BD Assignment #1: Practicing Posture

Posture is the foundation of the dance. Arms are the frame.

And no matter how much you drill your moves and listen to your music, your dance is going to be lacking if you don't have good posture... not to mention you could injure yourself or cause yourself problems down the road by building imbalanced muscles or wearing on the joints and spine.

So let's practice our posture this week!

No dancing here, just holding poses. I'll breakdown basic belly dance posture below. Practice this posture whenever you finding yourself standing somewhere... brushing your teeth, doing dishes, waiting for something, feeling bored. See if you can practice throughout the day, every day for one week.

Basic Posture

--> Set your foundation

Feet: hip width apart, weight evenly distributed

Knees: bent and soft, thighs engaged for support

Pelvis: neutral position, tailbone pointing down, no tuck or tilt

--> Stack and Lift

Rib Cage: lifted, imagine a string pulling up from the center of your sternum, engage upper belly muscles to offset arching the upper back

Sternum: Open and spread

Shoulders: Back, down and soft

Head: floating, imagine a string pulling up from the crown of the head and through the back of the neck, lifting the weight off the shoulders

--> Finish the look

Arms: framing the body, soft curves in shoulders, elbows and wrists, energy extending from shoulders out through the finger tips