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How To Keep Up Your Belly Dance Practice When You Are Injured

How To Keep Up Your Belly Dance Practice When You Are Injured

This is the newest installment of  “Raks Me A Question” – an occasional series where I answer dancers’ questions about anything and everything to do with this Sparkly Life – from practice techniques to troupe politics. Think of it as a dancers’ Q & A meets Dear Abby! Got a question you’d like to ask? Email me and tell me all about it. Kelly asks: “How can I keep practicing when I’m injured?” Most dancers, at […]

Staying Focused In Your Belly Dance & Fitness

Staying Focused In Your Belly Dance & Fitness

Do you go through phases of being super-committed to your belly dance practice or workouts, then fall off the wagon? I think we all exhibit this pattern with something in our lives. For me it’s keeping my office out of a state of chaos so I can actually concentrate on work. Success with long-term commitments, is not about the big push, it’s about the consistency and building positive habits. I picked up two tidbits that […]

How Not to Exercise – Work Smarter, Not Just Longer

How Not to Exercise – Work Smarter, Not Just Longer

As bikini season approaches, I see more and more fitness challenges on Facebook and Twitter. The “Brazen Fit Ab Challenge”, the “30 Day Squat Challenge”,  and the “5/100 Fitness Challenge” are just a few examples . Anyone who has subscribed to the Daily Bellydance Quickies or has followed this blog for any length of time already knows that I am a huge proponent of fitness training for not only your general health, but also to […]

Getting Acquainted with Your IT Band

Getting Acquainted with Your IT Band

In a recent Daily Bellydance Quickie, I demonstrated two stretches for the Iliotibial band, more commonly known as the IT band. Today let’s learn a little more about what this important structure does and how we can keep it healthy and pain-free. What is the IT band? The IT band is a fibrous strap that runs from the hip down the outside of the thigh, across the knee, attaching to the tibia. The tendons of […]

5 Factors in Protecting Your Knees

5 Factors in Protecting Your Knees

I think just about every person knows someone who has had a knee injury, if they haven’t had one themselves. Knee problems are very common; this is not surprising considering the complexity of the joint, its possible range of motion and the load it bears. Approximately 3-5 times one’s body weight in force goes through the knees during normal walking. This is much greater, of course, in running or jumping. But our bodies are pretty […]