The key word is NATURAL! Think for a moment. What does the word NATURAL mean to you? To me it means without effort or pressure-----without consciously exerting a lot of energy. In other words natural means ---very simple, easy or effortlessly. Am I confusing you? Do you really understand what NATURAL means? Answering this question is easy. Take a brief moment and step in front of a full-length mirror. You will be shocked at what you will see. I know I was the first time I tried it. Study your image very closely. Look at your head, arms, chest neck etc. Which part of your body creates your inner and outer energy and power? Which part of your body creates your movement? I will now begin to answer all your questions. Let us go back to the beginning of life. When a baby enters this world what is the first thing that he does? The answer is he breathes and then he cries! This is the first instinctive movement of life. In order to be alive you must be able to breathe. The part of your body that creates this natural energy and movement is our lungs. We can now say with one hundred percent accuracy that our lungs are our body`s natural generator of power and energy. Are you shocked to hear this? I know I was! Our lungs control all of our body functions. They transport oxygen through every cell of our body---beginning with our brain and finishing with the tips of our toes and fingertips. In other words, every time we inhale we create NEW POWER. Our body uses this power to create MOVEMENT----NATURAL MOVEMENT. . Of course, like a balloon, if all we do is inhale, we will eventually burst, that is why we also must exhale. Our body converts the oxygen that we inhale to carbon dioxide. Our body must now eliminate this carbon dioxide by exhaling. You are wondering what all this has to do with your dancing. Now that you understand this natural function of our lungs, I can proceed to show you how to harness this natural function and effectively use it to make your dancing look more dynamic, expressive and professional! The next time you watch a top-level professional couple dance, observe how easy and effortless their dancing looks. They look powerful and dynamic, but at the same time, their dancing looks easy and relaxed. All top-level professional dancers have learned how to harness a natural inner power and energy that every body creates to improve their technique and style. This will also help your rhythm and will make it easier to accent the correct beat. We are now ready to begin. Do you know when to inhale and when to exhale? I will now explain it to you. You INHALE on the strongest (shortest beat) of the music and you EXHALE on the softest (longest beat of the music. In International Rumba, (with a little practice,) you will soon learn how to INHALE on the four - one and in Cha Cha on the four and one. The long beats on both Cha Cha and Rumba are two -three, so EXHALE! Practice this breathing technique daily and before too long your dancing will improve immensely. It will help you keep the correct rhythm, it will help your posture and most important your dancing will look more dynamic and powerful yet still look natural. Are you ready to try it? Step in front of your full-length mirror again. Dance your basic International Rumba steps as you normally do them. Carefully observe what you look like while you are dancing them… NOW try the same basic steps again. This time remember to INHALE on the four - one and EXHALE on the two - three. It looks quite different doesn`t it? CONGRATULATIONS, you have just taken the first step on the road to more dynamic more NATURAL and more Professional looking dancing! Before I conclude, this article there is one more point I need to make about the possible dangers of incorrect breathing while dancing that I bet you probably never realized. For example, if you breathe too slowly you might collapse because not enough oxygen gets into your lungs. Besides being dangerous to your health, your dancing will look boring! On the other hand, if you breathe too fast your body will go into overactive gear, which could also have dangerous consequences like a heart attack or heat stroke. In this instance, your dancing will look too pressured and have a labored "working too hard" look about it. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE what I have just taught you and I promise you by the time you read my next column your teachers and friends will be asking you to explain your secret that has made such a remarkable improvement in your dancing in such a short period. My next article will tie this technique into the rest of the Latin dances as well as the Standard dances. Stepan Matkovski holds several Ballroom Dance Championships throughout Eastern Europe as well as a degree in Ballroom Dance Choreography. He currently resides in the Tampa Bay Florida area where he is teaching, coaching and doing choreography for competition dancers. He may be contacted at email skiper_step@yahoo.com

Ballroom, Teacher, Dancing the Natural Way (all tags)