The right posture*sigh*

Cyriine

New member
I checked out the video, but got distracted by the video comments:

"your feet should be below your hips. Aren't they always? lol Great video. I'm learning so much..." <-- Lol

A friend, well classmate of mine used expert village to learn how to dance and did herself some rough damage on her back because she wasn't warming up or practicing anything but what the videos showed her. Though how thats the videos fault i'm not sure =\, well, rant over.
 

Kashmir

New member
I am so fat now that watching demo's of the "pelvic" tilt leave me frustrated. I am too fat to see if my pelvis is tilted!! I have an exaggerated S curve and I find the only way I can get my pelvis to look the way the instructors does, is to suck everything in and clench my butt cheeks for dear life.
First, if you are now unfit then the only time you should be thinking about pelvic tilt is for posture alignment. Please don't try and use this in dance yet until your abs and lower back muscles can automatically engage to protect your lower back. (The flexion - tilting forward - is safe but pelvic tilt often emphasise the extension - butt out, curve exaggerated)

So, assuming your pelvis is naturally dropped and you want to bring it back to neutral. First make sure your knees are soft; locked knees often lead to a dropped pelvis. Now the bad news. If you naturally have a dropped pelvis the muscles you need to lift it back are the lower abs - tend to be over stretched and weak so it is going to be difficult until you build up some strength. A half way point could be lying on your back on the floor and trying to pull your pubs up to your belly button. Once you find the muscles do a little each day and then try it standing.

As for fat hiding the moves, I doubt it. In fact I have seen some belly work moves only look good with a couple of extra dress sizes to magnify what is happening.

Good luck.
 

Belly Love

New member
This is wrong, it feels wrong and I have no idea what this "tuck your pelvis and rotate it forward" business is all about. Help?

I don't know if you would feel comfortable posting a pic? It's so hard for someone to examine what you're doing without seeing your body and how you're standing.

I know what you're saying about extra fat on your midsection. I've gained weight too and every time I practice all I think about (when I look directly at my stomach in the mirror) is, "I would be able to see my movements better if extra fat was not in the way!" Either that or I'm just distracted by my fat...?:lol:
 

Kashmir

New member
I don't know if you would feel comfortable posting a pic? It's so hard for someone to examine what you're doing without seeing your body and how you're standing.
To be of use you would need to highlight the anterior superior iliac spine
and the posterior superior iliac spine - that is the bony lump on the front and back of the pelvis.

I have done this with other teachers - but never been brave enough to do it with a student :D Basically, strip down as much as possible and use your finger tips to locate the pointy bits (you may need to push quite hard) then I put yellow spots on the points. This way you can clearly see if the posture is due to a dropped pelvis, exaggerated lower back curve or just a lot of butt.
 

Yame

New member
I know what you're saying about extra fat on your midsection. I've gained weight too and every time I practice all I think about (when I look directly at my stomach in the mirror) is, "I would be able to see my movements better if extra fat was not in the way!" Either that or I'm just distracted by my fat...?:lol:

That's so funny! I'm the exact opposite. I'm pretty thin and I love the days/times when I am a little bit bloated, because I feel like my movements show and look a lot better when I have a little bit of fat.

Usually, people who have some fat on their body (especially their belly) have a much easier time making their movements look bigger and more fluid, whereas thin, muscular people tend to have stiffer-looking movements. This isn't to say thin and muscular people can't be fluid or juicy, because they absolutely can. It's just easier to achieve that effect with more cushion!
 

Corylus

New member
I'm trying to improve my posture. Years of walking around slightly slouched at the shoulders means that it is hard work to move them into a position where they are in line with my hips. Also, have now discovered that I push my weight into my knees when I dance which puts a lot of strain on them (see my other thread re:knee pain and supplements). My lower body leans forward. It is going to be hard to re-train myself to shift the weight further back, more onto my heels.:(
 

astro_girl

New member
Weight gain is about fat not muscle strength, so women are more inclined to lay fat deposits down on belly, hips and thighs. Don't forget too that working a muscle will give it more bulk even though we don't gain huge muscle bulk like men do. You can't spot or target areas to lose weight either, you lose all over the areas that you lay down fat rather than just belly! Which is why you end up losing boob size as well as hip size when you lose weight. Darn it!

I know...it still drives me nuts all the ads out there that claim to help you target certain zones. But I SWEAR I'm the exception when it comes to losing weight. For every 10 lbs. I lose, I've lost a bra cup size. And no more. :confused:

Weight gain is about fat not muscle strength, so women are more inclined to lay fat deposits down on belly, hips and thighs. Don't forget too that working a muscle will give it more bulk even though we don't gain huge muscle bulk like men do. You can't spot or target areas to lose weight either, you lose all over the areas that you lay down fat rather than just belly! Which is why you end up losing boob size as well as hip size when you lose weight. Darn it!

I know...it's so annoying to me that so many companies still advertise targeted tonight and fat loss for their programs/products...and worse - people buy it!

I SWEAR I'm the exception, however, when it comes to targeted loss. For every 10 lbs. I lose, with it goes one bra cup size. And nothing else. :confused:
 
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Mellilah

New member
dance posture

That's a great guide, and very thorough. Thanks for sharing.


You're welcome. I actually just added a bunch more to the article making it better. I think it's really important that people realize it's more about gaining balanced muscle strength and flexibilty than anything else. You can tell someone to think this or that, tilt this or that, but when you begin moving your body will fall into it's usual alignment based on imbalances in strength and flexibilty. So, you really have to tackle all these postural issues from that perspective. Good dance posture is the same as good posture.

:) Mellilah

Proper Dance Alignment (posture) for Belly Dancers | Everything Belly Dance: History, Instruction, & More
 

Taslin

New member
I have to tuck my pelvis to dance safely, as my normal posture is "duck butted" and that is not a safe way to dance. I injured myself dancing (pre-BD) because of this posture which i naturally relax into.

so as many people have mentioned, a "tuck" is needed for some people regardless due to incorrect daily posture habits.

My "tucked" is some's "normal". A defined tuck is super tucked- for me.
 

Mellilah

New member
I have to tuck my pelvis to dance safely, as my normal posture is "duck butted" and that is not a safe way to dance. I injured myself dancing (pre-BD) because of this posture which i naturally relax into.

so as many people have mentioned, a "tuck" is needed for some people regardless due to incorrect daily posture habits.

My "tucked" is some's "normal". A defined tuck is super tucked- for me.

I hear you. A lot of people have to do this. I agree, and I think you need to strengthen your abs and hamstrings with strength training and stretch out your quads and hip flexors regularly. The temporary solution and minimal solution is trying to think and move into the neutral pelvis but the permanant and more safe solution is to find the cause and correct it (stretch the muscles that are too short and strengthen the muscles that are too weak to correct the imbalance.) I realize that some people have spinal diseases and other conditions that are permanant which they have to deal with, too.
 

Taslin

New member
Mellilah , i actually have a mild curvature of the spine as well which i didnt mention,lol. You hit the nail on the head. So there are a few factors i keep in consideration, thank you for the suggestions for strengthening/stretching.
 

Kashmir

New member
My "tucked" is some's "normal". A defined tuck is super tucked- for me.
Is this looking at your outer layers (muscle & fat) or bones? I prefer to look at bone alignment for neutral pelvis. If you naturally have a large bottom this doesn't mean you need to tuck. Also, spinal curve and pelvic alignment, although often related, are separtate issues.

The two red flags for me would be that a dropped pelvis puts the lower back at risk and indicates over stretched and hence weak lower abs.
 

Loula

New member
My "tucked" is some's "normal". A defined tuck is super tucked- for me.

Same here! At least from what i can see externally...I am not quite sure what my bones look like on the inside and how to get those into correct alignment. But I've read something about aligning the front of you pubic bone with your hip bones
or
having the posterior iliac spine below the anterior iliac spine (somebody correct me if I am wrong)
 

Laya

New member
I was really worried about my posture and back, for the first week of practise, Id wake up in the morning so stiff, right up and down my back.. totally put me off because the all the women in my family on my mothers side have that condition, like wear and tear of the bones, but at an early age.. so im mega paranoid about my back.

Do you think it can be bad for your back?
 

Darshiva

Moderator
Think 'neutral', not 'tucked'. You want the posture that gives you the maximum amount of movement in any direction - central or neutral is the phrase that will give you that posture easily. If you think tucked you may end up too far forward.

I explain in my classes the issue brought up above about how it looks different on everyone and that you need to find the position that lets you move the most in all directions. Coincidentally, this is also the most healthy posture for us to dance with (and by that I mean bellydancing - other dance forms have different posture because they use the body differently)
 

Loula

New member
To tuck or not to tuck -reloaded

I don't know if this will be of help to anybody here , but I just stood in front of the mirror and observed my posture. Obviously I have been over-tucking....
EVEN THOUGH I am swaybacked it looks like I should not be putting so much effort into tucking under. I am so grateful to all the amazing ladies and geniuses here who have suggested checking bone alignment instead of the appearance of the back curve. Don't force yourself to make your back look flat! In my case when I did this my pubic bone was actually in front of my hip bones (INCORRECT posture!) and my anterior iliac spine was not below my superior posterior spine anymore (I am attaching another picture for those who are not certain about the location of these parts. The boney part of your hip has a curved ridge you can follow with your fingers (kind of like a flat mountain). the base of that "triangle" has a bump both in the front and back of your pelvis.You can feel these parts sticking out on either side)
I hope this wasn't too confusing - i am no profesional and probably not the best to explain this.
What I am wondering now is...should I tuck at all. I wish there was someone really knowledgable around me. Even in a class designed especially to alleviate back pain nobody ver told me that all this pulling in could actually be wong....[IMG]http://http://home.comcast.net/~wnor/pelvisposterior.jpg[/IMG]
 
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