Dance Better Now

The quickest way to get perfect balance and dance better - with balls!

These balls are the key to better balance and excellent dance.

Do you ever have issues with keeping your balance when you:

• Move your weight from one foot to the other
• Place your feet along the same line
• Turn with your feet together
• Turn
• Lunge or dip
• Do a hesitation
• Maintain weight on one foot for a period
• Take a tall posture on your toes and hold it
• Take a large step

If you do, then there is a simple fix.

I once had these issues and found that Franklin balls were the easiest way to improve my balance, and dance better.

 

Get yourself a pair and try the following exercises:

• Simply stand on them (with the balls of your feet)
• While standing on them do a squat
• While doing the squat – keep your hands on your head
• Step on to one then off and on again with the other foot

Because you are standing on the Franklin balls, you are much less secure. This means you need to work harder to keep balance, and you can work this skill in a shorter period. If you do the above repeatedly for only 5 minutes a day, then you will notice improvements. I did them while watching TV. You too can do it while watching TV, or listening to music, or talking on the phone, or talking with you loved one about their day, or anything that uses a different part of the brain.

Do it in bare feet so that you also improve your ability to use the sensations from your feet to correct your balance.

You will see improvements in a week.

 

PS

You can buy Franklin balls in many places. I provide a link to make it easy. I should also let you know that if you do buy via the link, then I get some compensation. It’s good to be open about these things.

Dancing in the palm of your hand

The human hand is one of the most impressive example of sophisticated machinery on the face of the planet. What it can achieve is amazing. If you know how to take full advantage of its ability, then you will dance with your partner at a much greater level.

Just take a moment to look at your hand and think about what it can do:

• It can move from a flat surface that can easily slide
• It can form a tight ball like fist
• It can curve into a hook shape to hold onto something
• It can spread out to distribute load on contact
• It can grip around objects of various shapes
• It can apply a force
• It can sense pressure from another hand so that another dancer's position can be inferred
• it can twist and bend at the wrist so that it can do the above in different orientations
• It can then move to almost any position around the body on the end of the arm

Just stop and think about the above. You hand can do a lot for you by sending signals via movement and force and at the same time tell you a lot about what is going on with your dance partner.

To take full advantage of what your hand can do, it needs sufficient attention from you. 

Next time you are having troubles leading or following, try focusing on your hand: its position, shape, force applied force felt, movement and so on. There is potentially a clue to dancing better. As note, this is more likely to be an issue in your swing, Latin and street Latin dances, but always keep it in the back of your mind as a tool to use when you have dance issues.

The bare foot dancer

A key to dance is balance and a key to balance is placing your weight over your foot correctly. To do this, you need to be able to feel weight movement within your feet to the smallest degree. Increasing this ability will make you a better dancer.

Your foot is actually made to do this. There are around 100,000 - 200,000 exteroceptors (nerves) in the sole of each foot. This makes the feet one of the most sensitive parts of the body – it’s in the same category of sensitivity as the hands. This makes sense; the feet are our connection with the environment and stop us from stepping on dangerous items. Because of this sensitivity, we rely on our feet a lot to maintain balance. However, as well as losing this sensitivity as we age, we can lose it from wearing shoes. The fact is we do not need to consider the signals we get from our feet as much as we do when we have no shoes. One of the major causes of falls as we age is our inability to sense with our feet. Imagine how detrimental this could be for your dancing. As good as shoes are, they have their downside.

Let’s now talk about increasing the sensitivity of your feet.

No shoes

This is an easy one. Simply take you shoes off and walk around on diverse surfaces – outside in a part is ideal. This will make your brain wake up to the signals from your feet so that they can be used to improve your balance.

Balance exercise

This one is a bit more involved. Stand on one foot and close your eyes. By closing your eyes you need to focus more on the signals from your feet to maintain balance. Focus on the shifts in pressure you feel in the sole of your foot. By using the pressure shifts you increase your brains tendency to be aware of this information and use it.

Engage in either of the above and notice how much more grounded you are when you dance next time. Also be more aware of your feet when you dance for better balance.