Today, my dance instructor told me that I need to work on getting more 'hang time' on my overs. Do you have any advice for that? Thanks!!
Ah yes! The ever present question for lots of Irish dancers! How to get more time in the air on overs or freeze jumps! Personally I find that for height a lot of that comes from strengthening the quads, calves, and hamstrings (so kind of all the major leg muscles). The stronger you are the more push you’ll get, and the more elevation. But height won’t necessarily translate into a better “freeze” or “hang” in the air. The comes from the sharpness of tucking the back leg up quickly, and then holding it and your front leg up in the air until the last possible moment. To practice this I recommend practicing birdies to help get the back leg up quickly and get that muscle memory! :)(Birdies are the overs, without the over. Back leg just goes up and down and stays the back leg.)
