Blogging with STEM 11-L!

 Dancing is a form of exercise, and when a person is exercising, he needs energy. But where does the energy come from? This is where energy substrates come in. Energy substrates are contained within the food that we eat. From foods with high-fat content to vegetables, energy substrates are present within them. Energy substrates will affect your body when exercising for short durations to long periods of time. But you may ask, what are energy substrates? Energy substrates are molecules that provide starting materials for bioenergetic reactions, including phosphagens (ATP and creatine phosphate), glucose, glycogen, lactate, free fatty acids, and amino acids. Basically, energy substrates are the food we eat on a daily basis. Inside those foods, there are carbohydrates and fat. Depending on the exercise, either carbohydrate, fat, or both will be expended for energy. This is why athletes in different sports have different diets. For example, a runner who specializes in short-distance runn

Dancing is exercise. Shocking, I know. And just like any other exercise, dancing takes up energy from your body. As we all know, energy comes from the food that we eat, especially foods rich in carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein. But food isn't actually used directly as energy. When food is broken down, it releases energy, and that energy is what the body stores in molecules called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. And now people who had biology in high school just got PTSD. Bad jokes aside, ATP is what the body uses to do, well, anything. It's the main energy source of the body. It powers everything from muscle movement to body temperature regulation to DNA replication. Literally every cell in the human body uses ATP.  Now you may be asking yourself, "How does the body produce all that energy?" Well I'm glad you asked. And if you didn't, well too bad you're getting the answer anyway. The body has three energy systems that can produce ATP. The ATP-PCr

Have you ever wondered how people are able to carry out such excellent dance routines? The answer to that is choreography. “What’s that” you say? Well, choreography is defined as the art of creating and arranging dances; the word itself having been derived from the Greek words χορεία, meaning “circular dance”, and γραφή, meaning “writing”. In my experience, I’ve struggled quite a bit with making dance routines, but the use of some basic choreographic techniques managed to alleviate some of the difficulty I have with making these things. Some of the more basic choreographic techniques involved in dancing include stage directions, symmetry, and dynamics (or tempo). Stage directions are basically just positioning. The stage can be divided into nine areas: Upstage left, upstage center, upstage right, left center, center, right center, downstage left, downstage center, and downstage right. These positions or areas are usually used to indicate where the dancers should be at any given p

Dancing is an activity that is now more popular than ever due to the rise of social media. Platforms like TikTok allow this activity to shine and be recognized, even jazz. Now that many wish to get into dancing, or have already begun their journey in dance. it is important for us to emphasize the importance of the basics of jazz. While more advanced steps would help expand your repetoire , these steps are both simple and never go out of style. Before attempts to create your own dances, or to simply nail the ones you are already learning, you should consider starting with the very basics.  Here are some of the basic steps: Cross Point Start with feet in an L position, with the left foot in front Cross the right foot diagonal left, bend the knees Point the other foot sideward aligned toes, maintaining a middle level Do the opposite movements Side Step | Forward & Backward Step Start with your feet together Side Step Step right foot in place Step left foot sideward Step the other foot

Before attempting to do any physical activities, you should consider warming up first. The purpose of warming up is to prevent any injuries from happening and reduce soreness by increasing the body’s temperature and the blood flow of your muscles. When people think of warm-up, they generally think of stretching, although they can help you in improving your flexibility, they won’t be effective in preventing soreness or injury. A dynamic warm up is more effective than static stretching. A dynamic warm up will focus on full body movement with multiple muscle groups being worked on at once. The activity should start with gentle exercises to increase the body’s temperature and core and progresses to a more high-impact finish that will increase your range of motion. This will increase your heartrate to prepare you for exercise. The activities done in warm up will be dependent on what sport/exercise that you are about to partake.             Here are some simple dynamic warmups, do each exerc

2020 has been a quite different year for us; we are not able to go out outdoors for several months and we experienced a new norm at school. The Covid-19 pandemic caused numerous changes in our lifestyles and one of which is that we are not able to do things that we get used to for our own comfort and enjoyment. Still, we need to keep our body healthy and strong through physical exercises such as dancing for it would be one of the effective treatment strategies for symptoms of both depression and anxiety which includes short and long-term benefits for mood, sleep, and physical health. Dancing is considered to be one of the best exercises that one should do in his/her lifetime for not only that it is easily accessible by everyone for one does not require expensive equipment (in gym exercises) but also it can provide the same health benefits such as good physical and mental health. Speaking of mental health, dancing can provide many benefits to one’s brain such as improved memory, impro