Get To The Core Of Your Dancing

The single most important technique I learned that enhanced my skills as a dancer, was to maintain a strong core. - Allyson Lockhart

Get to the core of your dancing!

Developing a strong core will instantly improve your posture which in turn, will positively affect your dancing ability. It will also decrease your chances of injury because you will be dancing the movements properly.

The majority of your core muscles lie deep within your torso. I've had students ask me how to find them. It's easy! Simply imagine a cable connected to your navel. Take a deep breath (fill up your tummy with air). While you exhale, pull the cable back towards your lower back. Now you've engaged your transverse abdominus (TA) muscle (the main muscles supporting your torso). Your transverse abdominus muscle is located beneath your rectus abdominus (the '6-pack' muscle you see on many dancers). It is also the "pouch area" that most women speak of.

The next question I often hear is, "When do I breathe?" Excellent question! Many people tend to lift the shoulders and inflate the lungs. Remember, take a deep breath all the way down to your tummy. You should see your stomach inflate with air. Now, exhale and pull the cable back at the same time. Keep contracted and keep breathing in and out calmly. Try and hold this for 10 seconds at a time. Practice this often, doing rep's of 10. Through practice, you will begin to feel like your core is engaged and you're still able to breathe. Soon enough, you'll be dancing an entire hour with your core actively engaged.

If you're off balance, activate the TA muscle. It will be the most important thing you can do to better your dancing. It truly is a quick fix miracle.

If your turns are off balance, again activate the TA muscle. Next, lift your head up and try the turn again. You should find that all of your weight is now on one axis which will balance your weight while you turn. Still off balance? Make sure that you're turning on one foot only. For the most part, you can't be split weight while turning.

So go on, get to the CORE of your dancing!