In regular classes, warming up and cooling down was a must, because for real dancers the stretching has good effects.
However, for those who just come for a one-time-off practice in order to finish a tiny piece of performance routine, I usually don't lead them to do warm-up / cool-down. I know this is not good, but for people who do not intend to come for long, making sure they wouldn't hurt would be enough.
For those who want to go further in this field, having effective warm-up exercise is needed. Good warming up can 'warm' our bodies up (that's why it's warm-up exercise). As our bodies' internal temperature increases, our heart rate goes up and blood circulate quickly, making muscles warm and pliable.
A set of warming up exercise always includes stretching exercise. It is important to mobilize our joints, that's why we try to increase the range of movement around the joints. By doing the repetitive warming up exercise, we can gradually increase the speed of transmission of nerve impulses.
After the completion of an effective set of warming up exercise, our mind should get prepared, which can help focus ourselves.
So you see, doing warming up exercise is very serious. If I am to lead such serious warming up exercise to causal dancers, I believe I am going to lose them forever. :)
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