Hi Suomynona
Very good points you made. Think about relaxing the shoulders in everyday activities.
I've had terrible trouble over the years with hunching my shoulders. Still liable to do it. I spoke with my physio about it abut 6 months ago and she gave me some fabulous advice which has improved things for me greatly in a short time. Pull your rib cage up and away from the hips. that's it. Doing this seems to increase my height a great deal and makes it almost impossible to hunch my shoulders. Try it. The Abdominal muscles are working hard to do it, but don't think of them, think of ribs and hips and pulling them apart. Everything else moves into place.

Lift up from the spine, let the shoulders hang down.

Good points, and split( extend the elbow outward)

Phil,
pul up rib cage from the hip is really helpful to create and maintain beautiful body lines ;long and flat contacted surface with the partner and correct level of elbows.
Physio 's fabulous advice based on the knowledge of human body. How smart they are.

...Pull the ribcage up from the hips.

I am not following, but could use an exercise like this. Could you explain it a little bit more?

An exercise I use takes me back to when I use to dive off the spring board into the pool . The divers stance. Pretend you are on the end of the board, high above the water,now rise up onto the balls of the feet, the arms extended forward ,you are balanced virtically,you can feel your spine being pushed up through your body ,gravity is pulling all the muscles and flab down into the board. Remember if you tilt forward you will fall into the pool ,if you are doing a back dive and you tilt back you will also fall into the pool. Now maintaining that poise lower all the way down by bending the knees ,don't let the heels touch the board,bring the arms down and back,then rise up bringing the arms back to horizontal, do this several times maintaining your poise and balance. Each time you rise you will feel the (body rise) and poise of a good dance. This is what I try to feel whenever I dance. Dave

Cool... You explained that quite well
Thanks

Sit upright in a chair. Put your hands on your bottom ribs. Take a deep breath. Feel the ribs rise?(and move outwards of course). Breath out but leave the ribs where they are. You will feel the tension in your deep abdominal muscles. When you get the idea, do it without having to breath in. Don't tense the neck or shoulders. Practice makes perfect, as usual.
Now, where's that diving board......

Since I am getting good advise so far.... We have recently changed instructors/coaches after 7 years. Of course the first thing the new coach goes after is our dance frame and now I am totally confused.... It is like I just dont know what to do with my body to acheive the desired result.

So...how can I explain this. As lady there are 2 things I can do. I can pull up my rear end underneath me, or I can do the opposite and almost go into a sit position.. any clues?

Then ratherr than using a backwards poise or stretch which I incorrectly tend to do it has been explained to me that I should be very forward from my say adams apple down.. It seems like a contradiction to me and I just cant make it happy... Any ideas?

Thanks for the posture help so far....

Jan. I hope we are talking Modern Ballroom here and not Latin. Believe me everything comes from this simple explanation. As you extend your moving foot right to the tip of the toe. You must bend your supporting knee in the opposite direction , which is foreward towards your partner. This is also the same for the man when the roles are reversed. You should be balanced over your standing foot. Then the whole of the body moves back over the new standing foot. In other words don't nod.
Whether you do one step back or a dozon the action remains the same. Good practice is in an extended hold, or if you are more ambitious , right palm to right palm with another person.It doesn't even have to be a male. Just move straight down the floor as lady backwards and then without changing foreward. You will quickly learn what is meant by nodding and stepping together. What has this got to do with poise. If you push your hips up as you suggested you won't be in a position to do any of the above. Replace the sit you suggested with the knee foreward towards the front and the extension behind and dance over your own two feet.It should be impossible to stick the bottom out doing this correctly. This part can easily be misunderstoodd. That is the person going backwards must release the moving foot early and don't try from a feet together position otherwise you will be pushed onto the step. Practice. Practice.