Arm Posture in (ATS) FCBD®

By Megha Gavin

Special thanks to Carolena Nericcio, FCBD, Inc. and ATS®Magazine for use of this article

We have a saying in ATS®,

“The Goddess is in the Elbows.”

It’s something Carolena said in a workshop years ago that really stuck with me. No, it’s not a religious prescription, it’s a way of expressing how important the arm posture is to the overallesthetic of ATS®.

There are several distinguishing factors to the look of ATS®. In the last issue we talked about how everything we do springs from the posture. That uplifted upper body and dangling hips combination allows us to flow through the movements in a comfortable way allowing for optimum isolation while projecting a regal, elevated image. The arms are another big part of what makes ATS® look like ATS®.

You can see the early influence of Flamenco dance in the arm postures, and they also share a similarity with Indian classical dance. The rounded arm with movements leading from the elbow definitely harkens to the passionate, strong arm gestures found in Flamenco dance.

Whether we're doing slow, dramatic turns or shimmying withour arms in a horizontal position, there are two key elements to the arm posture that are vitally important. The first is keeping the elbow lifted/engaged. What does that mean, exactly? I often see new dancers lifting their hands higher and higher into the air in an effort to get their elbows up. The gesture is actually achieved by rotating the arm slightly forward in the shoulder socket. So, you could theoretically have your arms raised to the middle of your ribcage and still have a very elevated elbow.

One of the tricks for remembering this posture that we like touse in workshops is that you can imagine there are fairies, angels or dragonflies hovering below the ceiling, holding little strings that are attached to your elbows in order to pull them up. Another visualization technique is that you are sitting on a sofa between your two best friends and you have your arms around their shoulders. Your elbows can't be drooping if they're lying across the shoulders of your friends.

The second important element of the arm posture is keeping your shoulders pulled down. There is a very natural tendency for the shoulders to creep up around the neck and ears when you’re trying to lift your arms overhead. For our aesthetic, we want to keep the space around the neck and head open. Inorder to achieve that open look, we have to pull the shoulders down even when we are lifting our arms. This is where the rotation in the shoulder socket becomes even more important. Rotating the arm forward in the socket allows the boney structures of the shoulder joint to slide past each other rather than pushing against each other, thus allowing the arm to move up without pushing the clavicle up toward the ear.

With these two alignment tips in mind, we move our arms through space with engaged and lifted elbows. Whether the arms are traveling ininward circles, outward circles, lifting from horizontal to overhead, we always want to keep the elbow raised so that it appears that the elbow is leading the movement. Like-wise, even in the rare instance where we have our hands resting at our hip level, the shoulders are pulled down and the elbows are pulled forward to create an open space around the torso.

This leads me to the "why" of the arm posture. The short answer is that an open space around your torso or head sends the message that you are not afraid. Its a strong, open posture. If you let your elbows collapse in toward your torso or toward your face you are sending the message that you are protecting yourself. This idea was recently reconfirmed for me.

A couple of months ago I started taking Tai Chi classes. One of the hardest things forme so far is getting my elbows to relax. After dancing ATS® for 19 years my elbows are perpetually inan elevated position. So my teacher has said several times in class that we areto keep our elbows down and close to our body, precisely because we are protecting ourselves. Think about that for a minute.

When you're performing do you want to send the message to your audience that you are insecure, fearful and trying to protect yourself? Or do you want to convey the strength and beauty that this dance form was built on?

The arm positions in ATS® are so stunningly beautiful when we use the engaged, lifted arm posture. Do yourself a favor and spend some extra time drilling the arm movements with a focus on keeping the shoulders pulled down and the elbow raised.

You'll thank me later.