Tango-Rolling

Flexibility is the key to both dancing well and preventing injury. Flexibility is widely misunderstood in terms of both how to achieve it and what it really means. The common perception of flexibility is that of a lovely dancer with extension from here to Moscow. Well, that's great if you need to be a prima ballerina but what if you're not? What should you do and how should you do it?

Flexibility is actually the ability of the joints, connective tissue, and muscles to move freely with a minimum of restriction. Punishing yourself with endless stretches is going to leave you sore, tense, tight -- and injured.

We use Yamuna Body Rolling balls on the joints, pressure points, connective tissue, and muscle manipulation to ease the body into healthy state of maneuverability.  Our exercises are designed specifically with the dancer in mind and range from mild (for the social dancer) to more intense (for the professional or stage performer).

Yamuna Body Rolling works the way a hands-on practitioner works -only using a ball. The ball replaces hands as it moves on muscles to stretch them, dislodge tension and discomfort, increase blood flow, and promote healing. Lying over the ball, you literally roll your body out almost like dough, stretching and elongating your muscles.

The YBR routines follow specific sequences that match the body's own logic and order. Starting where each muscle begins, at its origin, you roll toward where it attaches to the point called its insertion.

Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction. See the resistance training article for information about elastic/hydraulic training, but note that the terms "strength training" and "resistance training" are often used interchangeably.

When properly performed, strength training can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength and toughness, improved joint function, reduced potential for injury, improved cardiac function and elevated good cholesterol. Training commonly uses the technique of progressively increasing the force output of the muscle through incremental increases of weight, elastic tension or other resistance, and uses a variety of exercises and types of equipment to target specific muscle groups. Strength training is primarily an anaerobic activity, although some proponents have adapted it to provide the benefits of aerobic exercise through circuit training.

Strength training differs from bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman, which are sports rather than forms of exercise. Strength training, however, is often part of their training regimen.

Anaerobic exercise is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to build power and by body builders to build muscle mass. Muscles trained under anaerobic conditions develop differently, leading to greater performance in short duration, high intensity activities, which last up to about 2 minutes.^[1]

Aerobic exercise, on the other hand, includes lower intensity activities performed for longer periods of time. Such activities like walking, running, swimming, and cycling require a great deal of oxygen to generate the energy needed for prolonged exercise.

Balance is an ability to maintain the center of gravity of a body within the base of support with minimal postural sway.^[1]Keeping balance requires integration of inputs from multiple senses (equilibrioception (from the vestibular system), vision, and perception of pressure and proprioception from the somatosensory system) with the motor system responsible for muscle actions. The senses must detect the change of the body position with respect to the base (whether the body moves or the base moves). The limit of stability of an individual standing quietly upright is defined as the amount of postural sway at which the balance is lost and the corrective actions are required. The limit of stability may be described by an irregular cone above the support base. ^[2] It is a proven fact that a person will find it more difficult to balance on one leg with their eyes shut rather than open. An individual's ability to balance with their eyes shut is significantly improved in the presence of other people balancing in their immediate vicinity.

 Tango dancers take note: how we use our body in the embrace and our dance posture  are direct contributers to our balance ability. If you cannot balance, you cannot dance. We work to help dancers understand their body and how to train to achieve better balance.