I am seeking some advice related to my frame. I would consider myself an intermediate to moderately advanced dancer with a lot of wonderful things still left to learn. I have been told I have a good frame and a nice top line, but I have also been told by reputable professionals that I need to relax my frame because I can be too tense. I am struggling to understand what I perceive to be the subtleties of this aspect of my frame. The obvious aside, have some other contributors to this sight experienced the same thing, and would you be willing to share your perceptions of what being tense through your frame can be? I would appreciate and respect the opinions of both the men and the ladies. I should confess up front that I am somewhat of an obsessive compulsive personality who strives to do things the right way and along with this comes tension from a lot focus, but I think I also fear relaxing too much and giving up an otherwise good frame for my partners to dance in. Please advise.

Hi. I was once told this when I was in the same level as you, and it can be frustrating. I generally found that the tenseness in the top line arose from 1 of 3 things:

1) Trying to hard to be perfect and thereby losing all technique.

2) Actually gripping the girls right hand to tight making everything seem tense. When I loosened this it was better.

3) Worrying about how it all looks. This can make you feel as though you are not doing it right and lead to everything looking tense.

Another factor could be how long you are dancing a particular dance. Sometimes after about 2 minutes things can get tense due to having to hold the girl and steer her.

It does not strive well as a dancer to be a perfectionist. You should try to aim to be the best you can and this is your perfect. Trying to be perfect as perfect can be could make your dancing look and feel awkward.

I hope these things help, as I am now professional but when learning all these tips helped me a lot! Good luck!

Perhaps you should try to relax "too much." So much of learning a physical activity comes from swinging from one extreme to the other and then back again, until, over time, you find the happy medium. Many people go through the same process of being too tense or too loose through the top, and the rest of their bodies for that matter.

If you tendency is toward tension, what might feel too relaxed may in fact be closer to what your teachers are looking for. If you do actually become too loose through your top, your teachers will point that out and you can apply a bit more tone. Either way, don't be surprised if many corrections seem too extreme at first. Trust your teachers. Best wishes!

mdmarkum. There is an excellent DVD by Glen Weisse on Posture. Does the lady need to flex her knees more than the man. Yes. For the man. Is there a straight line across the shoulders from the left elbow to the right elbow. Is the right elbow forward of the most forward part of the body.
( Too bad if the stomach is the most forward part of the body ) He goes into that..Does it produce a curve. With the lady producing the same lines as the man, which is on opposite sides, the two bodies should fit together comfortably. If the man drops his arms they should finish in front of the thighs. The ladies should be behind. Don't blame me guys. I am only quoting.

mdmarkum. Correction. That should read left elbow to right shoulder and not left elbow to right elbow. That would be a bit of a problem I think.

Maybe this will help maybe not. It is a fine line between too much and not enough.

Take the position of power and strength out of your arms and direct movement from your shoulders (as in down your back to the bottom of your shoulder blades). Engage them (Muscles tension) and your arms won't rise and you won't be tense. Give that a little while to sink in. It's a strange thought, but it shifts power back to the core and movement that originates from your core is always more fluid and connected and ends up looking better.

Next thing, engage all your muscles in your arms and your back and your stomach. Make everything respond as if every muscle were being counterweighted with a giant rubber band. That should be the feeling in your shoulders, not tension. There really should be no tension at all, just flex and the reactive movement to that flex...If the movement feels easy going through the air then it is wrong. Every movement should have full engagement of all those muscles. That being my point... easier said than done. Good luck!!

I should just like to add - keep the shoulders down! Extend the neck - but not so it looks forced.

Also the frame should look natural and comfortable at all times, even if your partner walks out of hold. You can just imagine how your hold would look if your partner was not there. If it looks like you are at a bowling alley or just thrown a frizbee, something is wrong!

I can't recall if I saw this in the learning center on this site, or picked it up as advice from an instructor. It was about envisioning the tension or force from your body coming only from the front half of your body. This would be same for both partners, to help create the proper communication tension in the hands, arms and shoulders. When you think about it, this causes you to create tension without using too much of your back or shoulder blades. In other words, you are not pushing or lowering your arms, hands, etc. to make that push. It is a more subtle tension, flowing from the front half of your body. When you try to do it that way, you actually can feel your frame staying in place. When I am teaching someone, I will explain that phenomenon, but also demonstrate it by holding frame with a partner, and then asking the partner to indicate which way I am trying to guide her. She can answer because she can feel it, but those observing can't tell I've really delivered a specific signal, per se, because I am not "pushing" or lowering my arms to power a move. It takes some practice, and like the other posters noted on this topic, it is almost something you do without thinking about it much after you get the feel for it.
I believe it was on this site's learning center, and it showed motion arrows coming from the front half of the body.

I would like to thank you all for your advice. I think I will be able to find my way through this much better now. Cyd, I will check out that DVD. Belle, thank you for your comments on muscle engagement / control. I've been athletic most of my life, and your advice isn't such a strange thought. It makes good sense, really. Thanks again to all! I appreciate your responses.