Posture is very important in all styles of dance. Dance expert, Brittney Schubert, demonstrates a drill to help dancers of all ages focus on their posture.
You will need access to a long stick for this exercise. A hockey stick, handle of a broom, or meter stick will work just fine, too. You will put the long stick behind your shoulders and lengthen your arms out as far as you can. Although this exercise won’t help with hunching, it will help standing up taller, pulling your shoulders back and keeping your arms in place.
You can do brushing battements across the floor slowly. This will help to make sure you are aware of posture and will help you to get used to the new feeling of being lifted. This would include a step and brush to waist level just to get used to the feeling. Once you feel you are more aware of your body posture, you can do normal battements across the floor. This would be walking 1-2, kick 3, down 4, walk 5-6, kick 7, down 8. You would do this as many times as you can across the floor.
This is a good posture correction exercise for dancers who are training in the style of kick. Extending your arms all the way to the ends of the stick helps to mock the feeling of connecting in a kick line. Holding the stick helps to create a feeling of resistance and strengthening through your upper body as well. This also help with the arms of young or new dancers. Many new dancers don’t have the muscles to control where their arms should be, but having them hold a stick helps.
Overall, this exercise helps to correct dancer’s posture and to help them become more aware of the placement of their arms.