When you’re a dancer, you must always take into consideration, what is needed for safe practice so that you do not injure yourself.
The first thing a dancer needs to think about is a safe dance environment before starting to move. When you enter the dance studio or space, you need to make sure that there are no wires around for the dancer to trip over. If there are any wires lying around, you need to tape the wires and secure them to the floor using a strong tape such as gaffa tape. Another point that you need to take into consideration for the dance environment is liquid spillages. If there is a water spillage and nobody notices it, then the dancer could potentially slip on this water, and really injure their self. To make sure that there is no spillages on the floor, then make sure at all times that drinks are kept to the side of dance studio, so if there ever was a spillage, it would be at the side of the room and not in the middle where the dancer would be dancing. Thirdly, there needs to be no dirt or grit on the floor. If there is grit on the floor, the dancer could cut their foot from doing pirouettes and not seeing the grit. To resolve this problem, we need to make sure that nobody wears outdoor shoes in the dance studio, and we need to always sweep up to get rid of any potential dirt and grit. The type of floor that a dance studio needs is very important. A dance studio needs to have an ‘Area-Elastic’ dance floor. The reason for this is that when a dancer is doing Allegro and other things that require a landing, the dancer needs to be supported when landing, and by having an ‘Area-Elastic’ floor, it helps the balance of the landing, ensuring that the dancer doesn’t fall over after the landing and it is safer for the dancer also. The temperature of the room when a dancer first enters it is also really important. It must be 21°C when you first enter because your muscles need to adjust to the room temperature otherwise there could be a potential injury. Another point for a safe environment whilst dancing is the height of the space. If the dance studio doesn’t have a high ceiling, then when you’re practicing lifts and doing partner work, then you’re going to hit your head, and hurt yourself. So there must always be room for lifts. The last thing that needs to be taken into consideration for a safe dance environment is ventilation. Ventilation is very important when it comes to dancing. There must always be 2 point of ventilation in a dance studio, and they must be at opposite ends of the room. This is because there needs to be a good air flow for the dancer. The best option for air flow is air conditioning.
After considering safe practice in the dance environment, we now need to take into consideration, safe practice for the dancer. The dancer must always take off any jewellery. If you leave on your jewellery whilst dancing, you could create a hazard not just towards yourself, but towards the other dancers in the class. When dancing or doing partner work, you could rip out somebody’s earrings or catch yourself with a bracelet etc. Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration for the dancer’s safety is the correct dance kit for the lesson. If the dancer is wearing big baggy trousers that are too long, then the dancer could trip over their own trousers and fall and hurt themselves. To solve this, the dancer needs to wear ankle length trousers, or leggings. Tight tops are good for a dancer. This is because the teacher and the dancer can be looking at themselves to make sure that the dancer is using the correct posture for dance because if you don’t use the correct posture, you could injure your back. Also, the dancer needs to wear thin layers, because thin layers trap and maintain the heat, keeping the dancer warm whilst dancing. The dance must always take water into a dance class. Result in