Dancer bodies?

CoderGal

I love dance, and hate injury. I do not enjoy looking at dancers who look like they're hurting themselves.

Dancing for decades and haven't hurt myself once doing it...Well, except that time I did a scissor kick and landed my weight on my hand instead of my 2 feet and broke a bone in 3 places...No stretch related problems though :happy:

ldrosophila

Body fat plays a role too. Here are 2 pics of the same girl depicting a more "muscular" look and her "softer" look.




A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Is it me or does the bottom picture look airbrushed? Even her brow and facial wrinkles have been softened as compared to the above. Her face is near perfect smooth.

Her waist even appears to be smaller but that could be the camera angle.

upgetupgetup

I love dance, and hate injury. I do not enjoy looking at dancers who look like they're hurting themselves.

Dancing for decades and haven't hurt myself once doing it...Well, except that time I did a scissor kick and landed my weight on my hand instead of my 2 feet and broke a bone in 3 places...No stretch related problems though :happy:

That's cool, but it's kind of like an occupational hazard for most people who use their bodies professionally, I think (repeated impact, overuse etc --> micro trauma over time often precipitates arthritis; sure not EVERY dancer will have arthritis)

that said yeah no reason to rush into it that i can see (talking about the other dancer above, not nec you)

CoderGal

I love dance, and hate injury. I do not enjoy looking at dancers who look like they're hurting themselves.

Dancing for decades and haven't hurt myself once doing it...Well, except that time I did a scissor kick and landed my weight on my hand instead of my 2 feet and broke a bone in 3 places...No stretch related problems though :happy:

That's cool, but it's kind of like an occupational hazard for most people who use their bodies professionally, I think (repeated impact, overuse etc --> micro trauma over time often precipitates arthritis)

that said yeah no reason to rush into it that i can see (talking about the other dancer above, not nec you)

That's weird, I danced about 9 times a week for years and years, did many performances every year and only got better over time. Anyone who was around me before I started dancing saw me go from crying in pain to nothing when I started dance. My grandfather has arthritis rather bad, he even had limbs replaced from it. The doctor gave him a sheet of stretches similar to the ones I did in dance. Apparently stretching like that is a great idea for arthritis. I'd highly recommend rushing into dance if you have arthritis. You just can't expect to push yourself past the point of no return. I can do the stuff in the pictures above no problem without warming up or stretching without feeling a twinge of pushing myself or pain. I wouldn't expect say a regular person like you to do it. Pretty positive you'd throw something out.

I've been around classes for years and years with dance teachers sitting on the backs of girls to get into the position I'm in in the motorcycle gear pic. Sounds painful but nobody gets pushed into back lurching pain, and I've never seen anyone hurt from it.

upgetupgetup

I love dance, and hate injury. I do not enjoy looking at dancers who look like they're hurting themselves.

Dancing for decades and haven't hurt myself once doing it...Well, except that time I did a scissor kick and landed my weight on my hand instead of my 2 feet and broke a bone in 3 places...No stretch related problems though :happy:

That's cool, but it's kind of like an occupational hazard for most people who use their bodies professionally, I think (repeated impact, overuse etc --> micro trauma over time often precipitates arthritis)

that said yeah no reason to rush into it that i can see (talking about the other dancer above, not nec you)

That's weird, I danced about 9 times a week for years and years, did many performances every year and only got better over time. Anyone who was around me before I started dancing saw me go from crying in pain to nothing when I started dance. My grandfather has arthritis rather bad, he even had limbs replaced from it. The doctor gave him a sheet of stretches similar to the ones I did in dance. Apparently stretching like that is a great idea for arthritis. I'd highly recommend rushing into dance if you have arthritis. You just can't expect to push yourself past the point of no return. I can do the stuff in the pictures above no problem without warming up or stretching without feeling a twinge of pushing myself or pain. I wouldn't expect say a regular person like you to do it. Pretty positive you'd throw something out.

Me personally? Yeah I'm ****ed. But I did dance for years (from age 3 to teens), and I happen to be able to kick my legs to my head, because I have hypermobility in my hips. Which I do not test, these days, because I'm ****ed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1835975/

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/07/09/rheumatology.kep175.full

more info on prevalence easily googlable

edit: I am not blaming dance for my personal issues (i actually think i hurt myself running, and i was nowhere near a professional level).

But it's pretty obvious that any athlete exposes her/himself to ^ risk. Hopefully s/he can anticipate and manage that in a smart way, while offering the rest of us the gift of her/his art.

ok done with this, please continue original discussion

DavPul

Body fat plays a role too. Here are 2 pics of the same girl depicting a more "muscular" look and her "softer" look.




A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Is it me or does the bottom picture look airbrushed? Even her brow and facial wrinkles have been softened as compared to the above. Her face is near perfect smooth.

Her waist even appears to be smaller but that could be the camera angle.

It's a professional glamor shot. Airbrushing is part of the package

etoiles_argentees

You're all forgetting things like genetics, the neck shaft angle of the proximal femur and so on?

Sarauk2sf

You're all forgetting things like genetics, the neck shaft angle of the proximal femur and so on?

Actually a lot of people mentioned genetics in the thread...it kind of diverged from that though.

etoiles_argentees

You're all forgetting things like genetics, the neck shaft angle of the proximal femur and so on?

Actually a lot of people mentioned genetics in the thread...it kind of diverged from that though.

It always does here, btw, your back looks great sara!

Sarauk2sf

You're all forgetting things like genetics, the neck shaft angle of the proximal femur and so on?

Actually a lot of people mentioned genetics in the thread...it kind of diverged from that though.

It always does here, btw, your back looks great sara!

Lol - you got that right! And thank you. :flowerforyou:

BinaryPulsar

Well, I think there are lots of reasons, and agree with a lot of what has been said.

Genetics is one factor

Not training arms is another factor for a lot of ballet dancers (but still having a strong back and lower body)

Having 17-19% bodyfat instead of 15% bodyfat. Being lean, but not ultra lean.

Dancers are healthy and strong, but they also maintain a lower weight for the look of the dancing and lifts (this does not mean anorexic, they must eat a lot actually, but they use the calories from all the dancing).

The lifter in the OP photos also has breast implants (this is not a judgement, just another factor in how they look different from one another, since this is the topic of the OP).

There are other factors as well.

I don't think the lifter's arms look like chunky muscles. And she has obviously worked hard with bulking/cutting and lifting to develop them like that.

But, the thing people are saying about stretching the muscles making them look a certain way is not true. Flexibility is also something that is great to train in, but it doesn't influence how the body looks (other than the ability to move in a wider variety of ways and still be graceful doing it). However lifting weights does not reduce flexibility. It increases it. Stronger muscles are more resilient to improvements in flexibility.

I'm probably forgetting a point.

dixiewhiskey

Body fat plays a role too. Here are 2 pics of the same girl depicting a more "muscular" look and her "softer" look.




A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Is it me or does the bottom picture look airbrushed? Even her brow and facial wrinkles have been softened as compared to the above. Her face is near perfect smooth.

Her waist even appears to be smaller but that could be the camera angle.

As a professional photographer, I am telling you its airbrushed/photoshopped in some way.

ParisKennedy

Meet Ragen, professional dancer not selected for the thread

Ragen's aesthetic completely to one side- what the crap is happening with her right knee and hips? That is really bad, like damaging, like arthritis is gonna happen in ten years turnout..

mind you I guess every dancer is going to get arthritis probably, but her right foot is on the verge of pronating, her knee is twisted, looks like unbalanced hypermobility

Her foot, knee and hip are fine. She is in proper form. This is the exact way her feet etc should be angled for "positions" in dance.

leighann881

Body fat plays a role too. Here are 2 pics of the same girl depicting a more "muscular" look and her "softer" look.




A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Is it me or does the bottom picture look airbrushed? Even her brow and facial wrinkles have been softened as compared to the above. Her face is near perfect smooth.

Her waist even appears to be smaller but that could be the camera angle.

Probably a little touched up but also the bottom pic was obviously a planned photoshoot with specific lighting, etc. The top is a candid from a competition with lights designed to make ever change in texture (muscles) more pronounced.

upgetupgetup

Meet Ragen, professional dancer not selected for the thread

Ragen's aesthetic completely to one side- what the crap is happening with her right knee and hips? That is really bad, like damaging, like arthritis is gonna happen in ten years turnout..

mind you I guess every dancer is going to get arthritis probably, but her right foot is on the verge of pronating, her knee is twisted, looks like unbalanced hypermobility

Her foot, knee and hip are fine. She is in proper form. This is the exact way her feet etc should be angled for "positions" in dance.

Well ok, I’m not an expert, it’s been a LONG time, and I guess it’s hard to see exactly what’s going on, given her outfit. But to me it looks like her rotation is happening very much at the knee, with insufficient turnout at the right (standing) hip, and then looks like some compensatory rotation at the torso. The way I was taught (again I’m not an expert; am recalling what I learned of the Vaganova method many years ago, and I gather there are a number of views on turnout) stressed turning out at the hips, knees and ankles equally. Basically it all just screamed ‘wrong’ to me, but I admit I’m no authority. I’d be interested to hear what dancers here think, if another diversion would be tolerated.

EvgeniZyntx

Ragen's aesthetic completely to one side- what the crap is happening with her right knee and hips? That is really bad, like damaging, like arthritis is gonna happen in ten years turnout..

mind you I guess every dancer is going to get arthritis probably, but her right foot is on the verge of pronating, her knee is twisted, looks like unbalanced hypermobility

Her foot, knee and hip are fine. She is in proper form. This is the exact way her feet etc should be angled for "positions" in dance.

Well ok, I’m not an expert, it’s been a LONG time, and I guess it’s hard to see exactly what’s going on, given her outfit. But to me it looks like her rotation is happening very much at the knee, with insufficient turnout at the right (standing) hip, and then looks like some compensatory rotation at the torso. The way I was taught (again I’m not an expert; am recalling what I learned of the Vaganova method many years ago, and I gather there are a number of views on turnout) stressed turning out at the hips, knees and ankles equally. Basically it all just screamed ‘wrong’ to me, but I admit I’m no authority. I’d be interested to hear what dancers here think, if another diversion would be tolerated.

Given that Ragen IS a professional dancer, and you apparently are not, my vote just might go to her. Or do you not trust her, since she is .... "gasp, fat" (her words)?

upgetupgetup

Ragen's aesthetic completely to one side- what the crap is happening with her right knee and hips? That is really bad, like damaging, like arthritis is gonna happen in ten years turnout..

mind you I guess every dancer is going to get arthritis probably, but her right foot is on the verge of pronating, her knee is twisted, looks like unbalanced hypermobility

Her foot, knee and hip are fine. She is in proper form. This is the exact way her feet etc should be angled for "positions" in dance.

Well ok, I’m not an expert, it’s been a LONG time, and I guess it’s hard to see exactly what’s going on, given her outfit. But to me it looks like her rotation is happening very much at the knee, with insufficient turnout at the right (standing) hip, and then looks like some compensatory rotation at the torso. The way I was taught (again I’m not an expert; am recalling what I learned of the Vaganova method many years ago, and I gather there are a number of views on turnout) stressed turning out at the hips, knees and ankles equally. Basically it all just screamed ‘wrong’ to me, but I admit I’m no authority. I’d be interested to hear what dancers here think, if another diversion would be tolerated.

Given that Ragen IS a professional dancer, and you apparently are not, my vote just might go to her. Or do you not trust her, since she is .... "gasp, fat" (her words)?

I think I explained my response.

I'm not aware of any fat-phobia lurking in my psyche. I myself have been "gasp, fat". I am, however, injury-phobic.

BinaryPulsar

If you want to see some muscular dancers, google image search Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.