From a flat, two-dimensional class to a dynamic, multi-dimensional, space-consuming,
spine-aligning, and full-body engaging class, this is my journey creating a
jazz class that moves and heals.
Change is Good and Necessary
There is no one correct way to teach a jazz class. Knowing the right way to teach YOUR class takes time and commitment. In my case, it took a year and a half while pursuing my Master of Fine Arts in Choreography at Florida State University. I've utilized this jazz dance warmup at festivals and conferences, as well as while teaching choreography to casts at Norwegian Creative Studios.
As a jazz dance-based, commercial performer of fifteen years by 2015, I thought I knew the right format for a good jazz class. We came into the room, settled ourselves into windows so we could see our reflection in the mirror, the music began, and we followed along with the instructor. Every so often, part of the warmup may change the direction we face. For the most part, though, we had our spot, we faced front, looked at ourselves and the teacher occasionally, and made an attempt not to watch and compare ourselves with anyone other dancers.
It sounds like a great format, but mostly it sounds great because it’s familiar. I realized change could be good…and change was definitely necessary. By only ever facing front, I lost the opportunity to engage with others, to breathe through space, to step in a grounded manner, to accept the floor beneath and grow lighter from my connection and presence within the space. What I was missing were the African aesthetics of jazz dance, and this included a connection to someone other than my own reflection. I realized by missing specific elements of, not just the social nature of jazz dance, but also aspects of jazz dance technique that engage the WHOLE body, I had lessened my potential as a performer and increased my likelihood of injury.
I had a lot of injuries. While pursuing my MFA, I also rehabilitated my back: 3-disc bulges and broken fascial network from my middle back to my lower back. All those years of being hyper-mobile, disengaged, and performing in 3.5” stilettos on moving vessels had taken their toll. Attempting to go back to that familiar way of teaching class was not even possible.
I began asking questions. These questions had no answers for me initially, but they took me down a path of change.
From the Familiar to the Road Less Traveled
As I began my program at FSU, I discovered Tom Welsh. Tom was a previous president of IADMS (International Association of Dance Medicine and Sciences). Tom knows a LOT about conditioning dancers. He wrote a book about it that serves as a textbook. During my final contract at sea, I had read that book and, in applying his principles, had altered my pre-performance warm up. It took me a few weeks to realize the same man who had helped me keep going was now one of my professors. I highly recommend this book to both professionals and emerging professionals to, as Tom would say, “take control of your conditioning.” (If you would like to purchase Tom’s book, click here).
By accepting the drastic change my pre-performance warmup had already taken, I knew if I taught a jazz class in the “familiar way,” I would end up with increased back pain. I wanted to incorporate better information on how I taught a class. I asked myself:
"How do you create a class that is both beneficial for the students' AND the teacher's' overall health?"
Choosing My Path
I came up with several answers to this question, but the four that jumped out at me were:
- I want to engage with people around me instead of micro-assessing myself. I want to feel the joy of dance and connecting with others.
- I want to spend more time moving and a LOT less time hanging over, over-stretching my lower back. I wanted to spend even LESS time hanging out in splits. (I’ve never performed a show where I would stay in a split for a full minute on stage, so why would I do that to myself in my warmup?)
- I need functional flexibility. I need the kind of stretching and engagement that leads to controlled high kicks on the right count. I want both flexibility and power.
- I need to move WAY more. By focusing a warmup on deep-stretching, I don't move enough. I need to move, so I am prepared to dance. Let’s move more!
Over the years of performing and especially traveling the world by ship, I had less opportunity to take a class. I needed to take what I did know and what I wanted to know and start a new adventure.
I set out to discover better resources that could help me bring my new ideas to fruition.
Discovering the Light Along the Way
In the spring of 2017, I went through Lindsay Guarino's online class through the National Dance Educators Organization (NDEO). Lindsay, who is also co-author of the book "Jazz Dance: A History of Its Roots and Branches," alongside Wendy Oliver, encouraged jazz dance educators to incorporate more vernacular jazz dance and develop a stronger emphasis on Africanist aesthetics.
Through Lindsay's class, I rediscovered the joy of dance within a jazz warmup! Now, my class moves and eats up the whole space. There is no front or back during these moments of jamming, and instead, we dance! I incorporate shoulder rolls and large arm movements, dacers are look at each other, and we warm up our bodies and connect with each other. The "how" for this part of the warmup included a new sense of grounding, both physically and emotionally.
Tom Welsh took the lead on my rehabilitation program. Between he and his assistant, Loren Davidson, I was progressing daily. As I began teaching, Tom became a mentor for my jazz classmethod and helped further analyze my warmup. In conditioning, Tom, also called the "Cue Master," would cue me to create smaller, intentional isolations. I took this approach to my jazz class, and in between the jam session of my warmup, I encourage dancers to become thoughtful. I no longer throw my head side-to-side, nor did I fully roll my neck backward like the headless horseman. Both of these actions can eventually cause damage. Now, I pay attention to my cervical spine and the position of my chin in neck isolations and add ocular engagement to really look at the space around me in head isolation. In hip isolations, I truly engage my obliques to swing my hips side-to-side. Then through utilization of core muscles in my back and then conversely, my abdominals, for front-to-back hip movement, I create a smooth, engaged, pendulum-like motion.
By learning an excellent the muscularity necessary to move my skeleton, I eliminated ballistic movements and substituted in thoughtful, attentive isolations. The "how" of crafting a new approach to jazz isolations meant going deeper, and developing greater mindfulness in movement.
From jamming, connecting, and isolating, the music would switch. I went into a flat back series I learned from Adam Parsons years ago. What I love about this series is the hamstring engagement. By stretching long to flat black, we engage our abdominals while stretching the lower back. Bending the knees, I swim the arms parallel and back, then stretch the knees, bringing the back long, feeling the hamstrings contract in an extended position to maintain balance. Stretch further to a long diagonal increasing the engagement of the hamstrings and reach my fingertips as far out as possible. I again stretch and engage the lower back, then bend the knees, place the hands on the floor in front of the feet, then stretch the legs long. I bend my knees, drop my tail bone, and use my glutes and hamstrings to steadily roll up, one vertebra at a time. Repeat four more times at minimum.
There are variations that include looking side-to-side and twisting, but even this simple version does so much good for utilizing the back space. Instead of simply hanging over, disengaging the lower back, this series actively engages and stretches the backspace while building abdominal control and balance. (If you would like to know more about Adam Parson, click here).
From this incredible back series, we move to the floor, quickly focusing on functional flexibility and stretching. Deep, suspended stretching at the beginning of a class is dangerous. In a Dance Magazine article in 2019, mentioning warmups that only include deep stretching, the article states:
"This strategy only reduces your muscles' ability to work properly—it negatively affects your strength, endurance, balance and speed for up to an hour."
My stretches are quick, efficient, and focus on hamstring stretch instead of continually stretching the lower, by constantly encouraging the tailbone to stay unfurled and long while the working leg pulls closer to the body. I also focus on overall alignment, making sure that no stretch causes distortion and compression in other parts of the body. A big part of my "how" to recreate my stretches was to shorten the recognizing of stretching and keep the body moving. I spend only enough time stretching to allow the body to begin opening up. If someone needs deep, suspended stretching, this can happen at the end of the day, after a nice, long shower.
After stretching, I take the class through a Pilates-inspired conditioning section. One song and we have engaged and woken up our core, side body, and back core muscles. As I rehabilitated through Pilates, I knew I needed a routine that really conditioned the core muscles while also releasing the hip flexors and quadriceps. Using a song by Capital Cities, "Safe and Sound," I curated a short Pilates routine that goes through spine stretch, rollups, hundreds, abdominal series, side series, and back engagement through exercises like cobra and swan. In being concerned about "how" I could lead a excellent conditioning routine safely for myself, I curated a routine that included elements that every performer needs daily. I also became certified by Balanced Body Pilates, which I utilize every morning to this day. (To know more about Pilates, check out Balanced Body Pilates.)
As a final touch, I work through lunges. There is no sitting in these lunges. Even Wendy Whelan, ballet performer, choreographer, and icon, has posted on her Instagram page the difference between legitimate lunges versus ego-driven placement. I work swiftly through these fabulous hip flexor stretches, finishing each side with a long reach out over the front knee in a 10-second hold. This final stabilization before standing re-engages the full body connection. By the time dancers roll up, they are:
- Warm
- Stretched
- Aligned
- Engaged
- Stabilized
There is no finish line, only the continued joy of the process.
I went from an injured, over-stretched, under-strengthened performer to a joyful, informed jazz dance educator. I had all the history and experience as a performer, and had even taught for years between gigs. However, I was under-informed and misinformed. I needed an update, a new map, and a new destination as a dance educator. What I found instead was an ongoing journey of discovery. By merely accepting the mission of change, accepting that I needed to know more, I also took an infinite quest to ongoing discovery.
Through the process of learning how to be a better jazz dance educator, I increased the success of my rehabilitation and learned to provide invaluable tools to emerging dance professionals.
I love my warmup and know from testimonials from students of all ages and shapes, that I created a warmup which really works. The best aspect of my warmup is that it will change; it is a living entity which shifts and adapts according to the needs of the dancer.
Please join me, whether in a live class or on Zoom. You can see my current online classes at:
Let’s find joy, let’s move. Let’s align and engage. Let’s dance together!