Paula Baird Colt, a former dancer with The Australian Ballet, is part of a world-leading medical team that keeps dancers in top shape. Video: The Australian Ballet Australian Ballet senior artist Juliet Burnett, a Pilates devotee. Dancer Annabel Knight demonstrates Conscious Controlled Pilates. Dancer Annabel Knight demonstrates Conscious Controlled Pilates as instructor Darren Spowart watches. Dancer Annabel Knight demonstrates Conscious Controlled Pilates as instructor Darren Spowart looks on. THERE'S more to getting ready for a ballet performance than donning a stunning costume, doing a stage-worthy make-up and rubbing a rabbit's foot for luck. Before the curtain goes up there will have been countless hours of rehearsal over weeks and months (not to mention the decade or so of training to get to that point). Before rehearsal comes class, every day. And, for a great many professional dancers, before class comes Pilates. Far from being just another fitness fad whose popularity waxes and wanes with public taste, Pilates has long been a favourite with dancers. It helps keep them in peak form, but has a further benefit. From its earliest days Pilates has also been associated with rehabilitation and, because of the physically arduous nature of the business, dancing and rehab go together like Nureyev and Fonteyn. Juliet Burnett knows this well. The Australian Ballet senior artist, 30, is back onstage this week after a two-month hiatus due to a foot injury. Burnett, introduced to the regime at 12, does Pilates daily, but it was more intense during her time off-stage, making up for the physical work she was missing in class and rehearsals. "You can still work the muscles in a horizontal plane," says Burnett. For the first couple of weeks I was not allowed to bear weight. Pilates is named after its German founder, Joseph Pilates, who made a study of practices such as yoga, martial arts, bodybuilding, gymnastics and boxing to improve his fitness - he was apparently a weedy youth. During his internment in Britain during World War I, Pilates helped care for bed-ridden servicemen, a circumstance that inspired his trademark resistance exercises. Pilates ultimately made his home in New York in the mid-1920s and his evolving method was taken up by some of the biggest names in dance, including the fledgling New York City Ballet. "Before Pilates I had no concept of how vital core stability was for a dancer when performing," says Annabel Knight, formerly with Sydney Dance Company and now in the ensemble of the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Sydney. A strong core is the foundation to your movement. Ah, yes, the core. Core strength is a term much bandied about these days, but what exactly is it? Not just the abs, that's for sure. "It's a great question," says Pilates teacher-trainer Penelope Hoess, who describes the core as the area from the base of the pelvis to the lower ribcage, from front to back. Within this area is a set of deep abdominals (such as the transversus abdominus), the multifidi (which connect the vertebrae), and a collection of pelvic floor muscles - essentially the ones that support the spine and upper and lower torso. "Physiologically, our centre of gravity lies in our pelvis," says Hoess, a council member of the Australian Pilates Method Association (she was also a dancer). It's a really important area to base your strength and range from. Pilates balances muscles around a joint and that increases the range of movement. Because of the systematic approach, you're also gaining strength and flexibility to support that increased range. Naturally, this is of keen interest to dancers. AB artistic director David McAllister says Pilates enables targeting of the muscle groups that support ballet technique. Learning about the importance of the small and linking muscles and not just the prime movers such as quads, glutes and hamstrings helps dancers prevent injury, improve technically and perform their heavy workload consistently (the AB has about 170 main stage performances a year). Darren Spowart, a former dancer with the AB and Sydney Dance Company, takes AB dancers for Pilates when the company is in Sydney. It is vital preparation, says Rohan Furnell, 26, who "simply wouldn't be able to perform at the required level if not for Pilates." As a member of the corps, the largest and busiest rank in a ballet company, he is likely to be dancing in every show. Like Burnett and Knight, Furnell does Pilates daily. It gives me a confidence in my ability. I never feel as secure in what I'm trying to achieve on stage and in rehearsals when I haven't done Pilates," he says. Spowart, 49, was regularly asked by members of the AB if he could record some of his classes for them, and has produced a series of DVDs that, while based on his AB work, can also be used by non-dancers (this writer is a devotee). "Elite dancer work can translate to non-elite people," Spowart says of his ConsciousControl Pilates series, which has five levels through which practitioners can progress. Burnett, Knight and Furnell are among the dancers who demonstrate the programs, which are also available online. Pilates is not for the flighty. It is technically challenging and requires patience and perseverance. "It's definitely no quick-fix process," says Hoess. It's part of the methodology to commit. We're teaching your nervous system a particular language. Like learning anything, regular practice gets you to where you want to go. Spowart says it takes a 10 to 12-month commitment for someone to get his program into their body. Essentially it's a mind-driven process, the Pilates principles of concentration, centring and control leading to the desired precision and flow. "Pilates definitely has its role in creating the ideal classical ballet dancer with a good and sound technique," says Burnett, but she is also convinced of its wider application. My husband is a musician and he spends a lot of his days in front of a computer. Pilates is such a great way to get realigned and grounded," she says. Now it is very much a ubiquitous thing and that's fantastic; it should be an essential practice for everyone. Not everyone will end up looking like Burnett, Knight or Furnell, but if they put the work in they will look and feel stronger, more flexible and more aware. That much is guaranteed. The AB performs La Sylphide at Sydney Opera House, until November 25. Juliet Burnett dances the title role on Monday and at the November 23 matinee. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Theatre Royal, Sydney. More: consciouscontrolpilates.com