Thinking Ahead for Summer Intensive Auditions: Optimizing Your Preparation!
Is our preparation meaningfully challenging to create adaptations? Building up our baseline capacity to be able to perform at our best means creating sustainability.
We are about 6 weeks out from 2024 and while events in January may not be on our immediate radars just yet, now is a crucial time to begin thinking about and identifying our preparation methods. Particularly for those of us gearing up for summer intensive auditions, college auditions, and competitions in the new year, we want to begin establishing consistent habits that will set us up for peak performance.
When working with dancers, we are always curious to know what their current understanding of preparation is and how we can set realistic expectations for success, not just for a singular event but for sustainable progress. How can we approach our preparation with intention and considerations for our specific needs? And more importantly, is our preparation meaningfully challenging to create adaptations? Building up our baseline capacity to be able to perform at our best means that we need to build up our training as well.
NEED TO GET STRONGER?
Dance training alone is not sufficient enough to increase our overall physical capabilities, and the research shows us that it takes a minimum of 6 weeks of consistent strength training for adaptations to occur (no better time to start than now)! The first 3 weeks our strength develops through neural connections being formed, and the 3+ weeks following is when we begin to see actual changes in muscle tissue.
NEED TIME TO HEAL?
For those dealing with a previous or current injury, we want to be especially mindful of the type of injury we’re facing and the tissues involved in order to respect the body’s natural healing timeline. Bodies are resilient and adaptable, but require adequate time and recovery to heal. Whether it’s rehab or training, we prioritize appropriate and consistent loading (aka good stress) to build strong foundations and confidence to handle the demands of dance and life.
**The graphs below offer us a visual of tissue healing and strength adaptation time frames**
We encourage dancers to cultivate tailored behaviors and habits such as establishing a solid warm-up and recovery routine, tending to the basics of proper nutrition/sleep/hydration, and finding a trusted support team available to you to be prepared and stay prepared for the long term!