Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Answers to Faq of
by GoVnu
Contents at a Glance
Preface Introduction Posture Poise Frame Position General concerns
Table of Contents
Preface About this booklet How the booklet is organized Introduction Posture Head Hips Poise Frame Connection 1: The mans left hand to the ladys right hand Connection 3: The man right wrist to the ladys left underarm Connection 4: The mans right palm to the ladys left shoulder blade Connection 5: The ladys left hand to the mans right upper arm Position Connection 2: hips Connection area General concerns
Preface
About this booklet
This booklet is a collection of some interesting and important, in my own opinions, information about Posture, Poise, Frame and Position in Standard Ballroom dance. And hopefully it is useful for other International Ballroom dance enthusiasts.
Introduction
It is applicable to all standard dances but Tango
Since Tango contains so many disparities among the other standard ballroom dances, it is better to address it separately, inside the Tango booklet. It is applicable to all swing dances, it doesnt mean all swing dances share the exact theories on posture, poise, frame and position. However, there are only a few differences, so why not discuss them together.
Posture
All five blocks are in the same alignment
The five blocks from top to bottom are Head block, Shoulder block, Rib Cage block, Hip block and Knee block. In order to maintain a vertical balance, all blocks should align vertically. Someone calls these as five drawers where you can pull out or push in each drawer horizontally. If the Head block leans forwards, the weight of body may shift from the center of feet to the balls of feet. Similarly, if the Hip block leans backwards, the weight of body may shift from the center of feet to the heels of feet, and hips may lose contact as well.
The weights of all blocks should fall on the center of feet with minimum muscle assistance
If all four blocks align vertically, the weights of all blocks should naturally fall along your spine on the center of feet. And also, your muscles should be in relaxed condition.
The techniques of posture are applicable to both the man and the lady
Both the man and lady should keep their four blocks vertically aligned, surely the lady needs to poise a little bit more than the man as the fame forms; but she is still in balance state .
Checking whether the head block is in good position from time to time
You should keep your head block in good position not only at the beginning of the dance but most importantly during the dance. Therefore, check whether you look horizontally from time to time. For example, if the height between your eyes and the floor is 5 feet, your eyesight will stare at the objects on the same height, 5 feet.
Maintain the head in forward and upraise position as body rotation or body swing
A good illustration is to imagine the head as a helium balloon, no matter the stone underneath connected with rotates or swings, the balloon is still in upraise position.
An anteverted or retroverted head causes the center of body shift forward or backward
If other blocks keep aligning vertically, the anteverted or retroverted head makes your body shift forward or backward. And you will be in out of balance. In the situation, your partner will waste his/her energy to support you.
Hips
The body pitches forward
It may occur in both forward and backward figures. For examples, the body of man may unconsciously pitch forward in the forward figure, the step 2 of Telemark, or in the backward figure, the step 1 of Backward Lock.
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Poise
Functions of poising
1. Posing gives the couples a competitive shape on the floor. 2. Providing more space between each others in their upper bodies.
Make sure the lady can keep her vertical balance after posing
Besides a correct diagonal stretch, the lady should be aware of whether she can still keep their vertical balances after poising. She should poise to the degree that she is able to keep her vertical balance; the degree of poise may depend on her body flexibility. Otherwise, partial of her body weight may fall on her partner, even worse, it may hurt her back. If partial of her body weight falls on her partner, her partner will feel she is heavy and always pulls him forward.
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Her partner feels her is heavy, which is the consequence of her being out of balance rather than her physical weight. The mans feeling on her weight while dancing is totally independent of her physical weight and vice versa!
Her forward and upward right shoulder blade balances her heads stretch to leftward and upward.
Actually not her head stretches leftwards and upwards, but also her left arm and elbow.
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The man gives the lady a frame as reference for her posing
From the mans arms, the lady receives the degree or way of posing. In order words, the man put the lady into poise. The man not only leads the lady the following step but also her shaping. The mans right hand acts as an indicator for lady to shape. If the mans right hand places in an improper shape, the lady will follow it to poise incorrectly.
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One of the most important functions of frame and position is the communication between partners.
The only way to transmit the leading and following signals is through the frame rather than through human languages. The lady can receive clear leads only when a good frame achieved consistently and the man sends the signals without any ambiguities while dancing. Therefore that protocol between couples should be paid highly attention.
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We will address how our hands, arms and bodies positions enable us to dance with body flight felling respectively in detail in the following sections.
Manage your own frame in proper position before forming a frame with your partner
Start wrong, end wrong. Practice setting your own frame first. After both the man and the lady have satisfied their own frames, attempt to merge two frames to form a composite frame. Just like you should master how to dance a figure in solo before dancing with your partner.
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There are three major holds: normal hold, open hold and two-hand hold
Generally speaking, there are three major holds in Standard Ballroom dances, namely normal hold also called closed hold, open hold and two-hand hold. Open hold is same as normal hold but without hips contact; and two-hand hold is one where the mans left hand holds the ladys right same as the mans right hand holds the ladys left in normal hold. Majority of time we dance with normal hold, only occasionally in practice we dance with open hold or two-hand hold. Here we only address the normal hold. Besides these three holds, you may find many other holds, such as double hand hold.
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Connection 1: the mans left hand to the ladys right hand The basic definition of connection 1
It is a connection that the mans left hand holds the ladys right hand with palms contact.
Hand Over 80% of lead role is from the mans left hand hold
The mans left hand is very very important in the leading, may be beneficial to those who are left-handed. In other words, just with the mans left hand hold, the man can lead the lady to dance most of figures.
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After the connection of his left hand and her right hand , he may slightly release all 4 fingertips and closes their again, that makes the connection more smoothly; just like the preparatory step, shift the weight on the left foot, then, replace the weight on the right foot.
The mans left thumb base contacts with the ladys right thumb base
Besides the ladys right thumb places over the mans left thumb, her right thumb base also connects the mans left thumb base. In other words, the action the ladys right thumb places over the mans left thumb is only the by-product of the action her right thumb base connects the mans left thumb base. The line of thumb is through the wrist to the elbow.
Body Flight The mans left forearm is in upward and outward position as the position an airplane is taking off
Since in swing dance nearly each figure involves rise or/and fall, the angle of the man lefts forearm accompanied with his body swing action will generate a body flight feeling as he rises or falls. Therefore, his forearm is not in horizontal level or downward position. Whereas in Tango, because it has no body flight, the mans left forearm is flat and inward.
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Leading and following A drill to lead and follow by the hips for both the man and the lady
Although the hip connection only sends the forward movement lead, it is still important as a leading and following role. First prepare a simple amalgamation, such as a Three Step and Feather Step in the Slow Foxtrot, or a Closed Change, Natural Turn, Closed Change, Reverse Turn in the Waltz. Then the couple connects only with their hips, dance the amalgamation, it is quite challenging to keep the hips contact throughout the amalgamation.
Not only could the lady pitch forward her hip but the man too
The lady could pitch forward exaggeratedly because poising too much. However, not only in the lady but also in the man, their tummies pitch forward in order to contact their partners. To balance their convex tummies, they pitch backward their bottoms. Their bodies shapes would look like a reverted question mark. When they dance together, it appears the convex tummies are only belly fat; however, when they separate and stretch their bodies up, It shows that they deliberately pitch their tummies forward. It is mostly likely for them to lose balance because they spend so much effort to keep the incorrect shapes.
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A most obvious example is the 2nd bar of Viennese Waltz; the reason is that the mans backward steps are faster than Ladys forward steps. It is a synchronized issue. The man and the lady may still maintain his and her own good posture. In order words, neither the man nor the lady leans his or her hip backward.
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Dont shift his forearm forward when the man dances forward step
Particularly for the steps need strong power. Examples include the 2nd step of Double Reverse Spin and the Forward Spin. The man moves faster than the lady moves backward. In this situation, his body leans forward, the right arm shifts forward, and most probably his right hand loses contact with ladys left shoulder blade. It is a synchronized issue.
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Connection 4: the mans right palm to the ladys left shoulder blade
All fingers from forefinger to little finger should close in side by side position
After cupping the ladys left shoulder blade, the man should make sure all fingers from forefinger to little finger close in side by side position.
Keep on placing the mans right hand on the ladys left shoulder blade for the whole dance
Some men may place his hand below the ladys left shoulder, like the Tango hold, or around the lady, like a hug. So the man should keep track whether your right hand holds the ladys left shoulder from time to time while dancing.
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Connection 5: the ladys left hand to the mans right upper arm The lady straightens all fingers of her left hand before holding the mans right arm
After the man cupping the ladys left shoulder blade with his right hand, the lady straightens the fingers of her left hand, surrounds slightly the mans upper arm with thumb and middle finger, lets forefinger rest in a natural position and keeps the third and little fingers straight. After the lady left hand holds the mans right arm, her fingertips of forefinger, third finger and little finger usually do not rest on the mans right arm.
Three common ways for the lady to put her left arm on the mans right arm
Method 1: After the man have completely cupped his right hand under her left shoulder blade where the mans right side frame is ready, up to this moment, her left arm totally has no contact with the mans right arm, the lady slowly moves her left arm downward and inward on the mans right arm. Method 2: As the man is cupping his right hand under her left shoulder blade, the lady puts her upper left arm on the mans forearm; when she feels the mans right side frame is ready, she moves her forearm inward on the mans right arm. Method 3: The lady curls her left hand around the mans right arm nearly simultaneously as the man putting his right hand on her shoulder blade. Method one is most popular among top dancers.
The ladys left wrist should be flat on the mans upper arm
The lady places comfortably her left wrist on the mans upper arm same flat as her arm places on it.
Lady loses the contact of her wrist and elbow with mans arm
Lady sometimes unconsciously loses the contact of her wrist and elbow with mans arm during dancing. One reason is the asynchronized body movements between the man and the lady. For example, in the Hover Telemark, if the lady hovers faster than the man, this issue will occur.
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If the lady squeezes the mans right upper arm so tight, it will block the blood circulation of his right arm. And also, the lady herself feels tired on her figures.
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General Concerns
Keep vertical balance both in static and dynamic states
In static state, when all five blocks align vertically, the body is in vertical balance; however, as we are dancing which is in dynamic state, there are external forces involved, such as centrifugal force during body swing, so we have adjust our body to anti-balance those forces to get the line of balance, namely, the weight is still on the center of feet. Reminding that no matter how the body adjusts, the frame is still in proper position.