How is the muscular system involved in such activities as dancing?

As a dancer, your body is your tool, your instrument, your livelihood, your passion, and your constant collaborator. Therefore it is important for dancers to have a well-rounded working knowledge of their anatomical structure, unique peculiarities, and limitations. Understanding how the body works can help a dancer improve performance, increase confidence and help to stay in shape. If an injury occurs the knowledge of human anatomy can contribute to a safe process of recovery and healing.

The anatomy of movement, in the human body mainly involves the interaction of three systems. The bones of the skeleton, linked together at the joints, moved by the action of the muscles. Various parts of the body can move in many different directions.

The first body system that is involved in ballet is the muscular system, which includes quadriceps and hamstrings the muscles in your leg. Ballet dancers develop strong quadriceps, the muscles that help with full knee extension and hip flexion. At the same time, dancers understand the functional advantage of deep knee bends. The plie – or knee bend – is a basic move in ballet, and every time a dancer bends her knees into plie, her hamstrings contract. Consequently, a dancer’s hamstrings become increasingly strong and powerful as she progresses in her training.

The turnout of the legs at the hip socket is also a key element of classical ballet technique. Dancers use their external hip rotator and gluten Maximus muscles to rotate their legs outward and to sustain that rotation during leaps, leg extensions and turns. Ballet dancers learn to engage these muscles regularly to maintain their turnout, whether they are traveling across the floor, holding a difficult pose, pushing off from the floor in a jump or standing in basic first position at the barre.