this can cause a decline in their confidence in the periodization approach and a return to familiar or traditional methods. Giving voice to this insecurity and understanding that the staff feel highly responsible for the students’ well-being helps. This is not only important for, and in support of, the guest but it is also crucial for the continued professional development of the in-house staff. Bringing these experiences to 139

140

PERIODIZATION

team meetings is an important factor in achieving a successful outcome. As periodization requires a great deal of learning on the job, it is important that all who work with and within it are identified as learners and therefore allowed to develop along the way. No matter who you are and how long you have been in the process, there is a possible risk of relapse in behaviours driven by previous learned principles from when we were trained ourselves. In this chapter we focus on how the professional respect for the guest triggered a personal dilemma for the staff member who found themself caught between the guest and the students.

Resisting relapse: old habits die hard Once you have become used to the application of periodization in the schedule, you will notice that minor daily adjustments to the training schedule become part of your organization’s routine. You will reflect on the training load of the previous week and make adjustments to the forthcoming week which can have ramifications for the following month or semester as well as influence future planning for subsequent years and the entire training programme. You will apply checks and balances, assign a differentiated role and value to all elements of the programme in search of a periodized balance. You will determine what is most important at a specific point in the learning process of the student to build up competences within both their technical and creative development. You will also take into account how capable the student is in adapting to new information and/or training load at any given moment. You will become used to different class lengths, work with preassigned training load fluctuations for classes, and be ready to intervene if students start to display signs of not coping with the progressive overload. Your teaching staff will all get the hang of it and make it an integral part of their teaching. Previously, we explained the importance of cohesion in the team when it comes to goal setting, the curriculum and a shared philosophy on training principles, as the make it or break it factor. Dare you surrender to the idea that you depend on your team to make the right choices? And dare you rely on the observations and signals of the health team, that uses other measuring methods and perspectives to monitor how the students are dealing with the

THE RISK OF REL APSE

141

training demands? It is often the health team that witnesses the stress build up in the bodies, the increasing or decreasing frequency with which the dancers show up for a consultation, the nature of the complaints, but above all, the way in which the dancers themselves express how they experience the rehearsal process. A dancer does not commonly ‘complain’ about the rehearsal process or their training, especially to artistic staff, due to the group dynamic and peer and self-pressure. As a result, these issues are often expressed in the moment of interaction with the physiotherapist, who is able to determine whether this is an individual issue or whether the whole group is having a similar experience. This provides another important feedback mechanism and in extreme circumstances can lead the decision-making process. Once the leading principles have been adopted, it is key to express and test expectations of all team members and students on a regular basis. Daring to openly express individual and group ambitions and needs, and to reflect on possible deviations from the original plan or the expected outcome, is crucial to achieve the necessary trust among the team members. This trust will allow the individual members to feel safe to offer feedback and ask questions. And when you are allowed to question the collective, the step to self-reflection is small and clear. This will ultimately create an organic way of working among the team members. They will be able to identify what is important for all members and start to enjoy balancing out individual and group needs.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM 2007–12

I

n the process of deciding which team member would work alongside which guest choreographer for the Finals, we valued the personal interest, expertise and background of the staff member. This way we could best match both the incoming and resident expertise and also the accustomed and new way of working. In this instance the staff member and guest, had shared a professional past, which seemed a perfect match at the start. In retrospect, it triggered a personal dilemma for the staff

142

PERIODIZATION

member, caught between the invited guest and students. Instigated by professional respect for the status of the guest and their mutual past, they gave more weight to the requests of the external than on their own knowledge of periodization and the experiences developed by the team so far. So, instead of, in a moment of stress, helping the students to stand for what they had learned, the staff member sided with her past. This made it extremely difficult for the students to express their needs as they felt they now had to deal with and fight against both the teacher and guest who seemed driven by often unspoken rules of a shared practice from their past. The students felt pressured, the health coordinator was no longer welcome in the studio and regular breaks were a thing of the past. Students, uneasy with this behaviour, stopped communicating in the studio and started to express their discomfort in the dropin sessions with the physiotherapist and health coordinator. There was a tendency to put aside their self-monitoring to serve the piece and/or choreographer. This complicated matters for the students as they felt their feedback was being ignored which could lead to an accident or injury. In this particular case, we had to really intervene by highlighting the severity of the issue to our staff member. It provided us with a learning experience; in the end, it even turned out to be key in taking even more radical decisions to support the students and drastically downsize the influence of the people ‘in charge’. When the discomfort of the intervention (described in the preceding chapter) was expressed by the team and students, the student voice turned out to be crucial in understanding the impact on all involved. The negotiated intervention – shortening the rehearsal by half an hour and reducing the class time to half an hour warm-up – turned out to be a blessing for those in the choreography. The students in the second cast did not actually need the intervention as although they were evenly cast across various choreographies, they did not have a live orchestra to rehearse with prior to the premiére which reduced rehearsal time. This highlights the need for flexible scheduling and emphasizes that ‘one way does not necessarily fit all’. By platforming the students’ voice and re-shifting the responsibility, it was possible to intervene in a situation gone sour

THE RISK OF REL APSE

143

and help the process. The students helped with finding several compromises, this included scheduling parallel classes. This way students could take class on ‘demand’ and select the class that provided them with the opportunity to still address certain issues they felt important. The struggle of the staff member continued throughout the rehearsal process until opening night, as you can read in the next chapter. But an important lesson was learned and brought back to the team, old habits die hard . . . And that’s okay, as long as you are open to face the facts.

144

16 The power of self-regulating students

In the previous chapters we endorsed the importance of allowing teachers to become both master and learner while introducing and working within the new periodization framework. In this chapter, we take a closer look at the role of students and what the skill of self-regulation can offer to give them more control over, or influence on, their personal well-being. Teacher behaviour can stir up students’ individual insecurities and influence their confidence selfassessment. Using the same study, but from a student’s perspective, we can highlight how all the user groups contribute to the complexity of scheduling.

Empowering the students’ voice A very important aspect of periodization is the degree to which the students are given the responsibility for their own body, training and choice making. This sounds like something we are already doing, and of course, we all encourage the students to self-regulate. But honestly, we often cannot avoid the student being ‘stuck’ in the system, whether its due to the killer schedule, perceived hierarchies or simply their conscience? Periodization cannot avoid that, from time to time, there are periods of intense training but hopefully through planning, the student is prepared for these periods. It will also prompt students to be alert and through discussions with the staff, bring awareness of issues to the forefront and possibly reassess the current schedule. Learning and creativity can only occur 145

146

PERIODIZATION

when the students are in the right frame of mind and body to absorb the information. In the example of this case study, we see the impact of working with a preset choreographic schedule. To be clear, working within practices that resemble the real world are good learning experiences for students as it challenges the students to question how to adapt their own training schedule. If certain training elements are beyond their influence of control, how can they influence what they can control to maintain a healthy training load? We facilitate students to learn about the possibilities within their overall training schedule; dealing with class, rehearsals, self-study time, theory and other subjects such as nutrition, rest and recovery; how they use a dance class, as a warm-up, for skill maintenance or skill development.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: PERIODIZATION FOR DANCE EDUCATION; G. ALL ARD, M. WYON; ARTEZ, UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, ARNHEM 2007–12

I

n the previous chapter, we witnessed how the stress of the guest and the teaching team had its impact on the students’ selfregulating competence. This emphasized that even after working within a periodized framework for a long time, there is always a need to recalibrate. The case study demonstrates how staff anxiety eventually spills over to the students; in this particular situation this was unfortunate because the students at that time were preparing for a premié premiére and were exposed to many external stress factors. Therefore, they had to be given the opportunity to train based on their own load ability and needs; as this important premiére approached, they were tired and nervous which made them fall back into hesitant, depending behaviour. ‘I am really tired and do want to listen to my body, but . . . Oh well, I’m still standing, so surely I can push onwards for another week. Because I really have a lot of new things to learn/work on my technique/learn how to jump better!’ On top of this, the stress of the guest was added to their own stress. ‘It is really nice to hear about your educational approach and I find it really interesting, but I just notice in the rehearsal that

THE POWER OF SELF-REGUL ATING STUDENTS

147

you [the student] are less prepared for what you have to do. I really think it’s better if you go back to the standard class routine and do a full class instead of just a warm-up.’ However, the warming up (and the maintenance class) does not only help to reduce training load hours in full, busy and, therefore, tough weeks. It is not ‘just’ a class of shorter duration; the warm-up class supports teachers to focus more on giving class and less on teaching class. This provides the student with the opportunity to decide how they approach the class: to take class or be taught class. It is not just length and content but above all, the expectation that differs. To what extent does this student want to use the class as a moment for learning and development, or will it mainly function to prepare the body for a rehearsal or performance? As a result, the accustomed division of roles slightly shifts, from an educational perspective it opens the dialogue between teacher and student on how to share responsibility in the training goal setting. To reduce the workload in this pre-premiére week, we had managed to reduce the amount of training hours. The schedule of the staging week provided solutions for the complex planning of all that needed to be done; including the staging of several pieces, rehearsing with the live orchestra and the necessary rest and recovery time for the students. This enabled the students to peak at the right moment: opening night. To reduce the impact of the teachers’ anxiety created by the ‘exposure stress’ turned out to be more complex. As we managed to de-stress the situation with the agreements made on training hours, we had to take the next hurdle once the staging phase started. To begin with, the well-known disruptive transition from studio to theatre setting unbalanced the students. Due to changing the accustomed rehearsal environment, losing the mirror as reference and having to deal with more space made the students temporarily insecure which in return again triggered the staffs’ tendency to over-control and bombard the students with a load of new corrections. This prompted by the fact that the guest was now standing in the auditorium looking at the stage and could view the work from a different perspective. These two conflicting ‘needs’ (from the students and the guest perspectives) created a situation in which the initial reaction was to keep adding rehearsal time and to do more. This resulted in

148

PERIODIZATION

rehearsals being scheduled in the afternoon before opening night. Although this is considered normal within the wider dance community, it wasn’t the practice at the school, where we had instigated a reduced training load in the two days before performance to allow the dancers to recover and focus on the performance. We tend to forget that this pre-premiére moment is ‘just’ the end of a much longer carefully constructed process. We informed the guest that the most important thing now was to hand over the rehearsal process and the piece to the students as it was clear that all corrections and feedback functioned mostly to re-assure the staff, rather than to support the students. We had to step back and by doing so, give the students the confidence and reassurance that we trusted their capabilities to make it into a success; that a few final corrections would not make all the difference but listening to their needs would. This decision decreased the students’ stress but increased the stress of the guest. As the renowned choreographer flew in to attend opening night, his tendency was to keep working on final details until the last moment, we had informed but not convinced him. However, the students produced an excellent general rehearsal; creating the opportunity to stick to our beliefs and ask the students what they thought they needed to prepare for opening night. The students, ultimately chose not to do a run-through but just a walk-talk of the piece on stage. This turned out be a crucial moment in the entire artistic process. Once the guest agreed to their ‘terms’, the students became very responsive and eager to hear all feedback the guest could still give them on small elements within the piece for which they felt they needed a bit more information, practice or guidance. By the diversion of roles, from that moment on, the students owned the piece and we could see them literally master and embody their performance. The premiere was a great success, hereby success not just expressed as flawless, but it was magical, as the students were at their best. They were completely tuned in and were able to handle all aspects of performing with a live orchestra; and above all, they held the piece together as a community of individuals. As they all felt secure about their own part, they had the capacity to be aware and sensitive of what others brought to the performance. This brought such sensitivity and togetherness to the stage that the

THE POWER OF SELF-REGUL ATING STUDENTS

149

audience was drawn into it as well and became part of the community. That is not to say that this might not have happened had we not intervened within the rehearsal process. It is, however, an example that doing run-throughs, rehearsing and correcting until the final moment is not the only way to achieve optimal performance.

150

17 The teachers’ perspective Erin Sanchez

Introduction In this chapter we share the feedback of teachers about periodization at ArtEZ. We consider teachers’ reflections on the measurable (and not so measurable) impacts on students, not only in the classroom and in their wider roles at ArtEZ, but also in their personal experiences as dance leaders. The teachers at ArtEZ had a unique viewpoint on periodization. In this chapter we hear their reflections about the experience of periodization. We interviewed three teachers in the summer of 2016, roughly seven years into the implementation of the periodization programme at ArtEZ. The teachers represented technical and theatre specialisms. We asked them ten questions: 1 What was your previous knowledge of periodization at the start of the project? 2 What do you see as the key moments in the process of the innovation of periodization? 3 How has periodization changed your current teaching practice? 4 What’s the most rewarding part of working with periodization as a method for structuring the education programme? 5 What’s the most difficult part of periodization? 6 How do you inform the students about what you expect? 151

152

PERIODIZATION

7 What do you see as the benefits that are measurable from periodization? 8 What has changed in the build-up of your classes? 9 What has changed in how you see your contribution to the curriculum? 10 How could an outsider recognize an ArtEZ dancer in relation to the system of periodization? Below, we have provided a summary of their answers to each question.

TABLE 4 Summary of responses from ArtEZ teachers about periodization Question

Summary

Q. 1: Previous Bringing it to dance was new; I had none; Not conscious; knowledge Periodization protects you (from injury); We rebelled Q. 2: Key moments

Convincing students (Jumping); Getting it wrong; I lost the floor; Impossible schedule – adding things means taking things away, teacher availability; Mental periodization; Periodization is (a teacher’s) practice – phase meetings, setting goals, student and programme goals, teachers periodize; Periodization theory; Questioning; Student autonomy; Teachers’ responses

Q. 3: Current teaching practice

A new way to teach; Bringing it to the dance world; Finding the right words; I have to change; Periodization brings awareness; Periodization gives energy; Only saying how to periodize is not enough

Q. 4: Rewards Students at full capability without getting hurt; Better team spirit; I don’t have to hurry; I’m not afraid I will injure the students; Injury levels drop; We have limited hours; Making students aware; More fit dancers; Periodization as a team building tool; Responsible, reflective students; Student eagerness and ability; Students are less tired; Students can have fun and concentrate; Students reflect; I say to students, ‘Take fifteen minutes for you’; Teachers get rest

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

153

Q. 5: Difficulties

The problems with guests; Is periodization really working? No routine; Periodization feels natural; Periodization has no walls, periodization is the life of an artist; Students want more, but students understand later; Teachers need to understand their role; To maintain the changes; We don’t have enough hours for things

Q. 6: Informing students of expectations

Clarity of periodization programme is improving; Clear communication between students and teachers; We set goals; Student reflection; Students have to believe in it; Students are prepared to be proactive; Students talk to students; We support them to be sensitive

Q. 7: Measurable benefits

Better health test understanding; Less absence; Fewer injuries; Students maintain strength; Teachers have more tools than ‘feeling’; Students are dealing with a lot; Students have energy; Teaching . . . gives life; Teachers are alert

Q. 8: Build-up You have to adjust to phase; You have to adjust to the of classes day’s schedule; I am not the whole thing; Periodization should be second nature; Student feedback changes the periodization programme; Students are knowledgeable; Students solve it themselves; Understanding which period we are in; Different year group priorities Q. 9: Contribution to the curriculum

We must keep building evidence; I am not most important; Periodization is getting more specific; We have less input in decisions now; Are we really doing it; I feel a responsibility; From theory to practice

Q. 10: The Co-thinkers – as people and dancers; Independent, ArtEZ dancer individual, unique; More mature with more ideas; They have multiple skills; Responsible and self-aware; Students reflect; Technically strong; Understanding periodization Other thoughts. . .

We are avoiding injury; Bringing understanding to the team; Careful evaluation is needed; Mental periodization; Mutual respect; Proactive students with a voice; Sharing is difficult in dancing; Students know how to do a lot; Teacher availability is difficult

154

PERIODIZATION

What was your previous knowledge of periodization at the start of the project? Teacher 1: We didn’t really have the knowledge about this so-called ‘periodization’ beforehand, but in the beginning stages of the project, yes we had to – were confronted with these changing times of putting things at different times of the day . . . we didn’t have knowledge about it but we rebelled against it because we didn’t know about it. So we said, ‘No, no [there] cannot be ballet in the afternoon, they are not going to be good, they are not going to be focused, they are not . . .’ – we were wrong of course, but now we know it after seven years or so – eight years, but we didn’t have knowledge about this. We knew that sometimes we did have a change of subject in different times, but it was not consciously done. So maybe we have done a few things like this, but it was not conscious. Before we started it [periodization], it is just because teachers couldn’t come in the morning, then we had to put a class in the afternoon, or vice versa or change because of availability of teachers and we couldn’t do it, and also because of the availability of teachers or choreographers, then we said, ‘Ah, no then we have to move their choreographic time to this part of the year’ because that’s the only time when the choreographer could come. And this teacher can come only then, so we did it then, but this is actually, it was working but we thought it’s disturbing their follow up – but there was no real follow up. It was just done like this for years. So that’s what I think happened, but we were not conscious that this was happening, that it’s good. But after we did the periodization programme, we realized yeah, change of placement and time is very good, depending on which part of the year. So, it’s really consciously put in places, but before it was random. Teacher 2: I had none. I had no knowledge of it [periodization] at all before I started [with] the dance. So, it was new. I remember when I started teaching . . . The first year I started teaching and I had one class with the second year students. And then I did something, which was probably because I was starting at the beginning of the year, and then the health coordinator called me and said, ‘You have to come see me’. And I was like ‘What’s going on?’ ‘You did something you cannot do yet.’ And then he explained, periodization, you know, in steps. I said ‘Oh . . .’ Because I didn’t know about it before I started. It was a kind of unknown territory.

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

155

And I did understand it right away. I mean, in theory I understood it. But to really experience it, that took some time. . . . Because dance is physically so demanding . . . you need something to protect you. But I think periodization is really a good example to be aware of what happens in the body, how it works and to be able to protect yourself from getting injured. And it [periodization] happens in daily life. I mean, it happens in my life, I periodize, you know. Teacher 3: Actually, if I knew something [about periodization], it was not conscious. Somehow in a company . . . actually we never used this word . . . but how how the year ran; with [the] amount of rehearsals, performance; . . . I never thought [about it] but now that you ask me, I think – maybe we did it, not so carefully and not so aware, but also thinking, okay, we start always to organize the life in theatre backwards . . . ‘How many performances?’ and [then] we start to plan the rehearsals, and which rehearsals, which period of the year, the load of performance, ‘We give them freedom tomorrow? No, it is not possible, so the class will be actually . . .’ When you tell me, we did [periodize, but] we weren’t conscious of it. We had between ninety and 120 performances a year . . . Sometimes nothing in between, sometimes for days depending on the load, but it was like from Tuesday to Sunday. Sometimes having nine performances a week, sometimes having three weeks with two kids’ performances every morning, and then rehearsal in the afternoon, performance in the evening, with another piece. So when I think about it, yeah we probably did small periodization according to the possibilities but not being conscious of it. And the injuries – when I think, [it] was not really like, ‘Wow, we have to cancel performance because of injuries,’ I don’t remember that. Sometimes we had replacements because, ‘Oh yeah, this is all arrangements in the piece, not to hurt the dancer’, but, yeah, actually it was quite healthy with this amount of work.

What do you see as the key moments in the process of the innovation of periodization? Teacher 1: Key moment is the evaluation time. We have to see how it [periodization] works in the practice. And I think the

156

PERIODIZATION

evaluation time at the end of the semester, at the end of the phase that we are doing [is a key moment], but mostly the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, and then the feedback from the students. So, when we have that feedback . . . we put the feedback together and that was the most interesting of discussions, if it works or not, and most of it worked quite well . . . But the key moments for the decision if it really worked, we had to give it time. So, at the end of the year and at the end of every semester, there was the most important moment to see if it really worked, the innovation. Because you can think about it, and we put new things in the programme . . . When we added theatre to the programme, we thought it’s good for Dancemaker, is it going to work [for] theatre? We didn’t have theatre classes before in dance. So, it was one element part of the innovation that we thought, ‘Yes but it’s enriching them in another way’ and it seemed like it was working. So, because it gives more tools to do different things after. So some people will go to a regular company, a dance company, it could be a contemporary or ballet company and it’s . . . ‘normal audition’ . . . ballet class, repertoire, maybe improv and a solo – but there were other auditions when people came and gave us feedback, ‘Yeah, we had to take text, we had to sing – we had to stand up and just think of something and express it’ and so we thought yeah, we need to put these elements in the programme to help them to go through auditions because we don’t know who will choose to go where. We give them the freedom to choose on a broad variety of places. Then we thought with innovation programme, we could also put elements that we didn’t have before but maybe we have to take something out. . . . So, this was one thing, but I was saying we put theatre in but we had to take something else out. And then comes the big discussion in the team, what kind of things we can reduce? . . . and how much theatre to put [in]? So the first year . . . we put much too much theatre and we thought, ‘Yeah, they have to know this,’ and then we realized . . . ‘Actually in there, they just need a little bit of it because the main task is dancer or maker, but not actor.’ . . . and this is the critical moment in the innovation, that we have to keep evaluating, I think . . . how much of which subject [do] we put in? And we must, and I think we did it in the last years, we keep evaluating, is it enough or is it too much? And we look at most subjects like this, not one by one but we sense from the feedback from students mostly but also if we feel, ‘Ah it’s too much

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

157

and they get too tired, maybe they don’t need this or maybe this is too heavy now in this period of the year’ and ‘Maybe this choreographer’s work is too heavy . . . So, the programme is sort of our Bible and we try to keep it as a whole. . . . Because if the students say, ‘Yeah, we want this, we want this, we want this’ but we have to think, ‘What kind of contemporary [technique] is good during the build-up? How much in the first year? How much in the second year? How much in the third year? What is the development through the years, but also in the same year?’ So, we look on a ‘short line’ of a year and we look on a ‘long line’ of four years. . . . We think: ‘What is the emphasis? What is the goal of the first year? Is to have them [the students] in a preparation phase? So ‘preparation’ means maybe that you need to know the body better, you need to know your elements within the body to know how your instrument functions. This is the major point of the first year, I think. It’s not only about technique. This is not the highest goal. It’s not about performing, even though they perform, that’s not the goal. The goal is to know your instrument, and to give time to digest, and to find yourself in your programme . . . they [the students] are really thrown deep in the sea with a lot of things and at a much higher level . . . and more intense [training]. But also a lot of more free time that they have to know how to deal with – how to treat themselves and how to support themselves, what they need, and need time to also write and think and analyse things and read articles and write reports they have to write – things they have to analyse by themselves. So, they take charge. They take charge of their programme actually. We are just there to give few things in the third year but actually they are taking charge. Teacher 2: Now, right now, I feel like it’s embedded more in my system than before. So now I am able more to guide students in it. So, I cannot say, ‘Okay, this was the key moment, this was the key moment’. It was more kind of gradually getting into it. And I was on my way here in the train, I was like: ‘Okay, now I can . . . it should and can become second nature. Something natural. You know? Because first for me it was theory, like statistics, and then it was the practice. And then how to bring it together. Then I was like, it should be something as . . . what you do . . . on a day that I, for example, when I think about preparing or a role that I would play.

158

PERIODIZATION

I get up in the morning, I prepare myself, and I do this kind of personal thing, and then I know: ‘Okay, I have to go to the key moment at night’. So, I do it [periodization] also. And it feels natural. And I think everybody, every teacher does something that ‘Yeah, naturally we do that’. We all do it, maybe, but to feel that we do it together, makes the big difference for me . . . to feel it as a whole, that we all feel it. I remember we had a meeting with the artistic director, end of last year. We all had questions still about periodization, but then she said, ‘Yeah, but we all do it. We make it very difficult, but we all do it’. Maybe that was the key moment, actually. Because I was like, ‘Yes!’ Because I make it so difficult, but she approaches it more naturally. And maybe that conversation we had with her was a key moment. But the other thing is, I also feel that . . . It takes time to slowly embed it. Teacher 3: Honestly, it’s how we teachers face periodization and – actually I didn’t also realize at the beginning when we started to work – probably because I am doing the schedule. I was focusing [on how] to do a good schedule, a schedule that makes sense and periodizes the week and the months and the year. Which is, to tell you the truth, it is impossible. Because of the availability of teachers, I will never have the ideal schedule . . . So, I have to adapt [the schedule] many times . . . I was fighting with this, I don’t know how many years. I realized, ‘Wait, actually periodization is us in the studio. How do we deal with the day of the student; being the first class or the second technique class or now the third; so what they have done already. Do I have to do again? Or do I take [it] from where they stopped from the lesson before and they jump[ed] a lot. So, is it necessary to jump more?’ You know, I think if each teacher really looks what the day for the students or the group is, then is when we do the periodization. I am . . . convinced now . . . My colleagues, although we talk about this always, it is possible, but I don’t know if each one is really conscious of it. What I see also with the theory teachers . . . They said, ‘Oh now I realized I gave too many assignments’ . . . the students, they don’t have physical stress but they have a mental stress. When do they have really time to allow all the information, daily information, to drop, that they can start to digest [it] . . . I said [to the theory teachers], ‘But why do you do this?’ So it is like although we speak, each one of us has to find out and really then ‘do’ with periodization. Otherwise, I think it

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

159

[periodization] is wonderful when you read on paper. It’s all there, but it is like maybe we have to remind the team, every year, and in the middle we check, and one of these periods, we call ‘phase meetings.’ . . . I think you really want to experience that and I am a person who I always think I still don’t know. I want to know. So, I am curious to try differently. It is like the beginning – I always tell this story – the fight with the artistic director, because when she came we had five times classical [ballet] a week, five times Modern, or whatever they had. And when we started to design the programme with her, and Matt said, ‘Why everyday Classic[al ballet]? Does it have to be? Does it have to be every day one-and-a-half or two hours? Can we not maintain the work [but] sometimes – sometimes yes five but then sometimes three times, sometimes even two?’ So, it was like, ‘God, I lost my floor,’ because this is what I was doing. This is how I knew how to do. So I had to really accept to try and to make the students also conscious. No student asks anymore, ‘Why don’t we have ballet every day?’ The new ones, first years, never ask. So, it is interesting. When we made the change, of course the ones that were here was like, ‘God, now we are going to lose our skills’, their reaction was our reaction, but now you don’t hear these [reactions] anymore. So [that] says yes, it’s possible. It is possible because especially . . . we are not a classical school. We are a Contemporary school. So, where is the focus? Is on the Classic five times a week and then twice Contemporary? No. We had a change in the roles somehow and yeah it worked.

How has periodization changed your current teaching practice? Teacher 1: I think it gives a lot of energy; because before you had the technique classes usually in the beginning part of the day and then other kinds of classes or rehearsals later in the afternoon, at the end of the day, dance history or music or dramaturgy or now they have theatre. It was all later in the day, . . . and now it’s not. They can start the day with music and theatre and then only go to dance classes at 2 in the afternoon until 5 or two classes sometimes. So for me, it’s also alertness. I have to be sharp at 9 in the morning but also at 12 but also at 3 and also at 5. I have to have the same

160

PERIODIZATION

sharpness because I have to produce the goods, sort of. So, I have to have that, as if it is 9 in the morning. And this variation during the day, makes me as a teacher also, I don’t know, I feel younger in spirit all the time because every few hours, you feel you just woke up and you have to – now, ‘Oh yeah let’s do. Oh yeah let’s do’. So, it comes up through the day or the time, suddenly 3 o’clock to do ballet class, we’d never thought about this in the wildest dream, only nightmares we thought. Three o’clock ballet class; no, it’s the end of the day. They are already dead. No, they are actually more fresh and their concentration is fantastic because they didn’t do classes now. They are working with their brain about other things and then they start and they want, because they didn’t have it yet. So now they have the energy. It’s 3 in the afternoon, they start, and then rehearsal is only later. It changed my way of perceiving also the day. So I don’t think, ‘Yeah it’s 5 in the afternoon, it’s time to go and eat’, no. Sometimes . . . I actually feel more like a dancer now than a teacher, which means that a dancer has to have the peak alertness in the evening, at the end of the day. So, we have the rest in the afternoon and that’s how it works. So, you work in different parts of the day and then at the end of the day, you still have energy because you had your rest or you didn’t do physical things before and then you go to physical, then you go into the minds and you go into physical. And it’s fresh . . . you know how to prepare because you’ve learned how to prepare your body . . . you are alert all the time to start again . . . Time becomes irrelevant, the actions when you have to do them become relevant. And that’s for me as a teacher, I feel that. So, for me, if I need to teach or . . . perform, I can perform at 5 in the afternoon or 6 or 7, rehearsals, with the same energy as I had at 9 in the morning but you have to keep this alertness in yourself. You have to follow the programme, you have to believe in the programme and you see it works. We didn’t think so in the beginning. We thought, ‘But the day is upside down’ . . . but it gives energy that you don’t do every day the same . . . It gives energy. Teacher 2: It has more to do with . . . awareness of things. I am more aware of how I teach. And it’s not that I teach totally differently now, but I am more aware of what the students need at that particular moment. So, the awareness of . . . the whole, ‘What have they done before, where are they going, what is my task at this moment?’ . . . The thing that I want to . . . give everything, and this

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

161

is what I want to do. But now I’m like: no, it’s a part of everything. so it makes it . . . not less important, but . . . I don’t know, it’s just the feeling of . . . the awareness is not a change in teaching, I would say. More the awareness of things outside, and what makes my class and other classes one line. Teacher 3: A lot, a lot because it’s like every time, every year that I start teaching the first years, it is a new way to teach for me because I have a group of completely different students than I had last year. So first I have to feel them . . . ‘That’s how they do or that’s their way. So how am I going to get this group?’ Like this year, we start with thirty. How do I make thirty students start to work differently? But to make them work differently, I have to change as well. I have to think about what it is, what are the elements that I will first start to bring them in the way that I think they should work. I am not saying that is the best way, but the way that I think I can work with them and to support them, that’s it. So, in that way, a lot of fantasy has to happen, a lot of different images that I have to – I like to create to give to them, to get . . . out of [technical] form and to start to work with sensation, that’s what I believe. That’s when they start to get to know their bodies . . . the fact that I know that I don’t have them five times a day every day until the end of the year, exactly this – I have to choose how I start the first six weeks when we don’t jump, how do I make them understand that not jumping is not going to make them less? – It’s going to give them more time. What do we work [so that] they start to understand how to work? Because I just don’t admit that they start just [like a] machine – you press the button and they start to do, no! . . . I go in again and again and again and until I see that the body is telling me something . . . I have to change. I have to change to make them understand.

What’s the most rewarding part of working with periodization as a method for structuring the education programme? Teacher 1: I think the results that you see, the students are alert all the time, that they are less and less tired, actually. So, all the

162

PERIODIZATION

information you give is passed through, is going through and you don’t have to work hard at it, if they are concentrated. You just have to mention once or twice and they do, . . . So, they know how to have fun but also concentrate and intensify their dancing ability . . . They go into studio – voom, they are zoomed in. They have also more breaks in between. You have to be alert all the time almost but then the moment you have a break, you have to relax a little bit and then you pick it up again and so I have learned it also. We had the same path actually but on a different level. It’s also rewarding and they are getting the information. That’s the most important, I think, and it happens more and more. You don’t have to work that hard to put it [the learning] through [to] them . . . The reward is you see the eagerness that they want to receive more and more. And they are able to do it. It’s not only they want to do it, they are able to do it. They keep wanting more of everything, information, I mean. More classes they cannot get because it’s – that’s the amount of hours we have. There is a limited number of hours. We are not going over the hours. This is another thing that is rewarding for everybody. If a piece is not ready in rehearsals, we cannot say ‘we put five more hours’ rehearsals in the last two weeks’. This is not going to happen. This is another rule of periodization. You have only these hours, you cannot add. You cannot increase the amount of hours to study. You have to do it with the hours you have, because it’s the limit. The body needs also rest and recovery and it’s part of it. You have to do it with the time you have, and this is rewarding also for us, as a teacher. ‘How am I going to make it in this amount of hours, and still give all the information I need to give’ and not hoping that if we are not getting in time that I can ask five more hours’ rehearsal later, no. We can’t add – the programme is already full, we can’t add. We can only ask for the hours we have, that’s it? make the benefit of the time that we have. So, we have to be prepared as teachers to know, to plan ahead. I need to plan ahead. This is also rewarding for me, actually. I learned to plan better, through the course, and also through rehearsals. Sometimes there is less time to discuss things. For instance, in rehearsal, if you know you have a limited time and then you have to give tasks . . . You put that you put the education in their hands. You say, ‘Oh we don’t have time to do this section. You take the video and until next week, you know this part. And then we can discuss it, when you know it. And we can work on it but we have no time to go step by step. You have to learn

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

163

this amount first’. It depends on which pieces and so and it depends on the period, it depends on the class. But this happened and this is something that I wouldn’t think is possible before, to let them first learn the things by themselves and then coach it and then work on it, but it happens and it’s good. It makes them proactive in their learning. It’s not all the time like this, but it can happen. Teacher 2: Well, the fact that . . . to see the work they have done, the artistic repertoire work, and to see them at full strength and passion and power, without getting hurt. Because we just had that [a performance], that’s so amazing to see. And then I think: yes, that has to do with the periodization. Although students sometimes are like, ‘We want more’. But then in the end, yeah, look at what you have done. Reflecting back, they see it works. And I see this work and I think: yes, this is the peak moment, periodization works towards the peak moment – and then I think, yeah, that’s really rewarding to see, actually the result of it. Sometimes maybe they struggle with it and . . . but it’s for a reason. They are rewarded, so that for me is very rewarding. And also, in teaching it’s rewarding that . . . I’m not afraid that something’s going to happen to them, because I am doing the right thing, I’m following the method as much as I can. I mean, I call it a method. Or this way of life within the dance. So, I feel safe in doing my classes. I’m really not afraid that I go too far. Because I know I am teaching in the craft phase, that is my place. I really know: this is my place. When I was starting and I was doing the preparation phase, doing the same, I felt . . . I didn’t feel it at first, but then you feel, ‘Oh no, it’s not the right place’. So, it gives you . . . you know, within the phases . . . I get freedom within that phase. But sometimes, ‘Okay, I do this, I do that,’ sometimes it’s like, ‘Am I doing too much now? Shouldn’t I build it more?’ Actually, I got these questions more and more by working at the dance academy . . . in the craft phase it’s really that they grab all new material, they get a lot I’m talking about second year craft phase. They get a lot of new classes. And it’s really about the neighbouring classes [to mine]. And my kind of class suits here, because it’s like a module. They work with voice and movements they have never done before. But they can dive in it with me without the fear of getting hurt, because they have already prepared themselves enough to do this kind of work. They can open themselves and give it all. And my class is not exhausting . . . but it’s something

164

PERIODIZATION

new, and yeah, they have more new classes in that phase, but they are prepared for that. Teacher 3: [The most rewarding part of periodization is] it makes me periodize my work. I don’t have to give everything in the first week. We have time, three years to periodize them. When you think the first year is the preparation year as a whole; second year is the craft; third year is integration . . . It is like what to ask when from them . . . So what do we give and how they respond? And I see teachers stressed because they don’t have time to give everything. I don’t have this hurry anymore. This I learned. If we took the whole class to do a plié and a tendu – well that’s what we did – but then I think they got something with that . . . Of course, I don’t do this the whole year, but some days I take this luxury and say, ‘Okay, we are just going on to work with the plié today,’ whatever this brings to them. But I really do that, and I am not worried about it. As I say, ‘I [am] finished today. You have still twenty minutes. Take this twenty minutes and discover something. Ask me questions. I will be here, but now take this twenty minutes for you’. After every four weeks [or] three weeks, we sit together and I cross my arms and then I say, ‘Feedback to me’ . . . So, then I make them think. Normally they also should not talk but I want to hear, I want to know. Are they with me or [am I] just in my mind thinking, ‘Wow wonderful, their work is amazing!’ and they didn’t understand shit. By making them say, they start to feedback themselves, as well, because then I really take myself out and I let them [speak]. The first [students] are always looking at me . . . but suddenly . . . they start to talk – what it [means] to them and they said, ‘no but to me’ . . . and then I just let them. So [I] always . . . make them reflect, I always say, ‘Work is 50 per cent me, 50 per cent you guys. I will never give you 100 per cent’ . . . Never more [than that]! I believe in sharing, not in giving and feeding them until they explode, and they don’t know anything. I just say, ‘You want [me to] I give? Then give me back’. I am not there to tell them what is the truth. They should find out. And we say, ‘I indicate the way, it’s [up to] you [to] decide to walk slowly. If you decide to run, you do, if you decide suddenly to turn right, choose left or go straight, bang against the wall, come back. I don’t know. Find a way, find a way to be self-responsible . . . In two years, you are going to start to do auditions. So make sure that you don’t go for class like you are going to put your clothes into washing machine.

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

165

Give the value to your body, what you ask for your body every day. By giving this value, I think you are going to start to work in a higher level, to deliver in a higher level but with intelligence and connection into your body because it is also these. I feel that I always have to be prepared to feedback [to] them in another level to make them understand [so] they get out of this mode [of] ‘Learn step and deliver step, learn step and deliver step’. That’s what they are used to – from whatever they come. It’s like that’s it. Now, I am not saying that [mode] doesn’t exist . . . I always say, the lady from the cantina can put two steps together and tell you that this is a combination for you to do . . . everybody can copy . . . but to really teach I think is a very fascinating thing that not everybody can [do it] unfortunately.

What’s the most difficult part of periodization? Teacher 1: Well, it’s very close to the most enjoyable part . . . the difficult part is to realize that yeah, we don’t have enough hours for things. If you think maybe we don’t have some hours to do this or that, in certain subject and you want to do more . . . You think, ‘I didn’t get [it] all’ but we have to get satisfaction with what we have, and not with what we don’t . . . It keeps changing, but we have to do the same. It’s no routine. So, the difficult part is that we thought routine is good for us, and it was difficult to get out of that thought. That was the hardest thing in the periodization, to get out of routine and now we have realized that routine is not good at all for you. That’s what I think. Because when I sometimes have ballet at 10 in the morning and sometimes at 2 in the afternoon and sometimes at 3 in the afternoon and sometimes at 11, I am also fresh. I think wow! Okay let’s do it now. Wow! . . . So, to get out of routine was difficult in periodization. And in periodization itself . . . I don’t know . . . Now it seems so natural after so many years. So, it’s difficult to say it feels natural that it keeps changing, in the day time and also the week . . . and this week ‘yes’ and this week ‘no’ and then you leave it for ten days and then you come back to the same subject. Now it seems natural but before, if I didn’t have continuation, let’s say three times a week rehearsals of the same piece or three times ballet every week before a test class, this routine was sort of

166

PERIODIZATION

necessary, and now I have more trust. So, breaking the routine here was really the hardest thing to do. The routine in our mind as teachers, for sure. We are more flexible to do things in different times and this keeps you alert and fresh, it’s good. Keeps you young at heart . . . It’s a life, the periodization is really a life of an artist. It’s never the same. That’s what I realized now. It’s not – it’s a system, we are working within a system, that is not square, that has very open walls. The walls are open. You don’t say 9 to 5 office hours. We have a lot of windows in this building. So, it’s see-through, and that’s how the programme is. It’s see-through. We can see through this week and we know this week is not this, not this, not this but it’s coming next week. So, we are calm because we know it’s coming just after, and the students have learned to also follow this. For the first year students, it was the hardest to change, because they wanted to dance. They wanted more and more active and actually we reduced things in the first year. So the mind can go and sync with the body and not to overload, and very slow build up. And the second year is bombard[ing the students with activity]. So there is a reason there is much less problems with people, injuries are reducing . . . [but] routine is the hardest to break. Teacher 2: Maybe because I am also a mentor of the second years, and . . . maybe transferring the knowledge to students, or to make students understand. Because they always want more. They don’t want reflection – I mean, it is also the age they’re in, I think, they just want new things, want more. To explain [to] them the importance of building things. Importance to also have time for, for example, selfstudy time, self-reflection, to really make them understand that. It’s also the age of those young people, they don’t settle with that, they want more. And that’s, for me, it’s the difficult part. I think I’m getting better at it, or I can explain it better to the students. But it’s still sometimes hard. Not at a busy moment, because they seem to love it when they go and do . . . but especially when they are, like, self-study time, [one or a few] classes a day, and they’re like ‘Why!?’ To explain it to them. Yeah, you give a lot and you see what comes back, and you have to recover and . . . And always after the – like, after the year, because now I am doing the mentor talks, because it is the end of the year – with looking back, they understand. The puzzle comes together. But when they’re in it, they don’t really . . . It’s hard to really explain it to them. And I always come back to it at the end of the year, and

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

167

they’re like, ‘Oh yes, now we know. Yeah, we we’re like “Huh?” but now we see it works’. Teacher 3: . . . If the team of teachers in general don’t understand what [their] role [is] in this . . . actually more than this . . . it’s like schedule wise, in our reality . . . what can be done with the availability of teachers? This is better in the morning or the afternoon? This is better on Tuesday or Friday? I don’t have this chance. I try as much as possible to make things connect and have a sense but some days . . . it doesn’t make any sense . . ., and actually the difficulty to make it work is to know if everyone is aware about the separate roles that we have, and the combination of [these roles in the programme]. . . . Each guest who arrives, we try to [prepare them] . . . They already know their role, then you want to try to explain [to] them what that means . . . We have even online a letter that is sent to every guest with a little video talking about the periodization that they get to knowing what that means. I am not sure if they understand. Also we always say, ‘Please now just take care because this group has this amount of things [classes, rehearsals] or they are concentrating [on] that performance’. Now the first years are – the period for them is, they do solos. So, the classes are there are important but it is not that moment for them to focus on classes. They are only focusing [on] their problem. Their focus now is their creativity, the solos. So of course, lessons . . . we are not going to kill them because the focus of them is going to another point of the programme now. I don’t know how much the guests, the new ones coming in and out, understand. It is like now the Gaga teacher, she was very – actually clever. She asked first before I spoke to her, ‘What are the third years doing, what are the second years doing, what did they have now, what are they first? Aha okay so, third years, that’s what I am going to look for’. So, this I found interesting, when a teacher already comes into an institution and wants to know what is going on here. Not that they are the start. Normally, guests can have this position, or they think they should have this position. Of course, they are there, it is an important piece in the programme but sometimes depending on what it is [they are doing], they are not at all the stars. But I found very nice that she asked before I start to say something. So I said, ‘Okay, I know she knows what to do’. So this is like, it can be that this is like, a young person you know who is more aware. I don’t know if she – maybe she got also this letter with the video that she

168

PERIODIZATION

saw and then she came already prepared to enter and contribute to that. That is very beautiful actually.

How do you inform the students about what you expect? Teacher 1: As a teacher, well we just say what we are working on before we start, they [the students] also read. So we say, ‘What we are working on, what are the elements that we concentrate on?’ They have what we write, our work plans. Every teacher writes a work plan which is online. So, they can see it online, but we also discuss the main things, I think, at the beginning of a course, or at the beginning of a year, or a phase . . . I say what it is and then if I see they forget, I said, ‘What did we work on last week, what is it this week, what are we?’ And they have to find the answer. I am not repeating. So, they learn to be proactive in the programme, or the elements that they are working on and also integrating between classes. What did they learn there? Can they integrate it in here? . . . And sometimes I don’t say. I just say, ‘What did we work on?’ and they have to come with the answer, and they have to help each other to bring the elements up. So, this is periodization also. It’s not – they have to realize where they are in this period, where are they in the other period. Teacher 2: Because it’s in phases, I talk about. . . In AL meetings that I have – active learning meetings – we talk about preparation phase, ‘What is the goal of the preparation phase?’ . . . We have a year planning; I always go through the year planning with them. That they feel the build-up. Then we have the technique weeks, I always prepare them for that. It’s really, actually, in theory I prepare them. Sit down with them, have the year plan, go over it per phase . . . in the class itself you also have a little periodization. Always before I start, I say, ‘Okay, we’re going to start’. . . I know what they had [done] before, so sometimes it is not necessary to warm them up, I can start right away. So, I just explain to them what I am going to do. So that is actually how . . . Very simple. Teacher 3: Talking very clearly before we start a new phase . . . it is like when we finish the preparation phase, at the beginning of the

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

169

year, we sit. I lose really half an hour [of class] to talk with them, to ask them, to inform – who I am, how I do, how I like and be always very open and transparent. So, before the technique weeks, I sit with them and make them aware how they should choose which level they want to work, what is that they want to reach in these first two weeks technically let’s say . . . So, what is the focus? Do they have some – how do I say it? – elements – that they want to concentrate and work through these two weeks. They don’t have to tell me but they have to know, and to make it clear to me that they have a focus on that. What is their focus? . . . We have four more weeks. So, what it is now? Of course, we always go back and correct but I always push them to be aware that they said that they want to do that, not me. Are they doing [it]? Do they need more help from me or is it because they are not really doing what they say that they want to do because it’s amazing. I always ask. If you teach me to do that, what do you tell me? And they tell me. And I said, why then don’t you do? You tell me one thing and you do something else. Is the head and body not connected? So, they give the answers normally, it is not me. So, then you see how normally we learn how to do dance – just copy and paste, copy and paste – and it is not about that. So, it is always reflection . . . Just support them to become a sensitive dancer, intelligent, sensitive bodies.

What do you see as the benefits that are measurable from periodization? Teacher 1: They have energy to do things. So, there is much less tiredness. Usually that’s the usual complaint of students or dancers. ‘I’m tired, I’m tired’ but actually there is less of this. There are far fewer injuries, I think. There is chronic . . . injuries before the education that have to be helped, but [they] don’t happen so much. That’s what I see. It is not happening . . . We also alert the guest teachers. This is something especially when you come with floor work or with high intensity of ‘flying low’ . . . how to prepare the body for this? But when you get tools to do this? But no, we place it in the year when their body is ready to do this also. They [also] have energy to keep doing their own things after the programme. This is very measurable because there are more and

170

PERIODIZATION

more things happening in different times of year . . . they have energy to work on their own things in the free time, and they stay at school to do it. . . . they are organizing their own ‘playground’. This is new. Also, they decided it’s not enough for them. They want to perform. Also, they have their own playground that they watch each other work and they perform in the studios to each other and making little programmes. This is all the things that if they didn’t have energy from the programme, they would not be able to do. But apparently there is energy going . . . nonstop. So, I think it’s to do with the programme. Teacher 2: I can tell from a ‘feeling’ point of view. They have the right energy. For me, I don’t measure their heart rate. I can feel it, but I don’t measure objectively, I think . . . I feel when . . . they are in the good energy. I feel when they are too excited . . . or under it. I [have taught] for a long time, I can say that I can feel that. And for me this periodization is a challenge, because it is also a theoretical and objective kind of thing where I can go back to . . . I do a lot from intuition; talking about how students are in what kind of state of mind. Now I have more tools than just my feeling. But that is actually how I do it. I can now say they did too much. For example, a teacher did not stop [a class] on time, it was too long . . . Especially, for example, with artistic repertoire, like the choreographers, they come and they sometimes want more time, and I try to explain that to the choreographers they can’t. I talk to them first, at the beginning I work on them. But then we have the répétiteur and then I can say, ‘You really have to take care. They’re not injured, you know, but close [to] it’ and [I] say, ‘No, less today’. And then some of the class is like, ‘Thank you for protecting us’ and a some of the class [says], ‘No, we want class!’ So, it’s always within the class, divisions like that. That happens, we cannot solve that, maybe when we are a few years on the road. Teacher 3: In the sense of injuries, I think this is very clear that we can see. That this [periodization] really supports not creating injuries . . . this is really amazing and that is when you have to say, yes it works. Somehow, conscious or unconscious of us teachers, it works. The fact that we have some rules to follow already lets us say because can I say, there is a now. He always keeps reminding us at phase meetings we have and discuss those and then that is when the

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

171

periodization of course comes into the talk that we just say yes, our preparation phase was very good in this sense. Somehow, we have really to pay attention . . . in the theory assignments, that they don’t stress the students, especially the first years, who are not used to this . . . they have to get used to thinking okay, if I finish at 4, I didn’t finish my day. I still have to do this assignment, I have to still read this. So that they embodied also this theory and interest in not becoming just machines but machines that can think and can get curious, go to the library, take a book. To also use that the time and have a schedule for . . . when to do things, on the theory side, because for the practical side, they are there [in the classroom]. The rate of absence is very small. It is amazing and it is very beautiful because I always say, ‘Whatever guys, I am never going to go behind you to know why you are not in class. I assume that you are here because you want to – don’t ask me to motivate you because I am not a clown’. So I am super motivated to come here. It is like I am here because I want to be here. Absence is really something that almost doesn’t happen and they know that when they get sick, they [e]mail who they have to inform. So it is like with respect to the teachers, with respect to the colleagues. They are super young especially the first years, super young. Many times they come and they say [they are ill], and I say, ‘Guys, maybe go home, take a nice tea, take a Paracetamol, take a nice book. It’s going to do wonderful for you. Tomorrow you are going to be there’. So many things happen and . . . They have to take responsibility with so many things . . . So it’s like I think every year is like a new generation and it is amazing. I don’t have time to complain. No, because it gives – it gives life and it gives energy, yes.

What has changed in the build-up of your classes? Teacher 1: Because of the periodization, I was forced to – it’s not a bad ‘forced’, it’s a good ‘forced’. I was forced to slow down in the first part of the year, because I am like a train. I want to go more and more and more, do fast things and to get things done more and challenge more. But sometimes we also have to put the brakes on, and this I’ve learned through the periodization. I didn’t know how to do less. And we got the instructions, ‘Okay, the first five weeks, no

172

PERIODIZATION

jumping’. So, what you do with the rest of the time in class? But you have to do full class? So how do you? – So you have to learn to do other things. Put the emphasis on other elements, and so we’ve learned to do that also which is good. And you give it so convincingly to the students that they think, ‘Yeah, yeah this is good. We will just do this now and later, we do the other things’. So, they are coming to terms with accepting, this is how the programme works, this is how it should stay. We are in good hands and not say, ‘We can’t do jumping because the programme doesn’t allow it’. No, there is a reason for it, and so we all understand together the reason, the teachers and the students. And if they have questions, they can ask, and they ask the teachers or they ask the mentor, to understand what does it mean that now we do less, why we are doing that last, why we bring the jumping later, why – and for the third year, they have to be ready for auditions earlier in the year, then they get special knowledge about how to prepare the body before they start the year. So, we can start with them jumping earlier so they are ready for their auditions . . . in November or in October, and not starting to jump . . . in October but earlier. Priority in the third year is performing – the goals are performing and auditions for stage, for companies and so they have to be ready early. So they have preparing the body much earlier in the summer vacation, which is very long. So the last part of the summer vacation, they do the work by themselves. They prepare their body by themselves. And so when they come, we can start earlier with them. They have to intensify the programme because they need it. They need to be ready for the auditions, and this is something that we learned also through feedback of the students. And so we could not change the programme. We didn’t change the programme. We changed their alertness, what they do with the summer holiday, how can they prepare . . .? And then to integrate a little bit earlier the ingredients, so shorter preparation for the third year, for instance, compared to first year. Because maybe there is already an audition at the end of October, sometimes, so they have to be ready in the body and mind. We get feedback from the students mostly, and from us, looking at how things work and how is the atmosphere, how is the physicality in the class, how is the energy level, alertness level on this [preparation]? So, one thing [is] to learn to work slower, and sometimes to give the material faster. So, when you know its integration phase, for instance, when everything should come together – craft phase you

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

173

can explain more – but when you come to integration phase, you just have to bombard exercises because they already had their investigation to the depth of the material, and now they have to learn to do it without thinking too much. ‘If I see something is not clear, then we can discuss. I want to see how much you know.’ So sometimes there is no point to discuss again and again but to do and see how much you understand really. So sometimes they have to be thrown without reconfirmation that they are good, thrown into the deep end. Teacher 2: . . . I have a standard class, there’s always a warming up. And it can be a warming up where I work on . . . like, condition, also a part condition. Endurance. And then I start my class and I kind of build down. That’s the standard class. But now I sometimes skip the warming up, because they are already warm. Or I make it longer, because they had something before which was just sitting on a chair and listening to a teacher, for example they had a lecture, let’s say. Then I know, ‘Oh yeah, I make it longer’. So I kind of adjust myself to what the schedule is of a day . . . I really feel that . . . I am a part and I am not the whole thing. So you give them a little. But you don’t have to give everything, because they get it somewhere else. That is for me a huge change. And about everything periodization, I still feel, okay, it becomes more natural, but for me, I’m still not there, you know? I’m not completely . . . it should become second nature, like brushing teeth or doing your exercises in the morning or evening before you go to sleep. And I think it has to do with a little bit more faith that I already do it [periodization]. But it’s more the statistics and the theory that kind of . . . [are] impressing me too much. . . . Yeah, that’s how it works for me, because that’s the kind of person I am, I think. It’s like, okay, ‘This is needed’. The statistics and the percentages, I can get involved in that and then forget that it’s just about doing it. I get impressed by that . . . And that is what I am talking about, the conversation we had with the artistic director, ‘Yeah, but you are doing it’. ‘Explain your class. Yeah, then you’re doing it.’ ‘Oh yeah.’ It is more to have the faith and to make it more personal, in a way. Teacher 3: What has changed? Well somehow, of course, although I don’t teach classic [ballet] as style, I teach classic[ally], the need to teach the body some skills and as I tell you, I don’t have a problem sometimes to not teach them a full class because I know if they have

174

PERIODIZATION

just this class on that day, then yes, I take care that I prepare them, but if I know that they just had the full contemporary class, I do take the luxury to say, ‘Okay, we are not going to do barre today, we are going to start to work just centre’. Those elements, this is what we are going to look today and then yes, there is a week that we do full class, but can we take back the elements that we were looking last week. It is not about combine, combine, combine the steps but it is exactly what it is that I want to reach but it’s not about this is tendu, this is jeté. No, what is it that I am working with? Because each exercise from the classic [ballet repertoire], I believe that makes you work something. It is not just about to be able to do a ronde de jambe, a fouetté or whatever. What I am working with, what is this good for? It strains, it suspends, it falls, what happened in the physicality with that? . . . it is like, ‘What is the build-up that I want that them to reach. Which sensation and how do I try to carry these through the class?’

What has changed in how you see your contribution to the curriculum? Teacher 1: We cannot put that much input anymore. I don’t find that we have the freedom to put enough input anymore, because the programme is sort of set. We have to refine, tune. We are looking at some things, but I am not sure how the decisions are being made now at this moment – of what’s coming into the programme or going out of the programme. It used to be more together, these decisions, that we discuss this more in the team. I am not sure if it’s just the feeling or a process that is changing, yeah . . . in the long run, it will be good to share more ideas about why things are changing in the programme so that we – good to have discussions and also to not be afraid, not to agree on things. And I am not sure if we – because we used to do that, but now I am not sure that’s happening. . . . Everything is sort of – yeah, you can give your suggestion, we will decide later. We are very small team but I think the decision should be taken in the presence of the team and not without a team. And not to be afraid to express your opinions. Teacher 2: I am not the most important, but I thought I was the most – that you think, ‘I have a class, it is a very important class’.

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

175

No, it is important, but it is important because you have other things around it. Together it becomes really important, you know? . . . It has also to do with a kind of responsibility. I don’t know if that is weird to say, but . . . Because you do something together, makes you also feel responsible for it. Not only my class, but what they do after my class. Otherwise it’s, ‘Okay, this is my class, bye’. Because we need to know how it continues. So that makes me responsible not only for what I do, but for what follows after my class. That is also for me . . . not new – you always feel responsible for your students – but it’s more that you . . . ‘Okay, now they enter this class. Okay, how should they enter in that class?’ That kind of responsibility. That’s maybe the contribution. That I contribute that to my fellow [teachers]. Very practically. Teacher 3: It really made me think, ‘So, how do I keep contributing now as one person that has an all-star role as a teacher in that?’ A role also to remind my colleagues or to talk with my colleagues about exactly what we spoke about before. Are we really doing what we say that we do, are we really trying to make what is on the paper reality? And yeah, I still keep thinking if I am really doing. I really keep, and it is like, what it could be better, still? Just by now, talking to you, just I realize we have to talk with our theory teachers for the first block, first year. So, this is something that I am going to write down as soon I go up [to my office]. I keep reflecting. It never ends and I don’t feel that I say, ‘Yeah, yeah I know. I know, these already and we are doing these already for six years’. No, I am still checking always and trying to see, ‘Oh God, this is like a disgrace! It cannot stay like this,’ you know? We have to find a way to make this better.

How could an outsider recognize an ArtEZ dancer in relation to the system of periodization? Teacher 1: I haven’t been outside [the school] but I hear – we hear feedback from the students actually who are going to auditions and there you see – there are two things, yes. First from the students. They come back and tell us what’s happening on auditions, and of course they reflect on what they see, other people they see and they are very

176

PERIODIZATION

honest usually about it. They say to us, ‘Yeah, they were very strong technical dancers, but the moment they had to go to the floor, they didn’t know how to get up. We were much better in the floor work, or how to analyse things, or how to use the voice or how to use . . . So we were very secure’. And so they reflect, and they see different kinds of dancers. It’s nice that they can recognize it, because it means they realize what they have. The other feedback is that people from outside the school, choreographers who work here as teachers, or to making a piece . . . they realize also that they are working very well in auditions. Some of them, because they are able to contribute not only making steps or doing – producing/reproducing steps, but also engage in a talk about things, or in the personal talk after the audition, they realized, ‘Ah, there is somebody [who is] more mature with more ideas, with more possibilities to contribute to my work’ . . . This is I think the change of ArtEZ student compared to other students. They are much more verbal now, and much more [able to] express opinions and not afraid to share or . . . disagree or agree with somebody. And this is very good. So, I think this is the main change, and technically of course, it is also getting stronger and stronger at ArtEZ. So, it’s duality of how you are as a person, not only as a dancer. And how much you can express yourself as a person while you are talking to the choreographer and not feel, ‘Oh this is a god next to me and I have to just be a dancer’. No, they are talking on the same level with the choreographers. They are able to express their opinion on the same level. And we have some good examples for it because some choreographers are asking people on the stage, not only as dancers, but also as assistant. It happened a few times, and these people already have jobs also with the same choreographers, yeah. They saw their intelligence and their ability to express ideas, to share ideas. Not just waiting from the choreographer to come with the ideas and say, ‘Oh yeah, I can do that’. They also say, ‘Yeah, I can do that, but maybe it should be also like this,’ they are saying also those. And these people get the jobs. Teacher 2: Well, they are not only dancer, because we have, of course, dancer/maker. That is the very big difference. It is that they . . . are much more than that. And although you are going to specialize in the third year, become a maker or a dancer, you have both the experience, you have the brain. And I think it’s amazing, they get course theory and dramaturgy and art history, philosophy.

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

177

And I think right now you see that, in dancers. They have this extra thing, and it is because they have all these qualities. I think also an outsider might recognize the way, maybe, our dancers warm themselves up, or how aware they are of their own body and how they know to divide their own energy. Teacher 3: What we always have is a feedback from the companies where the student goes to have a stage place or audition or workshop. Always we get this feedback – that the students are very . . . conscious and placing themselves. They are very self-standing [self-reliant] people; very aware about their surroundings. And I think . . . we can say that comes from our periodization where we use always this moment of reflection with them. So, I think we are making selfresponsible dancers and they are aware about this and what I think is important . . . Of course, it has to do with the character from each one, but if we hear these in general and every time that we get feedback from directors it is always this very clear mention. Sometimes they just say, ‘No, but I didn’t understand. Oh I didn’t know that!’ Somehow, that’s good to say, because somehow I hear more saying – I hear, less not more – they are saying, ‘God, we have very empty week or these three weeks now, we have nothing’. So, I never put free time in their plan; instead self-study time. They have to understand that it is part of periodization. If they feel they want more classes, they get train, go to Amsterdam, they get class there. Get the key from one of the other teachers, go to the training room, train yourself. So, they have to start to become self-responsible. I don’t have always the feeling that I have to be there to make them work, and this is beautiful and I let them know. I let them know that is as valid as I will be there, and you see that they really take the responsibility, and they really do it. So that’s what we want.

Is there anything else you want to share about your experiences with periodization? Teacher 1: Also about moments of evaluating the programme . . . I think we need to do it with more care. The evaluation of the programme has to be like the periodization – prioritized maybe. So,

178

PERIODIZATION

it has to be on regular basis – and we do it, I think we have like twice a year – but it’s usually for planning the next year, or evaluation of this phase and this phase. We have these meetings, but yeah, but to really look more carefully at the ingredients, what are we evaluating maybe? Are the subjects good where they are placed? This we look usually very carefully about, who we are bringing in to do these things? This is very important. It has to be very carefully assessed, and of course it’s difficult because it has to do with availability of people. But I think we have to be more careful about who we bring when, and what we give them to do and what we ask them to do. And so people who come just to give a class, it’s very nice, but it’s not sufficient. I think, for the most care we are giving in the programme, we should also ask them to be more specific about what they give. Not to tell them what to do, but what kind of class. To really know that when this part in the programme is fully engaged with the guest teacher. And some guest teachers are coming back every year which is we trust 100 per cent. We know that they are masters in their field. Just to look carefully who we bring in the programme to make it work, that the programme stays alive . . . to the students. How can we evaluate these? Who we bring, what’s the choice to bring somebody, who decides that, is it in the team, is it just the head, is it just the director, what is the short term, what is the long term? Of course, it’s not our job to be with deciding this, but it’s nice to be able to discuss these kind of things together, I think. We used to but now I think it’s slipping a little bit, slipping away a little bit. Teacher 2: This last thing I said, for me it’s very important. That’s why I love to teach . . . I am happy that I was asked to teach at the dance, and to also be a mentor. Yeah, they are just unique persons. Obviously, I think ArtEZ is the best academy here. I really believe that. It’s the uniqueness and the multidisciplinary . . . they really know to do a lot. They know how to edit a video themselves, they know how to act, they get theatre, they know how to use their voice and sing, to do music. They really get offered a lot. And it definitely shows. And I think also they are very proactive. That’s a word I hear a lot, but actually it is true, they are very proactive. They have a voice inside the school. They can say, ‘Okay, we want to talk about this’. We have the educational meetings where they really have a voice and are listened to. And I think that gives them the self-esteem

THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

179

to also do that when they are graduated. So, I think that is very special. Teacher 3: Periodization is not ‘structured’ . . . from the point that me dealing with the schedule, there is no structure there. It’s different every day . . . today is Thursday. Next Thursday is completely different . . . I never thought of periodization as a system . . . for me system will be, every Monday has to be the same, every Tuesday the same . . . And our role, that [is] an everyday role . . . Sometimes my class is at 10 but sometimes it is at 4 in the afternoon . . . I always say to them [the students], I can teach the same class to first years, second years, third years. The same, same exercise. I don’t do it, but it could be – is how do you work, what you give as a task to each exercise that makes the difference, to the dynamics, how you periodize quick, slow, repeat them, repeat. It can be exactly the same class but . . . I will approach them differently at 4 in the afternoon than at 10 in the morning. So that’s why I never thought that periodization is a system . . . It is not just, ‘There you go, it is my time, it is my class’ . . . to work together with [another teacher] if he has a class before. I know that they went through a full barre, centre, they do less jumps. When I teach classic[al ballet] after, I am not going to put them in the barre again. I start in the centre . . . or if he teaches after me, he knows that he doesn’t need to go to plié, tendu, he can go to other elements of it and then maybe I don’t teach an hour-and-a-half. He had a full one-and-a-half hours and I have one hour and I just can [start] with where he stopped. And this is for me when the periodization happens. That is when the integration of the work happens. It’s not about me and my class; – they have to go from beginning to understand my work . . . no, it’s not mine . . . [it] is not about me. It is about me knowing what is good for them. That’s what it is.

180

PART FIVE

Other things to think about Alongside their dance training, students were given lectures and workshops on supplemental skills that were not only beneficial during their training but also during their professional career. These were provided by outside speakers, often from elite sport institutions such as Papendal, the Dutch National Olympic Centre. Topics were wide ranging and included supplemental fitness training, injury prevention, nutrition, psychological skills, cooking, life management, finances, etc. These sessions mainly occurred in years one and two, thereby allowing the students to implement and experiment with them during their course. We have expanded on physical fitness training.

181

182

18 Physical fitness training

This section aims to provide an overview of supplemental training for dancers with examples of training sessions, but it should not be viewed as a definitive strength and conditioning text, see Wyon and Clarke (2021). There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that class and rehearsal do not place enough stress on the body for it to adapt and improve (Koutedakis and Jamurtas 2004; Wyon and Redding 2005). Early research reported aerobic capacities of dancers that are just above the sedentary population but below that of nonendurance athletes such as gymnasts and volleyball players. It is interesting to note that dancers often perceive that their injuries are due to fatigue which again suggests that their aerobic fitness hasn’t been developed sufficiently to prevent injury or let alone enhance performance. The muscle strength of dancers is also lower than expected for such an active population (Koutedakis, Agrawal, and Sharp 1999). The link between physical fitness and injury (Angioi, Metsios, Koutedakis, et al. 2009a; Twitchett, Brodrick, et al. 2010) has been clearly demonstrated with poor muscle strength linked to an increased predisposition to injury especially in the legs (Koutedakis et al. 1997), but do physically fitter dancers dance better? Two recent studies in ballet (Twitchett, Angioi, et al. 2011) and contemporary dance (Angioi et al. 2012) have shown that when dancers increased their physical fitness by supplemental training they also improved the artistic elements of their dancing. This effect should not be surprising, as by increasing their maximal physical fitness levels it means they are dancing at a lower relative intensity and therefore have a greater capacity for the artistic elements of 183

184

PERIODIZATION

dance. What aspects of physical fitness should be trained? Dance uses all the different elements of physical fitness (figure 17.1), though different choreography and genres will emphasis certain elements over others. An important aspect to remember is that these elements are not developed to the same extent as seen or required in sport. Although a number of sports are multifaceted like dance, the majority focus on one physiological element. For instance, marathon runners have highly developed aerobic fitness but poor muscle strength and flexibility, while shot putters have poor aerobic fitness but are very strong. Supplemental physical fitness training is a fundamental aspect of a student’s training at ArtEZ. This happens in two formats: timetabled and self-directed. The timetabled training sessions are group focused and include Pilates and yoga with an emphasis on rehabilitation/prehabilitation and relaxation, respectively. The selfdirected training is based on termly fitness tests. The students are given feedback on the fitness parameters tested (aerobic, muscular endurance and power, balance and flexibility) and whether they

FIGURE 17.1 Physical fitness components.

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

185

have improved or not in relation to previous tests, the year group average and research norms (Wyon 2007). The students select the appropriate training programmes, available to them on the school’s intra-net. The importance of supplemental fitness training and the student’s responsibility for their own fitness is reinforced through lectures and fitness test feedback sessions. The following sections will provide examples of how the different physical fitness parameters can be developed and why they are an important aspect of dancers’ holistic training.

Cardiorespiratory components Aerobic fitness Aerobic fitness is a fundamental component of health(Scully et al. 1998) as well as elite performance (Koutedakis and Jamurtas 2004). In general, dancers have an aerobic capacity (the amount of oxygen consumed per kilogramme body weight) between the sedentary population and non-endurance based athletes (Table 5). This is probably slightly too low and as previously mentioned, studies have shown that dance performance improves with an accompanying increase in aerobic capacity. An increased capacity will allow dancers to perform at a lower relative intensity, thereby having greater reserves to direct to artistic interpretation. The other important benefit is that it will allow faster recovery, the replenishment of energy stores and replacement of oxygen debt (Wyon 2005) between high intensity bouts. There are a number of methods to increase aerobic fitness but the two most relevant to dance are continuous training and interval training. Continuous training refers to steady-state exercise with no fluctuation in speed or intensity, while during interval training, the speed/intensity changes between high intensity and recovery bouts with each bout lasting two to three minutes (1:1 ratio). For both training methods, the exercise mode chosen should resemble dance movement as closely as possible, for example, running is better than cross-training, which is better than cycling, which is better than swimming as this will influence peripheral adaptations. Peripheral adaptations refer to the physiological changes that occur in the limb muscles, so it is important to make sure that the movement patterns

186

PERIODIZATION

TABLE 5 Aerobic capacities of dancers and other athletes Study

Gender

Genre

Aerobic capacity (ml.kg−1. min−1)

Liiv et al (Liiv et al. 2013)

Male

Ballet

49.6

Female

Ballet

43.7

Male

Contemporary/Modern

56.9

Female

Contemporary/Modern

47.5

Male

DanceSport

59.9

Female

DanceSport

51.5

Wilmore and Costill (Wilmore and Costill 1994)

Male

Untrained

42

Female

Untrained

38

Bower et al. (Bower et al. 2010)

Male

Figure skating

55

Female

Figure skating

50

Male Bale and Goodway (Bale and Goodway Female 1990)

Gymnastics

50

Gymnastics

45

Chamari et al. Male (Chamari et al. 2005)

Soccer

60.1

Colquhoun and Females Chad (Colquhoun and Chad 1986)

Soccer

48

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

187

resemble dance to optimize the carryover benefits from supplemental training to dance. If the session is structured properly and at the correct intensities, then twenty to thirty minutes is enough to promote adaptation. The intensity of that you need to work at can be calculated a number of ways; rate of perceived exertion (RPE; 1: very very easy to 10: lungs as earmuffs and breathing out of every orifice) or heart rate. For the latter, there are two main ways to calculate your maximum heart rate; the simplest is 220-your age, so for a twenty-three-year-old dancer, their maximum heart rate would

TABLE 6 Continuous aerobic training Time

RPE

Heart rates

5 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

20–30 minutes

7-8

70–90% Heart rate max

5 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

TABLE 7 Aerobic interval training Time

RPE

Heart rates

5 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

2 minutes

8–9

70–90% Heart rate max

2 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

2 minutes

8–9

70–90% Heart rate max

2 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

2 minutes

8–9

70–90% Heart rate max

2 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

2 minutes

8–9

70–90% Heart rate max

5 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

188

PERIODIZATION

be around 197 beats per minute; or the other is to gradually increase the speed you are running at (1 km.h−1) on a treadmill until you can’t keep up and have to stop.

Dance specific work outs Interval training can easily be adapted to a studio setting. The chosen movement needs to be reasonably simplistic as the aim is to challenge the energy systems rather than develop skill. Also, less complicated movements are easily remembered when fatigued. Simple movements to increase the intensity include raising the arms above the head, jumps and movement to and from the floor. An example of a possible routine can be accessed via the links at the end of the chapter.

Anaerobic fitness This is the other major component of energy use. Studies have shown that dance class and rehearsals rarely challenge this component but it is often the major component of dance performances (Wyon et al. 2004). The fatigue generated from high intensity has been shown to have a major effect on movement quality (Johnston et al. 1998). The major aspect of this training is to improve the dancer’s tolerance to lactate and recovery between the bouts of high intensity dance. Lactate is not an enemy, but the body’s way of protecting itself against adverse muscular cell conditions, therefore our bodies need to get used to it in a safe environment rather than having to cope with it during a performance. The training used an interval format but unlike aerobic training the work to rest ratio is 1:3. This allows the exercise periods to be at a greater intensity as the recovery periods are longer. The exercise bouts should be between sixty to ninety seconds long, followed by three to four minutes’ rest, carrying out as many repetitions as possible until either movement form is compromised, or muscle pain stops movement. As you become more anaerobically fit you will need to increase the intensity of the bouts and probably also the number of repetitions – do not change the work:rest ratio as this will affect the underlying energy system utilization. Using a similar scale to aerobic training the intensity of each exercise bout should

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

189

TABLE 8 Lactate interval training Time

RPE

Heart rates

5 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

60–90secs

10

70–90% Heart rate max

3–4 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

60–90secs

10

70–90% Heart rate max

3–4 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

60–90secs

10

70–90% Heart rate max

3–4 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

60–90secs

10

70–90% Heart rate max

3–4 minutes etc

5

60% Heart rate max

5 minutes

5

60% Heart rate max

be an RPE 10 (RPE; 1: very very easy to 10: lungs as earmuffs and breathing out of every orifice) or heart rate at maximum. Again, the exercise mode can either be dance-specific or gymbased and the peripheral adaptations in anaerobic training are very important as it prepares the limb muscles to cope with lactate/lactic acid, therefore the exercise mode chosen needs to be as close as possible to dance movement.

Muscular training The self-directed muscular training at ArtEZ is divided into three main components; firstly, foundation training that progresses to strength training that forms the foundation of the last component, power training. Strength training is a vital component of all movement and especially dance. It has often been overlooked as

190

PERIODIZATION

FIGURE 17.2 Physiological adaptations to progressive overload and unloading.

dancers perceived it as leading to big muscles and a loss of flexibility. Within today’s gender equality choreography and arts funding practices, there is often very little time to develop specific strength within the choreographic process. As mentioned previously with cardiorespiratory training, the aim is to increase a dancer’s present strength levels but not to the extent seen in strength sports such as rugby and American football. By increasing the underlying strength of a dancer, it allows all subsequent movement to be carried out at a lower relative percentage of maximum. Also, muscular injuries, especially in the lower limbs have been linked to low levels of strength (Koutedakis et al. 1997; Wyon et al. 2014). In partner work, it is often the strength of the lifter that determines the partnerships, who they are able to lift (this has had negative effects in ballet with often the female dancer feeling the need to lose weight, rather than the male to get stronger). Muscular strength training occurs at relatively low speeds, compared to dance movements and therefore these improvements need to be adapted to resemble the movement patterns and speeds required in dance; this is power training.

Foundation training As a prelude to strength training, a period of foundation training is often required. The focus of this training is the development of the

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

191

stabilizer muscles in the upper and lower body that will play a vital role supporting joints and the body during strength training. It is interesting to note that it is these muscles that often become damaged/injured during strength training as they can’t cope with the forces the prime movers or main muscles are exerting; for example when lifting a person or weight above the head, although the main action is achieved by using the deltoid muscles (shoulders) and triceps muscles, it is the rotator cuffs (shoulder), rhomboids and trapezius (back) and core that enable the action to take place by providing a firm foundation for the prime movers to work on. It is helpful to have a functional movement screen once a year by a physiotherapist to check for any muscular imbalances or weaknesses.

Circuit training Circuit training is an excellent all-round training session that challenges the cardiorespiratory systems and local muscular endurance. Although circuits are often used within foundation training to prepare the body for more focused muscle training, it can also be used during periods of heavy rehearsal and performance as a means of preventing loss of underlying physical fitness. The fundamental design of circuit training is a series of muscular endurance exercises interspersed with cardiorespiratory exercises. The ratio between these two and the length of each bout will determine the type of physical stress placed on the body. For example, one muscular endurance exercise (e.g. press ups) for one minute, followed by one minute cardiorespiratory (skipping) will have a greater emphasis on challenging aerobic system; while 3 x 1 minute muscular endurance exercise (e.g. press ups followed by step ups followed by stomach crunches) before for one minute of cardiorespiratory exercises (running) will challenge local muscular endurance and lactate tolerance. The time spent on each exercise can be determined either by time or by doing a specified number of repetitions; with large groups, time is probably the easiest method. Although one minute is often used (easy to keep track of), lesser time periods are fine though dipping below thirty seconds probably won’t have the same beneficial effect unless the dancers are highly motivated. The number of exercises per circuit is usually determined by the numbers in the group, everyone

192

PERIODIZATION

should have an exercise each. When planning the exercise progression, also consider blood flow, try to avoid jumping between upper body and lower body exercises too often without having an all-body exercise in between, as some people can become faint as too many muscles are competing for blood and flow to the brain can drop slightly. As the name suggests, the aim is to complete a number of circuits of the exercises during the session. A rest period can be planned between each circuit to allow recovery and water intake.

Strength training There are two main components of strength training: neuromuscular and hypertrophic (Baechle 1994). The former involves two aspects, the co-ordination of all the muscles involved within the movement pattern so they contract at the right time in the correct sequence, and the co-ordinated stimulation of the muscles’ fibres within the those muscles so that optimal firing of both the fast and slow twitch fibres allow maximal force generation. Research studies on sedentary populations have indicated these adaptations usually occur within the first six to eight weeks of strength training (Hakkinen 1989). If strength training continues, then for continued increases in muscular strength muscle fibre hypertrophy will occur (Kraemer et al. 2004), but as an adjunct to this evidence, the visual increase in muscle mass takes an extremely long time and some seriously focused strength training-only regimens. All elite marathon runners, where increased body weight has a negative effect on performance, include strength training within their programmes and therefore it needs to be an essential aspect of a dancer’s programme (Koutedakis et al. 2009). Muscles adapt much faster than their support structures, tendons and ligaments, and therefore it is recommended that beginners spend six months to a year preparing the targeted area prior to a strength intervention (Bompa and Cornacchia 1998), for dancers the lower limbs will have experienced enough force through them not to require this preparation but the upper body might require this intervention if no resistance or conditioning exercise has previously been carried out.

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

193

Strength training exercises As neuromuscular adaptations are an important aspect of strength training, the selection of exercises is very important and should resemble dance movements as much as possible. There should also be an emphasis on core and structural exercises, the former recruit one or more large muscle groups and involve two or more primary joints (bench press). Structural exercises involve the muscular stabilization of posture during the exercise (dead lift). The last group of exercises, assistance exercises, recruit smaller muscle groups and one joint; these exercises are generally used for injury prevention and rehabilitation. When selecting exercises, a muscle balance between opposing muscle groups and sides of the body needs to be maintained. This does not necessarily mean equal power or strength but just a proper ratio; that said, imbalances beyond 10 per cent have been shown to increase the chances of injury. Resistance training does not need to take a long time; by splitting the body into different parts, the training can become more focused and intense and can take as little as twenty minutes to complete. A number of techniques can be used to help reduce the time spent training; push/pull, supersets and compound sets. Push/pull training involves selecting a push exercise (e.g. bench press) followed by a pull exercise (e.g. pull-down), this prevents the smaller muscle groups fatiguing, thereby reducing the number of core exercise repetitions. Supersets involve two consecutive exercises that target two opposing muscle areas, e.g. ten press ups followed immediately by ten pull ups; while a compound set targets the same muscle group using two sequential exercises (ten press ups followed by ten bench dips). The programmes at the end of this chapter are just examples; it is a good idea to change the chosen exercises every three to four weeks as strength adaptations can be movement specific.

Strength training contraindications When strength training is carried out during the day/week it should also be carefully planned. Immediately post-training, there is a loss of fine motor control, which will have a negative effect on dance

194

PERIODIZATION

class. Also, depending on the intensity of the training session and the familiarity of the exercises, muscle soreness (delayed onset muscle soreness) can occur over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

Power training The aim of power training is to convert the muscular strength gains in the previous training phase, into movement speeds that resemble dance. The focus is to enable a muscle to reach maximal force in the shortest possible time. There are a number of methods to develop this attribute but the most applicable to dance is plyometrics.

Plyometrics Plyometric exercises are quick powerful movements that use a prestretch or countermovement to generate rapid maximal force. This involves the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) (Newton et al. 1997) and the use of both the natural elastic components of the muscle and tendons and the stretch reflex. During plyometric exercise, the rapid stretch during the eccentric phase (muscle lengthening), causes a reflexive muscle action. It is this reflexive response that increases the force the muscle produces. There are three phases within a plyometric movement: the eccentric, the amortization and the concentric. It is during the eccentric phase that the kinetic energy is stored mainly within the tendons. The next phase is the time between the eccentric and concentric phases and is the time between the end of the eccentric phase to the start of the concentric muscle action. This is the most crucial phase; if it lasts too long the kinetic energy stored in the tendons dissipates and the stretch reflex will not benefit the subsequent concentric contraction. With a plié between jumps, the eccentric phase corresponds to the downwards phase of the plié and the amortization phase the time spent at the bottom of the plié before the concentric phase of accelerating the body upwards into the next jump. The concentric phase is the body’s response to the eccentric and amortization phase. The stored kinetic energy increases the force produced during this phase to increase in this example jump height.

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

195

The rate of stretch during the eccentric phase is vital; the faster the stretch the greater the muscle recruitment and activity during the concentric phase. For instance, the jump height from two different pliés illustrates the importance of the eccentric and amortization phases. In the first example, the plié is held at the bottom for two seconds before the concentric phase is initiated. This lengthened amortization period will dissipate the kinetic energy and therefore the jump height is just generated from the concentric muscle contractions. The second example involves a normal plié, with a rapid down and upward phase and no stopping at the bottom, the result is a higher jump due to the combination of both the kinetic energy generated during the eccentric (downward phase) and the concentric muscle force from the upward phase. This can be taken one step further when a sequence of three grande jetés is examined, as the sequence progresses the height of the jumps increases with the last jump having the greatest height and this is due to the use of the kinetic energy. The programme design resembles that used for strength training – mode, intensity, frequency, recovery and progressions. Mode refers to whether the exercise is targeting the upper or lower body. Intensity refers to the amount of stress placed on the targeted muscles and tendons. The type of exercise chosen decides on the stress placed on the tissues, skipping places very little while depth jumps are high stress exercises. When designing a programme as the intensity of the exercise increases the volume should decrease. Frequency is the number of sessions a week and usually ranges between one to three sessions a week, but as dance training incorporates a lot of jumping already, just one focused session a week is enough to cause adaptation. The recovery between repetitions and sets is very important because of the maximal efforts involved and should be five to ten seconds between repetitions and two to three minutes between sets. Volume is usually expressed as the number of contacts (lower body foot strikes) or the number of throws/catches per workout. Plyometric progression follows a similar pattern to resistance training in that the programme should progress from low to moderate volumes of low intensity plyometrics, progressing from low to moderate volumes of moderate intensity and then low to moderate volumes of high intensity exercises.

196

PERIODIZATION

Contraindications For prepubescent children, whose epiphyseal bone plates have yet to close, high intensity exercises should be avoided. Low to moderate intensity plyometric exercises are fine and considered beneficial in their neuromuscular control that will carry over as they get older. Plyometrics is no more dangerous than other forms of exercise, but injury can occur when basic procedures are breached, for example, insufficient muscular conditioning base, inadequate warm-up, progression (volume or intensity) is too fast, carrying out the exercises when fatigued, inappropriate footwear (cross-trainers should be worn rather than running shoes) or training on a nonshock absorbing floor.

Core training When the term ‘core training’ is used, people often perceive it to mean training that focuses on the abdomen and has been inexorably linked to Pilates, sit ups, etc. These modes of training emphasize isolation exercises which can have a poor carryover effect to functional movement (Siff 2000). I have often heard teachers and choreographers claim that a dancer doesn’t use their core when dancing when I know they can do 100+ sit ups and hold the plank for six minutes. A different school of thought argues that if the core is engaged during functional (whole body) movements then isolation exercises are not needed. Part of Siff’s (Siff 2000) argument is that when muscles are trained in isolation and later are incorporated into whole body movements their activation pattern becomes mistimed within the complex muscular co-ordination of the functional movement. Obviously, if there is a specific muscular weakness then isolation exercises are required to rectify the imbalance, but this should be in conjunction with functional movements to maximise neuromuscular carryover. Core training should also incorporate the shoulder complex and upper legs as these three areas form an integral unit especially during power movements such as jumps and lifts. The core should be trained to cope with its two main functions of providing rigid and dynamic stability. The former is required when we need to transfer force up through the body when we jump

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

197

or lift/catch someone. To maximize this force transferral, the abdomen section needs to become rigid by increasing the internal pressure. This is achieved by lifting the pelvic floor, pulling the diaphragm down and contracting the transverse abdominal and internal and external oblique muscles. The breath is usually held during these movements thereby increasing the internal pressure of the core and its rigidity. Maintaining stability during dynamic movements requires the activation of the transverse abdominus (TA). This is often harder than it sounds with many people using the internal oblique muscles instead. Therefore, the exercises selected when training need to activate the obliques and abdominal muscles within a prime mover function allowing the TA to maintain stability on its own. The best way of achieving this is to ‘pull in’ the core slightly (3–4 cm) while carrying out movements that involve twisting and bending of the upper body. These movements prevent the oblique muscles taking over the role of the TA in providing stability. By maintaining a regular breathing pattern during the movement also means that the diaphragm isn’t being pulled down.

Flexibility This is one of the fitness parameters that define dancers, but the most flexible dancers are not necessarily the most successful (McCormack et al. 2004). Interestingly, the research on the optimal methods of developing flexibility or range of movement (ROM) is quite limited. Stretching has often solely focused on increasing a muscle’s range of movement, but as Frederick and Frederick (Frederick and Frederick 2006) noted, tight muscles also equate to tight nerves and blood vessels associated with them. Within this section, the focus will be on the development of active and passive ROM; active ROM is the range a limb can be taken through using muscular strength, for example, a développé; passive ROM is the full range of movement a limb can be taken through usually with help from an external force (e.g. someone else lifting leg or a grande battement). The difference between the two different ROMs should not be too great as this has been linked to increased risk of injury as there is reduced control of the limb especially at the upper limits of ROM when the muscle is most

198

PERIODIZATION

vulnerable. Therefore, an integral part of developing flexibility is developing the muscular strength to allow the limb to be taken through its full range of movement. The essential components of developing flexibility are intensity, frequency and duration (Deighan 2005) and involve enhancing stretch tolerance (the ability to tolerate the discomfort of stretching) (LaRouche, Luisser and Roy 2008), changes in the tissue elasticity (Siff 1993) and length characteristics (Hutton 1992). Optimal duration for a stretch has been shown to be between thirty to sixty seconds (Deighan 2005), though durations as short as six to ten seconds have also demonstrated increases in ROM. The frequency of stretching to increase ROM should be daily but to maintain ROM, the frequency can be less regular (Bandy, Irion and Briggler 1997). The component that has had the least research is the intensity at which the stretches are held (Apostolopoulos 2001), though some recent studies have challenged the idea that high intensity stretching (8/10 intensity) is optimal to increase ROM (Wyon, Smith and Koutedakis 2013; Wyon, Felton and Galloway 2009). Instead, low intensity stretching (microStretching®, 3/10) allows enough stress to be placed on the muscle to cause adaptation without the muscle’s protective mechanisms being activated (Golgi Tendon Organ and muscle spindles) (Apostolopoulos 2004). Strength interventions such as floor barre (Grossman and Wilmerding 2000), whole body vibration (Marshall and Wyon in press) and functional training (Wyon, Smith and Koutedakis 2013) have all been shown to increase both passive and active ranges of movement. Examples of the different interventions can be found at the end of this chapter.

Contraindications Holding stretches for long periods (one minute plus) can have a negative influence on activities that immediately follow it, especially if they involve stability and power (jumps and lifts). Therefore, the type of stretch used needs to reflect activity proceeding it; within a warm-up, the ideal stretches are either dynamic or held for short periods (10 to fifteen seconds); within a cool-down the stretches can be held for thirty to sixty seconds. Developmental stretching should occur when dancing has finished for the day and be considered an actual training session on a par to aerobic or strength training.

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

199

The position assumed when stretching a muscle is also important. Very often, the chosen position means that the muscle is not able to totally relax and therefore during the stretch, the muscle fibres are often activated and contract as they try to maintain stability. The below microStretching® video highlights how the major muscle groups can be stretched without placing undue tension through them.

Warming up and warming/cooling down Warm-up It can be argued that the dance class itself can adequately prepare the body to start and finish dance activity safely. In reality, the focus of the class is often on technique development or maintenance and therefore will not fulfil the criteria for warm-up or cool-down. The onus to be prepared for dance is the dancers’ and not the teachers’ but it is the latter’s responsibility to ensure that the dancers in their class know how to warm up/cool down effectively and be clear about the aims of each session so that dancers can warm up adequately and specifically. An effective warm up prepares the dancer physically and mentally for a specific physical activity. Most of the time, if not all of it, should be spent standing up and not on the floor as this reduces the effectiveness of the movements and muscle engagement as it has little resemblance to the following movement patterns or speed. Floor-based warm-ups often feel nice and can be incorporated into the early stages of a warm-up session but are not time-efficient or specific enough on their own. A warm-up increases the body’s core temperature and prepares the muscles, nerves and joints for the demands that will be placed on them during exercise. Warm-up should include movements that gradually take the limbs and joints through their full range of motion and mimic the movement patterns of the proceeding dance activity, increase the heart rate, engage the biofeedback mechanisms used in balancing and orienting the body and prepare the motor pathways for the movement patterns to come. If jumping is going to be part of the proceeding dance activity it should be included in the warm-up.

200

PERIODIZATION

At a muscular level, with the onset of exercise there is an increased need to replace the energy used by the muscles (Newsholme 1993). If the speed and the intensity of the exercise are increased too quickly, the body cannot keep up with the demand for oxygen and the muscles will start producing energy anaerobically (without oxygen). This leads to a build-up of lactate which contributes to a feeling of tiredness, heaviness and stiffness in the muscles. A wellplanned warm-up engages each of the energy systems thereby delaying the onset of fatigue. On a whole-body level, the warm-up needs to focus on the specific muscles to be used so that blood is routed to these regions (vascular shunt), thereby increasing oxygen supply. The other major component of warm-up is preparing the body to move through the required range of movement. This should focus on the mobilization of joints and taking muscles through the range of movement required by genre of the ensuing dance session. This will release the synovial fluid in the joint, improving lubrication and allowing the bones to glide and slide more freely. Warming up the joint and the ligaments and muscles around it also enhances the range of movement of the joint and improves transmission of signals from the joint through the nerves leading to better proprioception (the body’s ability to understand its orientation in space, aiding balance). These important changes that occur in the joint will increase the ability of the joint to absorb the impact of jumping, leaping and stamping. The type of stretching that is incorporated within a warm-up has been challenged in recent years evidenced by dynamic stretching reducing injury incidence with sport (Thacker et al. 2004; Young and Behm 2002). Prolonged static stretching has been shown to immediately effect a muscle’s ability to generate power (Behm et al. 2004) but within dance, limbs also need to be held in prolonged positions and therefore static stretching needs to be a component of the warm-up along with dynamic stretching (Morrin and Redding 2013). It is also important to prepare muscles to move rapidly through large ranges of movement (grande battement and jetés) and as the warm-up progresses the speed the limbs move should also increase. By using dance-specific movements that mimic the proceeding dance activity, muscle co-ordination and patterning are also prepared. During a warm-up, it is equally important to prepare the mind for what is coming next as it is the body. It will enable you to

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

201

become aware of posture, stance, technique and any unnecessary tension in the body and allow you to respond to breath and flow of movement. Improved concentration should result in your being better prepared to execute complicated choreography and reduce your risk of injury. For example, imagery is an integral element of warm up, especially before a performance. This might include reviewing a difficult part of the choreography in your head while singing the music or going over your interactions with your partner. This is called mental rehearsal, and research has shown it to be beneficial in skill acquisition and improved performance. You should move as you perform in your head and use as many cues as you can to bring as much depth and detail to the process as possible.

Practical implications The most important thing to remember about warming up is that it should be specific to the activity about to be carried out, for example, a jazz warm up should use jazz moves; a ballet one ballet moves etc. This means that it is impossible to present an ‘ideal’ example of a warm-up, as this will depend on a number of factors, including: ● ● ● ● ● ●

the fitness levels of the dancers the style of dance about to be done previous activities that day how warm the environment is the injury status of the dancer how much space and time are available.

Broadly speaking, an effective warm-up should take a minimum of twenty minutes. It will begin with large, controlled, general movements that use the larger muscle groups, gently easing the joints through their normal (not an extreme) range of movement. This could include walking around the space, involving multidirectional movements, gradually increasing the pace, incorporating some gentle arm swings and circles, and then changing levels by perhaps bringing in some lunges. Gradually articulate all the required joints as the warm-up progresses, especially the spine. Increase the pace or use more muscle groups with the movements

202

PERIODIZATION

becoming more dance specific until the breathing and heart rate are elevated (8/10 intensity). Incorporating partner work can be a beneficial activity as it requires reacting to movements outside of the dancer’s direct control and also prepares the body in a safe environment for lifting/supporting other dancers. Towards the end of the warm-up simple jumps can be included, progressing to bigger ones if required. Quick changes in movement direction and balances should also be incorporated to engage proprioceptors. At the end of the warm-up the heart rate should be elevated to around 80 per cent of maximum, dancers should be sweating, muscles and joints should feel warm, supple and easily move through their full range of movement. Dancers should start a warm-up wearing a number of layers of clothing that can be easily removed and replaced during the warmup. During the warm-up, dancers should drink and eat small amounts of carbohydrate (e.g. jellybeans).

Cool-down Cooling down is not always an essential activity after every session, especially if the next class/rehearsal is within fifteen to twenty minutes. In this case, it is better to maintain the body’s warmth by putting on layers of clothing and gently keeping moving. If there is a longer break between sessions, or at the end of the day, a cooldown is imperative. By cooling-down the by-products of exercise are removed from the muscles and blood-pooling is prevented, blood becomes ‘trapped’ in the lower limbs due to reduced muscle activity helping the venous return. This can result in increased muscle soreness the following day. The immediate cool-down post-session should be 45 per cent of the intensity of the preceding session (Menziesa et al. 2010) and involve whole body movements that take the exercised muscles through their full range of movement. This action not only reminds the muscles of their normal resting length but continues to supply oxygenated blood to the muscles allowing the muscles’ energy levels to be replenished more efficiently. If a partner is available, the stretch sequence in the recovery stretch video can be implemented. An important aspect of the cool-down is the replacement of fluid and energy. With a cool-down sequence, the dancer should start to replenish the water lost through sweat. A dancer should look at

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

203

consuming 250 to 500ml of water (Shirreffsa and Sawkab 2011), though to accurately work out how much fluid is lost as sweat, weigh the dancer wearing minimal clothing pre- and post-session and the difference in weight is the amount of fluid that needs to be consumed. There are many different recovery drinks on the market but unless the exercise session is in a hot environment, at a high intensity and lasts over two hours then plain water is sufficient (Shirreffsa and Sawkab 2011). A small amount of carbohydrate should also be consumed within twenty minutes of the session finishing (e.g. jellybeans) as this will help restore muscle glycogen levels (Futre, Noakes and Raine 1987).

Fitting it all in Most dance schedules at schools and companies are already hectic (Twitchett, Angioi et al. 2010; Wyon 2010) and adding supplemental training could increase the possibility of overtraining but there is increasing evidence that dance class and rehearsal no longer stress the body’s physiological systems sufficiently to cope with the demands of dance performance (Wyon et al. 2004; Wyon and Redding 2005) and that supplemental training has a direct effect on the artistic components of dance performance (Angioi et al. 2012; Twitchett, Angioi et al. 2011). Supplemental training sessions should occur either after the last dance session of the day or finish at least two hours before the start of a dance session. This is because supplemental training, and especially strength and power training, can affect movement and skill quality by fatiguing the neuromuscular system. Supplemental training sessions do not need to be long to achieve adaptation. Rather than trying to complete one session that has cardiorespiratory, strength and core training components, each component should be viewed as a separate training session usually lasting a focused twenty minutes. Depending on the dance schedule a number of these sessions might be combined on one day for a onehour work out, on another day four separate sessions might be spread throughout the day, while on a busy dance day only one light stretch session is incorporated. How does a dancer know what to focus on? This should be determined by regular fitness tests (see Fitness Testing below); at ArtEZ these occur on a termly basis

204

PERIODIZATION

(three times a year) and will provide a basis for the focus of the supplemental training.

Maintenance vs. development training To maintain aerobic fitness levels, for instance, one session a week is needed but to improve this attribute two to three sessions a week are needed (Baechle 1994). To prevent overtraining, a systematic schedule should be developed that combines and complements the periodized dance schedule. Aerobic and strength attributes need to be developed before anaerobic and power attributes otherwise these latter components won’t be developed optimally. It is generally a good idea to develop only one attribute at a time; you can develop more than one but as dance is a skill-based activity increasing the number would impinge on the primary goal of dance training, which is skill acquisition.

Recovery Not all training sessions are equal in how they affect the body. Each session, with the exception of stretching (though some studies claim otherwise), will have an immediate or acute (approximately one hour) effect on subsequent activities with feelings of fatigue and reduced fine motor control. Research has shown that it takes a muscle twelve to eighteen hours to recover from cardiorespiratory training sessions but twenty-four to forty-eight hours from a strength/power session (Rogozkin 1976), in the interim period muscle function will be impaired to a degree. The degree of impairment mainly depends on the intensity of the subsequent supplemental training, whether it contains eccentric activity (plyometrics) or new exercises; for example it is not a good idea to carry out a leg strength training session if you are dancing the next day.

Order of activities It has been suggested, and often practised within health and fitness clubs, that cardiorespiratory training should occur prior to muscle conditioning. This is promoted for two main reasons; firstly, it will

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

205

warm up the whole body and therefore prepares the muscles for specific activity and secondly, as cardiorespiratory training is often deemed boring; if it isn’t done first, there is an increased chance that there will be a loss of adherence with it being skipped or cut short. In reality, it does not matter which comes first but in recognition of good practice it is always better to train the primary training goal first as fatigue will have an effect on the secondary component.

Tapering As mentioned in the chapter 13 on training load, the amount and intensity of supplemental training needs to be manipulated so that the primary goals of the overall training programme, dancing, are not affected. This means that before performance, as the rehearsals increase in frequency and intensity, supplemental training decreases to maintenance levels. This is in recognition of the importance of the rehearsal period, to reduce fatigue and lessen the chance of overtraining. The maintenance sessions can be once a week but need to be high intensity for cardiorespiratory training and around 75 per cent of maximum for strength and power training; this will prevent detraining and the loss of physical fitness improvements.

Rest and holidays Rest is an essential part of every training programme but is often overlooked or under-programmed as it doesn’t obviously contribute to the training goals. The human body is a reactive organism in that only when it is exposed to a new stress does it adapt, and this occurs optimally during rest periods. These periods comprise sleep and days off. For the former, sleep can be simply divided into light and deep sleep. In the latter, hormones are released (Holl et al. 2011) that are involved in the repair and building of muscle but research has shown that at least four hours’ deep sleep is required for this process. At a weekly level, at least one day off a week is required and possibly two lower intensity days, and every four to six weeks a low intensity week to allow for super compensation (chapter 13 Training load).

206

PERIODIZATION

Holidays can be both beneficial and problematic. Breaks of less than two weeks can be very beneficial as they allow the body to repair itself and recover from fatigue without a loss of physiological improvements. If the holiday period is longer, a degree of intervention is required to prevent a loss of physical fitness (Koutedakis 1995). In some circumstances, longer rests are required if the dancer is overtrained (Koutedakis et al. 1999) and research has shown these longer periods (four to six weeks) have resulted in increases in physical fitness. The longer holiday period training can take on new activities to prevent staleness but still requires the underlying physiological systems to be stressed, resembling maintenance training. The period can also be used for focused physiological adaptations without having to worry about the effect of intensive training sessions on subsequent dance classes.

Fitness testing Physical fitness testing should be part of dance screening as there are strong relationships between not only certain fitness attributes and injury incidence (Angioi, Metsios, Koutedakis et al. 2009; Koutedakis et al. 1997; Koutedakis and Sharp 2004; Koutedakis, StavropoulosKalinoglou and Metsios 2005; Twitchett, Brodrick et al. 2010) but also with improved dance performance (Angioi et al. 2012; Angioi, Metsios, Twitchett et al. 2009b; Twitchett, Angioi et al. 2011). The section below will describe how to test a number of the main fitness attributes within both a laboratory and a studio setting; further information can be gained from the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science guidelines (Wyon 2007). The fitness tests that are used should be valid, reliable and sensitive enough to monitor change and ideally specific to dance. Doing the whole battery of tests would provide comprehensive information about a dancer for exercise prescription but also takes one to two hours. Fundamentally, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle function and anthropometric tests should be included as these have the strongest relationships with injury and performance, but if a specific supplemental fitness training programme is going to be implemented then an appropriate test should be used at the beginning and the end so that both the dancer and the trainer can ascertain the efficacy of the programme.

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

207

Cardiorespiratory tests The two cardiorespiratory systems we need to test are the aerobic and anaerobic (lactate). There are numerous tests that can be carried out in the dance studio that have been developed for either sport (multistage shuttle test) or general populations (step test); the former has greater reliability, validity and sensitivity than the later. There are two dance-specific fitness tests that have been used for the last ten years. These are the Dance Aerobic Fitness Test (Wyon et al. 2003) and the Ballet Dance Aerobic Fitness Test (Twitchett, Nevill et al. 2011). These tests are continuous incremental five-stage aerobic fitness tests that use dance-specific movements (contemporary/modern and ballet). They have specific stages that correspond to the mean oxygen requirement of dance class (stage three) and dance performance (stage five). These tests can be done by multiple dancers at the same time as long as the studio is big enough. The movement sequence of each stage is designed so that both novice and elite dancers of the same gender work at the same relative oxygen requirement (ml·kg·_1min_1). The test observes changes in a dancer’s aerobic fitness by their ability to either dance at a higher stage or by recording a lower heart rate during each stage during a repeat test, thereby indicating an improvement in the dancer’s aerobic power. Ideally, heart rate should be measured by heart rate monitors; pulse (taken at the wrist or neck) could be used but the accuracy is diminished. Anaerobic tests. The aim of these tests is to challenge the anaerobic system and within exercise science involve the monitoring of either power output or blood lactate levels. They have little skill components and use gross musculature to tax this system. The lack of a moderate-to-high skill element means that there are very few anaerobic tests that are applicable to dance. The only validated test is the High Intensity Dance Performance test (Redding et al. 2009). Within this test, dancers are required to complete as many repetitions as possible before technique is compromised, heart rate and blood lactate levels can also be monitored if the equipment is available.

Muscle function These include tests for strength, local muscle endurance, power and flexibility. Again, there are laboratory and studio-based versions that have varying degrees of validity, reliability and accuracy. The

208

PERIODIZATION

tests described below have been used for a long time within exercise science and are applicable to dance. Vertical jump protocol. Ideally a contact jump mat should be used for this test as this can calculate jump height based on the jump time. After a warm-up, the dancer stands on the mat with arms in bras-bar (arms slightly in front of the body) before carrying out a demi-plié and jumping as high as they can. Three attempts should be made and the highest score recorded. The same protocol can be used for a single leg hop test that will allow any bilateral differences to be noted. Triple hop test. The dancer stands behind a specified line and then carries out three continuous hops, trying to cover as much forward distance as possible. The distance is measured, and the test carried out on the other leg; three trials of each leg should be done and the greatest distance recorded.

Flexibility It is suggested that both active and passive ROM are measured within the selected joints. The hip should be measured in multiple planes (frontal: flexion and extension; sagittal: flexion; transverse: rotation). Care should be taken that the hip movement is minimal (hip on the testing leg often rises) and the back stays flat (no increase in the natural lordosis). Videoing the exercises allows analysis through basic movement analysis software which is easier than using a goniometer. Hip flexion protocol. In the sagittal plane (à la seconde), the dancer should carry out a general warm-up that includes cardiovascular and stretching exercises. For passive ROM the dancer, standing unsupported, lifts the test leg with their hand (or an assistant lifts it) as high as possible; care must be taken that the hips remain in a neutral position and the leg is not internally rotated before the angle is measured or filmed. The active ROM test is similar except that the hip flexors are used to move the limb through its ROM by carrying out a développé. This protocol can be adapted for the frontal plane. Spine extension protocol. Lying face down, the dancer is asked to push their upper body as high as possible using their arms, keeping their hips on the floor. The dancer can either be filmed or the distance between the clavicle notch and the floor measured. For active flexibility the dancer again starts face down on the floor with their hands by their sides and the movement is repeated using the back extensors to gain ROM. In both tests an external object should not fix the legs.

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

209

Training programme examples Foundation training The resistance (weight) for each exercise should be enough that the last two repetitions of each set should be a struggle, the first set (warm-up set) should be at 50–60 per cent of the weight used during the two training sets. The below programme (exercises and weight/ number of repetitions per set) has provided an example of resistance (weight) but each dancer needs to determine their own.

Session

1

2

Exercise

Week 1

Week 2

Warmup set

Set 1

Set 2

Warmup set

Set 1

Set 2

Step ups

35/10

70/10

70/10

40/10

70/10

80/10

Calf raises on leg press

30/15

65/15

65/15

35/15

65/15

70/15

BOSU ball squat

10

10

10

10

10

10

Shoulder press 15/10 on ball

30/10

30/10

20/10

30/10

35/10

Upright rows

20/10

40/10

40/10

25/10

40/10

45/10

Rotator cuff

10/10

20/10

20/10

15/10

20/10

25/10

Pull ups

10

10

10

10

10

10

Dips

10–15

10–15 10–15

10–15

10–15 10–15

Pull overs

20/10

40/10

40/10

25/10

40/10

45/10

Side lunges

20/10

40/10

40/10

25/10

40/10

45/10

Walking lunges

20/15

20/15

20/15

20/15

25/15

25/15

210

PERIODIZATION

Circuit training This is a whole body work out that trains the aerobic energy system and also specific muscle groups. It is hard work but fun to do in a group. As the dancer gets fitter increase the number of times the circuit is completed. Circuit 1

Circuit 2

Each exercise for 1 minute

20 reps of exercise and 2 minutes skipping

Press ups

Press ups

Calf raises with Dynaband

Squats

Skipping

Crunches

Bicep curls with Dynaband

Skipping

Crunches

Pull ups

Skipping

Lunges

Bench dips

Toe touches

Plank

Skipping

Skipping

Upright row with Dynaband

Straight leg bows*

Tuck jumps

Toe touch sit ups

Plank

Skipping

Skipping

Pull ups (under bar)

Bench dips

Side plank

Calf raises

Skipping

Side plank

Upright row with Dynaband

Skipping

Reverse curl

Bicep curl with Dynaband

PHYSICAL FITNESS TRAINING

Skipping

Tricep overhead extension with Dynaband

Hamstring curls with Swiss ball

Ball pikes

Hyperextensions

Skipping

Skipping * Knees should be ‘soft’ and not locked.

211

212

Strength training Week 1 Session Exercise 1

2

Warmup set

Week 2

Week 3

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Warmup set

Set 1

Set 2 Set 3

Warm- Set 1 up set

Set 2 Set 3

Bench press

Push/pull 30/10 Superset

60/6

60/6

60/6

30/10

60/6

60/6

70/6

30/10

60/6

60/6

70/6

Seated row

30/10

60/6

60/6

60/6

30/10

60/6

60/6

70/6

30/10

60/6

60/6

70/6

Push/pull 25/10 Cable cross over Superset press

45/6

45/6

45/6

25/10

45/6

45/6

50/6

25/10

45/6

45/6

50/6

Lat pulldown

30/10

70/6

70/6

70/6

30/10

70/6

70/6

70/6

30/10

70/6

70/6

70/6

Dumbbell Superset 10/10 shoulder press

20/6

20/6

20/6

10/10

20/6

20/6

20/6

10/10

20/6

20/6

20/6

Bicep curl (bar) Upright pull

3

15/10 Superset 10/10

30/10 30/10 30/10

15/10

30/10 30/10 30/10

15/10

30/10 30/10 30/10

20/6

10/10

20/6

10/10

20/6

20/6

20/6

20/6

20/6

20/6

20/6

Overhead tricep extension

15/10

30/10 30/10 30/10

15/10

30/10 30/10 30/10

15/10

30/10 30/10 30/10

Squat

40/10

80/6

40/10

80/6

40/10

80/6

Lunge

20/10

40/10 40/10 40/10

20/10

40/10 40/10 40/10

20/10

40/10 40/10 40/10

Calf raise

35/15

65/15 65/15 65/15

35/15

65/15 65/15 65/15

35/15

65/15 65/15 65/15

‘Straight’ leg deadlift

20/10

35/6

20/10

35/6

20/10

35/6

80/6

35/6

80/6

35/6

80/6

35/6

80/6

35/6

80/6

35/6

80/6

35/6

213

214

PERIODIZATION

Plyometric training Low Intensity

Moderate Intensity

Drill

Reps

Sets

Drill

Reps

Sets

Pogo

10

2–3

Double knee 10 tuck jump

2

Squat jump

10

2–3

Split Jump

10

2

Ankle flip

16

2–3

Side-to-side push off

10

2

Double leg speed hop

12

2–3

Barrier jumps 10

2

Power skip

10

2–3

Squat box jump

10

2

Lateral bench jumps

10

2–3

Alternate leg push off

10

2–3

Drill

Reps

Sets

Drill

Reps

Sets

Single leg tuck jump

8

2

Depth jump to second box

8

2

Pike jump

8

2

Squat depth jump

8

2

Single leg vertical jump

8

2

Triple single leg hop

8

2

Depth jump

8

2

High intensity

REFERENCES

Adams, J.A. (1971). ‘A closed-loop theory of motor learning’. Journal of Motor Behavior, 3(2): 111–50. Allard, G., D. Berg, L. Corstens and D. Brown (2012). ‘Critical reflection ArtEZ School of Dance.’ NVAO, https://www.nvao.net/nl/besluiten/ artez/b-dans (accessed 4 April 2021). Allard, G. and H. Oosterling (2018). ‘Embodiment as the integral discourse for resilient urbanity’. ELIA Biennial Conference Resilience and the City. Art, Education, Urbanism, Rotterdam. Allen, N. and M. Wyon (2008). ‘Dance Medicine: Athlete or Artist’. SportEx Medicine 35: 6–9. Angioi, M., G. Metsios, Y. Koutedakis, E. Twitchett and M. Wyon (2009a). ‘Physical fitness and severity of injuries in contemporary dance’. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 24 (1): 26–9. Angioi, M., G. Metsios, E. Twitchett, Y. Koutedakis and M. Wyon (2009b). ‘Association between selected physical fitness parameters and aesthetic competence in contemporary dancers.’ Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 13 (4): 115–23. Angioi, M., G. Metsios, E. Twitchett, Y. Koutedakis and M. Wyon (2012). ‘Effects of supplemental training on fitness and aesthetic competence parameters in contemporary dance: a randomised controlled trial’. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 27 (1): 3–8. Apostolopoulos, N. (2001). ‘Performance Flexibility’, in B Foran (ed.), High Performance Sports Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Apostolopoulos, N. (2004). ‘Microstretching®: A new recovery regeneration technique’. New Studies in Athletics 19 (4): 47–56. Arthur, W., E.A. Day, A.J. Villado, P.R. Boatman, V. Kowollik, Jr., W. Bennett and A. Bhupatka (2007). Decay, Transfer, and the Reacquisition of a Complex Skill: An Investigation of Practice Schedules, Observational Rehearsal, and Individual Differences. Woburn, MA: Aptima, Inc. Aujla, I. and R. Farrer (2015). ‘The role of psychological factors in the career of the independent dancer’. Frontiers in Psychology 6: 1688–1688. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01688. 215

216

REFERENCES

Baechle, T.R. (1994). Essentials of Strength and Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Bale, P. and J. Goodway (1990). ‘Performance variables associated with the competitive gymnast’. Sports Medicine 10 (3): 139–45. Bandy, W.D., J.M. Irion and M. Briggler (1997). ‘The effect of time and frequency of static stretching on flexibility of the hamstring muscles’. Physical Therapy 77 (10): 1090–6. Behm, D.G., A. Bambury, F. Cahill and K. Power (2004). ‘Effect of acute static stretching on force, balance, reaction time, and movement time’. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise 36 (8): 1397–402. Benn, T. and D. Walters (2001). ‘Between Scylla and Charybdis. Nutritional education versus body culture and the ballet aesthetic: The effects on the lives of female dancers’. Research in Dance Education 2 (2): 139–54. Bläsing, B.E., J. Coogan, J. Biondi and T. Schack (2018). ‘Watching or listening: How visual and verbal information contribute to learning a complex dance phrase’. Frontiers in Psychology 9: 2371. Bompa, T.O. and L.J. Cornacchia (1998). Serious Strength Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Bompa, T.O. and G.G. Haff (2009). Periodisation: Theory and Methodology of Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Bompa, T.O, and M. Carrera (2015). Conditioning Young Athletes. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Bompa, T.O, and C. Buzzichelli (2018). Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Bondarchuk, A.P. (1988). ‘Constructing a training system’. Track Technique 102 (1): 3254–9. Borg, G. (1978). ‘Psychological assessments of physical effort’. International Symposium on Psychological Assessment in Sport, 1978, Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport, Netanya, Israel. Bowen, L., A.S. Gross, M. Gimpel and F-X. Li (2017). ‘Accumulated workloads and the acute:chronic workload ratio relate to injury risk in elite youth football players’. British Journal of Sports Medicine 51 (5): 452–9. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2015-095820. Bower, M.E., W.J. Kraemer, J.A. Potteiger, J.S. Volek, D.A. Hatfield, J.L. Vingren and B.A. Spiering (2010). ‘Relationship between off-ice testing variables and on-ice speed in women’s collegiate synchronized figure skaters: Implications for training’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24 (3): 831–9. Brinson, P. and F. Dick (1996). Fit to Dance? London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Brodie, J.A. and E.E. Lobel (2008). ‘More than just a mirror image: The visual system and other modes of learning and performing dance’.

REFERENCES

217

Journal of Dance Education 8 (1): 2331. doi: 10.1080/15290824.2008. 10387355. Bronfenbrenner, U. and P.A. Morris (2006). ‘The bioecological model of human development’. Handbook of Child Psychology 1: 793–828. Bronfenbrenner, U. and S.J. Ceci (1993). ‘Heredity, environment, and the question “How?”: A first approximation’. In R. Plomin and G.E. McClearn (eds.), Nature, Nurture and Psychology. American Psychological Association, 313–24, https://doi.org/10.1037/10131-015. Brown, D.D. and R.G.J. Meulenbroek (2016). ‘Effects of a fragmented view of one’s partner on interpersonal coordination in dance’. Frontiers in Psychology 7 (614). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00614. Brown, D.D., J. Bosga and R.G. Meulenbroek (2020). ‘Effects of Mirror and Metronome Use on Spontaneous Dance Movements’. Motor Control: 1–14. doi: 10.1123/mc.2020-0012. Buckroyd, J. (2001). ‘The application of psychodynamic ideas to professional dance training’. Psychodynamic Counselling 7 (1): 27–40. doi: 10.1080/13533330010018469. Burke, L.M. and V. Deakin (2000). Clinical Sports Nutrition. Roseville, Australia: McGraw-Hill, Australia. Carfagno, D.G. and J.C. Hendrix (2014). ‘Overtraining syndrome in the athlete: current clinical practice’. Current Sports Medicine Reports 13 (1): 45–51. Carr, S. and M.A. Wyon (2003). ‘The influence of goal orientation, trait anxiety, and perfectionism on dance students’ current perceptions of the motivational climate’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 7: 105–14. Chamari, K., I. Moussa-Chamari, L. Boussaïdi, Y. Hachana, F. Kaouech and U. Wisløff (2005). ‘Appropriate interpretation of aerobic capacity: allometric scaling in adult and young soccer players’. British Journal of Sports Medicine 39: 97–101. Christensen, E.H. (1931). ‘Beitrage zur physiologie schwerer korperlicher arbeit: minutnvolumen und schlagvolumen des herzens whrend schwerer korperlicher arbeit’. Arbeitsphysiologie 4: 453–70. Collins, D. and Á. MacNamara (2012). ‘The rocky road to the top’. Sports Medicine 42 (11): 907–14. Collins, D., Á. MacNamara and N. McCarthy (2016). ‘Super champions, champions, and almosts: Important differences and commonalities on the rocky road’. Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2009). doi: 10.3389/ fpsyg.2015.02009. Colquhoun, D. and K.E. Chad (1986). ‘Physiological characteristics of Australian female soccer players after a competitive season’. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 18 (3): 9–12.

218

REFERENCES

de Bruin, A., P. Karin, F.C. Bakker and R.R.D. Oudejans (2009). ‘Achievement goal theory and disordered eating: Relationships of disordered eating with goal orientations and motivational climate in female gymnasts and dancers’. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 10 (1): 72–9. Deighan, M. (2005). ‘Flexibility in dance’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 9 (1): 13–17. Dotti, A., M. Fioravanti, M. Balotta, F. Tozzi, C. Cannella and D. Lazzari (2002). ‘Eating behaviour of ballet dancers’. Eating and Weight Disorders 7 (1): 60–7. Duda, J.L. (2001). ‘Achievement goal research in sport: Pushing the boundaries and clarifying some misunderstandings’, in G.C. Roberts (ed.), Advances in Motivation in Sport and Exercise, 129–82. Leeds: Human Kinetics. Eckard, T.G., D.A. Padua, D.W. Hearn, B.S. Pexa and B.S. Frank (2018). ‘The relationship between training load and injury in athletes: a systematic review’. Sports Medicine 48 (8): 1929–61. Engel, L. (2001). ‘Body poetics of hip hop dance styles in Copenhagen’. Dance Chronicle 24 (3): 351–72. doi: 10.1081/DNC-100108563. Enghauser, R. (2003). ‘Motor learning and the dance technique class: Science, tradition, and pedagogy’. Journal of Dance Education 3 (3): 87–95. doi: 10.1080/15290824.2003.10387235. Fitts, P.M., M.I. Posner and J. Cole (1967). Human Performance. Vol. 5. Belmont, CA: Brooks. Frederick, A. and C. Frederick (2006). Stretch to Win. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Fry, R.W., A.R. Morton and D. Keast (1992). ‘Periodisation of training stress – a review’. Canadian Journal of Sports Science 17 (3): 234–40. Futre, E.M.P., T.D. Noakes and R.I. Raine (1987). ‘Muscle glycogen repletion during active postexercise recovery’. American Journal of Physiology 253: E305–11. Gabbett, T.J. (2016). ‘The training–injury prevention paradox: Should athletes be training smarter and harder? British Journal of Sports Medicine 50 (5): 273–80. Gagné, F. (2013). ‘The DMGT: Changes within, beneath, and beyond’. Talent Development & Excellence 5 (1): 5–19. Gagné, F. (2017). ‘The integrative model of talent development (IMTD): From theory to educational applications’, in J.A. Plucker, A.N. Rinn and M.C. Makel (eds.), From Giftedness to Gifted Education: Reflecting theory in practice, 149–82. Austin, TX: Prufrock Press Inc. Gagné, F. (2021). ‘Implementing the DMGT’s constructs of giftedness and talent: What, why, and how?’ in S.R. Smith, Handbook of Giftedness and Talent development in the Asia-Pacific, 71–99. New York: Springer.

REFERENCES

219

Gentile, A.M. (1972). ‘A working model of skill acquisition with application to teaching’. Quest 17 (1): 3–23. doi: 10.1080/00336297.1972.10519717. Goodwin, H., J. Arcelus, S. Marshall, S. Wicks and C. Meyer (2014). ‘Critical comments concerning shape and weight: Associations with eating psychopathology among full-time dance students’. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity 19 (1): 115–18. doi: 10.1007/s40519-013-0075-2. Grecic, D. and D. Collins (2013). ‘The epistemological chain: Practical applications in sports’. Quest 65 (2): 151–68. Grossman, G. and M.V. Wilmerding (2000). ‘The effect of conditioning on the height of dancer’s extension in a la seconde’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 4 (4): 117–21. Hakkinen, K. (1989). ‘Neuromuscular and hormonal adaptations during strength and power training: A review.’ Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 29: 9–26. Hakkinen, K. and M. Kallinen (1994). ‘Distribution of strength training volume into one or two daily sessions and neuromuscular adaptations in female athletes’. Electromyography and Clinical Neurophysiology 34: 117–24. Hamilton, L.H., J. Brooks-Gunn, M.P. Warren and W.G. Hamilton (1987). ‘The impact of thinness and dieting on the professional ballet dancer’. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 2 (4): 117–22. Hamilton, L.H., J. Brooks-Gunn, M.P. Warren and W.G. Hamilton (1988). ‘The role of selectivity in the pathogenesis of eating problems in ballet dancers’. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 20 (6): 560–5. Hartmann, U. and J. Mester (2000). ‘Training and overtraining markers in selected sport events’. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 32 (1): 209–15. Henriksen, K., R. Schinke, K. Moesch, S. McCann, W.D. Parham, C.H. Larsen and P. Terry (2020). ‘Consensus statement on improving the mental health of high performance athletes’. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 18 (5): 553–60. doi: 10.1080/1612197X.2019.1570473. Henriksen, K., N. Stambulova and K.K. Roessler (2010a). ‘Holistic approach to athletic talent development environments: A successful sailing milieu’. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 11 (3): 212–22. Henriksen, K., N. Stambulova and K.K. Roessler (2010b). ‘Successful talent development in track and field: Considering the role of environment’. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 20: 122–32. Heyes, C. (2016). ‘Imitation: Not in our genes’. Current Biology 26 (10): R412–R414. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.060.

220

REFERENCES

Hill, A., Á. MacNamara, D. Collins and S. Rodgers (2016a). ‘Examining the role of mental health and clinical issues within talent development’. Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2042). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02042. Hill, A., Á. MacNamara, D. Collins and S. Rodgers (2016b). ‘Examining the role of mental health and clinical issues within talent development’. Frontiers in Psychology 6: 2042. Holl, R.W., M.L. Hartman, J.D. Veldhuis, W.M. Taylor and M.O. Thorner (2011). ‘Thirty-second sampling of plasma growth hormone in man: Correlation with sleep stages’. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 72 (4): 854–61. Hooper, S.L. and L.T. Mackinnon (1995). ‘Monitoring overtraining in athletes’. Sports Medicine 20 (5): 321–7. Hulin, B.T., T.J. Gabbett, D.W. Lawson, P. Caputi and J.A. Sampson (2016). ‘The acute:chronic workload ratio predicts injury: High chronic workload may decrease injury risk in elite rugby league players’. British Journal of Sports Medicine 50 (4): 231–6. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2015-094817. Hutton, R.S. (1992). ‘Neuromuscular basis of stretching exercise,’ in P.V. Komi (ed.), Strength and Power in Sport, 29–38. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications. Issurin, V. (2008). ‘Block periodization versus traditional training theory: A review’. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 48 (1): 65. Jeukendrup, A. and A. van Diemen (1998). ‘Heart rate monitoring during training and competition in cyclists’. Journal of Sports Sciences 16 (sup1): 91–9. Johnston, R.B. 3rd, M.E. Howard, P.W. Cawley and G.M. Losse (1998). ‘Effect of lower extremity muscular fatigue on motor control performance’. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 30 (12): 1703–7. Kantak, S.S. and C.J. Winstein (2012). ‘Learning–performance distinction and memory processes for motor skills: A focused review and perspective’. Behavioural Brain Research 228 (1): 219–31. Kelly, Kevin (2010). What Technology Wants. New York: Penguin Books. Kimmerle, M. (2010). ‘Lateral bias, functional asymmetry, dance training and dance injuries’. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science 14 (2): 58–66. Kornspan, A. (2009). Fundamentals of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Koutedakis, Y. (1995). ‘Seasonal variation in fitness parameters in competitive athletes’. Sports Medicine 19 (6): 373–92. Koutedakis, Y. (1996). ‘The male and female professional dancer: Aspects related to injuries, fitness and nutrition – nutrition to fuel dance: A brief review’. Dance Research 14 (2): 76–92.

REFERENCES

221

Koutedakis, Y. (2000). ‘Burnout in dance: the physiological viewpoint’. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science 4 (4): 122–7. Koutedakis, Y. and A. Jamurtas (2004). ‘The dancer as a performing athlete: Physiological considerations’. Sports Medicine 34 (10): 651–61. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200434100-00003. Koutedakis, Y. and N.C. Sharp (2004). ‘Thigh-muscles strength training, dance exercise, dynamometry, and anthropometry in professional ballerinas’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 18 (4): 714–18. doi: DOI: 10.1519/13983.1. Koutedakis, Y., A. Agrawal and N.C.C. Sharp (1999). ‘Isokinetic characteristics of knee flexors and extensors in male dancers, Olympic oarsmen, Olympic bobsleighers, and non-athletes’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 2 (2): 63–7. Koutedakis, Y., A. Stavropoulos-Kalinoglou and G. Metsios (2005). ‘The Significance of Muscular Strength in Dance’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 9 (1): 29–34. Koutedakis, Y., M. Khalouha, P.J. Pacy, M. Murphy and G.M.J. Dunbar (1997). ‘Thigh peak torques and lower-body injuries in dancers’. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science 1 (1): 12–15. Koutedakis, Y., F. Clarke, M. Wyon, D. Aways and E.O. Owolabi (2009). ‘Muscular strength: Applications for dancers’. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 24 (4): 157–65. Koutedakis, Y., L. Myszkewycz, D. Soulas, V. Papapostolou, I. Sullivan, and N.C. Sharp (1999). ‘The effects of rest and subsequent training on selected physiological parameters in professional female classical dancers’. International Journal of Sports Medicine 20 (6): 379–83. doi: https://DOI:10.1055/s-2007-971148. Kraemer, W.J., B.C. Nindl, N.A. Ratamess, L.A. Gotshalk, J.S. Volek, S.J. Fleck, R.U. Newton and K. Hakkinen (2004). ‘Changes in muscle hypertrophy in women with periodized resistance training’. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 36 (4): 1124–31. Kuettel, A., and C.H. Larsen (2020). ‘Risk and protective factors for mental health in elite athletes: a scoping review’. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology 13 (1): 231–65. doi: 10.1080/1750984X.2019.1689574. LaRouche, D.P., M.V. Luisser and S.J. Roy (2008). ‘Chronic stretching and voluntary muscle force’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22 (2): 589–96. Larsen, C.H., D. Alfermann, K. Henriksen and M.K. Christensen (2013). ‘Successful talent development in soccer: The characteristics of the environment’. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology 2 (3): 190.

222

REFERENCES

Latash, L.P. and M.L. Latash (1994). ‘A new book by N.A. Bernstein: “On dexterity and its development”.’ J Mot Behav 26 (1): 56–62. doi: 10.1080/00222895.1994.9941662. Laws, H. (2005). Fit to Dance 2 – Report of the Second National Inquiry into Dancers’ Health and Injury in the UK. London: Newgate Press. Liiv, H., M.A. Wyon, T. Jurimae, M. Saar, J. Maest and J. Jurimae (2013). ‘Anthropometry, somatotypes and aerobic power in ballet, contemporary dance and DanceSport’. Medical Problems in Performing Artists 28(4): 207–11. Lucini, D., I. Marchetti, A. Spataro, M. Malacarne, M. Benzi, S. Tamorri, R. Sala and M. Pagani (2017). ‘Heart rate variability to monitor performance in elite athletes: Criticalities and avoidable pitfalls’. International Journal of Cardiology 240: 307–12. MacNamara, Á., A. Button and D. Collins (2010a). ‘The role of psychological characteristics in facilitating the pathway to elite performance part 1: Identifying mental skills and behaviors’. The Sport Psychologist 24(1): 52–73. MacNamara, Á., A. Button and D. Collins (2010b). ‘The role of psychological characteristics in facilitating the pathway to elite performance part 2: Examining environmental and stage-related differences in skills and behaviors’. The Sport Psychologist 24 (1): 74–96. Mainwaring, L.M. and D.H. Krasnow (2010). ‘Teaching the dance class: Strategies to enhance skill acquisition, mastery and positive self-image’. Journal of Dance Education 10 (1): 14–21. Marshall, L.C. and M. Wyon (forthcoming). ‘The effect of Whole Body Vibration on jump height and active range of movement in female dancers’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Martindale, R.J.J. and P. Mortimer (2011). ‘Talent development environments: Key considerations for effective practice’. Performance Psychology: A practitioner’s guide, 65–84. London: Elsevier. Martindale, R.J.J, D. Collins and A. Abraham (2007). ‘Effective talent development: The elite coach perspective in UK sport’. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 19 (2): 187–206. Matveev, L. (1965). Periodisation of Sports Training. Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport. Maughan, R., M. Gleeson and P.L. Greenhaff (1997). Biochemistry of Exercise and Training. Oxford: Oxford University Press. McCormack, M., J. Briggs, A. Hakim and R. Grahame (2004). ‘Joint laxity and the benign joint hypermobility syndrome in student and professional ballet dancers’. Journal of Rheumatology 31 (1): 173–8. Menziesa, P., C. Menziesa, L. McIntyrea, P. Patersona, J. Wilsona and O.J. Kemia (2010). ‘Blood lactate clearance during active recovery after an

REFERENCES

223

intense running bout depends on the intensity of the active recovery’. Journal of Sports Sciences 28 (9): 975–82. Miulli, M. and S.M. Nordin-Bates (2011). ‘Motivational climates: What they are, and why they matter’. The IADMS Bulletin for Teachers (The International Association for Dance Medicine and Science) 3 (2): 5–8. Moore, D.R. (2015). ‘Nutrition to support recovery from endurance exercise: Optimal carbohydrate and protein replacement’. Current Sports Medicine Reports 14 (4): 294–300. Morgan, W.P., D.R. Brown, J.S. Raglin, P.J. O’Connor and K.A. Ellickson (1987). ‘Psychological monitoring of overtraining and staleness’. British Journal of Sports Medicine 21 (3): 107–14. Morrin, N. and E. Redding (2013). ‘Acute effects of warm-up stretch protocols on balance, vertical jump height, and range of motion in dancers’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 17 (1): 34–40. Mujika, I. (2009). Tapering and Peaking for Optimal Performance. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Newell, K.M. (1985). ‘Coordination, Control and Skill’, in David Goodman, Robert B. Wilberg and Ian M. Franks (eds.), Advances in Psychology, 295–317. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Newsholme, E.A. (1993). ‘Basic aspects of metabolic regulation and their application to provision of energy in exercise’, in J.R. Poortmans (ed.), Principles of Exercise Biochemistry, 51–88. Basel: Karger. Newton, R.U., A.J. Murphy, B.J. Humphries, G.J. Wilson, W.J. Kraemer and K. Hakkinen (1997). ‘Influence of load and stretch shortening cycle on the kinematics, kinetics and muscle activation that occurs during explosive upper-body movements’. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 75: 333–42. Nicol, C., J. Avela and P.V. Komi (2006). ‘The stretch-shortening cycle: A model to study naturally occuring neuromuscular fatigue’. Sports Medicine 36: 977–99. NVAO (2012). ‘Bachelor of Dance, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts: Report of the limited programme assessment August 2012’. Assessment Agency for Higher Education, http://search.nvao.net/files/003621%20rapport%20 ArtEZ%20hbo-ba%20Dance.pdf (accessed 4 February 2021). Opacic, T., C. Stevens and B. Tillmann (2009). ‘Unspoken knowledge: Implicit learning of structured human dance movement’. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 35 (6): 1570–7. doi: 10.1037/a0017244. Ostrander, S. and L. Schroeder (1979). Super-Learning. London: Souvenir Press. Pavlik, K. and S. Nordin-Bates (2016). ‘Imagery in dance: A literature review’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 20 (2): 51–63.

224

REFERENCES

Pickard, A. (2013). ‘Ballet body belief: Perceptions of an ideal ballet body from young ballet dancers’. Research in Dance Education 14 (1): 3–19. doi: 10.1080/14647893.2012.712106. Pickard A. (2006). ‘Sustaining motivation–fostering excellence from the perspective of young talented dancers’. Paper presented at the Dance UK Healthier Dancer Conference in the Balance, 2006. Piggott, B., M.J. Newton and M.R. McGuigan (2009). ‘The relationship between training load and incidence of injury and illness over a pre-season at an Australian Football League club’. Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning 17: 4–17. Plisk, S.S. and M.H. Stone (1997). ‘Periodization strategies’. Strength and Conditioning Journal 25: 19–37. Puretz, S.L. (1983). ‘Bilateral transfer: The effects of practice on the transfer of complex dance movement patterns’. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 54 (1): 48–54. doi: 10.1080/02701367.1983.10605271. Quested, E. and J.L. Duda (2010). ‘Exploring the social-environmental determinants of well- and ill-being in dancers: A test of basic needs theory’. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 32 (1): 39–60. Quested, E. and J.L. Duda (2011). ‘Antecedents of burnout among elite dancers: A longitudinal test of basic needs theory’. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 12 (2): 159–67. Quested, E. and J.L. Duda (2009a). ‘Perceptions of the motivational climate, need satisfaction, and indices of well- and ill-being among hip hop dancers’. J Dance Med Sci 13 (1): 10–19. Quested, E. and J.L. Duda (2009b). ‘Setting the stage: Socialenvironmental and motivational predictors of optimal training engagement’. Performance Research 14 (2): 36–45. Radell, S.A, D.D. Adame, S.P. Cole and N.J. Blumenkehl (2011). ‘The impact of mirrors on body image and performance in high and low performing female ballet students’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 15 (3): 108–15. Rafferty, S, and M. Wyon (2006). ‘Leadership behavior in dance application of the leadership scale for sports to dance technique teaching’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 10 (1–2): 6–13. Redding, E., P. Weller, S. Ehrenberg, S. Irvine, E. Quin, S. Rafferty, M. Wyon and C. Cox (2009). ‘The development of a high intensity dance performance fitness test’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 13 (1): 3–9. Reinboth, M. and J.L. Duda (2006). ‘Perceived motivational climate, need satisfaction and indices of well-being in team sports: A longitudinal perspective’. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 7 (3): 269–86. Roberts, G.C. (1984). ‘Achievement motivation in children’s sport’, in J.G. Nicholls (ed.), Advances in Motivation and Achievements: Vol 3.

REFERENCES

225

The Development of Achievement and Motivation, 251–81. Greenwich, CT: JA. Rogozkin, V.A. (1976). ‘The effect of the number of daily training sessions on skeletal muscle protein synthesis’. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 8 (4): 223–5. Royal, K., D. Farrow, I. Mujika, S. Halson, D. Pyne and B. Abernethy (2006). ‘The effects of fatigue on decision making and shooting skill performance in water polo players’. Journal of Sports Sciences 24 (8): 807–15. Ryan, R.M. and E.L. Deci (2019). ‘Brick by brick: The origins, development, and future of self-determination theory’, in A.J. Elliot (ed.), Advances in Motivation Science, 111–56. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Saavedra, A.R. and V.D. Opfer (2012). ‘Learning 21st-century skills requires 21st-century teaching’. Phi Delta Kappan 94 (2): 8–13. Salmoni, A.W., R.A. Schmidt and C.B. Walter (1984). ‘Knowledge of results and motor learning: A review and critical reappraisal’. Psychological Bulletin 95 (3): 355–86. Sandri, S.C. (1993). ‘On dancers and diet’. International Journal of Sport Nutrition 3 (3): 334–42. Schärli, A. (2017). ‘Functional movement analysis in dance’, in B. Müller, S.I. Wolf, G.-P. Brueggemann, Z. Deng, A. McIntosh, F. Miller and William S. Selbie (eds.), Handbook of Human Motion, 1–15. Champaign, IL: Springer International Publishing. Schinke, R.J., K. Henriksen, B. Petersen, P. Wylleman, G. Si, L. Zhang, S. McCann and A. Papaioannou (2021). ‘Pathways through acute athlete care during training and major tournaments: A multi-national conceptualised process’. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 19 (3): 295–309. doi: 10.1080/1612197X.2021.1892940. Schmidt, R.A. and D.E. Young (1987). ‘Transfer of motor control in motor skill learning’, in S.M. Cormier and J.D. Hagman (eds.), Transfer of Learning, 47–79. Orlando, FL: Academic Press. Schmidt, R.A. and T.D. Lee (2005). Motor Control and Learning: A behavioral emphasis (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Schmidt, R.A. and C.A. Wrisberg (2008). Motor Learning and Performance: A situation-based learning approach (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Schommer-Aikins, M. (2002). ‘Epistemological world views: A concept that is useful beyond the classroom’. Issues in Education 8 (2): 229. Scully, D., J. Kremer, M.M. Meade, R. Graham and K. Dudgeon (1998). ‘Physical exercise and psychological well being: A critical review’. British Journal of Sports Medicine 32: 111–20. Shirreffsa, S.M. and M.N. Sawkab (2011). ‘Fluid and electrolyte needs for training, competition, and recovery’. Journal of Sports Sciences 29 (1): 39–46.

226

REFERENCES

Siff, M.C. (1993). ‘Exercise and the soft tissues’. Fitness Sports Review International 28 (1): 32. Siff, M.C. (2000). ‘Pilates revealed’. http://www1.macrosport.com/ SPORTSCI/JANUARY/pilates_revealed.htm (accessed 1 July 2021). Siff, M.C. and Y.U. Verkhoshansky (1999). Supertraining. Denver CO: Supertraining International. Soric, M., M. Misigoj-Durakovic and Z. Pedisic (2008). ‘Dietary intake and body composition of prepubescent female aesthetic athletes’. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 18 (3): 343–54. van Staden, A., C.P. Myburgh and M. Poggenpoel (2009). ‘A psychoeducational model to enhance the self-development and mental health of classical dancers’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 13 (1): 20–8. Starkes, J.L., J.M. Deakin, S. Lindley and F. Crisp (1987). ‘Motor versus verbal recall of ballet sequences by young expert dancers’. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 9 (3): 222–30. Stone, M. (1991). ‘Overtraining: A review of the signs, symptoms and possible causes’. Journal of strength and conditioning research 5: 35–50. Surgenor, B. and M. Wyon (2019). ‘Measuring training load in dance: the construct validity of session-RPE’. Medical Problems in Performing Artists. doi: doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2019.1002. Terry, P.C., A.M. Lane, H.J. Lane and L. Keohane (1999). ‘Development and validation of a mood measure for adolescents’. Journal of Sports Sciences 17 (11): 861–72. Thacker, S.B., J. Gilchrist, D.F. Stroup and C.D. Kimsey Jnr (2004). ‘The impact of stretching on sports injury risk: A systematic review of the literature’. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise 36 (3): 371–8. Thoms, K.J. (2001). ‘They’re not just big kids: Motivating adult learners’. ERIC – ED463720. Toro, J., M. Salamero and D. Krasnow (2005). ‘Disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in ballet students: Examination of environmental and individual risk factors’. International Journal of Eating Disorders 38: 263–8. Twitchett, E., M. Angioi, Y. Koutedakis and M. Wyon (2010). ‘The demands of a working day among female professional ballet dancers’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 14 (4): 127–32. Twitchett, E., M. Angioi, Y. Koutedakis and M. Wyon (2011). ‘Do increases in selected fitness parameters affect the aesthetic aspects of classical ballet performance?’ Medical Problems of Performing Artists 26 (1): 35–8. Twitchett, E., M. Angioi, G. Metsios, Y. Koutedakis and M. Wyon (2008). ‘Body composition and ballet injuries: A preliminary study’. Medical Problems of Performing Artists September: 93–8.

REFERENCES

227

Twitchett, E., A. Nevill, M. Angioi, Y. Koutedakis and M. Wyon (2011). ‘The development of a multi-stage ballet-specific aerobic fitness test: Initial reliability and validity analysis’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 15 (3): 123–7. Twitchett, E., A. Brodrick, A. M. Nevill, Y. Koutedakis, M. Angioi and M. Wyon (2010). ‘Does physical fitness affect injury occurrence and time loss due to injury in elite vocational ballet students?’ Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 14 (1): 26–31. van Rossum, J.H.A. (2006). ‘Relative age effect revisited: Findings from the dance domain’. Perceptual and Motor Skills 102 (2): 302–8. doi: 10.2466/pms.102.2.302-308. Vass-Rhee, F. (2010). ‘Auditory turn: William Forsythe’s vocal choreography’. Dance Chronicle 33 (3): 388–413. doi: 10.1080/01472526.2010.517495. Vella, S.A., M.J. Schweickle, J.T. Sutcliffe and C. Swann (2021). ‘A systematic review and meta-synthesis of mental health position statements in sport: Scope, quality and future directions’. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 55:101946. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j. psychsport.2021.101946. Washburn, A., M. DeMarco, S. de Vries, K. Ariyabuddhiphongs, R.C. Schmidt, M.J. Richardson and M.A. Riley (2014). ‘Dancers entrain more effectively than non-dancers to another actor’s movements’. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8 (800). doi: 10.3389/ fnhum.2014.00800. Waterhouse, E., R. Watts and B. Bläsing (2014). ‘Doing duo – A case study of entrainment in William Forsythe’s choreography “duo”.’ Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8: 812. Webb, V., D. Collins and A. Cruickshank (2016). ‘Aligning the talent pathway: Exploring the role and mechanisms of coherence in development’. Journal of Sports Sciences 34 (19): 1799–807. Willard, V.C. and D. Lavallee (2016). ‘Retirement experiences of elite ballet dancers: Impact of self-identity and social support’. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology 5 (3): 266. Wilmore, J.H. and D.L. Costill (1994). Physiology of Sport and Exercise. 2nd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc. Wulff, H. (2020). Ballet Across Borders: Career and Culture in the World of Dancers. Abingdon: Routledge. Wyon, M. (2004). ‘Challenging habit: Planning and preparation, the art of periodisation and optimising performance’, in M. van der Linden (ed.), Not Just Anybody and Soul, 66–71. Amsterdam: Uitgeveij International Theatre and Film Books. Wyon, M. (2005). ‘Cardiorespiratory training for dancers’. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science 9 (1): 7–12.

228

REFERENCES

Wyon, M. (2007). ‘Testing the Aesthetic Athlete’, in E. Winter, A.M. Jones, R.C.R. Davison, P.D. Bromley and T.H. Mercer (eds.), Sport and Exercise Physiology Testing Guidelines: British Association of Sport and Exercise Science Testing Guidelines, 249–62. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. Wyon, M. (2010). ‘Preparing to perform: Periodization and dance’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 14 (2): 67–72. Wyon, M. and E. Redding (2005). ‘The physiological monitoring of cardiorespiratory adaptations during rehearsal and performance of contemporary dance’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 19 (3): 611–14. Wyon, M. and S. Clarke (2021). Strength and Conditioning for Dancers. Marlborough, UK: Crowood. Wyon, M., L. Felton and S. Galloway (2009). ‘A comparison of two stretching modalities on lower limb range of motion measurements in recreational dancers’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 23 (7): 2144–8. Wyon, M., A. Smith and Y. Koutedakis (2013). ‘A comparison of strength and stretch interventions on active and passive ranges of movement in dancers: A randomised controlled trial’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 27 (11): 3053–9 doi: doi: 10.1519/ JSC.0b013e31828a4842. Wyon, M., K.M. Hutchings, A. Wells and A.M. Nevill (2014). ‘BMI, nutritional knowledge and eating behaviours in elite student and professional ballet dancers’. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. Wyon, M., E. Redding, G. Abt, A. Head, and N.C.C. Sharp (2003). ‘Development, reliability, and validity of a multistage dance specific aerobic fitness test (DAFT)’. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 7 (3): 80–4. Wyon, M., A. Head, N.C.C. Sharp, E. Redding and G. Abt (2004). ‘Oxygen uptake during modern dance class, rehearsal, and performance’. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 18 (3): 646–9. Wyon, M., Y. Koutedakis, R. Wolman, A.M. Nevill and N. Allen (2014). ‘The influence of winter Vitamin D supplementation on muscle function and injury occurrence in elite ballet dancers: A controlled study’. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 17 (1): 8–12. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2013.03.007. Young, W.B. and D.G. Behm (2002). ‘Should static stretching be used during a warm-up for strength and power activities. Strength and Conditioning Journal 24 (6): 33–7.

Annual training plan.

APPENDICES

229

230

Macro- and micro-phase goals.

INDEX

aerobic 185 anaerobic 188 annual plan 11, 29, 31, 43 anxiety 49 apprenticeship 31 artistic director 2, 4, 37, 59–60, 103, 127, 158–9, 173 presentation 12 assessment 12, 29, 36, 37 athlete development pathway 67 education 44, 66–7, 119 athletic 41, 42, 44–5 formation 45 maturity 44 audition 29, 55, 57, 71, 88, 156, 172 autonomy 6, 56–7, 59, 62–3, 152 awareness 17, 51, 54, 85–7, 98, 152, 160–1 ballet 59–60, 62, 72–4, 77, 79, 85, 86, 90, 93, 94, 98, 109, 154, 156, 159, 160, 165, 173, 179, 183, 190 basic psychological needs 56–9, 62, 63 Bioecological Model of Human Development 51, 53, 58 Bompa 8, 41, 44, 126, 192 Borg scale 119

choreography 4, 10, 34, 38, 73, 78–9, 85, 105, 112, 135, 142, 184, 190, 201 Circle of Guides 37 circuit training 210 coaching 27, 29, 46, 65–70 cohesion 67, 69–70, 90, 140 epistemology 68, 70 philosophy 46, 65, 140 reflective practice 25 style 65, 68, 70 naïve 68–8 sophisticated 68–9 coherence 17, 65, 67, 90 community of practice 70 company 12, 23, 25, 85, 103, 127, 156 contemporary dance 23, 27, 34, 35, 49–50, 75, 77, 78, 93, 104, 157, 183 cool down 202 core 196 creativity 63, 145 culture change 97 dance class 58, 60, 62 curriculum components 87 periodization 17, 97–9 planning 11, 16, 133 redesign 15, 18, 89–91, 94 schedule 10, 17, 86 cycles

231

232

INDEX

macro 28, 43, 85, 104, 109 micro 28, 43, 85, 104, 108, 109 training 28, 33, 41, 103 daily load variations 124–5 dance class 7, 12, 34, 51, 58, 81, 93, 96, 119, 146, 203 intensity descriptors 96, 117, 119, 120 style 34, 72, 77, 87 dancer/maker 24–6, 30, 34, 37 176 dialogue staff team 39, 70, 90, 134, 137 staff-student 147 discursive practices 18 education 15–17, 18, 23, 24, 28, 46, 49, 71, 85, 99, 161 embodiment 17 external load 117, 129 fatigue 31, 42, 45, 54, 79, 101, 113, 117, 119, 121, 124–6, 183, 204–6 fitness 137 testing 203, 206 Ballet Dance Aerobic Fitness Test 207 cardiorespiratory tests 207 Dance Aerobic Fitness Test (DAFT) 207 flexibility 208 High Intensity Dance Performance Test 207 muscle function 207 triple hop test 208 vertical jump 208 flexibility 197 foundation training 190, 209

giftedness 54–5 goal setting 19, 66, 68, 85, 115, 140 annual 104, 111, 115 long-term 45, 61, 65, 67, 103–4, 115 medium-term 104, 115 short-term 88, 115 goldilocks pathway 66, 69 guest choreographers/teachers 112, 115, 133–4, 139, 170, 176 health coordinator 11, 135, 137, 140, 154 mental 49–50, 58, 61, 63 physical 23, 41, 47 hierarchy 86, 104 independent artist 26 injury resistance 42 Integrative Model of Talent Development (IMTD) (Gagné 2017) 51, 54–5 internal load 117, 129 learning track 33, 34, 36, 37, 39 active learning 34 dance technique 34, 35 mapping 34, 36 songlines 34 maintenance 3, 29, 98, 108–9, 112, 204–5 Matveev 41 mental fitness 137 rehearsal 201 resilience 34 stress 158 training 17, 135 traits 29, 54

INDEX

minor electives 30, 38 model Bioecological Model of Human Development 51, 53, 58 Integrative Model of Talent Development (IMTD) (Gagné 2017) 51, 54–5 monitoring training load 117 group 43, 46, 129 individual 129 motivation of change 18, 58, 62 intrinsic and extrinsic 56–7, 62 motivational climate 56, 58, 63 motor control 74, 79, 108, 193, 204 learning 71–3, 76, 80–1 movement patterns 75, 80, 185, 190, 199 overtrain 6, 28, 31, 91, 95, 101, 117, 120, 129, 203–6 pedagogy 16, 17, 73 perfectionism 49, 63 performance dance 29, 32, 42, 58, 61, 79, 81, 111, 125–8 day 125–8 physical 41, 42, 43, 121, 185, 188 periodization 9, 10, 27, 94, 103 adaptation 24, 45, 133 evaluation 97, 139–42, 145–7 knowledge 16, 41–4, 49–53, 85, 154–5 structure 10, 23, 26, 29–37 phase craft 29, 32 integration 30, 32 meetings 97 transition 10, 28, 30, 32, 104 phases 17–19

233

competitive 43 performance 103, 105–6, 108 preparatory 29, 31, 44, 104 physical adaptation 23, 124, 187, 195, 198, 203 fitness 93, 120, 137, 181, 184 fitness training 6, 181, 183–205 aerobic 185 anaerobic 188 circuit training 210 cool down 202 core 196 flexibility 197 foundation 190, 209 plyometrics 194, 214 recover 204 strength 192, 212–13 warm up 199 general 42, 94 sport-specific 42 planning 39, 44, 85, 112, 117, 168 plyometrics 194, 214 priorities 35, 108, 111, 172 proactive students 153, 163, 178 programme co-ordinator 125 progressive overload 90, 140 psychological skills 42, 49, 105, 181 psychology anxiety 49 creativity 63, 145 fitness 137 intrinsic and extrinsic motivation 56–7, 62 mental health 49–50, 58, 61, 63 motivational climate 56, 58, 63 perfectionism 49, 63 psychological skills 42, 49, 105, 181 rehearsal 201 resilience 34

234

INDEX

self-esteem 49, 62, 63, 78 self-regulation 61, 137, 145 shared mental models 50 stress 158 success 60, 71, 79 talent development 49–51, 53–5, 58, 65, 70 training 17, 135 traits 29, 54 rate of perceived exertion (RPE) 119, 129–30, 187–9 daily 130 recover 204 recovery 6, 26, 42, 46, 121, 124, 146, 204 reflection 6, 17, 26, 37, 39, 137, 141, 177 rehearsal 201 director 85, 134, 135–8 resilience 34 rest 9, 80, 112–13, 118, 128, 160, 162 schedule 19, 44, 83, 88, 95, 111, 118, 140, 158, 203 minor electives 30, 38 performance day 125–8 planning 39, 44, 85, 112, 117, 168 priorities 35, 108, 111, 172 programme co-ordinator 125 progressive overload 90, 140 tapering 205 Self Determination Theory 51, 56, 59 self-esteem 49, 62, 63, 78 self-regulation 61, 137, 145 shared mental models 50 skill development 29, 88, 146 staff artistic director 2, 4, 37, 59–60, 103, 127, 158–9, 173

dialogue 39, 70, 90, 134, 137 guest choreographers/teachers 112, 115, 133–4, 139, 170, 176 programme co-ordinator 125 rehearsal director 85, 134, 135–8 teachers 36, 50–1, 59, 71, 75, 80, 86, 93, 95, 113, 117–18, 147, 151–79 strength 192, 212–13 and conditioning 93–4, 100, 104, 119, 121, 124, 183, 192 stress 158 stretches cool-down 198 student giftedness 54–5 monitoring training load 129 proactive 153, 163, 178 success 60, 71, 79 supercompensation 121, 125 supplemental skills 181 cooking 181 finances 181 fitness training 181, 183–205 life management 181 nutrition 181 psychological skills 42, 49, 105, 181 talent development 49–51, 53–5, 58, 65, 70 tapering 205 timetable priorities 111 competitionsn 43, 111 exams 32, 111 performances 111 training 17, 135 cycle 29, 104

INDEX

intensity 8, 28, 119 load 117–25, 129, 140, 147, 205 rest 9, 80, 112–13, 118, 128, 160, 162 stimulus 44–5 volume 126 traits 29, 54

235

warm up 199 workload 7, 9, 29, 31, 33–4, 111, 112, 118, 121, 136, 147 acute:chronic ratio 117 dance intensity descriptors 96, 117, 119, 120 weekly load 34, 90, 121, 124–5, 205

236

237

238

239

240

241

242