Modern Dance Spine Alignment

Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Chell Garcia-Trias, and I'm a modern dance instructor in Austin, Texas. I'm going to show you how to find proper alignment in modern dance. So I'm going to do that by finding--I'm going to put my hands on my back, and I'm going to find my spine. And if I follow my spine down, down, down, I'll find a little spot pretty low down where I'll find my tail bone, and it tucks under. It goes like this--a little hook. I'm going to put my hand on that tail bone. And then I'm also going to find the crown of my head. When I feel like I found it, I'm going to gently pull up on it. You should feel your neck or your chin fall slightly back into your neck when you do that. Usually we stand with our head sticking out. So we're going to pull our neck back. And if I rock my head side to side, pulling on this spot, it should pivot gently. There shouldn't be any swing to it. If you find that you're swinging your neck out, then you haven't found the right spot. So try it again. So find that crown, pull up on it. Now I want to imagine little bits of air forming between each of the vertebrae in my spine, so that my spine goes from being collapsed and crooked to being straight and open. And I do that by reaching down with my tail bone, and reaching up with the crown of my head. So you want to do this for a little while, just stand here and nod side to side, feel that connection between your tail bone and your head. If you want you can bounce a little bit here and see if you can keep that connection. And once you feel like you've really found it, you'll let it go and just gently walk around the room, and see if you feel a little bit different. See if you feel a little taller, and more open. So that's a great way to find proper alignment in your spine in modern dance.

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