Choosing Which Side to Start On…Does It Make a Difference?

        “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”― Dr. Seuss 


          "Right foot front", "Let's start on the right", and "Stand with your left hand on the barre, starting with your right foot" are common phrases in almost all dance classes. Turns are normally done to the right first, and groans are

commonly heard when a teacher requests that the turns be repeated to the left. Is this because a large majority of the dance population has a preference for the right side, or is this because dance classes favor the right side?          
          Children demonstrate a preference for being right or left handed at a young age. By the time they learn to write, it is usually clear which hand is preferred. However, children are normally mixed footed, not showing a preference for either their right or left feet, until late childhood or early adolescence. Studies have suggested that the preference that develops is partially a result of environmental influences. (2)

          If the environment is influential in determining which side a dancer prefers, known as a lateral bias, it seems that dance educators should examine their manners of teaching. Data gathered from observing 20 different ballet classes showed that dancers practice combinations on the right side up to 26% more than they do on the left.(1)

          Most teachers demonstrate the combination on the right side which encourages modeling on the right side. When the class marks the combination, it is usually done to the right, and the combination is usually performed first on the right side. In many cases, there is no demonstration or rehearsal on the left side, and students are simply expected to perform the exercise on the left. When dancers were interviewed about common practices in class, only 12% expected that combinations would be demonstrated on the left side as well as the right.(3)

          Most dancers will claim that they prefer the right side, but if both sides were treated equally in class, perhaps that claim might be different. In a study conducted on 40 undergraduate dancers who were taught a combination on the left side and then asked to perform it on the right side, the dancers were able to transfer the steps to the right side significantly well.(5) The transfer seems to indicate that although students might prefer to learn a combination on the right first, it may only be as a result of habit. Continuously learning a combination on the right side first, reinforces neural pathways between the brain and the right side of the body. Therefore, when learning a combination on the left side first, it would seem that the dancer would have to be more engaged and focused because the pathways would not be as well developed. Further support of this theory comes from a study including both novice and experienced dancers that showed left side learning took more time. (4)

          In addition to developing habits, lateral bias in dance class could also be causing imbalances in muscle strength and joint range of motion since one side of the body is being used more than the other. It would be beneficial for dance educators to consider varying class and making a conscious effort to demonstrate, mark, and/or begin combinations on the left some of the time.

          In doing so, educators could begin to address and possibly decrease developing muscular imbalances, reinforce more neural pathways, and create an atmosphere of deeper focus and engagement in class. This type of class variation will help to create healthier dancers who might even end up able to turn well on both sides.
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(1) Farrar-Baker, A. & Wilmerding, V. Prevalence of lateral bias in the teaching of            beginning and advanced ballet. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, 2006; 10 (3&4) 81-4.
 (2)Gabbard C, Iteya M. Foot laterality in children, adolescents and adults. Laterality. 1996;1(3):199-205.
 (3)Kimmerle M. Lateral bias in the dance class. In: Chin MK, Hensley L, Coté P, Chen S (eds): Global Perspective in the Integration of Physical Activity, Sports, Dance, and Exercise Science in Physical Education: From Theory to Practice. Hong Kong: Contemporary Development, 2004, pp.167-174.
(4) Kimmerle M, Coté P, Patterson J. Bilateral transfer of right and left dance sequences in experienced and novice dancers. In: Solomon R, Solomon J (eds): Proceedings of the 17th Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science 2007. Canberra, Australia: IADMS,2007, pp.18-22.
(5)Puretz, S. Bilateral transfer: The effects of practice on the transfer of complex dance movement patterns. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 1983; 54(1):48-54.

More Reasons Why Dance is Good for Our Bodies

           "Stifling an urge to dance is bad for your health - it rusts your spirit and your hips." - Terri Guillemets

         We begin dancing, our heart rate increases, the number of blood vessels increases, increased blood flow delivers more oxygen and nutrients to our muscles, and our circulatory system becomes more efficient as was discussed in last week's post.

           Additionally, our nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems are called upon to work at their peak levels, and our bodies reap the benefits.

            As we dance, our nervous system responds in a variety of ways.  The nervous system is continually growing and adapting to accommodate the body’s needs. Each time we engage in a new movement, a new neural pathway is formed. This pathway is the route that a message travels on to go from the brain to the muscle and back to the brain again and is made up of specialized cells called neurons. Messages are passed along the neurons with the help of substances called neurotransmitters. As we begin to move, the brain, which is the control center of the nervous system, signals the body to release extra proteins and neurotransmitters. The proteins promote new neuron growth, and the neurotransmitters help to improve the speed at which messages travel the pathways. These new, efficient neural pathways increase muscle responses and coordination.

            Additionally, when we dance, the brain releases endorphins, which are hormones that promote feelings of happiness and euphoria. These feelings help improve moods, and studies have shown that physically active people recover more quickly from mild depression and have a healthier mental state.

            Dance can also create a healthier skeletal system.  Since dance is a weight bearing activity, it can positively affect bone density.  The cells in our skeletal system respond to increased weight loads, or stressors, by increasing bone tissue to protect the body.  The constant impact with the floor that occurs when dancers execute dance steps, jump, and practice choreographed falls increases the load, or amount of weight, the body must support. The bones respond by adding more layers of protein cells called collagen to support the load.  These layers increase bone density and help protect against broken bones and stress fractures. Dancing can also decrease the risk of developing osteoporosis, which is a bone disease that manifests itself in brittle bones that break because they are not dense enough to support the body and the loads placed upon it.

            Lastly, the muscular system’s response to dance is also a healthy one. As we dance and call upon our muscles to move our bodies in various ways, several things happen. As physical activity increases, the number of mitochondria found in muscle cells increases. The mitochondria are the organelles found in individual cells, which produce the ATP, or energy, that the body needs to move. The more mitochondria in our muscles cells, the greater the energy production capabilities. As muscles are exercised continually, individual muscle fiber size increases by 40-50%. As fiber size increases, muscles grow stronger, the nervous system must create more neural pathways, and muscles generate more power.  Additionally, connective tissue like tendons and ligaments also grow stronger, and the body develops greater protection against injuries.

            Clearly, dance provides the body with a multitude of benefits and can create happy, healthy people when they take the time to learn to dance in ways that are anatomically correct for their individual bodies.

Learning & Remembering Combinations

            "It is difficult to see the great dance effects as they happen, to see them accurately, catch them fast in memory." -Martha Graham

Everyday dancers enter studios, watch a demonstration of an exercise or combination, are asked to learn it, and then must perform it in a matter of minutes.  Some dancers learn the combinations quickly and are able to execute them almost immediately, while others struggle to remember what comes next.  It may be helpful for dancers and dance educators to understand what is happening in the brain and how memory is developed, and then use this knowledge to improve upon this necessary skill.

            There are three steps that occur in the brain when something is being “remembered”.  First, sensory information is gathered through sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.  For dancers, combinations are seen, directions and counts are heard, and the movements are kinesthetically felt through touch sensors as the exercise is performed.  These sensory messages are sent along nerve pathways by neurotransmitters to the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for organizing and storing memories.  The hippocampus connects and consolidates all of the sensory input into a single experience so that a dancer can watch a plié being done, hear the word plié, feel what it is like to perform a plié and know that all of these sensory experiences relate to the same thing.

            After this connection is made, this experience becomes part of the short-term memory.  The short-term memory can only hold about 7 items at a time and can only store them for about 30 seconds.  However, each time a new experience is repeated, the 30-second time clock is reset, which is why repeating something to yourself over and over again is valuable.  The short-term memory is also capable of grouping several items into a chunk of information – a relevé can be simply registered as one item and not as a plié, a rise, and a plié, which would account for three different items to be remembered.  The short-term memory also makes connections between the new input and past memories, which is why a repeated dance step is recalled more easily, even if it is being performed in a different context.

            After several repetitions, the neural pathway (the route the brain uses to communicate with the body) that is formed when a new exercise is learned becomes a well-travelled route, and this exercise is sent to the long-term memory.  Long-term memory has an unlimited capacity and can hold a memory forever as long as it is accessed from time to time.  If a memory is not recalled, the neural pathway weakens over time, and the exercise may have to be reviewed.  The review would serve to reactivate the established pathway and would not take as long as the original learning process.

            It is important to remember that how a dancer pays attention when seeing a combination for the first time will influence what he or she is able to remember.  Unless a dancer is focused, the brain treats the demonstration as merely another thing happening around it that has little importance.

            It is also important to understand that trying to absorb too much sensory information at once can overload the brain and impair the memory process.  A dancer might try simply watching the combination the first time it is demonstrated, marking it while watching it the second time, and repeating some type of auditory clues such as step names or counts to him or herself while watching and doing it another time.

            Repetition will help to reinforce the neural pathway and cement the memory.  Dancers should also know that merely watching others perform the combination or envisioning themselves performing it after they have learned it will also strengthen the pathway as is discussed in my posts

Envisioning Sugarplums and What Good Will It Do To Watch Someone Else Dance My Part.

            Remembering combinations in class will always be easier for some than others, but understanding the process may help those who struggle with this skill to find ways to improve upon it.

Dance, Muscle Memory & Neural Pathways

"The hard must become habit. 

                 The habit must become easy.  

                         The easy must become beautiful." 

                                                                          - Doug Henning

You walk into the dance studio, the teacher says, “Let’s begin with two demi pliés and a grand plié in each position,” the accompanist begins and you execute the exercise.  You don’t think: plié means to bend, demi means halfway, grand means big, I slowly separate my thighs while holding my turnout, I bend my knees, I bend my ankles while I keep my chest lifted and my chin high, and I hold my abdominal muscles strong.  You simply do the pliés.

 If you have been dancing a long time, you don’t have to think about how to complete this exercise any more than you would think about how to pick up a pencil.  Your body simply completes the task.  Did you ever wonder how that is possible?

Thanks to the body’s nervous system, humans have something called muscle memory.  Although it implies that we are able to store memories in our different muscles, that is not what it means.  When we do an exercise for the first time, we create a new neural pathway.  This pathway is the route that a message travels on to go from the brain to the muscle and back to the brain again.  The second time an exercise is performed, it becomes easier because the messages are travelling across a familiar pathway.  Eventually, after the movement is practiced several times, it becomes almost automatic because the pathway is no longer new but is well travelled.  This ability allows for well-rehearsed dances to be executed without the dancer thinking of what step comes next or how it should be done and gives the dancer the freedom to concentrate on performing.

Muscle memory, however, is also the reason that bad habits are difficult to break.  When a dancer learns to do a plié with forced turnout and pronating feet, and then tries to correct it, he/she is forced to stop the body from using the old pathway and then create a new pathway.

Fortunately, the nervous system never stops growing and developing, and it is always possible to change bad habits and learn new things.  The ability to learn new things, create new neural pathways, and reorganize the nervous system through physical activity is exactly what makes dance valuable for many different populations, including the elderly and the differently abled…  


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