Crossing is one of the most fundamental aspects of Irish dance. The “over-crossed” look of hiding your back knee while you dance is unique to Irish dance and often sets the top dancers apart from the rest of the competition. To improve any Irish dance technique, we need to improve both mobility and strength of key joints and muscles–and crossing is no different. In this two-part series, we’ll break down exactly why and how to improve each of these areas for crossing… with an exciting announcement at the end! ,CROSSOVER | Part 1: MOBILITY FOR CROSSOVER Mobility is the range of motion a given j ..read more

“Sprained ankle” might be one of the most feared phrases in Irish dance (maybe besides “stamina!”) and chances are, either you or one of your dance friends have experienced the dreaded ankle sprain. But what exactly is an ankle sprain? What should you do if you sprain your ankle? A sprain is an acute injury (an injury that occurs suddenly) of a ligament–a structure that connects two bones. Ligaments work to prevent joints from going too far beyond their range of motion, so if they are suddenly forced beyond that range (like landing a jump wrong) the fibers in the ligament will stretch and tear ..read more

In this four-part blog series, we’ve talked about some common Irish dance injuries and how your core and hip stability plays a critical role in preventing them. In the last part in this series, we’re going to cover one more area in the body key to injury prevention: the foot and ankle! Because the foot is what actually bears the weight of your body while you dance, it acts as the interface between your body and the floor. This means it has to both distribute your weight evenly while also acting as a shock absorber and distribute the forces from landing. In order to play both of these roles, th ..read more

THE HIPS and it's role in injury prevention In part 2 of our Injuries in Irish dance blog series, we discussed the role that the core muscles–namely the abdominals (abs)–play in preventing Irish dance injuries. However, your core includes much more than just your abs. The core also includes all of the muscles around your hips that act to stabilize the hip joint and play a major role in reducing the risk of lower leg injuries. There are three main groups of muscles within the hip we’ll focus on that are key to a dancer's stability while dancing: your deep lateral rotators, your hip abductors ..read more

THE CORE and it's role in injury prevention In part 1 of our four part blog series on Irish dance injuries, we reviewed a list of some of the most common overuse injuries we see in Irish dance with a brief description of each. If you didn't get a chance to read it yet, check it out at the link below. Now let’s start diving deeper into how we can reduce our risk of these injuries by understanding the impact different muscle groups have on controlling and stabilizing areas of our body. When we talk about stability, one of the most important muscle groups is your core. As athletes, we hear a lot ..read more

Injuries. One of the most frustrating aspects of Irish dancing. It takes us away from dancing and can be a challenging setback to come back from. In this four part blog series, we’ll be covering a topic we’re passionate about here at Target Training: preventing Irish dance injuries. Injury prevention is a complex topic with many contributing factors. Not all injuries can be prevented–for example, falling off the monkey bars and fracturing your wrist. However, we can reduce your risk of injuries that are a result of overuse (too much dancing without enough rest) or improper alignment of your bo ..read more

Your 2022 North American Irish Dance Championships Training Guide is here! The 2022 North American Irish Dance Championships are just around the corner! As we head into the final days and weeks before the competition, you may be feeling a combination of nerves and excitement. Whether this is your first Nationals or your tenth, whether you're doing solos or teams or both, check out this training guide for all the tips you need to keep your mind and body strong as we head to Montreal! Be sure to also check out our live virtual North American Nationals Last Minute Clinics AND Mindset & Mobili ..read more

Your 2022 Worlds Training Guide is here! With the World Championships just around the corner, you may be feeling a combination of nerves and excitement as we head into the final days before the competition. Whether this is your first Worlds or your tenth, check out this training guide for all the tips you need to keep your mind and body strong as we head to Belfast! Be sure to also check out our live virtual Worlds Last Minute Clinics! Details below. Good luck to all competitors & happy training! RESOURCES FOR DANCERS LAST MINUTE CLINICS Sunday, April 3 | 8:30am-12:10pm CST Join us for th ..read more

Amazing Irish dance posture. You notice it as soon as a dancer steps onto the stage. In our posture blog series, we started breaking down Irish dance posture by first, outlining the importance of core and hip stability and strength. Once your core is literally and figuratively set, we can move outward to work on your shoulders and keeping your arms by your side. Lastly, we need to focus on keeping your arms straight by using your triceps muscle. The triceps are a muscle on the top, back of your arm whose principle responsibility is to straighten your arm by extending the elbow joint. For Iris ..read more

We’ve started tapping into some of the foundational principles of excellent Irish dance posture by digging into how mobilizing and stabilizing the core and shoulders benefits our posture. Once we have these areas in the correct alignment and stable, we can begin working outwards to correct one of the major Irish dance issues, ARMS IN. When it comes to keeping your arms in, there is one muscle we like to focus on: your latissimus dorsi, also known as your lats. Your lats are a broad, triangular muscle in your back. One of the main functions of the lats is to adduct your arm (bring your arm clo ..read more