The Importance of Warming Up Before Your Dance Lesson

Just like taking part in a football match or any other sport, dancing requires you to do a quick warm up before you get started. Yeah it might be annoying especially when you’re pumped up and ready to dance but stretching and warming up exercises are important and you shouldn't skip them. 

You might be surprised by this if it’s your first dance lesson but it’s essential to ensuring you get the best dance experience possible. Every tutor will have their own preferred warm up routines and they will often vary so people don’t get to bored repeating the same movements.

Warm Ups – What Are They Like? 

Now don’t worry you won’t have to pull off at lot of complex moves or anything like that, in most cases warm ups are stretching routines or simple rhythmic movements. Your instructor might also decide to rehearse some dance moves that you’ll be using later on in the class.

Typically warm ups will be around 5 minutes long but can be much less or more depending on how long or advance your class is. Warm ups are generally followed with a cool down period at the end of the session, these generally involve slower rhythmic movements and exercises that will help decrease your body temperature and prevent symptoms like light-headedness and dizziness.

Some of the more common or standard warm up exercises include movements like neck isolations that help you move more fluidly and increase agility, leg swings that are commonly used in ballet to increase blood flow and fluidity and heel raises that help with balance and ease of movement during dancing.

The Benefits of Dance Warm Ups 

So now we've examined the ways in which warm ups can work and how long you’ll have to do them for the question remains why we exactly need to them and why they’re so important? Warm ups are important because they prepare the body for the physical exertion you’ll be partaking in later. Whether it’s dancing, running or various sporting activities warm ups are a universal way to ensure you have a productive and enjoyable session.

Warm ups help raise your internal body temperature and will help increase your heart rate and blood flow to the muscles so you can perform better. Joints will also be better mobilised with an increase in synovial fluid and it’s the perfect way to prepare yourself both mentally and physically for your dance lesson ahead.

It might seem unlikely that all this can come from five to ten minutes worth of gentle warm up exercises but it really does make a difference, just ask anyone who’s tried dancing before doing a warm up routine. Warm ups are important for getting your body ready for the task ahead and it will also help prevent the risk of injury and can even help prevent muscle soreness.

Great Dancewear Helps Warm Up Routines

Just as warming up before the lesson is important, ensuing you have the correct warm up gear is equally so – we stock a great range of cardigans, leg-warmers and other dance warm up gear that looks great and performs well until you are ready to take them off when you are warm enough.

Safe & Fun Dance Lessons

Don’t be tempted to just jump right in to a dance class, and follow your dance teacher or dance instructors lead when warming up before and then warming down afterwards it will make your lesson all the more enjoyable and more importantly it will ensure you are exercising and dancing safely and not putting any undue pressure or strain on your body. Warm ups are universal in their value and they’re the best way to make sure you have a fun, safe and productive dance lesson.