What a Comfortable Ballroom Frame Should Feel Like

If you can relax into your posture, it should feel easy to breathe, even if you’re moving. You shouldn’t be holding your breath or straining because your shoulders are too tense.

• You should be balanced over your feet, standing up straight, and able to easily relax your shoulders.
• Your arms should fall into shape and position without feeling like you’re trying to force your elbows back or push your shoulders up towards your ears.
• Your arm position shouldn’t be too rigid, or your partner will feel like they’re being pushed and yanked around, but also not too loose, or your partner will have trouble feeling and responding to your movement.

The goal is to make your hold firm enough that your partner can feel where you’re trying to move and how you want to move, but not so tense that you make it uncomfortable for each other.

How Do I Make This More Comfortable?

• In a frame by yourself, take a breath and relax your shoulders. Turn your shoulders to the right and left, and notice how your arms move alongside your body as your torso moves. Your arms should move freely with your torso, and shouldn’t be fixed in one position while the rest of you moves.
• When dancing with a partner, keep the same hold, but feel where you’re tightening up. For example, if your partner is feeling you leaning them back when they walk behind you, you may be trying to grip them instead of moving your weight forward onto your supporting foot. If you’re pulling your partner up or forward, you may want to make your steps slightly smaller so you don’t disrupt each others’ balance.
• If you find that your frame changes a lot when you turn, try turning with your body without letting your arms drag or twist. The shape of your arms and the position of them relative to each other should stay pretty much the same when you turn.

You are mostly letting your partner know where to go and how to move through changes in your body’s direction, posture, and balance. Hands are important for connection and balance, but if you find that you are using your arms to guide your partner or trying to control your partner’s balance, you should try to use your whole body to take control instead.

When you’re learning a figure, don’t worry too much about how you look, just focus on making sure your connection feels smooth to both you and your partner. If it helps, try the figure without music at first. When you’re doing a closed position figure by yourselves, take your time and really notice what your balance feels like and what your body feels like during the figure.

After a figure is done, take a few seconds to relax and think about what the figure felt like for you. Did you tighten up during the turns or when you changed direction? Did you have to squeeze your partner’s hand to balance? Did your shoulders creep up or elbows drop? Are you out of breath or do your hands or neck feel tight? All of these are signs that you might be trying to make the figure work with tension instead of relaxing into the figure.

Once you feel like your frame is feeling better, think about whether your shoulders still relax and stay relaxed while dancing. If your shoulders feel tight while you dance, your balance and posture probably need work; try going through the above steps without your partner.