Body type - does it affect your dancing? Your scores in comp?

M

Me

Active Member
Okay. For starters, I am not referring to weight.

I am referring to build.

Take me. I am... HOPELESSLY, short waisted. My torso is extremely short. I look at pros with those long and lean, expressive torsos, and I try at times to emulate this (in my bedroom, bien sur) but notice that... wow, gee, my upper body is not nearly as long as it needs to be.

Or, at least, this is how I feel, and this is what I see.

Is this accurate? Or, do I just need to train certain muscle groups for strength and flexibility? I know that when I first learned leg mounts and complained that my arms were too short, my instructor said, "You arms aren't too short. Your legs just aren't flexible enough. Keep stretching!" (They were right!)
 
You can help the "look" of the short torso through judicious costuming. As for the use of your body -- yes, stretch, gain body awareness and control, learn how to use what you've got to its maximum. You still have all the bones and muscles and tendons and ligaments and joints that anyone else has, it's just a matter of learning how to access and use them.
 
I had a book out of the library about 8 months ago called Dance Kinesiology, and it is worth checking out if you can get your hands on it.

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Kinesiology-Sally-Sevey-Fitt/dp/0028645073

I didn't have time to read it all (it's not an easy read for those who have very limited knowledge on anatomy, etc.), but yes, after reading what I read, I do believe that body type does affect dancing. Part of the book described the 3 body types and what it means to have each of those types (or a combination thereof). For instance, my body type is not conducive to long-term aerobic activity; I'm better suited for short spurts of energy. And the book went on to suggest certain things to strenghten your weaknesses.
 
Stride is a bit of a problem for me because my legs are so short. I'm only about 5'0 1/2, maybe 5'1 on a good day, and it's all torso. It's to the point where when I try to drive my mom's car, I literally can't press the gas and keep my foot on the floor at the same time.

And a certain amount of that can be helped by really pushing from the supporting leg, but when my teacher (who's fairly tall) really starts to stride, he leaves me in the dust...his legs (hipbones at least, which is where I measure my legs) come up to about the bottom of my ribcage. It's pretty pathetic.

So yes, I think it can be a problem, but you do what you can to work with what you have.
 
After reading OP again, maybe I'm going in the wrong direction. Not sure if you mean just appearance-wise, or something else?
 
Me said:
<snip>
Take me. I am... HOPELESSLY, short waisted. My torso is extremely short. I look at pros with those long and lean, expressive torsos, and I try at times to emulate this (in my bedroom, bien sur) but notice that... wow, gee, my upper body is not nearly as long as it needs to be.
Click to expand...

I have read, somewhere, that the late Mr. Astaire was long waisted. He felt that it the effect he wanted for his dancing was to be long legged. So he had all of his suits and jackets tailored so that the waist was above his natural waistline and his trousers tailored with a higher rise than would have been normal for the time.

I have also read that he thought his hands were too big and spent a great time working with various positions so that they looked better on camera.

In the immortal words of Osgood Fielding: "Well, nobody's perfect".

Maybe that's why She made tailors.
 
I am tall and fairly slim and have always thought short, compact ladies make better Latin and Rhythm dancers than tall ladies--yet I've always been drawn to Latin/rhythm rather than Standard and Smooth.

And aren't most of the Smooth/Standard ladies long and lean? At least that's how it looks from my vantage point, over in the cheap seats.

:-)
 
My constant take one this subject ... body type only affects your dancing/scoring as much as you think it effects you. The more you worry that your body isn't "right" for dancing, the more you try to "hide" perceived flaws, the worse you will do. I've seen competitors who had nowhere near the "perfect" body, who were comfortable (and thus natural in their movement) who looked unbelievable on the floor, relative to any standard, I've also seen absolutely gorgeous women who obsess over the littlest perceived problem who never look confident on the floor.
 
I have comp videos of me at varying weights and I do notice that I move more fluidly at my lowest weight compared to my heaviest (even when the latter is at a more advanced dance stage). Stands to reason, since I have less to propel around the floor when I'm at a low weight. But my comp results don't necessarily correlate at all--too many other factors, both with my dancing and with the competition and the specific judges, play a much larger role.

At the level most of us ams are at, I don't think body type makes an across-the-board difference. There are trade-offs. If you're a long-waisted smooth dancer, you may have a nice long line, but you may also have comparatively shorter legs so your stride may be more of a challenge to you compared to a short-waisted, long-legged dancer.

It's really a matter of making the most of your assets and working on your weaknesses and perhaps ultimately developing a style that emphasizes your strengths.

Or as my pro says to me when I complain about my feet, back, shoulders, lousy balance, lack of flexibility, etc., etc., "Sorry, you don't get to use that excuse. Get over it!" (Always said with a :) !)
 
This is an ideal body shape and build for ballet dancers, for year when someone said I would have been a ballet dancer but I'm the wrong shape I thought it was a euphemism for just not good enough, having read a bit more, I realise now there may have been some truth in it!

For ballroom however, it doesn't really seem to matter, although all top dancers are slim. Judicous costuming can discuise aspects: a friend was saying she had a really short body so had to be careful about what she wore, I hadn't even noticed!! It's how you use what you've got which determines how good you'll get :)
 
waltzgirl said:
I have comp videos of me at varying weights and I do notice that I move more fluidly at my lowest weight compared to my heaviest (even when the latter is at a more advanced dance stage). Stands to reason, since I have less to propel around the floor when I'm at a low weight. But my comp results don't necessarily correlate at all--too many other factors, both with my dancing and with the competition and the specific judges, play a much larger role.

At the level most of us ams are at, I don't think body type makes an across-the-board difference. There are trade-offs. If you're a long-waisted smooth dancer, you may have a nice long line, but you may also have comparatively shorter legs so your stride may be more of a challenge to you compared to a short-waisted, long-legged dancer.

It's really a matter of making the most of your assets and working on your weaknesses and perhaps ultimately developing a style that emphasizes your strengths.

Or as my pro says to me when I complain about my feet, back, shoulders, lousy balance, lack of flexibility, etc., etc., "Sorry, you don't get to use that excuse. Get over it!" (Always said with a :) !)
Click to expand...
I agree with all of this...also, in my on case I happen to be very long waisted and while my legs are not short they are short enough that I look more size compatible to pro than I really am ...as for weight, I have noticed two differences, I have more flexibility and less pain... haven't been dancing long enough to say whether that translates to results (doubt it) ...however, I don't think that there is much doubt that when all other things are close, it is an aesthetic sport...
 
I think body type can help.

I also think particular body features can help. For example, I think having knees that slightly hyperextend would be very helpful in cha-cha and rumba. (I do not have such knees.)

That being said, I think the wise advice above is that you have to work with what you have. I have a long torso, but do not have long arms and legs. Whatchya gonna do? The choices seem to be "Experiment with medieval torture instruments" or "Learn to love the body you've got"...and those pesky neighbors do tend to stare when you receive delivery of medieval torture instruments, so.... ;)

I do think it is pretty cool that the latin and ballroom worlds have relative latitude in body type compared to ballet, which has quite an exacting ideal.
 
Interesting. I have long legs and short torso (but no extremes here ;) ). I have no problems with the stride, but have to work more on the topline stretch.
 
I have long legs and a fairly short torso (but not too short) and I find that it helps me, a 5'8" lady, tremendously dancing standard with my 6'3" dance partner since our leg lengths and strides are virtually the same;)

I do think carrying one's center of gravity higher at times can cause balance issues. I think that's part of why latin dancers tend to be shorter (and why shorter standard dancers excel at tango and q-step) - faster, sharper movements tend to be easier for shorter dancers, or dancers with shorter legs, placing their center of gravity lower to the ground than us long-legged and tall folk:)
 
I have rather long torso and very strong muscular legs.. Everyone seems to think my body would be perfect for latin (and my legs look very hyper extended...) ... don't know what to do... oh well. Just keep doing the same thing I always have.. although latin would be so much fun :(
 
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