A Ballet Dancer's Guide - Increase Your Turnout, Learn Ballet Stretches

Deborah Vogel's ballet dancers guide books highlight the hot topics - increase your ballet turnout, ballet stretches and much more.

This summer there are some extra workshops scheduled for any teacher or dance student interested in functional anatomy - "FUNctional Anatomy" is Deborah Vogel's title of her book series (with co-author Anneliese Burns Wilson).

I remember that nothing felt as good as the progress a summer intensive created. Several classes a day, 6 days a week. Exhaustion, hot and humid weather, but no academic school. Complete focus on ballet, and then running off to extra modern dance classes in the evenings too. (Gosh, how did I do all that?!!!)

The evenings at the school residence were spent sewing all pointe shoes we needed for the summer intensive, and getting ready for the next day.

Deborah Vogel is a dancer, author, and master teacher who conducts workshops across the U.S. for both student and professional dancers. From a recent e-mail:

"Announcements

The venues have been set! Here is the listing of the cities and contact information
of my summer workshop tour. The full workshop information will be posted online
soon - and I will send a notice out when it is viewable. Contact the sponsors ASAP
to save a slot, as registration will be cut off at 25 participants per workshop!

7/07/07 Santa Fe, NM, Contact: Audrey Derrell, charismatopia@aol.com (10 - 1pm)
7/08/07 Albuquerque, NM, Contact: Cecelia Jaramillo, cjlamesa@swcp.com (1-4pm)
7/12/07 Paso Robles, CA, Contact: Cheryle Armstrong, classactdancepasorobles@yahoo.com
(5-8pm)
7/14/07 Berkeley, CA, Contact: Elizabeth Godfrey, berkeleycityballet@sbcglobal.net
(9am - noon)
7/14/07 Berkeley, CA, Contact: Karen Olson, idance@berkeleyballet.org (2-5 pm)
7/18/07 Elko, NV, Contact: Yong Pratt, dance_elko@yahoo.com (1-4 pm)"

So the contacts are above for more info.

Ballet tips - my recipe for a multi-mineral homemade electrolyte drink here. It's fantastic for keeping the blood balanced and the strength up:

Freshly squeezed lemons (probably about 6 per 4 quarts of water)
Maple syrup to taste
Pinch or so of cayenne pepper (that's where the minerals are)
Filtered water to dilute to taste.

Dancers tend to disregard recovery time for muscles and summer is especially intense. Please eat good lean proteins and fresh foods - minimize junk food.

For muscles soreness and cramps try "A to B Calm", a calcium-magnesium powder you dissolve in hot water. It tastes chalky so you can cool it with fruit juice. The so-so taste is really worth the relief from pain. You will find it at a health food store.

Get the most out of your ballet summer intensives with the best info from a ballet dancers guide.