Download Posture

Posture
Lesson Objectives:
• Be able to describe good
and bad posture.
• Be able to comment on
examples of posture and
recommend exercises to
improve.
What is Posture?
 Carriage
of the body.
 The
position in which you hold your body
upright against gravity while standing,
sitting or lying down.
 Proper
alignment of posture and turnout
are necessary for balance, muscle
development, and prevention of injury in
dance.
THE FACTS
Poor alignment puts stresses and strains on the joints and muscles of the
lower back and legs, causing muscles to work beyond their natural
capacities, joints to carry more weight, and ligaments to lose their
elasticity (Loren 111).
How do you improve posture?

Stand with your body weight forward, mostly on the balls of
your feet

Distribute your body weight evenly between your feet

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart

Try not to lock your knees

Stand tall, with shoulders square and relaxed

Keep your head in line with your spine, eyes straight ahead

Hold your chin parallel to the floor.

Keep your neck long and stretched upward
Exercises to improve
posture

Step 1: Strengthen Your Core
Core exercises: Crunches, plank etc.

Step 2: Fix Rounded Shoulders
Rows with a weight:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=17
4 or chest stretches: http://www.stretchingworld.com/cheststretch.html

Step 3: Neutralize Tilted Hips
Bridges:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=15
3

Step 4: Retract a Forward Head
Neck stretches:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=56
TURNOUT
 Outward
rotation of the hips and the feet.
 With perfect turnout, a dancer's feet point
in opposite ways of each other to form a
straight line, with the heels touching.
 A good turnout = more flexibility and
greater range of movement.
 How do you improve turnout?
What happens with too
much turnout?





Over turnout in the feet can also lead a dancer to injury.
Unfortunately, many dancers become overzealous in their
turning out, which can lead to a variety of problems.
Turnout should come from the ball-and-socket joint at the
hip, not from the knees or the ankles. The knees should
always point over the toes, the feet should never roll over
the arches, and the pelvis should not feel pushed or tilted
forward.
If you should notice that you are doing any of the abovementioned things or if you feel pain in any of these areas,
simply move your toes to a slightly more turned in position.
Do not try to correct the rolled in arches or the tilted pelvis
by muscling your way through combinations: you will only
put more strain on the other, making injury even more likely.