POSITIONING & SEQUENCING -- A LEGACY THROUGHOUT DANCE

There are many noticeable similarities between the POSITIONING of a Ballroom dancer's body and the body of a Ballet, Jazz, or other discipline of dancer. Why is that, and how can POSITIONING be used to understand the interconnectivity of dance forms worldwide?

WHAT IS BODY POSITIONING & SEQUENCING?

Body positioning refers to the organization of the body before and during movement. This includes the position of the feet (turned out, turned in, pointed, flexed, and first through sixth position), the legs and hips (bent, straight, extended, and weight placement), the torso (bent, straight, twisted, or a combination), the arms (forward, side, up, down, rotating, curved, or angular), and the head (left, right, up, down, etc.). Each of these body parts can be thought of as blocks within the body that build the 'frame' in Ballroom dance.

POSITIONING & SEQUENCING ACROSS DANCE FORMS

As stated in the video, frame is built from the bottom up. This a common practice and belief observed in many major dance forms including Ballet, Jazz, and Modern dance. In Ballet, the dancer begins with foot and leg placement, whether that be any position 1-6, a B-plus position, or another. They then move to the torso accounting for twisting or spiraling through the spine, the position of the arms, and finally the head. This organization sequence reigns true in many forms and is integral to maintaining alignment, balance, poise, and generating the correct impression on the audience. Because of this, it is unsurprising that positioning and sequencing appear in Ballroom dance also. However, what is surprising about this presence is the way the positioning of the body interacts across dance forms.

MAKING CONNECTIONS -- POSITIONING AS A LINK

While many may see this connection as irrelevant, and well-known, I wish to speak on how minor adaptations to body sequencing have influenced Ballroom dance. These include influences from Ballet, Jazz, Latin dance, and many more.

BALLET

Ballet and Ballroom dance share many similar terms, positions, and steps. In my first rehearsal for a High School Ballroom team, our Assistant Director taught a small barre exercise where we learned our positions 1-6 and key terms and movements like plie, rond de jambe, and tendu. This was the first of many connections made between Ballroom dance and Ballet for me, and there are many more we will explore in the near future.

JAZZ

The connections between Jazz and Ballroom builds off the connections made in Ballet by adding elements of polycentrism (movement from multiple places in the body at once), and polyrhythm (differing rhythms in the music and body) to the movement. This is highly noticeable in Latin Ballroom dances like Cha-Cha, Samba, and Rumba where the movement is done with a slight turnout and the upper and lower bodies work in varying patterns and rhythms. These among many other influences HELP shape the POSITIONING and SEQUENCING of Latin styles.

LATIN DANCE

Latin dance brought one of the greatest adaptations to Ballroom with the implementation of Cuban motion, the figure-eight movement of the hips. Adopting this movement in the POSITIONING and SEQUENCING of Latin Ballroom dances has allowed dancers to manipulate the movement in compliance with the music. This coupled with polycentrism, polyrhythm, various Ballet influences, and many others has lead to the famed Latin dances observed in Ballroom dance.

It is important to note that some cultural Latin dances like Salsa, Paso Doble, and Meringue are also practiced in Ballroom. I want to assert that these Ballroom dances are not entirely resemblant of their authentic cultural counterparts and instead borrow from them for the purpose of performance and competition.

While there are many other factors that influence the POSITIONING and SEQUENCING observed across ballroom dance, the examples given above will serve as our starting points as we dive deeper into this topic.