Do you worry about how you look on the dance floor? You're not alone. A common cause of issues with looks is arm movement. This aspect of social dancing is often treated as a peripheral thing, and left to last, but it can often feel so odd that we have trouble doing it correctly. Take a look at an email that I got from a subscriber.
---- Letter ----
G'morning Clint,
Was wondering with all your knowledge of dance...do you have any lessons,
suggestions help on arm styling? I am very self conscious about my arms
all over the place, yet I've been told by several including pros that I have
nice arms....that I should use them more.
Help???
Barb.
---- Response ----
Hi Barb,
There are two things you raise here. The first is how can make your arms move better so that they look good. The second is wondering if what you feel looks the same way.
First off, getting your arms to move well can be problematic because as much as we use them every day, we rarely have them out to the side so often. This mean our shoulder can be a bit stiff, and that's makes the rest of the arm look poor. In Part 2 of my e-book I give exercises that free up the arms so that it is easier to move them as desired.
However, it seems that your arms are fine. So it's probably more to do with how the dance feels. Dance moves can often feel unnatural. They are far more exaggerated than usual daily movements. This alone can make them feel strange, and it is normal to think that they would look odd too. It can feel even more extreme if it doesn't suit how you feel. Such dance moves correspond to positive body language. If you're feeling self-conscious, then there will be incongruence between how you feel and how you're moving. This will make it seem wrong, and you'll be paranoid. The easiest way to deal with this is simply knowing it might feel odd and trust the advice of those who say it looks good. I find I often need to so this with Samba walks, the more odd it feels the more I am told it looks good.
I hope this provides some help to you and your arm styling.