(from Jen’s Reviews via Brian L. Wells, Starliters Dance Studio)
Regular exercise can help reduce restless leg syndrome and that includes dancing. Dancing is demanding of the leg muscles and will help them relax more when not active. If you suffer from restless leg syndrome, after you have started a dance class you will notice a reduction in episodes of the condition.
by Ron Montez
Another thing to which dancers should pay attention is their posture and their frame. This really goes for all dances. Hands and arms are forward toward your partner in making the frame. The tummy should be pulled in, upper body inclined forward. The elbows should not go behind the back. If you have good posture in your dance frame, you’ll feel better as a partner, your leads and follows will be more successful and you’ll be more fun to dance with.
The beginning stages of social dance are probably some of the most enjoyable parts of your dance career or hobby. At the beginning, there are few expectations on yourself, so your learning is enjoyable.
Don’t be too critical too soon – and enjoy yourself!
by Dr. Aria Nostratinia
• Etiquette is here to ensure that everyone has a good time in a social dance setting, so pay attention to it.
• Your outfit and accessories should be comfortable, safe and also reflect the culture and level of formality of the dance group. Most importantly, do not forget your dance shoes.
• Ask everyone to dance. Do not monopolize one partner for the whole night.
• Today’s beginners will be the good dancers of tomorrow, so be nice to them and dance with them.
• Do not decline a dance unless you absolutely have to. Having declined a dance, you cannot dance the same song with someone else.
• Be considerate of other couples on the floor. Exercise good floorcraft. Do not cut other couples off.
• Stationary dancers (e.g., swing dancers) stay i the middle; traveling dancers move on the boundary along the line of dance.
• Avoid patterns that your partner cannot do – dance to the level of your partner.
• Never blame your partners for missteps.
• Smile, be warm, be personable, be nice.
by Joseph Baker
Advanced ballroom dancers dance with long flowing, confident strides rather than with tentative stutter steps. Beginners tend to dance with tentative small steps. A common fear is one of stepping on the follower’s toes. The unfortunate consequence is a dance that is stunted and awkward-looking.
When in proper body alignment and with proper stepping action on the part of the follower, crushed toes will likely never result, no matter how clumsy the leader might be. Here’s why. When in a closed hold, the leader’s body is slightly to the left of the follower’s, such that the leader’s right foot is pointed between the follower’s two feet. Thus, their feet are on different tracks.
Mor important, though, is that the follower should take all backward steps reaching from her/his hip and extending to the toe. When a follower dances in this fashion, it is nearly impossible for the leader to step on the follower’s toes.
by Pierre Baston
Argentine tango instructor (Philadelphia, PA area)
Some scientists say that what makes us love a great piece of music or painting is the ratio of expected to unexpected elements. Neither a dance that only follows a predictable pattern nor a dance composed of continual surprises will satisfy many partners or observers.
One scholar figured that the ideal ratio of order to complexity in an aesthetic expression such as dance is 37% to 63% in favor of surprise. So why not reach for a good measure of novelty on the dance floor and delight our dance partners to the max?
by Joseph Baker
Several mistakes are common among followers. The first is spinning out of time with the music, usually spinning to fast. In such a case, connection is lost and, therefore, leading and following is lost. The next mistake is the follower’s hand being positioned directly above her/his head, like a music box dancer. For partner dancing, this is wrong. Another mistake is allowing the arm to collapse and fall behind the midline. Another thing to avoid is squeezing the leader’s fingers wile turning. Obviously, this can create a lot of pain.
Several mistakes are common among leaders The first is trying to grad the follower’s fingers rather than simply providing a pin. The next is forming a humongous, non-circular and non-level halo, which disallows the follower to maintain balance while turning.
All of this said, in the end, the leader needs to be able to lead the direction, timing and speed of the turning action – both the acceleration and the deceleration. Very important is that connection never be lost during the turning actions.
by Ron Montez
One problem that a lot of beginners have is that they don’t produce the Cuban motion in a fluid-enough manner. They’ll throw a hip one way or another, or they’ll force the leg straight prematurely. They don’t use enough muscle tone or muscle control to prevent a floppy-looking motion.
Tone means to not do it with the legs and flop, but to use pressure in the muscles so that the dancer can control the rate of knee straightening. Once exercise to help produce hip rotation that dancers can practice is as follows:
Start with your feet together at the heels, with the toes slightly apart, to alternate the bending of the legs, and then the hip over the straightening leg goes back slightly, and the knees will go forward at a slight angle inward to help produce the hip rotation.
Along the same lines, a dancer could practice the changing of the knees, very slowly and controlled, slow and fast rhythms. If a couple is good at practicing with partners, the partners can face each other and synchronize the speeds of the knee shift or weight shift. This helps the awareness of one another, and really ties the dancers together as a couple.
by Joseph Baker
Dancers should try to avoid losses of connection. Maintaining frame and connection during turns is critical to leading and following. when Leading spins and turns, a cup and pin hand connection system is usually the best technique. In this system, the follower cups her/his hand and provides a cavity for the leader’s pin, which he/she forms with one or two fingers held vertically and pointing down. The orientation of the follower’s cup is thumb down for inside turns and thumb up for outside turns. Connection does not have to be lost when transitioning between inside and outside turns.
As important as the cup and pin connection system is the follower’s frame – specifically, the position of her/his arm being led during the turn. The forearm should remain approximately vertical and in the front quadrant of the follower’s body, never moving behind the follower’s midline. The upper arm remains approximately parallel to the floor. The cup remains approximately above the follower’s elbow, never directly above her/his head. In this way, the leading action through the turns traces a halo above the follower’s head. Such a system provides a form of a crank that the leader can use to more precisely control turning speed and turning direction. The leading pressure is applied during the part of the halo that is in the direction that the leader wishes the follower to travel.
by Jen’s Reviews (via Brian L. Wells – Starliters Dance Studio)
Dancing is an exercise that can help you strengthen your arms depending on the style of dancing you are doing. When dancing with a partner, you will more than likely hold your elbows out which over time will help strengthen your arms. Other types of dance use the arms in different ways. It is almost impossible not to use your arms with any type of dancing. Moving for 15 to 20 minute intervals will help strengthen your arms and allow you to hold them in position for a longer period of time. By strengthening your arms, you may notice that you are also able to reduce some of the flabby skin that can develop as you age. It will make your arms look a lot younger. Ballet has several arm movements that help strengthen the arms as well. You can practice these movements in a dance studio or even at home
by Joseph Baker
Many dance teachers teach a drill or exercise called The Dance Walk to help their students understand the correct way to move when dancing smooth dances such as the foxtrot. Many beginners dance with heavy, plodding steps.
In contrast, the dance walk develops a smooth, gliding stepping style. The key is that the swing, free foot always skims the floor as shown. On forward walks, the moving foot skims the toe and then the heel. On backward steps, the moving foot skims the heel and then the toe. Notice that the dance walk is smooth and gliding, not heavy and plodding.
