Best Stretching excerises before dancing

[shalamar]

Which stretching excerises do you suggest before you start dancing? Do you stretch out first or do you just dance?

[technoflutemom]

I do a few yoga poses -- triangle, warrior, chair, cat and child's. I find they give a nice full stretch.

[shalamar]

can you recommend a good beginners tape or DVD that I could check into? I have been thinking about yoga before, but I am afraid I will turn into a Pretzel.

[technoflutemom]

I like Gaim's Beginner yoga series. I prefer the ivengyar (spelling) variety, which is more about stretching and relaxing than the muscle-building "power yoga" tapes.

[shalamar]

I have lower back problems. Would that make Yoga more difficult or does it help?

[technoflutemom]

I've found that it really helps my local back. Some of the poses are absolutely heavenly stretches for the back (especially Cat, where you get down on all fours and slowly arch your back up). Ones that might hurt your back can be modified to stretch it instead. Definitely don't go the power-yoga route -- you may want to get some props such as blocks and towels to help you position without hurting your back. The Gaim beginner video covers using props correctly.

[debrajean]

I also have lower back problems and have done yoga to stretch out the muscles. I usually spend about fifteen minutes on just stretching.

[ACCER]

Yoga! I love to do a bit of yoga to get everything flowing well.

[shalamar]

Can you recommend any tapes that i could buy for absolute beginners? To me Yoga is still turning into a pretzel and sadly I am not that flexible anymore.

[ACCER]

Actually you could try a search at your local library and get a couple for free to start. I took a few classes so I'm not sure on the best video people.