Looking to start off your dancing journey today? Well, look no further because we’ll be your guides as you take your first step into the world of dance!
Though it looks difficult at first glance, you shouldn’t be worried if you think you lack the skills. After all, dance is something that anyone and everyone can participate in. It’s a fun physical activity for all ages that can boost your confidence and energy while keeping you in great shape! Aside from that, dance can also be a new opportunity to meet other people with varying levels of experience and share what you’ve learned with them as you all strive to improve.
First off, for you to get better at dancing, we should start by looking at the fundamentals. In dance, there are five fundamental positions for both the arms and the feet. These positions are some of the most basic and essential strongholds for dancing, and they are also the starting positions for many free-standing routines, so any beginner needs to know how to perform them.
With that being said, Now is the moment to know how to perform these awesome steps. And don’t you worry! They’re actually quite easy to do. Using the pictures above as a reference, let us now go on to performing the basic steps of the fundamental positions starting with the arms. For the first position, raise your arms to a circle in front of your chest. Second, extend your arms sidewards, just raised below shoulder level, gracefully! Third, raise one arm overhead while the other one remains in the second position. Fourth, raise one arm in front of your chest in a half-circle, while one arm remains overhead. And lastly, for the Fifth position, raise both arms overhead, with grace. We want to get those arms moving and pumping!
Now that we’re familiar with the arm movements, let's get those feet moving! Put on your dance shoes, or even go barefoot! Feel the ground. We’ll now explain to you The fundamental positions of feet. It is very much in unison with your arms. Firstly, bring your heels close to touch, with your toes apart of course. Second, extend your feet sidewards. Third, bring the heel of your foot to touch the instep of your other foot. Fourth, bring one foot in front of the other foot. Then lastly, the fifth, bring the heel of one foot to touch the toe of the other one. Now put these steps all together along with your arms, and you are good to go!
Although these steps may seem simple to you, knowing and perfecting the fundamental positions are crucial for any form of dance. They are the foundations of a large number of advanced dance movements or positions, and in order to move on to the more exciting steps like the pirouette, you’ll have to master the basics first.
Now, to help improve your execution of these positions, we have a few tips that might come in handy. To start, you should keep your back and shoulders straight. Dance, especially ballet, requires a straight posture, so try to avoid slouching as much as possible. Next, shake off all your tension and be loose with your movements! Don’t be too stiff, and always remember to add a graceful charm. Lastly, try practicing each position for the feet individually before combining them with the arms; in doing so, you’ll be able to coordinate them easier.
With that, we’ve now covered everything you need to know about the five fundamental positions. By spending some time practicing them and keeping in mind all these tips, we’re sure that soon enough, all of you will be pulling them off without even thinking about it!
By
Cyd De Joya
Angela Laurente
References:
Supreme Student Government. (n.d.). Fundamental positions of arms and feet in Folk Dance.
Fundamental Positions of Arms and Feet. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://www.slideshare.net/julietorejenes/fundamental-positions-of-arms-and-feet-in-folk-dance
What is the importance of fundamental position of arm and feet in human life? (n.d.). What Is
the Importance. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://philosophy-question.com/library/lecture/read/79652-what-is-the-importance-of-fundamental-position-of-arm-and-feet-in-human-life
Comments