Dancing is amazing, even in lockdown you can dance ( in your kitchen, in your living room, in your garden) and while our virtual dance school continues we love to take a look at how other professional dancers are keeping while in lockdown!

Part of the joy of dancing is the freedom of movement, which can be difficult in a cramped space. We’re also missing the connection of dancing with others – this can’t be helped, but it’s still difficult to not be able to dance together as a group.

Professional dancers are having to find new ways of keeping their fitness levels up. To give you some inspiration, here are some of the ways they are staying fit:

Online Classes

There are a lot of resources online for keeping fit, with many professional dancers continuing their classes via livestream in the safety of their homes, just like our dance school. You can learn from the best too, with resources popping up online. Some of the stars of Strictly Come Dancing, for example, are uploading workouts to their YouTube channels or Instagram accounts. Our favourites include Dianne Buswell, Oti Mabuse, and Janette Manrara. This Full Strength and Stretch Workout for Dancers is great, or you could try this Ballet Pilates: Dancer’s Workout for Total Body Fitness video. The Royal Ballet School has also been putting out some great resources that can be practiced in the home.

Outside Exercises

Many professional dancers are making the most of our daily outdoor exercise allowance. Running, jogging, or even walking can help to keep your fitness levels up, and if you’ve been meaning to drag your bike out of the garage and take it for a spin, to get your fitness levels up, now is a great time.

Daily Practice

For dancers at the currently suspended Australian Ballet, practice continues on a schedule – dancers need to remain fit and healthy and to have memorized their routines in case they need to start performing again soon. This can be incorporated into your day too. If you were midway through learning a routine, you can keep practicing at home. You could try improving an old routine, too.

For ballet dancers, you may struggle with the hard flooring of your home – it isn’t ideal to dance on. In this video by CNN, ballet dancer Anna Rose O’Sullivan explains that she uses a doubled-up yoga mat to jump on – this may help if you want to avoid damaging your floors, too!

You may have to move the furniture around a bit to make the space work for you – but with a bit of practice you can adapt to your surroundings.

Yoga, Pilates, and Stretching

It is important to stay flexible. Many dancers are dusting off their yoga mats to practice at home - it’s a great way to keep your mind and body strong and active. Pilates and yoga are great because they not only keep up your core strength, but they also allow you to relax your mind – which is important during these uncertain times.

We hope this has given you some inspiration to keep your dancing fitness levels up during lockdown!