Principal dancer Ulrik Birkkjær is in this months Euroman magazine talking to Jens Refsgaard about his routine and exercise schedule. You can check out the English translation below: GOOD PAIN Ulrik Birkkjær is one of the countrys best ballet dancers. It takes hard work to get the body in shape for a short career. Hows your body? Its good but theres always a few niggles. What for example? Three months ago I got a bad sprain and my ankle is still swollen. But Im dancing everyday. Are you scared that youll be left with a worn out body when youre finished with ballet? You learn to know the difference between good and bad pain. So you know when to push the body and when stop. On top of that, you learn from previous injuries, which areas you have to train a little extra. For example I have to have more focus on my knees. Why do you use so much time warming up? In ballet we make positions that are not natural for the body. Therefore the body has to get used to these positions from early in the morning. Actually, we start from zero every day and warm up for an hour and a half. We start with a barre, where you hold onto a horizontal pole and make some slow movements in order to warm up the muscles and tendons at the same time. Every day? From Monday to Saturday. From when you are six, to when you become 40. You started when you were six? I got accepted into the Royal Danish ballet school when I was six, where some doctors examine your body type. If it is well proportioned for example. As an 18-year-old you get hired as a corps dancer. Until then there are yearly exams and with that the risk of being thrown out. Its like survival of the fittest, over many years. From 18-30 you are on a one year contract but when you are hired, you have proved your talent and the chance of being fired is not that great. And you stop at 40? In Denmark all ballet dancers go on pension when they are 40, where the body can no longer deliver, at the standard that is necessary. What is important when it comes to physical training? We make lines with our bodies. Lines that should be as long as possible. That means that we have to be as strong as possible and at the same time our muscles mustnt disturb the visual aesthetic. If Arnold Schwarzenegger made ballet positions there would be a lot of bulges that would not be so aesthetically pleasing. Also endurance is very important. We dont have three tries like in the long jump, we have to deliver the steps, jumps and pirouettes at very precise times, which is determined by the music. What is the hardest? Its probably continuity. We are running on tired muscles. The curtain goes up at eight and you have to be ready. It isnt just about one person, who has to train up and then peak, like an athlete in the Olympics for example. It is the individual that has to conform and perform at very specific times. At the moment, for example, Im dancing in Kameliadamen, where I am on stage for 2.5 out of the 3 hours the performance lasts. The next day I have to get up and rehearse for the next production. We typically have four weeks to prepare for a production, whilst performing the running production at night. Dont you ever have a holiday? In the summer I have six weeks but otherwise not. Many dancers have their own projects in the holidays, so you dont really take time off. When you are pushing your body as much as we do, its not good to just stop altogether. So you also dance ballet in your holiday? Yes, I am also a dancer in Los Angeles Ballet, where I perform four times a year. Including the summer holiday. I run on the same schedule there, as I do in Denmark. You dance all year round then? I go on pension in 12 years, so I have to get as much out of this as possible!
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 10:57:33 +0000
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