Training Involves More than Just Proprioception
Dance training relies heavily on training the proprioceptive system. The proprioceptive system helps your body know where it is in space through detecting limb and joint positioning. It is a 'map' of where your body is in space and time.
How does proprioception work?
Very simplistically there are peripheral nerve endings all over your body. The ones we think about often are mechanoreceptors, which tell the brain about tension, speed and angles of movement.
There are receptors, aka nerve endings, that sense pressure, temperature, chemical changes and pain or threat. These signals from the receptors are sent through the spinal cord to the brain where as inputs (remember that from last week's newsletter?) they are processed and an appropriate output occurs.
When your student does a demi plié and you ask them to become aware of the weight on their feet, you are guiding them to use proprioceptive feedback to help them maintain their rotation at the hip. If they become aware that they have more weight on their big toe side that could indicate some pronation which typically means they have their feet turned out more than what they are working with at the hip.
But there are many times where we give the same feedback and corrections over and over again and don't see the desired changes. That's when it might be useful to try a strategy targeting the visual or vestibular system. Here is a graphic I created of the neural hierarchy.
At the top of the triangle is the visual system. It is the primary source of inputs -around 70-80% of inputs come from the visual system. We use our eyes extensively in dance, both in learning and performing. I was intrigued to find out that more than 50% of the brain's surface is devoted to vision, which tells you the importance of this sense.
Your visual system is especially important in balancing as it gives information to the brain about your position relative to your environment. I'll do a post about improving balance in the future.
You could change the inputs to a demi plié by having the student close one or both eyes and then do their demi plié. You have increased their somatic awareness by taking out the visual input. This can be useful every now and then for a student to sense where they really are in space without using their eyes!
You could also have them try doing eye figure 8's circles, 4 in each direction. Have them compare their before and after demi pliés. Here's a 1 minute clip demonstrating it.
They will have one of 3 responses. Is the movement better, same or worse? No judgement. It is also good to find out what is threatening to the brain - which is a worse response. If my balance is off, or I feel tightness in my neck I'll often do the eye figure 8 circles and notice improvement.
This eye drill is for activating and improving the motor control of the eye muscles. Someone can have good visual acuity and be able to read the Snellen eye chart well and still have poor motor control. My grandson is an example of that. His eyesight is great - but - his eyes are not working well together, which is causing challenges with reading.
So having less than optimal motor control of the eyes can start early on, not be very noticeable unless you check for it and definitely can influence your movement! The cool thing is that these deficits, small and large, can be worked with no matter your age. Remember deficits are like imbalances - most everybody has them and the goal is always to try and balance out the imbalances!
Vestibular system
Think inner ear when thinking of the vestibular system. It's your balance system. It tells you what direction you are moving, helps you keep balance in all positions, tells you where you are in space and are you upright. It influences reflexes to adjust your posture and muscle tone so you can balance.
Dancers with vestibular challenges often carry a LOT of tension! Why? Because the body is working hard to stabilize you through using muscle tension. Anatomical alignment is important!
Let's try a simple vestibular exercise. Stand with your feet together, in parallel, and with a long spine. Turn your head quickly to the right and hold for 5 seconds before returning to the starting position.
Then do the same turning quickly to the left, hold 5 seconds and return. You are watching for wobbles. Do the same looking up, down, and then tilt the head ear towards the right shoulder, and ear towards the left shoulder.
There are stance variations to challenge this assessment - this is the one non-dancers would start with.
You could try doing this same sequence but with your eyes closed. That will increase the challenge. Simply note if there are any balance challenges in any of the directions.
Of course... now you have to do the demi plié or movement you've been assessing and play the game of better, same or worse!
The visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems work together to help maintain balance and coordinate your motor control. When one is slightly impaired the others can compensate, but increasing dysfunction or deficits in multiple systems can lead to issues like motion sickness, dizziness, balance challenges and poor muscular coordination.
It was SO enlightening to learn that when there are problems in movement that normal training techniques aren't resolving that the issues might be higher up in the neural hierarchy. Doing a few figure 8's or balance exercises one time won't fix the issue, but if you find that doing them has a high payoff for your movement then it is worth making them part of your daily training. In my case, doing vision drills really have had a high payoff for some pesky back issues, so I try and do them 3-4 times a day. Only takes a minute or so and well worth the positive results.
To your success,
Deborah