2015年10月12日 星期一

Spins & Turns (part 6)- The use of our body during turns

internet source
I had some articles with videos talking about the turn technique: core engaging, torsqe+CBMP, leg straightening, elevating. Now it is time to add a little bit of styling. I always want to highlight the importance to incorporate the arms in dancing because a good use of arms not only beautifies your dancing, it in fact helps you dance.

Let's see this Beginner Combo that I filmed some time ago. 

The use of different body parts when applies wisely should improve the dance; instinctively, we use our body to achieve balance by holding them in front, the reason we do this is because we want to make use of the centripedal force. Raising them high over your head actually help more: it helps alert you to stay 'up', with which you can centre yourself easier. Another score is that if you stay up, you narrow your base; thus you achieve the 'keep leg/feet close' effortlessly.

And we need to keep good legs during spins. Bent knees during turns & spins lower your centre of weight, which may disturb the equilibrium. The chain effect is that you want to have a bigger base to offset the weight disturbance. Then in the end the frame and shape are all ruined. Regarding the knees, of course we bend our knees during steps, but we need to bear in mind that it is the alternate straightening and bending of the knees gives us the essential hip actions and lovely appearance.

When a turn takes a side step, the arms which belong to the upper body part will natually swing to aim for counterbalance. You can just let your hands go floppy but that may not look good, you can also aim high, which always promises nice styling. By doing this during a switch & Monterey turn, you avoid flipping arms and legs at the same time and so give a controlled look.

In the end, let's have a little wiggle. It is noteworthy that even wiggling is a seductive move, do not overdo it; cleverly include a little 'pop' will make you spicier.

Now you can see that, arm actions are partially natural body response, how we 'style' ourselves is actually enhancing or reinforcing what is already built by the actions.