This morning, I re-watched a video that I recorded the night before, while practicing dancing some house dance. And what stood out to me the most was not my footwork, but my arms. In particular, something seemed “off” about the positioning of my fingers as well as the angle in my arms. Given arms is not a topic frequently covered in house dance, I decided to draw inspiration from ballet and contemporary to see what those styles teach because I’m sure there is some theory behind placing the arms in such a way that is aesthetically pleasing.

So the main take away from watching a series of YouTube videos this morning is that:

• Arms are always at a diagonal (even when you think they are straight)
• Engage the shoulders
• In ballet, elbows should be raised above wrist

From Pole Dancing

• Generate the movement from the shoulder blade, initiating from the back

Contemporary

Arms

• Arms out to the side is not actually a straight line
• Arms protruding slight in front of you
• Similar concept with arms up, you want to keep the shoulder position natural and therefore keep arms out slightly in front

Legs

While watching the video on arms, the YouTube recommendation engine suggested a video on theory of legs which I found just as interesting

• When extending leg out in front, lead with the knee
• Avoid tilting the pelvis
• Squeeze muscles of thighs and inner thighs and glutes so you are pulling / dragging the leg instead of just picking them up and plopping them

Jazz Arms

• When extending arms up and out, a good cue is that you should be able to see your fingers in your periphery

Ballet

• A couple different analogies and metaphors including squeezing your hand through a glove
• Shaking your hand vigorously and then in the last moment, however your hand lands, that’s how it should look
• Mind is blown right now in her statement “if you have tension in your hands it means you aren’t using your shoulder blade muscles enough”