Mobility & Speed
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on using a hip circle as a mapping (proprioceptive) drill to help improve turnout use. When I demonstrated the drill in 3 different directions, I was doing it in a very large range and slowly. In fact, when first doing this drill with students I would have them do it even slower. Perhaps taking 8 counts to do one circle. (of course always making sure they changed directions after 3-4 repetitions)
What you are doing in this drill is clarifying the brain map of your hip joint. Clarifying the maps of your movement is so important, especially when one is first learning something new as well as after any injury, large or small.
Dance teachers are always helping their students create better quality to their movement. That's what corrections are for. Corrections are a way of guiding them to change their inputs.
It could be that you are giving them a new way of thinking about their movement, a new image or analogy to consider. It could be that you ask them to change the weight on their feet or some other physical correction. It could be that you regress or break down the movement and/or you could change the timing of the movement.
These are all common ways that we change inputs to the brain to change the motor outputs without ever having taken an applied neurology course. I want to be clear that you can be an awesome teacher without ever having taken an applied neurology course. What it has done for me is to open up options for working with challenging students and issues in new ways, which is why I'm back online!
Back to timing and speed. Let's talk about fast, standard (or medium) and slow speeds and what they do.
Slow speeds help improve control and awareness.
Moving slowly gives your brain time to notice how each joint and muscle is working. It improves your somatic awareness of your movement.
It helps build strength through the full range of motion and can highlight areas of stiffness or weakness by noticing where movement is gets ratchety.
Standard or medium speed improves motor control
It’s a natural, comfortable pace—not too fast, not too slow. It's your go to pace or timing.
Motor pathways strengthen
Repeating movements at this speed helps solidify neural connections between the brain and muscles. This is neuroplasticity at work.
It's like paving a smooth road so signals can travel faster and more accurately.
Movement becomes more automatic
The brain starts shifting from effortful, conscious control to more efficient, unconscious control.
This is the transition from thinking “step by step” to just doing it.
Sensory feedback is balanced
The brain gets enough time to process how the body feels, without the overwhelm of fast speed or the intense focus required at slow speed.
This supports smoother coordination and better timing.
Reduces cognitive load
At medium speed, the brain doesn’t have to work overtime. It can focus on refining quality and making subtle adjustments.
This makes it an ideal speed for building confidence and consistency. It's important to spend time at this speed before progressing to faster speeds.
Fast speeds challenge coordination and reaction time.
Moving quickly teaches your body to react, adapt, and stabilize under pressure. Dancers have to be responsive and adaptable - and we have to train this skill.
It builds dynamic strength and prepares the body for real-life or performance situations.
Doing simple hip circles at all three speeds will improve your performance and your mobility. When doing the hip circles at a faster speed focus on keeping the circles as large and smooth as when you are doing them slowly.
What we don't want is to have dancers tense up when moving quickly, and that is exactly what you see in the more beginning students.
Dance classes do have slow, medium, and fast movements throughout the class period and that's fantastic for our brain, nervous system, and muscles.
Where this concept can be used for more effective training is in thinking about how we train for fast movement - even in allegro. I see plenty of students who 'get by' in their fast movements without having the strength in their lower legs to do it well so they power through with tension and overusing their quads. If the speed is slowed down, even a little, it becomes clearer to them they are lacking strength.
I also see dancers who 'love' adagio and super slow movements and are beautiful in their movement that need to hone their ability to move quickly and accurately. Accuracy is key in all movement, but especially when transitioning from slower to faster movement.
The good news is speed, mobility, accuracy are all trainable. Have some fun with pondering how you explore speed in your classes!
To your success,
Deborah