A lot of instructors talk about the importance of staying ‘grounded’ through your movements. You might hear strange comments like ‘heavy walking’, and ‘push through the floor’.When learning how to improve our balance in dance, what exactly does staying grounded do for us?
Put simply, grounding means to lower your centre of gravity, creating a higher degree of stability and floor connection. This in turn helps to improve many aspects of your dancing: hip motion, rise and fall, controlled turns… You name it. After all, we can’t look or feel comfortable while dancing if we’re constantly fighting for balance.
1. Pushing down while stretching up
Most beginners start moving by essentially falling from the chest, which breaks the frame and creates a ‘top-heavy’ sensation. To improve our balance in dance, we must move from the centre of our gravity. Instead of falling on your partner like the Incredible Hulk, try pushing from the balls of your feet into the floor to drive your centre forward.
Your upper body can also pull you off balance, by leaning too far to the side. Stretching upwards improves your balance by keeps the body poised over the weight-bearing legs. Yes followers, you do stretch to the left as well - but never more then you stretch upward, or your partner may end up carrying you more then dancing with you.
2. The down energy is greater then the up energy
The tallest trees in the world are always thickest at the base. Without a strong base to anchor us, we would sway like trees and feel unstable. Therefore, the majority of our weight must be directed downwards, by softening the hips, knees and ankles. Think like you’re carrying pockets full of change, weighing you down.
How to improve balance in dance using the upper body, if the lower body is already working? Imagine you have a heart full of helium, lifting your chest upwards, but without raising the lower half of the body.
3. Moving while grounded
If you can combine the above sensations effectively, it’s time to add movement with a few simple pointers:
- The taller person should sink to the lower person’s level, not vice versa.
- Maintain an intention to keep the heels down, as though they were magnetized with the floor. Even if you rise, you rise with resistance, which maintains the downward connection.
- Unless you’re dancing a lift, or using foot styling, never loose contact with the floor with either foot. Imagine wherever you’re moving, you’re giving the floor a deep-tissue massage - treat the floor nicely, and it will reward you.
We now know how to improve balance in dance through the magic of grounded-ness, but how can we exercise our new skills to know we’ve mastered them? Tune in next week!
What’s your favourite metaphor for describing grounded-ness, or floor connection?
“Dance on the floor beneath the floor”