Dance

Today we will be looking into 3 different styles of dance (ballet,tap and modern/ jazz). You will find tips and background information on each of the different styles below.

Ballet

Pointe shoes

Below you will find some tips to do with pointe shoes and the points you would have to consider before buying your first pair of shoes.

This image shows you the correct and incorrect way to stand en pointe (on the blocks).

This image shows you the key points to focus on when buying your first pair of pointe shoes.

This image shows you how to attach the ribbon/elastic to your soft ballet shoes. You can tighten the shoes by pulling in the elastic/material where the bow is.

Buying your first pair of Pointe shoes

When you buy your first pair of pointe shoes we recommend you go to a shop where you can be properly fitted and the shoe molded to your foot. Our local shops are York or Guisborough  where you need to make an appointment before you go to get fitted so you might have to do the same at your local shop.

Buying your first pair of soft shoes

When you buy your first pair of soft shoes again we recommend that you go to a shop where they can be properly fitted. This time we recommend that you go down at least half a size from your ordinary outdoor shoe size, this is because they are designed to be a snug fit so that they can "show off" your feet.

History of Ballet

Ballet, as we know it today, was known as hagan durning, during the Renaissance around the year 1500 in Italy. In fact the terms ballet and ball as in masked ball, come from the Italian ballare, to dance. When Catherine de Medici of Italy married the French King Henry II, she introduced early dance styles into court life in France.

Tap

Below you will find some tips to do with tap shoes and the ways to get a perfect sound.

To get the perfect sound out of your tap shoes we recommend that you buy some heal taps to go with the provided toe taps. Also, we recommend lases on tap shoes for more advanced dancers and those with narrow feet.

Buying your first pair of shoes

When you buy your first pair of shoes we recommend you go to a dance shop where you can find the style of shoe which fits you best. You should get the same size shoe as your ordinary outdoor shoes (or school shoes) to ensure that they fit and will last you a long time. We also recommend you get some heel taps to go with your shoes to make the best sound possible. When you buy your first pair of shoes try walking in them or simply bending your foot to ensure that they fit and they don't rub on your foot.

History of tap

Tap dancing had evolved considerably to become the art form we know today. Before there were tap shoes, dancers wore soft shoes, or clogs. Tap dancing originated as Juba, a kind of dance practices by African slaves. It melded with Irish dancing and continued to alter as it encountered the influence of jazz dance.

Modern/ Jazz

Below you will find some tips to do with jazz/ modern shoes.

This image shows some jazz shoes which more advanced dancers wear. When purchasing these shoes make sure that you can tie the laces without having to pull them in as tight as possible (if this happens go down half a shoe size).

This image shows some soft ballet shoes. These can be worn by those starting out as they fit the same as jazz shoes, the only difference being they don't have a heal.

Buying your first pair of shoes

Again when you buy your first pair of shoes we recommend that you go to the shop. But this time you should go down at least half a shoe size as these should be a snug fit to your feet in order to "show them  off". Try walking in the shoes and bending your feet in them to see if they fit. *Most dance schools use soft shoes/ ballet shoes for children starting out so check with your dance teacher first.*

History of modern

History of Modern is the eleventh studio album by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). It is their first since 1996, and also the first to feature the classic 4-piece OMD line-up since 1986's The Pacific Age.

Swimming

Welcome to my blog, the topic we are going to be looking into this week is Swimming. Below you will find the posts for each day this week.

Monday 9th May 2016

 Today we are going to find out about swimming and how to train. We found this article and it inspired us to do a blog post on swimming and how to improve your stokes. It also contains top tips from Olympic swimmers and methods they like to use when training. http://www.swimming.org/masters/swimming-tips/

Tuesday 10th May 2016

The stroke which we are going to be looking into today is Front Crawl (short hand F/C) which is also known as Freestyle. In order to improve your stroke you will do some drills, below we have listed some of the drills we recommend swimmers use when wanting to improve their Front Crawl. There are many more but here are our top 5 favourites to swim.

1) Six kicks then change.
This is where you do 6 kicks on your Left side then you do a full stroke to turn you onto your Right side where again you will do six kicks and one arm pull. Do this until you reach the bottom of the pool. To make this more difficult you can do maximum effort in the red zones (on the lane-rope) and steady in the middle before finishing with maximum effort in the second red zone. This stroke is used to make your leg kick more efficient when breathing.

2) Zip up
This is where you do normal Front Crawl but on every arm pull you have to zip your arm up your side with your elbow high out of the water (nearly 90 degrees) before allowing your fingers to enter the water. In order to succeed you can imagine you are trying to zip up a zip on your side.This drill is used to improve you arm technique as it stops you from slapping the water with your elbow.

3) 2 touches.

This is where you have to touch your hip and then your shoulder before you can allow your fingertips to enter the water. Just like the zip up you swim Front Crawl normally. This drill helps you to improve your arm technique lowering the chances of your elbow slapping the water and slowing you down.

4) Breathing drill

 This drill does exactly what it says in the title it improves your breathing and helps to increase your lung capacity. In this drill you swim Front Crawl but you breathe every 3 strokes,5 strokes, 7 strokes and 9 strokes and then back to 3 etc. To make this drill harder you can do one length of breathing every 3 strokes then one length breathing every 5 strokes etc. rather than doing the easier version of doing one length where you breathe every 3 strokes,5 strokes etc.

5) Kick drill

 Again, this does exactly what it says in the title. For this drill you can either use a kick board or  have your hands and arms in the streamlined position. You then kick with your face in the water for as long as you can before doing a single arm pull to breathe to the side as you do when swimming Front Crawl. To make this more difficult you can do maximum effort tin the middle and a steady speed in the red zones or you can do a build set, which is where you build up on each length (speed up each length).

World Records in Front Crawl

Men:

1) 50m

    20.26 seconds by Florent Manaudou (France) on 15th December 2014

2)100m

   44.94 seconds by Amaury Leveaux (France) on 13th December 2008

3) 200m

   1 minute 39.37 seconds by Paul Biedermann (Germany) on 15th November 2009

4)400m

    3 minutes 32.25 seconds by Yannick Agnel (France) on 15th November 2012

5)800m

    7 minutes 23.42 seconds by Grant Hackett (Australia) on 20th July 2008

6) 1500m

    14 minutes 8.06 seconds by Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) on 4th December 2015

Women:

1) 50m

    23.24 sceonds by Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands) on 12th December 2015

2)100m

    50.91 seconds by Cate Campbell (Australia) on 28th November 2015

3) 200m

    1 minute 50.78 seconds by Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden) on 7th December 2014

4)400m

   3 minutes 54.52 seconds by Mireia Belmonte García (Spain) on 11th August 2013

5)800m

  7 minutes 59.34 sceonds by Mireia Belmonte García (Spain) on 10th August 2013

6)1500m

  15 minutes 19.71 secocnds by Mireia Belmonte García (Spain) on 12th December 2014

Front Crawl race

Watch this video to see what Front Crawl looks like in a race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K02I7GFwYuw

Wednesday 11th May 2016

Today we are going to be looking at backstroke. In order to improve your stroke you will do some drills, below we have listed some of the drills we recommend swimmers use when wanting to improve their Backstroke. There are many more but here are our top 5 favourites to swim.

1) Shoulder roll Ex. 1

For this you do what it says in the title you do a shoulder roll so you have your hands by your side and roll your shoulder out of the water for 3 seconds and then repeat. Once you feel comfortable with every 3 seconds try reducing the time until you reach 1 second. The aim of this is to improve your arm technique. 

2) Shoulder roll Ex. 2

For this you do what it says in Shoulder roll Ex. 1 but this time you use your arms rather than  having them by your side. You need to have the opposite shoulder out of the water to the arm you are using.The aim of this is to improve your arm technique. 

3) Six kicks one pull

 This is similar to the six kicks one pull drill in Front Crawl but you don't roll from one side to the   other you do six kicks (on your back) then you do one arm pull and repeat this. The aim of this is to improve you leg kick.

4) Shoulder cross

 This is very similar to what the title says and Shoulder roll Ex. 2. For this drill you roll your   shoulder but before you can put your hand into the water you have to reach across and tap your other shoulder keeping your elbow as high out of the water as possible. This drill improves your arm technique and stops you from slapping the water due to an elbow in the wrong place.

5) One arm drill
 This is where you do exactly what it says in the title. You use one arm and do single arm strokes to the middle steps then alternate arms for one pull before doing singular arm pulls on the other arm.This drill improves the technique used when placing your hand in the water.

 World Records

Men

1) 50m
    22.22 by Florent Manaudou (France) on 6th December 2014

2)100m
    48.92 by Matt Grevers (United States) on 12th December 2015

3)200m
   1 minute 45.63 seconds by Mitch Larkin (Australia) on 27th November 2015

Women

1) 50m
    25.67 seconds by Etiene Medeiros (Brazil) on 7th December 2014

2)100m
    55.03 seconds by Katinka Hosszú (Hungary) on 4th December 2014

3)200m

   1 minute 59.23 seconds by Katinka Hosszú (Hungary) on 5th December 2014

Watch this video to see what Backstroke looks like in a race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0-lC5Emr4o

Thursday 12th May 2016

Today we are going to be looking at Breaststroke. In order to improve your stroke you will do some drills, below we have listed some of the drills we recommend swimmers use when wanting to improve their Breaststroke. There are many more but here are our top 5 favourites to swim.

1) Two kicks one pull

For this drill you do what it says in the title. You do two leg kicks then one arm pull but you have to hold the streamlined position for a glide for 3 seconds. To make it harder you can reduce the time taken on the glide until it reaches 1 second. This is used to improve your streamlined   position and the strength of your kicks.

2) Feet together hands apart

 Again for this drill you do exactly what it says in the title, you do one leg kick and then when your feet come together you do an arm pull (bring your hands apart). This drill is used to improve the strength of your kicks.

3) Breaststroke on your back
Although this sounds weird it is really easy to do. Simply lay on your back and do leg kicks until you reach the red zone at the far end of the pool turn onto your front so you don't hit your head on the wall. This drill helps to make your leg kicks more powerful as it takes more effort to do a leg kick on your back than it does on your front.
4) One on top one under
 This drill is when you do one normal breaststroke (one pull one kick) followed by one kick and one pull below the surface of the water before returning to the usual stroke on the top and  repeating it all. To make this more difficult you can do two strokes under the water and one on the surface.
5) Breaststroke arms butterfly kicks
 In this you do what it says in the title. The aim of this drill is to make your arms as powerful as your leg kicks. To accomplish this target you need to do one breaststroke pull whilst doing butterfly kicks (this gets you use to doing arm pulls whilst your legs are doing kicks which is necessary when sprinting a length or more).

World Records

Men

1) 50m
    25.25 seconds by Cameron Van Der Burgh (South Africa) on 14th November 2009

2)100m
   55.61 seconds by Cameron Van Der Burgh (South Africa) on 15th November 2009

3)200m
   2 minutes 0.48 seconds by Dániel Gyurta (Hungary) on 31st August 2014

Women

1) 50m
    28.80 seconds by Jessica Hardy (United States) on 14th November 2009

2)100m
   1 minute 2.36 seconds by Ruta Meilutyté (Lithuania) on 12th October 2013
   1 minute 2.36 seconds by Alia Atkinson (Jamaica) on 6th December 2014

3)200m

   2 minutes 14.57 seconds by Rebecca Soni (United States) on 18th December 2009 

Watch this video to see what Breaststroke looks like in a race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN7JCR95NQ8

Friday 13th May 2016

Today we will be looking at the stroke Butterfly.  In order to improve your stroke you will do some drills, below we have listed some of the drills we recommend swimmers use when wanting to improve their Butterfly. There are many more but here are our top 5 favourites to swim.

1) Dolphin kicks
In this drill you will do kicks under the water's surface and you must move your body too! This drill is nicknamed dolphin as when you do it correctly every other kick you should look like a  dolphin also dolphins kick with their tail which your feet together represent. This drill is used to make your kicks stronger so you have enough time to move your arms.
2) One arm, one arm, double arm
 This is where you do a singular arm on your left followed by a singular arm on your right then a double arm pull using both arms. To succeed you need to make sure your arm goes around rather than above (like front crawl) if you try to keep your arm as straight as possible you will easily  succeed st this.
3) Dolphin kicks with arms
 This is where you do dolphin kicks (as explained earlier) but when you come up to breathe rather than raising your head you do an arm pull (with a raised hair so you can get some air). The aim of  this drill is to improve your breathing and help you to hold your breath for the necessary length  when swimming butterfly.
4) Side to corners
In this drill you do dolphin kicks with your arms in the correct streamlined position but where you would normally breathe you move your arms in a side to side motion to practice the entry into the  water. The aim of the drill is to improve your technique when you place your arms in the water.
5) Dolphin kicks on your back
 Again you do the same as dolphin kicks but this time on your back as this technique is designed to make your kicks more powerful which allows you to propel faster through the water.

World Records

Men

1) 50m
    21.80 seconds by Steffen Deibler (Germany) on 14th November 2009

2)100m
   48.44 seconds by Chad le Clos (South Africa) on 4th December 2014

3)200m
   1 minute 48.56 by Chad le Clos (South Africa) on 5th November 2013

Women

1) 50m
    24.38 seconds by Therese Alshammar (Sweden) on 22nd November 2009

2)100m
   54.61 seconds by Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden) on 7th December 2014

3)200m

   1 minute 59.61 seconds by Mireia Belmonte Garcia (Spain) on 3rd December 2014

Watch this video to see what Butterfly looks like in a race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUx9nCRgACI

Saturday 14th May 2016

If you are interested in swimming you can look for a swimming club in your local area to join or swimming lessons at your local baths to achieve awards such as Honours ( http://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/asa-awards-badges-certificates/ ). The swimming clubs in the local area are:
-Middlesbrough
-Eston
-Loftus
-Marske & Saltburn (includes Redcar)
-Gisbrough
-York
 and many more, for details visit this website https://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/rcbcweb.nsf/SportsDir?ReadForm&Sport=Swimming. So if you are interested in joining you can ask at the reception of your local baths and they can recommend a swimming club to you or give you information on their swimming club.

Sunday 15th May 2016

Some interesting facts on who won the last Olympics (swimming).

Thank you for reading our blog on swimming, we hope this information is useful to you and will aspire you to achieve more in the field of swimming.