Ballroom Posture, Arms and Footwork: A Follow-Along Masterclass

The short answer: build your Ballroom dancing from the bottom up. Start with a neutral pelvis, then posture, poise and practice. Hold your arms with tone rather than tension, with your elbows in front of your spine and lower than your shoulders. Then go back to your feet: forward on the heel, side on the toe, close the feet fully and lower with control. Practise all of it in a simple box Waltz before you take it into your routine.

What are the four Ps of Ballroom posture?

Pelvis, posture, poise and practice. The pelvis is the part most dancers forget. Tilt it back, then forward, and you'll find a neutral point in between. That's where your posture starts. Lift gently up through the centre of the pelvis, the same muscle you use for pelvic floor exercises, and your core engages without you having to flex your abs. That engaged core is your posture.

From there, grow up through the ribcage without stretching. The goal is tone, not tension. When the pelvis and posture are organised, your arms can sit light and balanced on top. That's poise. Then you practise it, and you practise it correctly.

Why do my arms drop when I dance?

My coach drilled one idea into me: the arms aren't the problem, the hips are. Your arms sit on top of your hips. If your pelvis drops or tips back as you move, your arms drop with it, and lifting them higher only adds tension.

How should men and ladies hold their posture?

Ladies, think of a tulip. Take your weight into the balls of your feet and curve up and to the left through the upper body on a diagonal, with your head up and your arms light. To find the curve, hold your ribcage with your right hand and turn it to the right, keeping your arms in front of your spine. Shape comes later, from the man's lead, not from bending backwards. If your lower back hurts, the posture is wrong.

Men, think of a T. Keep the back vertical while letting the spine keep its natural curves, with the pelvis neutral, the weight on the balls of the feet and the knees slightly soft. Don't push the ribcage forward; let your lats open instead. If your pelvis tips, your weight goes onto your partner before you've even taken a step.

How do you hold your arms in Ballroom without tension?

Tension tires you out. Relaxing completely isn't the answer either, because then your frame collapses. You want tone. Build it in this order:

1. Fold in: bring your fingertips to your sternum with your elbows in front of your spine. That keeps the elbows naturally lower than your shoulders.
2. Train it in the box: dance a box Waltz holding that position for one full song. If your arms sag, those are the muscles you need to train. It should burn.
3. Unfold: open the arms out, below the shoulders and in front of the spine. The man's left arm folds at about 45 degrees, and his right arm angles down, as if towards the lady's right shoe.
4. Turn from the bicep: lengthen through the fingertips and turn the palms up by rotating from the bicep, not the wrist, then fold in from the elbow. Your arm line improves straight away.
5. Ladies: your arms make the other half of the oval, with your elbows in front of your body and lower than your shoulders, and your left hand resting on the inside of his upper arm. Men, make sure her left elbow can sit low.

How should your feet work in a box Waltz?

I can trace most problems back to the feet. Closed means the insteps, ankles and toes are together, with no gaps. Then:

• Forward: step straight forward on the heel, not on a diagonal.
• Side: step to the side on the toe.
• Close: close on the toe with the feet together, then lower the closing foot with control.
• Backward: reach from the tip of the toe, then the ball, then the heel.

As the feet close, use the inner thighs and the insides of the feet to draw them together, without squeezing. Anthony Hurley compared it to a strand of cooked spaghetti slipping through your fingers. Keep your ankles together when you rise, too. If your weight drifts to the outsides of your feet, you lose your balance.

Common mistakes

• Sitting back in the hips and calling it a frame.
• Letting the pelvis drop or go back as you step forward, so your momentum dies and you push into your partner.
• Lifting the arms higher to fix a frame that collapses, instead of fixing the pelvis.
• Elbows behind the spine or level with the shoulders, which pushes the chest forward and strains the shoulder.
• Feet that don't fully close, or ankles that come apart when you rise.
• Running choreography over and over instead of practising the principle.

Try this in your next practice

Don't run your routine. Take one principle and practise it in a box Waltz first, where there's no spinning or pivoting to deal with. Then put it into one basic section of your choreography, then an advanced section, and gradually join the sections together. Once or twice a week, dance a whole Waltz holding just that principle, without thinking about timing, expression or lead and follow. Keep it up for 30 days and film yourself at the start and every week or two, so you can see the change.

Frequently asked questions

How do I keep my frame while I'm dancing?

You train it. Hold the folded arm position through a box Waltz for a full song, then the open position, and notice when your arms get heavy. There's no shortcut that makes them stay up; the muscles have to learn to hold the right position.

Should my frame feel strong or relaxed?

Toned. Tension tires you and blocks your movement, and too much relaxation collapses your frame.

Do I need a partner to practise this?

No. Everything here works solo in a space of about two square metres, using a box Waltz.

Is this only for beginners?

No. My first lessons and my last lessons as a professional covered the same basics: close your feet, turn your toe in, use CBM. What changes is the level you refine them to.

Related lessons

• How to have world-class posture
• How to hold your frame in Ballroom dancing
• How to use your feet in Ballroom dancing
• Waltz basic steps for beginners

Vaughan Liddicoat is a 4 time World Professional 10 Dance representative for Australia, an accredited coach and the founder of Ballroom Mastery. He has a passion for dance and wants to help you become the best dancer you can be and have an amazing time doing it.