Modern Dance Warm-Ups: Head Rolls

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Chell Garcia-Trias and I am a modern dance instructor in Austin, Texas. I am going to show you how to do head rolls in modern dance. This is going to be a way that is going to be safe for your neck. So, it might be a little different than what you think or are used to. I am going to imagine the whole time that I am going these rolls, I am going to imagine space in between the vertebra and my neck opening up. So, that I am never going to collapse, especially to the back I am never going to collapse. I am never going to just drop my neck down. I am going to imagine that I have a flashlight at the top of my head and it is making circles on the ceiling. And, it goes from one corner of the wall all the way to the other one. So, it is not trying to push down as far as possible. It is not hitting the sides of the wall. It is where the wall and the ceiling meet. So, I am going to go around. And, when I go to the back I am going to reach up and around. So, that I really am opening things up in my neck and in my spine. I am making sure not to collapse everywhere. I will go one way and then I will go the other. You can do this as slowly or as quickly as you want to. As long as you continue to open up the vertebra in your spine. So, I am never going to collapse. This would be collapsing. If I feel my chin on my chest or if I feel the back of my head reaching for my back. That is not how I want to do it. I want to open up. So, that is a great safe way to do head rolls in modern dance."