The Healthy Performer (8) (Poster - Know your own body)

As a performer, it is extremely important to keep ourselves fit and healthy. When performing, we depend on our muscles and joints to enable us to have a successful performance. Our brains are very important to us as well so it is important to keep well hydrated. For triple-threats, we have to remember the choreography (and the technique for each move), lyrics, melodies and harmonies and character motivation and interactions - so we rely on our brains! Depending on what type of performer you are, different parts of your body become more important than others:

Singers:

• Strong abdominal muscles allow singers to support. Support gives performers a means of controlling their sound.
• Large lung capacity enables longer notes to be held and ensures you won't run out of breath. Breathing exercises will help with this. A strong diaphragm enables the lungs to expand more.
• Back muscles (latissimus dorsi) aid singers in belting. By using their diaphragm, abdominals and back muscles less pressure is put on the voice and so straining is reduced. 
• Although singers have to contract a lot of muscles when singing, it is very important that they don't tense their trapezius or sternocleidomastoid, as this puts pressure on the voice and causes strain.

Dancers:

• All of our joints are very important as dancers, especially our knees, hips and elbows.
• Abdominals are needed for core support. Core support helps with balance and enables dancers to hold positions for longer. It also helps with posture.
• Strong quadriceps and hamstrings are very useful. The more loose they are the more flexible the dancer. 
• Strong gluteus maximus - this is essential for ballet dancers who are going on pointe as, when tensed, it aids balance and keeps them from falling off of their pointe. 
• Strong biceps, triceps and abdominals are extremely important for male dancers as they tend to be the ones who lift other dancers. 

Actors:

• Ensure that joints are not damaged so movement isn't restricted, as to not be limited in roles. 
• Strong latissimus dorsi and abdominals to help with a good strong posture. 
• Strong biceps, triceps and abdominals in case lifts are needed (e.g. in physical theatre). 
• Strong intercostal muscles to allow the rib cage to expand more to increase lung capacity, allowing an actor to project their voice further.
• Actors will use their saddle joints in their thumbs to work with smaller hand-held props.

The Lungs:

• The windpipe (trachea) branches into two airways (bronchi), which "feed" the lungs.
• Your left lung is smaller than your right lung, as there is less space for your left lung because it has to share space with your heart.
• Covering your lungs are two thin layers of tissue (pleura). As you breathe, these membranes slide over each other to allow the lungs to expand and contract.
• Inside the lungs there are approximately 300 million tiny air sacs, called alveoli. They have very tiny thin walls and are criss-crossed with the finest of blood vessels called capillaries.
• Your lungs are protected by your rib cage. Between your ribs are inter-costal muscles with allows the rib cage to expand allowing the lung capacity to increase. 
• Our lungs have to work harder when we are exercising as to regulate our breathing and to keep our blood oxygenated.

The Heart:

• Your heart is protected by your rib cage. It is one of the most important organs in the human body. It continuously pumps blood around our body through blood vessels. 
• Veins carry blood towards the heart, whilst arteries carry the blood away. 
• The heart beats about 100'000 times a day (40 million times a year and about three billion times in a lifetime). 
• The heart is a cardiac muscle so it works without us having to think about it.
• The beating sound that the heart makes is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing.
• The heart is made us of four chambers: the left atrium, the left ventricle, the right atrium and the right ventricle.
• Each minute your heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood.
• Having a healthy diet, managing stress and doing plenty of exercise will help you maintain a healthy heart.
• Dancers need to have a strong, healthy heart so blood pumps around their body faster so oxygen-rich blood gets to their muscles faster.