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This is one of the many interesting ways in which technology can incorporated into dance!

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Dance and live projection created for Desjardins event (Montreal, 2015)

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VISUAL AND INTERACTIVE EFFECTS : Nans Bortuzzo CHOREOGRAPHY : Claudia Chan Tak DANCER IN THE SHOW: Claudia Chan Tak, Marika Dumoulin Lafond, Sébastien Provencher, Philippe Poirier. www.nansbortuzzo.com

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Dancing is not only enjoyable, but very beneficial to your overall health!

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Dance has numerous benefits to ones mental and body health, it is a fun way to exercise and keep fit and becoming physically active. According to a number of researches done on the relation between dance and health, it has been concluded that dance is a very healthy exercise; this is regardless of which Music genre one is dancing to.

There are different dancing styles; Salsa, ballet, belly dancing, Hip-hop, tap dancing, ballroom dancing and square dancing. The styles of dancing depend on the culture involved. The following are some of the benefits that teenage girls can gain from dance in mental and body health.
1.Mental Health
According to studies in the different journals of Medicine, it has been established that dance boosts memory and prevents a person from developing dementia: a condition in which a person may lose his mental functions such as thinking, and problem solving ability, also memory loss is caused by this condition.

It is proved that aerobics reverses volume loss in the hippocampus part of the brain which controls memory, thus it is able to boost memory of teenage girls. Dance is also a great way of relieving mental stress.
2. Dance will help your Heart
For those who are at risk for heart diseases (Cardiovascular), dance is a great activity for this. It improves the heart health and breathing complications are cured through dancing. Dancing improves the quality of life and better because it was proved by an Italian Study to be better than the treadmill or biking. This could be as a result of the enjoyment that comes with dancing.
3.Lose Weight
Dancing improves your aerobic fitness in the same way as cycling or jogging do. The salsa dance called Zumba is the most effective in burning calories as it is intense, in Thirty minutes one can burn about 250 calories. It is more effective in tackling obesity and thus many schools have established dancing classes in line with this factor.
4.Reduce and Get rid of Depression
Dancing is the most effective way of diminishing depression. Persons who attend regular dance classes have the minimum symptoms of depression, Dancing will uplift your spirits and boost your mood too. Swing dancing is best at boosting your mood as it is done with a partner.
5.Increased Energy levels
Regular dancing programs have an effect in your performance and energy levels in adults and both teens. It increases energy levels and thus your activity is boosted too.
6. Improved Balance
Dance improves your balance and stability in both teens and aging adults. Some of the key requirements of dancing are good posture and fast movements. Hence when one frequently dances, eventually you stability, balance will improve and you will be able to have better body control.
7.Body health benefits
Dancing has great benefits to your body health. It tones your entire body and improves you muscle strength. Thus one can look more beautiful and in the best shape while doing what you enjoy best.
8.Improved Flexibility
Dancing improves your flexibility and helps you to get rid of stiffness. The best dance for this is ballet. Regular dance classes are beneficial in increasing flexibility this helps you from to avoid joint pain and soreness which comes with exercising. This is both important for teens and both adults.
9. Improved confidence
Dancing builds your confidence, and self esteem. This has a positive effect on your social life. You are able to interact with other people in dance classes and also make new friends.

The benefits of having a good social life are tremendous, it increases your happiness, it gives you the "feel-good" factor, it also reduces stress and strengthens one's immunity.

10. Improved agility
Research that was undertaken by Dr Paul Dougall in 2010 at the Strathclyde University concluded that Dancers had a greater agility and stronger legs and could walk better than other people of the same age-bracket who participated in other exercise such as walking, golf, swimming and keep-fit classes. The specific area of studies was Scottish country dance.
It is therefore recommendable that teen girls should join dance classes for dance practice given the great benefits of dancing as this lead to an improvement in the quality of life and whole-round positive gains can be accrued from dancing.

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Top 10 Great Health Benefits of Dancing - eBlogfa.com

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Dance has numerous benefits to ones mental and body health, it is a fun way to exercise and keep fit and becoming physically active. According to a number of researches done on the relation between dance and health, it has been concluded that dance is a very healthy exercise; this is regardless of which Music ...

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Here are some of the most influential male dancers in dance history!

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Mikhail Baryshnikov is arguably the world's most famous male ballet dancer. Of course we mean outside the world of ballet that is. Baryshnikov has danced his way into more people's homes than majority of other ballet dancers - in fact, possibly any other male ballet dancer we can think of. Nominated for an Oscar in 1977 for The Turning Point he went on to costar with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini White Nights. His latest claim to fame was portraying Aleksandr Petrovksy, one of Carrie Bradshaw's many love interests in Sex and the City. In the later the played a painter and did not perform a single ballet, that we can remember. Yet, everyone knows who he is, world famous ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Baryshnikov made it to household name status in the 80's and this is a rare feat in the world of male ballet dancers. So we got to thinking about this and realized, even though they haven't made it to the level of popularity that Baryshnikov has there are many male ballet dancers who are famous for what they do, which would be dance superbly in ballets. Then we thought that someone out there must be interested in reading about other male ballet dancers. This brought us to our first installment of...

5 Famous Male Ballet Dancers Besides Baryshnikov

1 - Michel Fokine

Also hailing from Russia, like Baryshnikov, Michel Fokine was born in April of 1880. Fokine had a great impact on the 20 th-century ballet. He began studying at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg at the age of nine. This prestigious ballet academy is a part of the renowned Mariinsky Theatre. Fokine also performed for the first time at age nine with the guidance of Marius Petipa. Excelling in dancing, music, and painting Mikhail Fokine had an insatiable interest in the ballet and was known to have a unique attitude toward the dance when he choreographed ballet pieces.

Michel performed at the Imperial Russian Ballet for the first time on his eighteenth birthday. This advanced talent in dancing was on par with his progress as a choreographer. At first Fokine's vision of artistic unity was not recognized but by 1909 three of his ballets were a part of the Ballets Russes, a ballet company in Paris. In fact, Fokine is credited to the Ballets Russes success as a company.

Fokine remained with Ballet Russes until 1914 and then he went back to Russia but he only remained there for four years. In 1918 he left Russia finally settled on New York City in 1923. Fokine continued to create works but none of his ballets created in the United States would influence the world of dance the way his earlier work had.

Michel Fokine died before completing his final ballet, which was a comedy version of Helen of Troy. This ballet was finished by David Lichine and premiered in Mexico City in 1942.

2 - Rudolf Nureyev

Born in Russia in 1938 Rudolf Nureyev began studying ballet at the age of eleven. By fifteen he was dancing professionally in the local opera as an extra and moved on to dance with the corps de ballet and toured with the group.

At seventeen Nureyev began schooling at Leningrad Ballet School studying with Alexander Pushkin. Upon graduation Rudolf Nureyev was offered a soloist contract with the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg. He would dance fifteen major roles with this company.

The Kirov Ballet toured Paris in 1961 with Nureyev as a part of the group. He also performed for the first time in London that same year opposite ballerina Margot Fonteyn. This performance was at Margot Fonteyn's annual event for the Royal Academy of Dancing.

By 1964 Nureyev was ready to choreograph and attempted to create adaptations of Raymonda and Swan Lake. Before the end of his career Nureyev would go on to translate four more ballets.

He refused a director position at the Royal Ballet in 1977 because he wanted to remain a dancer. In 1983 he accepted the ballet director position at the Paris Opera because he would be able to continue dancing for half the year.

Nureyev died at the age of 54 in 1993 due to complications arising from AIDS. The Paris Garnier Opera House hosted his funeral and the tributes were endless. As a lover and collector of striking carpets and textiles, Nureyev's grave is covered in a collection of carpets.

3 - Erik Bruhn

In Copenhagen, Denmark, Erik Bruhn was born on October 3 rd, 1928. He began training in dance at the age of nine at the Royal Danish Ballet in 1937. Ten years later he joined their dance company and earned the position of soloist in 1949. Later that year Bruhn took a leave of absence to join the American Ballet Theater. He would go back to the Royal Danish Ballet in the late fifties but would leave it permanently in 1961. From there he would dance, once again, with the American Ballet Theater, the New York City Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the Australian Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, and the Paris Opera Ballet.

A noble dancer Bruhn was known to be outstandingly elegant in ballets of a romantic nature. His version of Jean in Miss Julie and Don José in Carmen earned him tons of praise and he appeared on American television in Swan Lake and The Bell Telephone Hour. Bruhn also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957 alongside Nora Kaye to perform the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake.

Erik Bruhn met our dancer listed in slot two, Rudolf Nureyev, when Nureyev in 1961. It is rumored that they were lovers and even written that Bruhn was the love or Nureyev's life. They always remained close until Erik Bruhn passed away in 1986 at the age of fifty-seven. Again, it seems this beloved ballet dancer also died due to complications arising from AIDS. Bruhn's remains rest in a cemetery near his childhood home in Denmark. His grave is unmarked.

4 - Vaslav Nijinsky

Born in Russia in 1890 Vaslav Nijinsky is the first dancer on our list to reach legendary status due to his gravity defying leaps and perceptive portrayals. He became a student at the Imperial School of Dancing in St. Petersburg when he was eight years old. He graduated from a brilliant school career at the age of eighteen and became danseur noble, soloist, at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Nijinsky performed Giselle, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty while a part of that company.

Two years later Nijinsky joined Ballets Russes in Paris. The male ballet dancer we put in slot number one of this list, Michel Fokine, choreographed for the Ballet Russes at the time and created Le Spectre de la rose, Petrushka, Schéhérazade, and other ballets just for Vaslav Nijinsky. In 1909 Nijinsky wowed Paris at was dubbed a genius of the ballet due to his ability to stay afloat as if dancing on air and his exceptional talent and acting abilities.

By 1912 Nijinsky was ready to choreograph and created several ballets to be performed by the Ballet Russes. His choreographed pieces were considered courageous and innovative.

Vaslav Nijinsky and Romola, countess de Pulszky-Lubocy-Cselfalva, in 1913 in Buenos Aires. Due to a nervous breakdown Nijinsky retired from performing at the age of twenty-nine in 1919. It seems he suffered from schizophrenia. From the beginning of retirement until 1950 Nijinsky lived in Switzerland, France, and England where he died in London. He is buried in the Montmartre in Paris.

5 - Benjamin Millepied

Husband to actress Natalie Portman, Benjamin Millepied was born in Bordeaux, France in 1977. He reached international status when working on the movie Black Swan, which he choreographed and starred alongside his now wife.

His mother, Catherine Flori, who is also a ballet dancer, began Millepied's training when he was eight years old. From there he studied ballet with Michel Rahn at the Conservative National.

In the summer of his fifteenth year Millepied studied at the School of American Ballet and returned the next year as a full-time student. He was able to do this via a scholarship from the French Ministry. In1995 Millepied moved to New York to join the corps de ballet and was given the rank of soloist in 1998. In 2002 Millepied became principle dancer for the same company and would hold that title until 2011 when he decided to retire from the New York City's Ballet.

As a choreographer Millepied shaped performances for City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the School of American Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet de Genève, and Danses Concertantes, the latter being a company he had a hand in founding.

In 2011 Millepied founded and directed the L.A. Dance Project on a commission from Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance and the Los Angeles Music Center. This project was only projected to last two years but it is still going strong with ballet performances today. In 2013 the L.A. Dance Project toured the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, Istanbul, Spoleto Festival in Italy, Edinburgh International Festival, La Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, and Sadler's Wells Theatre in London.

In April of 2013 Millepied premiered Reflections, an original piece, at Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. Later that year he was given the position of director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet and replaced Brigitte Lefévre in October of 2014. He served in that position for two years and resigned.

Check out today this fabulous German ballet Chaplin, by Mario Schröder.

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5 Famous Male Ballet Dancers Besides Baryshnikov - Cennarium

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Mikhail Baryshnikov is arguably the world's most famous male ballet dancer. Of course we mean outside the world of ballet that is. Baryshnikov has danced his way into more people's homes than majority of other ballet dancers - in fact, possibly any other male ballet dancer we can think of.

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Pina Bausch was another formidable dancer in the world of Contemporary dance.

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Diet is a very important aspect of every dancer's life.

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How to eat is a common question among dancers. Non dancers usually also ask about the dancer diet, because they associate the beauty and health of some dancers' bodies with what they eat.

That association is only partially true. As you may know, that healthy and efficient body needs to be cultivated through a balanced diet and a healthy dance practice that suits each person. There is no 'magical dancer diet' or 'secret way of eating' among dancers. Instead, the so acclaimed 'dancer's beauty' is gained through a general healthy way of living, of which the dancer diet is a part.

You might be thinking about ballet, because many people admire the thinness of its dancers. It is not a rule, but trying to be so slim implies a high risk of acquiring feeding disorders. That is a real threat for the health of anyone, so it is very important that dancers understand that a deliberate diet should aim to give them health and efficiency over aesthetic goals.

One important value of contemporary dance is the fact that it has an immense field of creative and expressive possibilities, which include and accept the human body in its multiple sides. Therefore, the search for ideal, stereotyped or according-to-fashion bodies is not a rule and is even often rejected.

So, I will be describing a dancer diet that focuses on the maintenance of health and an effective capability to perform. Yet in the long term, the beautiful bodies that people want to have, may appear as a secondary effect of its proper application.

Feeding, together with breathing, is one of our two ways of acquiring the basic energy to be alive. But, the way in which that energy has an effect on us does not only depend on what we eat. It is also affected by the moment in which we eat and by the amounts that we ingest:
WHAT - HOW MUCH - WHEN
Now, it is very important to remember that the effects of feeding are not restricted to giving us physical, brute force or making us slim or fat.

The general way in which we feed determines our mental skills and mood as much as our different possibilities of physical expenditure of energy. So, it is even more important to be careful about it, for the dancer needs the three of those to be able to perform difficult choreographic routines or bear long working days (class - rehearsal - performance...).

I believe dancers should maintain a diet which is similar to the one of any other person. Adjustments should only be made in the amounts of food, in order to fit the extra spending of energy each dancer accomplishes.

The main rule of a healthy diet with which the majority of nutritionists agree is BALANCE.

Balance means that:

1. You eat foods in the right amounts from each one of the food groups.

2. The amounts are adequate to the specific person and her/his spending of energy.

Balance is the appropriate WHAT, HOW MUCH and WHEN for you. This means that the amounts of food should always be relative to your size and to the amount of energy you spend.

The following are the five main food groups, as generally recognized, and in their respective daily proportions:

- Fruits and vegetables (30%)

- Carbohydrates: found in foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes, rice or corn (30%)

- Proteins: found in meat, fish, poultry or eggs (20%)

- Milk and dairy products: like cheese or yogurt (15%)

- Fats and sugar: butter, oils, sauces and all type of candy (5%)

That's for the WHAT and HOW MUCH.

Now, WHEN to eat those:

According to the majority of nutritionists, it is recommended to break feeding in five or six meals during the day, instead of eating great amounts of food, for example just in three meals a day. This should help maintaining more stable levels of sugar in blood and therefore would help to avoid huge appetite attacks or weakness, caused by long fasting periods.

This means that you can have the three common main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) in a moderate and balanced proportion so that you can still eat two or three smaller snacks in between.

Ideally, we should eat something at least every three or four hours during wakefulness time. This is even more important if you will be training and rehearsing hard, so remember to carry healthy small snacks with you, to avoid low and high peaks of your metabolic rhythm.

(Disclosure: This website contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may earn a commission. There's no additional cost to you.)

-Water is a necessary complement of the balanced dancer diet. Remember that being thirsty is a sign of being dehydrated already, so you should not wait until then, but drink measured amounts regularly. Drinking water is recommended before, during and after rehearsals as well as at least one glass when you wake up. If you want to stay environmentally friendly, remember to avoid buying water bottles each time and choose to carry your own...

-Think ahead and plan to bring along what you need for the long days of class, rehearsal, and performance.

-Take a good breakfast, even if you don´t feel hungry when you wake up. It doesn't have to consist of big amounts, but you should have at least a bit of each one of the main groups of food. This will help you avoid great appetite urges, dizziness or weakness later during the day.

-Include protein in every main meal. Not only this will regulate your appetite greatly, but you will assure your iron reserves (this is very important for girls, for they have monthly losses of blood during the period).

-Don't forget: 5 serves of fruits and vegetables daily.

- If sticking to this dancer diet is too difficult for you, implement it gradually. Trying to change feeding habitudes in a radical way might give you too much stress and creates the risk of getting an eating disorder syndrome.

- Give yourself a small treat from time to time. It is said that the inclusion of this practice might help to gradually assume better feeding habits.

- Portion sizes: if you think you're keeping a balanced diet, but still feel overfeed or overweighed, it might be a matter of the size of your food portions. Think of 'down-sizing' everything proportionally and gradually, until you feel you have reached a healthy state.

- If you can afford medical blood and clinical tests from time to time, invest on them. Following medical advice can always be a good guide to measure your understanding and good use of the balanced dancer diet.
Related readings Connect deeper to your body through Ayurvedic cooking Is it important to become thin to do contemporary dance?
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How to eat is a common question among dancers. Non dancers usually also ask about the dancer diet, because they associate the beauty and health of some dancers' bodies with what they eat. That association is only partially true.

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Martha Graham was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

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This is another example of Contemporary dance.

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Here is the definition to what contemporary dance is all about!

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In terms of the focus of its technique, contemporary dance tends to combine the strong and controlled legwork of ballet with modern dance's stress on the torso, and also employs contract-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation characteristic of modern dance. Unpredictable changes in rhythm, speed, and direction are often used, as well.

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Here is a fun and easy routine that is suitable for beginners!

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Beginner Contemporary Tutorial with Lauren Froderman

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SYTYCD Winner Lauren Froderman teaches you a step by step Contemporary routine for all levels! Watch Performance➤ https://youtu.be/GAsdTdwrgoQ ❖❖❖❖ Join the MoveTube community for videos that not only move your body physically, but you will also be moved emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.Click here➤https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv1o...

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Here is a fun and simple routine that is suitable for beginners! :)