The Floor is Your Friend

The Dance Floor is Your Friend

The dance floor is your friend. The dance floor is a constant. You connect to the floor through your feet, ankles, and legs, and even through your torso. While the type of dance floor varies from one studio to another, and from one venue to another, the importance of connecting into the floor cannot be underestimated, and the techniques for making that connection are specific for every dance type, but let’s talk in general terms.

Dance Movement

Dance movement begins on a weighted foot, continues through a series of weight changes, and finishes over a weighted foot. The connection of the weighted foot to the floor varies in degree depending how much weight is on either foot and where the weight is on the foot.

The unweighted foot may still carry some weight through a movement, but the quality of dance movement largely depends on how long this foot remains on the floor and how much pressure (not weight) pushes into the floor. Pressure into the floor with the unweighted foot is created through any combination of actions in the leg and hip muscle groups.

Let me add that the worst dance position is split weight. Although most dances move through split weight, it is unusual to finish a movement in split weight. By finishing in split weight, there is no standing leg to power the next movement and no free leg to receive the movement. This is slow and inefficient. Back-weighted is almost as slow and awkward. Back-weighted dance movement keeps the core, shoulders, and head weight on the side of the body opposite the line of dance. Strong, efficient dance movement avoids split-weighted and back-weighted positions.

Let's Make Friends with the Dance Floor!

Contact me to schedule a private lesson—either in person or via Google Meeting—to explore these concepts, and grow into a stronger, more attractive dancer on the dance floor!

- Bryce Greene