Posture
First of all, you need to increase your awareness of correct body
posture, which is called 'alignment' when you are standing stationary
or 'carriage' when you are moving. Since your body is your instrument
of expression, maintaining proper body alignment is a way to express
confidence. Proper body alignment also allows you to use your muscles
with the least amount of effort or extra muscular tension. Your
standing posture is the standard to which you add the various
dancing stylings, or characteristics that identify particular dances.
It is critical that you correct any deviations in standing posture
because they will be magnified tenfold when you move. Good dancers
move with purpose and confidence, which are reflected in their
posture. Simply being aware of your posture
while standing is only part of the image that you present to others.
Dances are movers. Thus, how you carry yourself while moving, which
you do when you are walking or taking a series of dance steps, also
says volumes about your self-confidence.
Frame
The term 'frame' refers to the shape or positioning of your upper body, intruding in your arms. You have better balance when your body weight is above your base (in vertical alignment) and you curve your arms in front of you with your elbows slightly away from the side of your body. Positioning your arms is important for balance and appearance when you dance alone and for defining your half of the space when you dance with a partner. Keeping individual frame helps to eliminate wasted effort (rather than lowering and extending your arms then bringing them back into position again). A typical frame error occurs whenever you move your arms independently of your shoulder girdle. Spaghetti arms occurs when the elbows extend behind the body. Leading and following are enhanced when your arms, shoulders and sternum work together as a unit, but ineffective if either partner’s frame is not established and firm. Leading and following is definitely not the pushing and pulling of arms and hands, it’s an art of which you use the whole body to non-verbally communicate with your partner.
Centering and Center Point of Balance (CPB)
The concept of the centering you to be aware of where your center of gravity is located so that you can lift it (to capture the illusion of ease that is characteristics of good dancers) and transfer your weight efficiently from one food to the other. It is also important to align your body over your base of support, which alters with changing food positions. Centering is important in maintaining balance when you are stationary and also when you travel on the dance floor in ten possible directions. Good dancers make it look easy.
The Center Point of Balance (CPB) refers to a point just below the diaphragm. You can feel this point by making a fisst and placing it at the base of your breastbone where your ribs start to separate. The CPB is in the same location for each dancer and ties together the upper and the lower body to give dancers more power and control with their movements. When you move from your center, you move your entire body as a unit.
Foot Positions
Now
you have the Posture, the Frame and the CPB, these three concepts are
about how you keep your balance. Dancers move, so when moving across
the floor, how you position your feet greatly affects your balance
because your feet are your base of support. You can create a stable
base of support by widening your stance to approximately shoulder
width apart on a side step, or in a forward-backward stride position
position. Also, a wider base encourages slight knee flexion, which
helps to lower your CPB. Be aware that your CPB should always be
above your base of support. For dancers, the relationship between
foot positions and CPB is critical. Try changing among the five basic
foot positions (plus the two extended position for 3rd and
5th) to examine the moving of center and how you achieve
the tracking and perfect balance. In each foot position, a slight
angling-out of the toes, called turnout, is useful for improving
balance and facilitating turns because it widens your base of
support. When your toes are angled in preparation for turns, it is
called prepping the turn, because the toes angle in the direction of
the turn; the right toes angle out to the right when turning to the
right, and the left toes angle out to the left when turning to the
left. Social dancers typically angle their toes no more than 45
degrees and keep the knees aligned over the big toe of each foot.