Importance of Warm-up and Cool-down exercises for dancers

As a Bharatanatyam dancer, I was always taught to perform a two-minute warm-up and cool-down exercise before and after my dance routine and performances. Most of the Bharatnatyam dancers will definitely agree that we have been taught Alaripu which is the best warm-up and Mangalam or shloka with the shanti mantra is the best example for cooling down.

However, no matter any dance style you are performing it is highly important to perform a good and mindful warm-up and cool-down exercise. 

So, in this blog let us learn why it is necessary to do warm-up and cool-down exercises.

Why perform warm-up and cool-down exercises?

Warm-up and cool-down exercises both can be done at a slow pace and low intensity. The importance of performing any type of exercise prepares your body and muscles to perform hard dance movements. 

Warm-up activities such as spot jogging, accelerate your cardiovascular and respiratory system and prepares them for any type of hard movements. It is just like driving a car, where you cannot directly shift on fifth gear while driving, you have to warm up the car with 1st gear and then gradually ascend the gear shifting, similarly, our body requires some first gear movement, which will help the body to shift to higher gears.

Further, let us understand the importance of warm-up and cool-down exercises for dancers in detail.

Benefits of warm-up exercises

1. Improves your dance performance. When your body has good fueling after a warm-up, your dance performance will naturally improve. Stiff muscles are relaxed and flexibility is improved.
2. Enhances blood flow. Opens up the blood vessels of your skeletal muscles. Blood is a carrier of supplying oxygen, and eliminating the toxins out of your body.
3. Injury prevention. Warming up helps to prevent injury by loosening the joints, improving blood supply, and increasing flexibility. Stiff joints are more prone to injury of joints and muscles. That is why, it is highly necessary to do a good warm-up before you perform or practice your dance routine.
4. Prepares you mentally. Your brain gets focussed on the further difficult dance steps or movements, and you feel confident while performing. This is a great way to stay focussed on your task and keep away from all the surrounding distractions.

Benefits of cool-down exercises

1. Recovering from intense movements. This means a cool down allows the lactic acid to wash lactic acid which is produced in your body.
2. Reduces muscle soreness. Those who avoid cooling down or even stretching are prone to get soreness after their routine. So, to avoid muscle routine and bounce back to your next dance routine you need to perform cool down exercise.
3. Helps to bring your respiratory and cardiovascular system to normal. 

Tips while performing warm-up and cool-down exercises

1. Start your warm-up with your head and neck movements and gradually finish up to your ankle.
2. Warm-up and cool-down should always be done at a slow or medium-slow pace. Avoid performing fast exercises to avoid injury.
3. After every exercise pattern stop for 1 min and then start with the other exercise.
4. Taking regular intervals is equally important as performing exercises
5. Take a sip of water after your warm-up and actual dance routine.
6. A good stretch before and after the dance routine is necessary to avoid muscle pull and soreness.
7. For cool-down, 2 minutes of Shavasana position is very helpful to gradually slow down your heart rate and respiratory rate.