BALANCE

One of the images that comes up again and again in Round Dancing is the idea that the dancer's body is a pile of boxes, crates stacked in a warehouse, and it is important to keep the pile aligned and balanced. The first box is the legs, the second is the hips, the third is the torso, and the top of the stack is the head. One of the surprises is that the heaviest box is the head. It doesn't look that big, but if you throw it around, the whole pile is at risk. Wherever your head goes, the rest of you certainly wants to follow.

Of course, you can fight conflicting tendencies within your body. Perhaps you are looking over toward the wall and idly admiring the snack table. No, let's make it more romantic; you are gazing into your partners eyes and feeling romantic. You will still be able to dance a left turn or an open telemark, but you will feel at least a little bit of conflict. Your head is "going" one way (right), and your body is going the other (left). Your body will win. I suppose it is three boxes against only one (even though it is a big one), but if instead, you carefully look out your window, over her right shoulder, you will be more on balance. An important lesson is to keep your pile of boxes aligned. Keep your shoulders apart from your partner's and centered over your own feet. Keep your head erect and to your left, within your own space.

Look up and out. A good spot to aim for is the angle between the wall and ceiling. Certainly don't look down. Don't look at your feet. Watching your feet will pull that top box right off the pile. You will clutch at your partner, pull your toplines together, hang on each other, and pull each other off balance. Instead, keep your topline -- shoulders, arms, head -- up and apart.

I have heard ordinary walking described as "controlled falling." As you walk, the body is steadily falling forward, and you are repeatedly moving your legs so as to catch yourself and avert disaster. You fall, you catch, fall, catch, and lo and behold, you have "walked" across the room. But dancers try to progress more smoothly (at least in the "smooth" rhythms). Dancers don't fall toward their destinations; they glide. One way to do this is to dance the foot first, not the upper parts of the body. Don't lean in the direction you are going, and then bring your foot over and catch yourself. Instead, reach out with your foot, leaving the rest of your body back in relative safety for a moment. Test the waters ahead of you to see if they are really warm enough, before you commit your body to the plunge. Reach back from the hip and feel for any possible pot-hole or precipice, before you actually take the step. After you have begun to move your foot, you can begin to shift your hips and so keep your center of gravity solidly over its base of support, but keep the pile of boxes aligned.

If you don't hold yourself upward and even stretch your body upward; if you don't maintain your body over its base at all times, the man will find himself leaning over his partner and pushing her off balance. Or he will lean back and then take the back step, pulling her into him, and she will push him off balance. She is trying to dance in a light and airy manner, with her left hand and arm barely perching on his right shoulder and arm, but if she is falling or being pulled, she will hang onto him for support. Ladies, I am sure that your partner is strong and manly, but he cannot carry you around for a full evening of dancing. You both must stay up, aligned, and self-supporting.

So try it: Assume closed position. Both of you stretch up and arch back just a bit. Your hips are a little forward and in firm contact. The woman's right hip is tucked in her man's watch pocket. Your upper bodies are apart, but each of your bodies is firmly balanced over your own feet. Your arms and overall frame are firm, but neither is hanging on the other or pushing or pulling or in any way resting on the other. If one partner were to vanish, the other would not topple but would remain standing and stable. Finally, let's extend the body arch a bit to the left and put ourselves clearly in our own spaces, looking out our own windows.

Now, take a step. Lower and so extend the lead foot forward (woman back) without leaning forward or back. Only after the free foot has begun to move will you begin to propel your body forward with the trail leg. In this way, the body remains between its points of support and on balance.

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Sometimes, dancing is described as "walking set to music." but good dancing goes beyond simple walking. Here are six features of styling that turn walking into rich and luscious dancing.

Frame

Floating

Dancing On the Diagonal

Side Lead

Rise and Fall

Body Sway