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Poise and PostureDidi von Deck and Mark A. Sheldon |
Today's workshop is all about posture and poise. These are sources of great confusion and frustration for dancers, especially early in their careers. The lady's poise, in particular, can be quite difficult to master.
The problem stems from two main facts:
To achieve perfect posture and poise, we must understand and train our bodies to use the correct mechanisms to achieve the desired results. We must become the magicians.
The basic principles of posture and poise apply to both partners. However, because the follower's poise is more complicated and less understood (and as a switch from the usual leader-focused presentations in ballroom seminars), we will use the follower's part as the primary focus. During the presentation, we will point out where the leader's part is different.
As we get started, here are some quick definitions:
The position of the lady in the ballroom hold can take years for the individual dancer to develop. This is partly due to misconceptions about what the position is and partly due to the time it takes for the body to develop the necessary coordination. The illusion is that the hold is very still and that the lady's head is back away from the man. This is just an illusion.
In reality, the hold is never ‘still’ or fixed, but constantly moving. The hold requires a lot of flexibility and the ability to move body parts independently of each other. The lady's poise is also quite forward. Even in lines where there is an appearance of the head going back, the weight and balance is quite forward.
While the proper ballroom hold can make dancing feel and look better, it is important not to fixate on getting the perfect hold to start. Dancing improves with practice. If you spend your entire practice taking hold, you will never improve your dancing. The hold will not improve either, because the hold changes and develops throughout each step. You need to dance to find what those changes in position are.
The body needs to be in a prepared state to move. The body must be toned, but flexible.
Rolling up exercise — Bend at the waist and let arms and neck hang free. Contract stomach muscles and start to roll up. Head is the last part of you to come into position. This exercise establishes vertical posture, but not poise.
When starting to take hold, roll your weight over the balls of your feet. Knees are soft. Ankles are strong and able to flex and extend with control to transfer your weight.
Weight feels forward toward your partner. This is an internal stretch and forward feeling. Do not actually put your body or weight onto your partner.
It is probably easier to start taking your poise on the left foot. The right foot can move to the side slightly to counterbalance the head. This enables you to feel the stretch to the left. If your partner takes hold on his left foot so that the lady will be on her right foot, first take up your poise on your left foot, then walk in to him.
Pull your lower abs in as close to your spine as possible. While doing so, lengthen and stretch your lower spine as tall as it can go. Upper abs are relatively relaxed to allow breathing. The shoulders are not included in the upward stretch. They actually press down by stretching the neck muscles and contracting the latissimus dorsi.
The hips are turned slightly toward the partner (to the right). The hips are level, or the left hip may be slightly lower than the right. The leader's hips are level. This turn is only enough for the partners to match their centers and give three-dimensionality to the hold.
While lengthening the spine, bring your rib cage slightly forward. This will keep your weight up to the man and your connection positive. Do not arch your back. Do not press the ribs forward. Keeping the abdominal muscles toned keeps your rib cage from lifting. You should not let the rib cage tilt up as you bring it forward.
The rib cage turns a little more to the right than the hips. This rotation occurs while pulling in the lower abs and lenthening the spine. These actions will occur simultaneously with the movement of the whole rib cage forward. Again, do not press the ribs forward by opening the two halves of the rib cage. Each side of the rib cage contracts toward the midline to prevent this. This is exactly the same for the leader, except that the focus of forward projection is higher (at the manubrium/C-7 vertebra rather than mid-sternum). The leader's ribs will therefore be placed as a result of connecting the lift in the back with the projection of the manubrium forward.
Although the left side of the upper body does rotate foward in relation to the right side, do not turn the right side away from the partner. You should not rotate around your spine. Bring the right side forward to the partner as well. The left side simply comes forward a little more than the right side.
The shoulder girdle (shoulders, collarbones, shoulder blades) rotates a little more to the right than the rib cage. This brings the left pectoralis region forward (E).
The rotation of the shoulder girdle/L pec occurs independently of the left arm. Exercise: Hold the wall with the left hand. Rotate L pec forward while leaving arm behind. This will hurt at first as the muscles stretch. This motion also occurs in promenade. This is actually similar for the leader, but not as extreme. Certainly, the man's projection of the left pec forward while the left arm remains in line with the back will produce this kind of stretch. For the leader's right shoulder, the joint must be flexible, but there is not nearly the range of movement that the follower has in her left shoulder.
The positioning of the body places and supports the head. Do not put the head back to get a ‘big top’.
As you pull in your abs and rotate the hips, rib cage, and shoulders, get a stretch to the left with your left shoulder and head. As the left pec goes forward, the head goes slightly forward, the chin lifts, and the top of the head goes back. Though the head tilts to be continuous with the line of the spine, the center of the head stays over the foot.
To avoid letting the head pull you off balance to the left, use the right side of your body to support your head. The abdominal and back muscles on the right side of your body below the rib cage contract slightly to keep the rib cage from sliding too far left.
As the shoulder rotates forward, the head does go back in relation to the shoulders, but it does not go back behind the hips and foot.
The head feels very forward. The top of the head may look back, but the projection is definitely forward. This prevents neck strain. There will be a stretch to the top of the head, but no strain.
The eyes look over or slightly left of the wrist. Eyes look up toward the ceiling. If you look too low, your eyes will appear closed to the audience.
In movement, projecting the left pec region forward will allow the head to extend back.
For the leader, the head is a continuation of the forward poise of the spine. The head must not be thrust forward, and so there is a slight feeling of the head staying back while the upper rib cage comes forward. A useful guide is to keep the base of the leader's jaw line parallel to the floor. If you let the jaw line angle down (which is really where it is when your head is in a normal level position), you will appear to be looking down, which is a negative appearance on the floor. The leader begins with a very vertical head position which adds to the look of dominance, and also helps you see where you're going. Just as for the lady, the head will tilt in sympathy with the spine line in movement. If there is time, we can elaborate on this further at the end of the workshop.
The tops of the thighs are forward all the time. They press forward with forward steps and stay forward with backward steps.
The pelvis is NEVER forward. The pelvis stays vertical. When you bring the tops of your thighs forward, you can not let the pelvis tilt forward. There is a very slight crease between pelvis and thighs.
Once you have found your own position, you can walk into the man. The man as well must have his own poise prior to taking hold.
Walk in with your right arm extending to meet his left hand. Lift the arm with your lats (previous exercise).
Stretch out your left arm to the side (again using the lats). Left pec area rotates forward away from the arm. Do not lift the arms above your own shoulder level.
Walk in. Keep lower abs pulled back away from the man while getting as close to him as you can.
Do not try to make contact or press any part of your body to the man — you will connect to him by getting close to him.
Go to his right side. You can experiment with how right. Try going farther right than you usually do (more offset). This will make the hold look bigger.
Wait for the man to place his right hand on your back. Tone your lats to settle your left shoulder into his hand. The leader should make a connection with the thumb-side of his right wrist with the lady's lat as she comes in. Then his right hand will follow lady's shoulder blade. Fingers together. Man's wrist is lower than the elbow which is lower than the shoulder.
Lady places left hand on his arm. As the hand is placed, rotate left pec a little more forward and head stretches left.
The leader should give the lady her arm line, and this starts before the couple actually touches: The man should try to pick up the lady's arms (without touching) as part of the invitation to take hold.
Use the lats/pecs to raise the arms. The lady does hold up her own arms, but does not hold them off the man's arms. Leader positions lady's right arm so it is neither saggy nor strained. Hands should have a positive connection.
Relax your arms and feel they lower down onto the man's arms. The man will like the feeling of connection. You will not feel heavy.
Connect your middle finger and thumb to the base of the man's deltoid with firm pressure. These fingers act as monitors of the man's movement. They also can give some pressure towards the man's head to keep each of you left. Having a sense of where your arm is in relation to your own body can help keep the arm still and increase the connection you feel with the partner.
Keep your wrist towards you on the front of the man's arm. Do not let the hand rotate to the back of his arm.
Make sure your left elbow doesn't droop or look floppy. This is done with the lats.
Let the right arm relax and have some downward weight as well. No pushing up. The elbow and shoulder joints are soft and flexible, not fixed.
Take a firm but relaxed grip of the man's left hand with the right hand. Place the hand in space, not the arm. Keep positive pressure in the right hand. The man is responsible for creating a good arm line in the lady's right arm. He will have to check a mirror until he knows where that is.
Settling the arms down will give you the appearance of having a longer neck. Lower your arms with your body with every lowering action while stretching up in the spine. This is not as obvious as it sounds. It will give you a better connection with your partner. The leader has a somewhat different task here: he should actually resist lowering the arms in lowering actions. Both partners should also resist raising the arms in rising actions. With rise, the spine lengthens out through the head, but the arms and shoulders stretch down. Keep energy going out through the elbows to keep the elbows wide and the hold big.
We've talked about abs, ribs, shoulders, hips, pelvis, thighs, arms, hands, and head. I recommend focusing on 1 or 2 parts at a time at first as it is hard to concentrate on each part all at once. However, doing all the the parts together in synchrony make the poise easier as each part helps another part go into position.
For both the man and the lady, promenade position requires independent movement of the body parts to avoid looking stiff and losing balance.
The change in body shape turns the head to the right for the lady. As the man turns to promenade, his right hip will rise slightly. This will lead the lady to change her hips so that her left hip is up slightly. This will lead the head change. The man should also “turn within the hold” to bring his left side toward the lady to lead the promenade.
Just as the right side of the body supports the head left by a slight contraction of the trunk muscles, the left side of the body support the head when it is to the right (both in promenade and right shapes). The right side of the mid to lower back muscles also stays toned to help support the head.
The left hip starts to come up, the left pec region turns even more forward and the head turns to the right. The head stays "on the outside of the circle." When the head is in the final position, the eyes look to the right of the hands.
As the lady turns to promenade, the left arm stays where it is. Turn away from the arm, creating what I've heard described as a “broken shoulder.” The left pec rotates away from the arm. The elbow may feel behind your body, but it won't look it. By doing this, you look soft and flexible and your partner looks strong, because he won't have to put his elbow behind his back as the sides become closer in promenade. The man also has to allow some give in the shoulder joint, but not to the same extent as the lady. The leader may feel that he dances away from his right arm, but not in turn — it's more a use of the head weight as the shoulders and arms remain relatively level. Some describe entries to promenade as feeling backward for the man because of the rotation of the shoulders to right as we step onto the left foot.
The right arm stays more or less in place as the shoulders rotate to promenade. The body turns to the right within the hold, keeping the arms relatively still. For the leader, the left hand/arm remain in place: this is a challenge for many men.
Because the hold is more compact in tango due to the arm positioning, you need to feel even more forward in tango. Because there are few right shapes, your whole concentration should be on being left and forward.
The lady's left arm position is key to attaining a good connection with the partner which leads to sharp movement. Connect your elbow to the man's elbow with a downward pressure through the upper arm and lats and and upward pressure through your wrist and hand connecting underneath the man's upper arm and axilla. There should be a fair amount of pressure into the man's side and surrounding his arm. We are literally locked together. The man's right arm goes further around the lady's back: The tips of the fingers may be on the lady's spine line, but care must be taken not to cut across the lady's spine. The right forearm is more angled down, and the upward pressure on the lady's left armpit is created further up the man's forearm. The man needs to provide a positive pressure in his whole forearm to help with the locked feeling.
Keep your left hand flat with the fingers straight and firmly together. The thumb extends away from the other fingers. Contact the man's arm with the fleshy part of the hand between the index finger and the thumb. Some coaches recommend the lady put her thumb under the man's arm/armpit. I don't do this.
The tops of the thighs are a little more forward in tango. The position is a little like you're sitting, but the pelvis remains very vertical and the body is lengthened. There will be more thigh connection with your partner in tango because we are always down in the legs.
The lower abs stay strongly back next to the spine. Feel like there is a bubble in the ab region between you and your partner.
Turn only the hips and head open. Rotate the shoulders opposite to the hips and head. Again the body turns within the hold and the arms stay relatively still. There is a lot of movement in the shoulder joints to keep the arms still and there will be a strong feeling of torsion in the body. When standing in promenade position on the left foot (ladies), tighten the left side of the abs and back.
The sharpness of the head turn comes from staying flexible and from timing. Wait for the lead in the body, let your body respond, and then snap the head. Know what position you want your head to be in, then get it there as fast as you can and freeze the position.
Because the position of your body and that of your partner changes with even the slightest movement, you need to renew your poise and hold constantly as you dance. You do not get a good hold and then fix it into place. Your hold will only look stiff and fall apart as the dance progresses. With every swing, I renew the feeling of being forward to my partner. As lady, at the end of each swing, stretch the shoulder opposite the head down and the head away from the anchored shoulder. The rib cage shapes under the arms to create the sway. The arms stay relatively parallel to the floor. The shoulder joints are flexible to allow more rib cage tilt than arm tilt. If the shoulders are fixed, the arms will shape too much and your shape will look "broken" and stiff.
The rib cage can also rotate within the hold. This can be especially important to create a good lead while keeping the arms looking strong and still.
With rise, the spine stretches up from foot pressure into the floor, up through the head. The shoulders stretch down and the elbows stretch wide. When lowering, keep the spine stretched up and the abs strong to resist collapsing in the body and looking weak.
To reiterate, never use your muscles to hold a position. Stretch into a position to remain flexible.
With each step, contract the abs on the side of the foot you are standing on. This will keep you in perfect balance. This is key to having a good hold, good floorcraft, and good dancing.
The key to all lines is to keep the weight forward. The lady's head may look very back, but all the backward shape is done from the sternum. The center of the body comes more forward to counterbalance the head. Again, the shape in the lines occurs under the arms with the shoulders staying very flexible to allow the arms to stay relatively parallel to the floor. This creates a strong shape, especially for the man who tends to look weak when the arms lose their strong parallel line.