| The fear of learning to dance is no different than the | | | | So, the goal is to have nice relaxed arms, with your |
| fear of anything new or unknown. We often | | | | "frame" in your back, or lats. A good way to achieve |
| perceive something to be much more ominous than it | | | | this feeling is to hold your arms out, palms down, |
| truly is. We often react to fear by tensing up our | | | | now reach for the floor with your back muscles. |
| bodies in preparation to protect ourselves. This | | | | Engage your lats and rotate your body. What |
| tensing, and clenching is one of a dancers greatest | | | | happens with your arms? If you are doing this |
| enemies. Especially when you are brand new. | | | | properly, your arms will rotate with your body. |
| One of the most helpful things that I have learned is | | | | Keeping your frame in your back and not your arms |
| that the more I relax, the easier it is to learn to | | | | will allow much more effortless dancing for both |
| dance. Whether you are a brand new beginning | | | | leaders and followers. |
| dancer, or an experienced dancer learning a new | | | | Do not allow fear of the unknown to creep in and |
| technique, pattern or dance, the number one thing | | | | tense up your body. I practice this everywhere. |
| you should do is to RELAX! Do not tense up your | | | | Sitting at my desk, driving in the car and even |
| arms and hands. Allow your frame to be in your lats, | | | | walking through the grocery store pushing the cart. |
| or back, not in your arms. If your arms are stiff and | | | | In the beginning it is difficult, there is so much to |
| engaged you will be defeating yourself and unable to | | | | learn and remember, but eventually it becomes |
| lead or follow what is being taught. The more you | | | | second nature. In my opinion it is easier to learn to |
| tense up the more difficult a pattern or move will be. | | | | dance correctly right from the start as opposed to |
| Not only will your movement become stiff and | | | | going back and retraining improper muscle |
| forced, it could possibly cause injury to you or your | | | | memory.So, instead of reaching for the stars, just |
| partner. Allow yourself to relax and let the | | | | reach for the floor! |
| movement flow. In this case, less is more. | | | | |