Modern Dance Warm-Ups: Floor Leg Swings

Series Summary

Modern dance emerged in the beginning of the 20th century. A spin-off from ballet, the modern dance style is used to convey a story, emotion or political statement. Shedding the tutus and ballet slippers, dancers are encouraged to use their emotions and moods while dancing, which makes every modern dance performance different. Using gravity, modern dancers use their body weight to enhance movement, and because of the difficultly of many modern dance poses, proper conditioning and exercise is crucial for the dancer. In this free video series, learn how to warm up for modern dance. Our expert, Chell Garcia-Trias, demonstrates some simple exercises that will help you prepare for modern dance steps. Learn how to do simple push ups and sit ups for modern dance. Also, get tips for stretching the legs with extensions, swings and plies. Tone the core muscles with stomach strengthening exercises. Learn how to relax the back, shoulders and head before modern dancing. So, before leaping on stage, learn how to warm up for modern dance routines today!

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Chell Garcia-Trias. I am a Dance instructor in Austin Texas. I'm going to show you a modern dance warm-up it's leg swings on the floor. It's a great way to warm up your hips, and your lower back. So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to lay down with my back on the ground, and I'll show you setting up. What I'll do is have my legs hanging open, I'm going to brush my toe across the floor and around my leg, and then I'm going to brush it down, when I come down I am going to go straight down and up. Then, I'll brush my other leg around and up. As much as possible I want this to just be momentum based, so it doesn't feel tight, it just feels like I am throwing my legs around. So, when I am laying down and doing it what it will look like, I'll have my arms to the side and my legs displayed open, and I will bring my leg up and around and down, up and around and down, up and around and down, up and around and down. So there is a nice little bounce in my leg, and my toe stays on the floor the whole time. My upper body stays stable it's just standing still resting on the ground. It's just my lower body that's swinging opening up my hips, warming up my legs, and warming up my lower back. So, you can do this for awhile, and when your comfortable when you feel like you have done it enough you can move on to the next thing. So it is a great warm-up in modern dance for your legs, swinging while swinging your legs on the ground."