Slack lining, and why dancers need to implement it into their training.

  I fell in love with slack lining during the first lockdown back in March 2019 but it wasn't until recently, when I was able to do my job at the same time, that I discovered the immeasurable benefits slack lining had on my dancing. I couldn’t believe how beneficial this could be for dancers.  I am now writing this post for the purpose to urge more dancers to use slack, and for it to be implemented in training, as I believe it can be transformative equally to a dancers wellness and performance.  

1. The physical aspects of slack can be compared to ballet in the respect that the upper body has to stay relaxed and balances itself over the working leg.                                                                                   With slack you can never have two feet on the line, you transfer your weight quickly replacing it from one foot to the other and the upper body has to be loose and act quickly to transition and change the weight. Many steps in ballet require this quick weight change which must be always placed over the supporting leg. On the slack you're taking it to the next level as balancing on the line is so much harder than when you step onto normal ground you're amazed how solid you are on your feet. All of your intrinsic muscles have been forced to light up so much that now the control you have on normal ground reaches new levels you won't even know existed until you've tried slack.
2. Slack teaches you Perseverance.                                                                                                                    It is a high skill based activity which requires a certain amount of grit and determination, just like ballet. The active notion of falling off the slack is compared to falling out of pirouettes or failing a difficult step. The physical action of stepping back on the slack trains your body and mind to get back on and keep going. You fall many times and have to keep stepping up again. This starts to feel frustrating, but of course the more you try the better it gets. This frustration needs to be practiced to learn how better to respond to it. 
3. Fight or flight response mechanisms.                                                                                                          As soon as you first step on the slack your body goes into panic mode. It senses it will fall and thinks it could be dangerous. It jumps into flight or flight mode; heart racing, body temperature rises, breath shortens, and of course this doesn’t help at all being able to walk on the slack. Once you've fallen several times and realise nothing bad happens (beginners should start with the slack positioned just below knee height) it starts to calm down. When I step on stage there is a sense of panic mode activation and being able to take control of this response is good practice for when I know that the situation is totally at hand and not in any way harmful to me. The trust my body has with me grows and I've noticed I'm able to execute more risky steps on stage.  
4. Making the uncomfortable comfortable.                                                                                                 This is something I'm exploring with a lot at the moment. In the past whenever something got too hard I felt like I had to fight my body to do it but that meant everything was working against me, my brain shouting "give up!" I would actually give myself physical pain in order for my body to make excuses to stop doing things. Now I've worked out that if there's a way to make the uncomfortable thing comfortable I may be able to do more and challenge myself in ways I hadn't done before. The slack held an integral part for me in this. It forced me to find a more serene way of approaching my body when it was scared and nervous. This point links quite a lot with point three but I wanted to share this little insight. 
5. Frees the mind.                                                                                                                                           Now I've mentioned the physical aspects I'll begin with the mental. To slack requires a certain level of mindfulness. The moment you start questioning your position, overthinking your next move, or thinking of other things you're going to fall. Slack lining requires freedom of the mind to focus intently but with clarity and therefore is a highly meditative activity. This is comparable to ballet, in the way that if you're judging yourself as you're executing your steps on stage you're going to f*** up! I think slack teaches you to be mindful because when you lose your focus you fall down immediately. What a perfect lesson. 
6. Getting outside!                                                                                                                                             The entirety of our training and performing is spent inside but slack is outside! Getting out in the fresh air with a nice dose of Vitamin D is beneficial for anyone but especially for pasty ballerinas! Our bones and muscles should be prescribed this time outside! 
7. Left to your own devices.                                                                                                                          Slack is a sacred time where it's just you and your mind to figure things out. In school we are often spoon fed and when it comes to company life where you'll be alone for like learning a choreography from a video or mastering a step some dancers can struggle. On the slack you get to know yourself better, you listen to your body to the slightest movements that may throw you off, and you're able to pay attention to the tiniest nuances which may make all the difference to making it or falling off, at the same time building a deeper sense of trust with your body. This builds confidence. Even though it's literally just walking one step in front of another, it requires patience and each small step forward feels like a big accomplishment. Ballet is about taking small steps forward everyday. It's not about reaching a goal, it's that constant flow that brings us a little closer to our true selves every day. 

    During my training at The English National Ballet School there were countless times where I did not want to be in a studio all day in a pink velvet leotard, pink tights, pink shoes with pink ribbons and my hair scraped back into a perfect bun. This notion jeopardised my position within the school and guilt tripped me into thinking that ballet was not suitable for me and resulted in me not putting my pointe shoes on for 3 years. I was then given a chance to dance the Nutcracker in a company and discovered that nobody actually wears pink on a daily basis or has their hair scraped back in a perfect bun! I now see that just because I did not meet the school's standards for the "perfect ballet aesthetic and approach" did not mean to say that my passion and love for the art form was compromised. 

    I believe that so much emphasis in ballet is about the line, the beauty and also the sex appeal and admittedly they are the first things you see when a dancer takes to the stage, shares an Instagram post or walks into an audition but why isn't there more emphasis on other attributes I've listed above? Why wont we let our students take their hair down occasionally, wear loose clothes and not do something where the training requires a certain combination of steps which are only deemed good if executed at their best ability? Is it because of the old style teaching approach or simply because the things above are not as profitable to a school or company? If more importance was given to other things that didn't put emphasis on beauty, line and sex appeal, could we be developing more happier, healthier dancers which are then more fruitful to a company? 

    I stand by and support a well rounded outlook and education towards dance, which includes exploring alternative ways to equally train a dancers physical and mental performance. 

    If all this can be taken from simply walking one step in front of another on a tight rope what other possibilities are out there? I'm curious to try them all! 

    

    I want to take this chance to thank my friends: Kaarel, Kerli, Liis and Merje for whom this post and exploration of slack lining would not have been possible.