Modern Dance Warm-Ups: Deep Head Rolls

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Chell Garcia-Trias and I'm a modern dancer and instructor in Austin, Texas. I'm going to show you how to do deeper head rolls in modern dance so what that is is just a head roll that goes a little deeper into your shoulders. So I'm going to be reaching up and out with the top of my head and I'm going to imagine there is a flashlight there and it is making little circles on the ceiling and actually all the way to where the wall meets the ceiling and even just a little bit under that. And I'm going to let my shoulders collapse all the way forward so that the circle goes all the way into my upper back. So I'm going to drop my head forward and drop my shoulders forward a little and reach to the side and see how my shoulder is dropping to the side and this shoulder is dropping also even though it is up higher and when I go to the back I'm going to reach up from my sternum. But if you look from the side I'm reaching up, up and back, I'm not dropping or collapsing, I'm reaching up and back and to the side and to the front. This is a nice way to really warm up and get some movement really happening in your upper back while still stretching it and I'm really supporting my spine here so that nothing is getting crunched, nothing is collapsing. I'm going to go the other way and my shoulders are nice and relaxed, they're just following with my head and my sternum is lifting up to the back. See how my sternum is lifting up when I go to the back. So that's a great way to do a deeper head shoulder roll stretch warm up for your upper back and body in modern dance."