Running to the end

If you’re in the UK - it’s nearly summer break - and pretty much everyone is running towards it.

Many studios have shows in the summer term, some people have dance exams, July also signifies when the ‘finals’ of at least three huge dance competitions are happening. For me personally June and July slow right down because other than the college shows, it’s not prime workshop time nor is there any new comps or shows for the dance schools I work for - and I’m actually glad for it, feels like a nice end to a school year before my big events in the summer break. But I know I’m one of very few that will be feeling this at the moment. Diaries are full, the allure of long daylight hours means there’s even more time to fit everything in.

I want to look at three layers of this -

Tapering Training, Burnout and Rest.

Major Football teams, Hyrox athletes, Marathon runners, any performance driven physical activity other than most dance training follow the training method of tapering before a big event. Tapering means the gradual reduction of the training load before an event. It allows the body to repair, replenish glycogen stores, and reduce fatigue while maintaining peak fitness. It can improve performance by 3% to 4% and in sports a taper lasts 10 to 21 days. Three ish weeks before an event - in essence they slow down and pull back.

So, who is actually doing this before a major dance event? You might do if you’ve got a sports specialist working in your conditioning department but the likelihood is you are not and instead, rehearsal schedules are getting ramped up, the pressure is on, the push to the end is real. Now, I’m

not suggesting that if you’re Champ of Champs is in 3 weeks time and your piece isn't finished then stop and just hope for the best - but summer break is a perfect time to time block the next school year and season and you could add tapering training in if you were prepared ahead of schedule.

How would that look then? Your show/audition/comp is in two weeks, cut the ‘non stop running it through’ and pull back 30-50% of the duration of rehearsals, focus on transitions and spacing, details, camaraderie and mindset. Pull back on the cross training, or if you work with a PT consider mobility and recovery sessions.

This leads me wonderfully to - Burnout. Straight up this is not healthy especially when hidden behind functioning at capacity. Being too busy, tired, admitting to running on empty isn’t healthy, and it shouldn’t be ever applauded. People sharing there lives on social media do seem to make it out that this hamster wheel is what you should be doing or is expected of you. Stress is not a status symbol. I saw this post that said ‘burnout isnt a badge of honour, it’s a sign to recalibrate’ - I have been recalibrating for a good 6 weeks now, the ins and outs in not going to share with you, but I set some boundaries and I’ve stuck to them. 5 years ago - overwork would have been my success mentality, not any more. And if you want more advice on this - I have a couple of mindset sessions available in July - the people I’ve been working with this year have made massive steps both personally and professionally by working less - smarter.

And finally, leads me to Rest. Rest is not just sitting on the couch scrolling TikTok (use it before you loose it teens) it’s rediscovering what makes you happy, what makes you feel safe, what makes you feel creative. Rest allows time to unlearn habits in people pleasing, perfectionism and gives you the opportunity to actually observe yourself as a human. It gives you time to sit with your emotions and honour them and not just hide them under a busy diary. Rest gives you the time to shake up some little somatic daily habits - creating consistency and change. And rest allows your time to see the world around you and enjoy it.

So if you ever wonder why my best dancers that I work with take 7 weeks off of class over the summer - I hope this article makes it clearer!