trying to understand successfully transferring weight

[Corne]

I was watching the DVD on personal balance and found the following comments of value. I wish to clarify my understanding more.

1) every forward step is a combination of forward and side movement.
2) upper and lower sphere are moving away from each other when transferring weight.
3) don't create side load - overshooting weight to side because of desire to keep posture which is incorrect from DVD. you should have an oily spine.

so :
with your center balanced and both feet on the floor, next to one another
first movement is side movement to left to create a free moving right leg.
then using hip joint
create say, a step on the right
then your weight is transferred forward and moving your center
arrive on right foot
continue movement sideways (would this be left side - opposite of moving leg ?).

I am definitely guilty of trying to control my balance on say first my left foot then my right foot; most of the time overshooting/creating a side load and so loosing balance totally.

of course it is clear that in the final practiced movement, this sideways movement while transferring weight is not visible.

any more explanation or clarifying comments on this ?

for reference - chapter 25 & 26 on DVD.

[Chris Stratton]

I think it would help if you specified if you were talking about latin, standard (not tango) or standard (tango).

[DancingMeow]

I believe he/she is talking about the dance bible (DVD), which concentrates on general techniques of the standard dances.

[Some guy]

Sound like the Dance Bible to me.

[Some guy]

I'm still pretty new at this weight transfer business in Standard. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled to this thread.

[Corne]

to answer the question that was posed, standard dancing - let's make it waltz.

yes, it is the dance bible dvd. I was hoping to get balance explained in a different way or get a different perspective from it.

I just came back from my first coaching lesson - great timing. Didn't know about this coaching lesson until today. Lots of theory knowledge and unfortunately not enough to incorporate into our dancing today.

Coach immediately addressed the balance issue - apparently i am not getting all my weight over my standing/supporting leg. I stop somewhere in between with the weight transfer. Coach said, "collar bone over hip bone over foot." It feels rather as if i am going to fall over so far left or right do i have to transfer my weight.

anybody agree or disagree with this ?

[Some guy]

Actually, I don't know if I agree, but your explanation seemed to help with my dancing. :)

[Josh]

Corne, I think I know who your coach is by the verbage, and yes, he's quite correct :-) Don't look at this as a strict rule as you will watch good dancers and never think they have those three areas lined up on EVERY step by watching them. Think of it as a general rule in that your center must be balanced over your foot completely. Though you feel a tilt now, the more you realize how centered you must be, the less it will feel as a tilt, just take my word for it. He's trying to get you to really work your balance over every step and therefore dance with your body, not your legs.

[Kitty]

1) every forward step is a combination of forward and side movement.
2) upper and lower sphere are moving away from each other when transferring weight.
3) don't create side load - overshooting weight to side because of desire to keep posture which is incorrect from DVD. you should have an oily spine.



had to read several times until i underfstood what you are talking about..
but still don't understand 2)
what are the "lower and upper spheres" that you mention?

[Kitty]

Coach immediately addressed the balance issue - apparently i am not getting all my weight over my standing/supporting leg. I stop somewhere in between with the weight transfer. Coach said, "collar bone over hip bone over foot." It feels rather as if i am going to fall over so far left or right do i have to transfer my weight.


this is usually exactly the problem:
of course everyone is getting SOME weight over the foot, but not everything. a lot of people get some weight over right foot for example, and already begin the next step with the left foot before the weight transfer is finished.

When you get a comlete weight transfer, you should be quite comfortable. If all your weight is on the foot, and you are aligned, you should feel yourself in balance (that is actually a big part of the point). if you feel yourself out of balance, something is off. you need to find the position when you are over your foot, and in a good alignment, and it should not feel like you are falling over.

most probably the reason why you don't get the complete transfer is that you are sticking your foot out in front of your body too far. Your leg can reach there, but it is much harder to move your weight there. so when you try to get your weight there, you have to work really really hard. The solution is to have more coordination between the movement of the body and the leg.
this is true in both swing dances and in tango.
I will just mention that the difference is that in swing dances the body weight moves first (initiates movement) and then the leg moves with it, in tango the foot is placed first and then the body moves over taht foot. In both swing dances and tango you need to achieve the weight transfer.

[Corne]

had to read several times until i underfstood what you are talking about..
but still don't understand 2)
what are the "lower and upper spheres" that you mention?

on point 2, your upper body (upper sphere) vs your lower body (lower sphere). you can rotate your upper body (shoulders etc) but have your lower body (hips & legs ...) stand still or face a different direction.

[Corne]

most probably the reason why you don't get the complete transfer is that you are sticking your foot out in front of your body too far. .

thanks for the replies, appreciate it.

this was just explaining or showing me when standing still and transferring weight from one foot to the other how far left (if over left foot) or right (if over right foot) i should be. we didn't even get to "moving" and transferring weight completely. would have loved to do that with the coach........well, next time he/coach is in town or at my coaching at Independence day ball.

about sticking the foot out. yes, up until now i was always thinking of moving the foot first, now the coach is saying move the foot last or in response to the body movement / move with your spine first then your foot.

my question always begs, why wasn't i told this right in the beginning or was i told but didn't understand up until now.

[FatBaldGuy60]

up until now i was always thinking of moving the foot first, now the coach is saying move the foot last or in response to the body movement / move with your spine first then your foot.

my question always begs, why wasn't i told this right in the beginning or was i told but didn't understand up until now.

My instructor basically says that when you shift weight to the standing leg, this allows your other foot to release. Then that foot can move and eventually take weight, which allows the relase of the standing leg. Thinking about it that way helps me.

FBG

[Corne]

My instructor basically says that when you shift weight to the standing leg, this allows your other foot to release. Then that foot can move and eventually take weight, which allows the relase of the standing leg. Thinking about it that way helps me.

FBG

yes, that is how i understand that now too

[Josh]

about sticking the foot out. yes, up until now i was always thinking of moving the foot first, now the coach is saying move the foot last or in response to the body movement / move with your spine first then your foot.

my question always begs, why wasn't i told this right in the beginning or was i told but didn't understand up until now.

Ideally, we are told things when we are ready for them. This is one hallmark of a good teacher--giving you what you need, WHEN you need it, not BEFORE you are ready for it. Imagine a coach talking about CBMP, side leads, sway, power, etc., on your first lesson or two--all stuff you need eventually, but not something you have a foundation to accept early on. Perhaps you were told and didn't fully grasp it, or perhaps you weren't told--either way, now you're more ready for it!

[Corne]

to clarify, i need some more detail on where the weight is on the standing foot when you have successfully transferred all your weight to your standing leg.

i recall from the coaching lesson that for latin, the weight is forward. and in standard tango the weight is on the back of the foot/heel. but for the swing dances, is the weight evenly distributed over the foot or more on the outside/inside of foot ?
i find that when i transfer the weight fully on the standing foot, my weight in my foot tends to be on the outside part of the standing foot...... do i need to fight this tendency or is it actually correct ?

[Corne]

coach talking about ...... sway, power, etc., on your first lesson

that is the other part of the first coaching lesson we had. no wonder my brain was fried yesterday, we covered so much during the coaching lesson. thanks for reminding me. (1) power (in the first step) was the first part of the important elements, (2) followed by continuation of power , (3) controlling of the power and (4) finally getting ready to start all over again with the power step.

*somewhere in the list of important elements, the terms of swing and sway was used. i didn't want to add them in my description because i will add them wrong.*

[Josh]

i find that when i transfer the weight fully on the standing foot, my weight in my foot tends to be on the outside part of the standing foot...... do i need to fight this tendency or is it actually correct ?

Yes, you need to wage war on this tendency... the weight should be over the center-to-inside part of the ball of the foot, depending of course on when we examine where our weight is (i.e., moving back on a TH step we would let our weight roll through the foot... toe, ball, whole foot, heel)--but never should the weight roll onto the outside of the ball of the foot. When closing your feet pull your thighs/legs/ankles together as practice, and you'll find that on steps where you do not close your feet you will begin to keep the weight towards the middle as well.

[Josh]

that is the other part of the first coaching lesson we had. no wonder my brain was fried yesterday, we covered so much during the coaching lesson. thanks for reminding me. (1) power (in the first step) was the first part of the important elements, (2) followed by continuation of power , (3) controlling of the power and (4) finally getting ready to start all over again with the power step.

*somewhere in the list of important elements, the terms of swing and sway was used. i didn't want to add them in my description because i will add them wrong.*

Well I was referring to a student's first or second EVER private lesson, not just a first coaching session as you had the other day. And you have the ideas pretty straight here, you would insert "swing" into (2), and "sway" into (3).

[Corne]

thanks Josh.