Amazing Abs: How Working On Your Core Will Improve Your Irish Dancing

Working on your core muscles is essential for Irish dancing, as it directly enhances balance, stability, and overall power—all crucial elements in your Irish Dancing success. Here’s why core strength matters in Irish dance and how it benefits you:

Improved Balance and Control

The core muscles stabilise you when you dance and help you maintain control and prevent wobbling during your dancing. A strong core helps your posture to stay upright throughout the whole dance, making your dancing look more controlled. 

Greater Power and Precision

A well-developed core allows you to generate more power, adding height to your jumps and helping you control each movement with precision. This means you’ll be able to jump higher than ever before and travel across the stage without the help of your posture.

Reduced Risk of Injury

Weak core muscles can put added strain on the lower back and legs, increasing the risk of injuries. Strengthening your core provides essential support to your entire body, reducing impact on your joints and lowering your risk of strains and overuse injuries.

Here’s our three favourite core movements, taken from our weekly Strength class…

Slow Leg Lowers

1. Start by lying down on your mat 
2. The most important thing to remember is that you keep your lower back pressed into the mat, even if this means you cannot move your legs very far in the movement. 
3. Raise your legs up, and keep them straight, so that your feet are directly above your hips 
4. From there, brace your stomach muscles and push that lower back into the floor and lower your legs as far as you will go (this will be different for everyone but remember that doing this move with correct technique is more important than having your legs right near the floor! Over time, with practise, you will improve!)
5. Raise your legs to the starting position and repeat x10 

Butterfly Sit Up 

1. Start with your legs in the butterfly stretch position and the top half of your body lay back on the mat with your arms stretch above your head
2. From there, using your core, perform a sit up 
3. Make sure that your arms finish in front of your legs at the top position 
4. Lower yourself down with control and repeat x10 

Bird Dogs 

1. Start in a tabletop position, with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips. Your back should be flat, so we could (in theory) rest a cup of hot chocolate on there without it spilling! 
2. At the same time, using your opposite arm to leg (for example, your right arm, and left leg), reach your arm forward into a straight position (as if you are trying to grab for something in the distance) and straighten your leg at the back, whilst keeping your hips and back in the same position as step one. 
3. Brace your stomach muscles to stop from wobbling too much and do each movement with control! 
4. Slowly move your arm and leg back into your body, touching your elbow to your knees and repeat x10 - then move on to doing the same with the other leg/arm combination. 

If you are looking at working on your Core strength for your Irish Dancing, then these three moves are a fantastic place to start. With consistency and practise, your core will strengthen and you’ll find that your balance, power and posture will improve. 

In our MWM Gold Club we have 45+ specialised core classes for dancers to work through, including core Cardio, Strength, Yoga and Irish Barre. You can join for £35 per month (with free cancellation) here.