Hi to all,
A definition I read recently on sway, started: The natural inclination...

Do you agree it is natural to sway or should it be developed?

Guy Howard's definition is:



So no mention of "natural" inclination there, but I think that it IS natural to sway, but further development is desirable too.

Too much sway is worse than too little, though, and we need to remember to sway from the ankles (except for that small group of figures that have "broken-sway", from the waist only). I saw a couple last night whose idea of sway was for the man to lift one shoulder, while dropping the other. The woman was so off balance that she would end up with only one foot on the floor, and the other about six inches off it.

As Scriv. would say " Sway should be sympathetic ".

Its function is complex, and should be a part of the " swing " that is employed with the actions of the body during that exercise .

It's a simple matter to say incline "the body from the ankles upwards." It's quite another to dance it properly while maintaining proper rise, turn, and shift of weight.

I find that some follows have a difficult time with their heads on a sway. On relatively tight turns, for example, they may want to look into the center of the turn.

I was taught to "lengthen one side without shortening the other." As with following, head movement can be problematic.

jj

I started an informative thread on this topic about a year ago now it seems, basically because my instructor has often told me to "Stop swaying," because I tend to do it too much.
The Side Sway step video for the Fox Trot in the learning center on this site seems to be a nice-looking way to do that kind of step. But I know that sway is natural and essential in some instances, with body movement going with the music.
Otherwise, it probably is a developed skill -- when to do it, when not to do it, how to make it look good, and how to know when it looks bad.
jj is correct. Balance is important when the body is swaying.

I agree with JJ that good sway is easier to prescribe than it is to do.

The instruction "from the ankles upwards" is, however, a good instruction, and it stops in their tracks anyone who believes that sway comes primarily from the shoulder line (or at best, the waist).

Done to the right degree (in turning figures in social dancing, at least), I think it is the couple themselves who will be mainly aware of their sway - an inclination of really the whole body to the inside of the turn, to counteract centrifugal force - and observers will see very little in the way of "styling". If that much sway is proportionaly increased, so that it is readily apparent to an observer, then that is about as much as would ever be required. The rise and fall is more important, and in one sense, the use of sway can be likened to modifed rise, in that you are stretching one side of the body more than the other.

If it looks contrived, it is either being overdone, or being done wrongly.

Having just re read your post.. are you talking about Amer. style F/T ?..

There is a distinct difference to the approach of " sway " in that context .

Whe I first worked for F/A, there were some very strange ideas on how to employ sway on certain types of movements ( it started to look like a rocking chair ! ).

As to balance being important in sway.. its important in everything we dance .

As Scriv. said ( again ) sway is a " natural " element that appears on most fwd movements combined with " swing " and of course, in various other advanced figures .