Post #1: Breathing control and technique

Breathing doesn't seem like a complicated thing to remember does it? But when we're reeeeally focused sometimes we forget. When dancing, this stops muscles and tendons from lengthening  to their full extent. The tension built from lack of oxygen flow also throws off alignment and balance. Here are a few techniques to breathing correctly while youre dancing. Practice these in simple exercises at the barre until your body starts breathing this way naturally.

tip #1
for RELEVE (or rises) focus on taking quiet and passive breaths. Keep everything engaged but do not tense your upper body or it will throw off your alignment. I found focusing on gentle breathing rather than thinking "stayupstayupstayupsatyupppp!!!" to myself kept me calm and it was much easier to hold a balance

 tip #2
for PLIES (bottom picture, means "to bend")  inhale as you go down and exhale as you come back up. This pulls your core up, while in opposition pressing your weight into the floor. During the forced your sit bones and pelvis will align (ive drawn the lines of energy to show how this works)

tip #3
for GRANDE BATTEMENT (kicks)try these slowly, inhaling on the preparation and leg lift and exhale deeply on the way down. It forces you to engage your upper body. This gives you a much cleaner, controlled finish.

tip #4
imagine a parachute opening in your ribcage as you breathe. Weird, but it works super well :/

How does proper breathing help us in various forms of physical activity (whether its dance, basktball, hiking, ect?)

Haas, Jacqui Greene. Dance Anatomy. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2010. Print.