How to Maintain Body Posture in Tap Dance
Stand with parallel feet., Lean slightly forwards., Keep your knees bent., Relax your arms., Avoid sticking your hips out., Loosen up your ankles., Keep your weight on your toes., Hold your core.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Stand with parallel feet.
This is a common problem for ballet dancers, who spend years turning out.
While some steps, such as buffalo, dictate that the feet stay turned out, the majority of tap steps have your feet slightly apart and facing forwards. -
Step 2: Lean slightly forwards.
Most of the time, you don't want to be stiff as a stick, as it can do some damage to your knees and generally ruin the natural flow of tap dance.
While you don't want to be slouching, keeping your weight forward on your toes will help you to balance and to move more quickly. , This is extremely important, as keeping your legs straight can do serious damage to your knees, ankles, and movements in general.
Any time you're tap dancing, unless your teacher specifically instructs you to keep your knees straight during a certain step or combination, have your knees slightly bent and relaxed. , Tap is one of the few types of dance that doesn't tend to have specific arms for combinations.
Unless your teacher instructs you on how to do your arms, you'll want to keep them simple.
Some great places to rest them are at your hips or simply by your sides, but tap allows you to let your arms go where they want to go if you don't want to keep them in one place alone. , When you're leaning forwards and have your knees bent, it's common to make the mistake of looking as if you're squatting.
Although you do want to have your weight forwards, and you don't want to have your knees locked, don't do them both to such a drastic measure that you're almost sitting on the air. , It's very important to not put too much pressure on your ankles.
This can be very hard in tap dance, but there are some things you can do to keep it relaxed.
Point, flex, and rotate your feet, and never forget to stretch your ankles along with everything else before class to avoid injury. , This goes hand in hand with leaning forwards, but even when you're instructed to stand up straight, you must keep your weight on your toes.
With the constant flow of quick steps, almost all of which have the weight on the toes, leaning backwards and putting your weight on your heels for even a second can completely throw you off balance. , This is a shorter way of saying to keep your ribs closed, your abs engaged, and your weight up.
Don't puff out your chest like a proud Momma Duck or keep your abdomen overly relaxed, as it will kill your balance.
This can take months and even years of practice to naturally do, but once you find your center and learn to hold your core, maintaining tap posture will be noticeably easier, and your dance will greatly benefit. -
Step 3: Keep your knees bent.
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Step 4: Relax your arms.
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Step 5: Avoid sticking your hips out.
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Step 6: Loosen up your ankles.
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Step 7: Keep your weight on your toes.
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Step 8: Hold your core.
Detailed Guide
This is a common problem for ballet dancers, who spend years turning out.
While some steps, such as buffalo, dictate that the feet stay turned out, the majority of tap steps have your feet slightly apart and facing forwards.
Most of the time, you don't want to be stiff as a stick, as it can do some damage to your knees and generally ruin the natural flow of tap dance.
While you don't want to be slouching, keeping your weight forward on your toes will help you to balance and to move more quickly. , This is extremely important, as keeping your legs straight can do serious damage to your knees, ankles, and movements in general.
Any time you're tap dancing, unless your teacher specifically instructs you to keep your knees straight during a certain step or combination, have your knees slightly bent and relaxed. , Tap is one of the few types of dance that doesn't tend to have specific arms for combinations.
Unless your teacher instructs you on how to do your arms, you'll want to keep them simple.
Some great places to rest them are at your hips or simply by your sides, but tap allows you to let your arms go where they want to go if you don't want to keep them in one place alone. , When you're leaning forwards and have your knees bent, it's common to make the mistake of looking as if you're squatting.
Although you do want to have your weight forwards, and you don't want to have your knees locked, don't do them both to such a drastic measure that you're almost sitting on the air. , It's very important to not put too much pressure on your ankles.
This can be very hard in tap dance, but there are some things you can do to keep it relaxed.
Point, flex, and rotate your feet, and never forget to stretch your ankles along with everything else before class to avoid injury. , This goes hand in hand with leaning forwards, but even when you're instructed to stand up straight, you must keep your weight on your toes.
With the constant flow of quick steps, almost all of which have the weight on the toes, leaning backwards and putting your weight on your heels for even a second can completely throw you off balance. , This is a shorter way of saying to keep your ribs closed, your abs engaged, and your weight up.
Don't puff out your chest like a proud Momma Duck or keep your abdomen overly relaxed, as it will kill your balance.
This can take months and even years of practice to naturally do, but once you find your center and learn to hold your core, maintaining tap posture will be noticeably easier, and your dance will greatly benefit.
About the Author
Shirley Bell
Specializes in breaking down complex practical skills topics into simple steps.
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