What is "The Dance Frame" product?

[pygmalion]

Has anybody besides me read through the Showtime newsletter that went out yesterday? It includes an advertisement for something called "The Dance Frame -- Your Private Practice Partner" It literally looks like a frame, and is apparently endorsed by "The World 10 Dance Champions." (I didn't view enough of the video/commercial to know exactly who that means. LOL)

Does anybody have experience with this dance frame? What is it? How does it work? Is it a good buy? :roll:

[Purr]

I saw this product advertised by Showtime at a competition last fall, if this is the same product. Basically, it's a framework that forces you into correct dance position for smooth dancing. The idea would be that the correct position would go into muscle memory. I can't recall exactly how much is cost, maybe around $200.

[dancin_feet]

Never seen the product, but from the description you give, surely for repetition and getting the frame into muscle memory, it would be better than practicing by yourself? It definitely won't replace dancing with a real person, but in the absence of a real person it could be a help.

[SDsalsaguy]

Not necessarily d_f. One could also make the argument that such a frame could train your body to count on it (the frame) rather than actually forcing your body and muscle memmory to adapt and to learn how to maintain frame itself.

[Chris Stratton]

Or there's the mirror method:

Put a mirror somewhere that you can pass by frequently during the day. Every time you are headed towards it, put up your dance frame by feel. Then look in the mirror and refine everything you find wrong.

Over time, your by-feel attempts will need less and less by-eye adjustment.

Of course this can only refine your frame to what _you_ think it should be.

[JohnK]

I wonder if this is the gizmo the guy was wearing in the movie "Shall We Dance". Looked like some sort of scaffold / prosthetic device for a broken neck :shock: . Looked like the thing "freezes" your shoulders and upper torso in an (adjustable) erect posture.

Ya gotta look quick, it's one shot during a night scene when the "investigators" are looking over a bridge of some sort at the guy practicing by himself below.

Yeah, OK, so I've watched the movie more than once...

[dancin_feet]

So it's something you wear! :shock:

Oohhh no way, yuck. I thought it may have been like a dummy that you adjusted your frame to.

In that case, that won't aide muscle memory at all. You need to maintain it yourself to do that.

[DanceMentor]

I've used it. I think it is a great teaching tool. I can't see using it for extended periods of time, but it can be expecially good for beginning students who need to feel what its like to switch between dance postitions while maintaining frame. I think its a handy thing for a dance school to have available to the teachers.

[UltraMagnus]

It definately lets you know when you are moving your frame improperly when you shouldn't....sometimes you don't listen to your muscles....

[DancingMommy]

We ran into it at our lesson on Thursday. According to our coach, it fits Surya better than anyone else he's ever seen try it AND it DOES work. :)

It gives a nice idea of where andhow to be aligned. It's especially good for getting promeande position *right* without scrunching or hunching or bunching the shoulders.

I get to play with it next time.

Can we tell that frame has been our BIGGEST problem?

[Laura]

It really depends on the student, of course...it will help a LOT of people, but then there are those who can't get it right once the frame is removed. I've danced with such people. While the frame was on. Grrrr.

[DancingJools]

I have one of these. Bought it at a comp for $125, if I remember correctly, and that included shipping, because the item is too awkward to carry onboard and won't fit in a suitcase.
It is helpful. My thinking with such contraptions, including video dance instructions is: compared to the cost of my lessons, is it worth it? If I think I can get enough benefit from it to equal (at the rate I pay), a lesson and a half, or say two lessons, with my teacher, then it's worth it.
From my point of view, it was worth it. It won't fix all your problems or turn you into a wonderful dancer. But it gave me a better awareness of my alignment, including the alignment of my body in Latin turns and spins. And it saved me having to waste that much of my teacher's time fixing these issues.

[DancingMommy]

It won't fix all your problems or turn you into a wonderful dancer. But it gave me a better awareness of my alignment, including the alignment of my body in Latin turns and spins. And it saved me having to waste that much of my teacher's time fixing these issues.

EGG-sactly! Sometimes you have to "feel" where you are supposed to be to actually make it click.