The Knee
Study Tasks
1. Reading and Research
a) Using the resources provided for you and other reputable sources to which you have access, identify agonist and antagonist muscles responsible for movements at the knee and relate these to a range of dance specific movement examples. You may wish to use a table e.g
Movement of
knee |
Agonist |
Antagonist |
Dance specific
example |
| E.g. extension |
E.g. quadriceps |
E.g. hamstrings |
E.g. unfolding
portion of
développé or
lower leg 'flick'
in a Charlston |
b) Using the movements you have identified, create a series of exercises that you could use in class to strengthen and lengthen the required muscles. Make a video that your students could use to direct them in this work. Remember to include a variety of positions and cueing for mistakes or difficulties a dancer may make/encounter.
2. Writing
a) Outline the role you, as dance teacher, have to play in assessing and minimising risk to your dancers with respect to knee injury. Remember to consider bodies, instruction and teaching space. (500 words)
b) Think back to the work you undertook in DE402 on turnout and, specifically, the implications for the knee if a dancer forces their turnout. Remembering that a single joint can normally not be looked at in isolation, consider how you might cue a dancer to achieve safe alignment. (200 words)
3. Reflection
a) Consider your own knee alignment by taking some time to evaluate the line of your leg in various weight bearing and non-weight bearing positions. Use a mirror or camera to help you. Do you naturally stand with your knees in a flexed, neutral or hyperextended position? (see previous image) Do you alter this when dancing in accordance with aesthetic demands or training?
b) Observe the alignment and movement of your patella in a mirror as you bend and straighten your knees in a plié type action in parallel and turned out. Is it centred? Are your left and right symmetrical? Think about what you may need to do to address this if the answer to either question is ‘no’.