In vernacular Jazz dance, including charleston and swing, I’ve had several instructors teach that you need to be “bent.” They tell you to bend a little at the knees and waist to get the right feel and be able to move your whole body with more freedom and balance.
I got the idea, but my body didn’t like the idea of bent. Isn’t good posture important?
I think perhaps what they were looking for was a relaxed body, especially at those bendable places. Tension in your knees and hips not only prevent you from looking good (in this form of dance… I doubt a bent ballerina would look right!) it can hurt you! In a very athletic dance, you don’t want to smack your body down with high impact at every step. Some “give” will cushion everything and let you move more freely.
I know learning new things can be tough, but lets try to get your body relaxed. One method that worked for me, to find the right amount of “bend” was simply to jump. When you jump, especially if you jump off of something, you should naturally bend when you land, both for balance and to protect your joints. Hey, balance and protecting your joints?! Yeah, that applies to dancing for sure.
So, give it a try. If you find yourself getting stressed and tense, or if you dancing just feels stiff then take a second to jump, so your body can show you a more comfortable way to move.
What do you do to get your body relaxed for good dancing?
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*photo by doublebug on flickr.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Leah // Jan 22, 2008 at 7:08 pm
It’s funny you ask, because I have a major dance concert this Friday, and I am getting nervous…
I find arriving early to rehearsals to stretch deep helps. I’m strangely relaxed by warmups- isolations are great.
Also, there’s the ever-present reality of dancing with friends under a teacher I’m really comfortable with. I’m currently working on a crazy modern piece, and the (strange!) technique is quite relaxing in its being both balletic and extremely far from it.
I found your post on StumbleUpon, and I’m loving the site. Being already into jazz, tap, musical theatre, modern, salsa, and swing- it’s hard *not* to like a blog like this.
2 Ann Marie Hathaway // Feb 1, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I always warm up before dancing with an all over body warm up.
One quick warm up example,
stand up, take your arms up over your head and clasp your hands together,
and make big cirlcle up over your head using
your core mustles, hips rotating around big circles too.
Then let go and make big sweeping motions with your entire body, lunge and sweep….
Don’t you feel good now?
3 Maria // Feb 6, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I think the word “relaxed” is misleading because you still have to keep your center. For me, the best way to find my optimal knee bend is the place where I can come up onto the ball of my feet and still feel securely balanced. Depending on the type of dance you do, the rest of your body will need to have a different alignment. I do modern and salsa. In modern I need to keep my butt and abs tucked in and have my spine lifted out of its base. In salsa I need to stick my butt out. Trying the knee bend in these different alignments, you’ll find that your optimal balance is in different places depending on where the rest of your body is placed.
4 Amberlynn // Feb 7, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Thank you! I think you’re all right. Even within different swing dances your body will feel different. I feel better about my Lindy when my butt is out, but I tuck in it, even with bent knees, when I Balboa. Maria has a good point about needing to keep your center.
I do feel better with that stretch, Ann Marie. I also love several yoga poses to get relaxed too.
Leah, thank you for the kind words. Yes, arriving early doesn’t only give you time to stretch, but you can remain mentally relaxed and avoid any “running late” frenzy.
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