IBM: Muscular Framing

The End of this Beginning and the Beginning of the next Adventure!
Welcome one and all to another episode of the BLC, once again focusing on your Individual Body Mechanic of FRAMING.
Remember, this foundation for West Coast Swing acts as both a capstone to our IBM’s AND as a communication transfer between partners. This makes developing comfortable and efficient framing important.
Let’s add depth to our understanding of FRAMING by exploring the Muscular System. In regards to partner dancing, this is most efficiently done by focusing on the
- direction your muscle is engaging
And the
- tensile strength (level of engagement)
So that we can create pliable, comfortable and properly communicative frames.

Here’s some important baselines to keep in mind about Muscular Framing
- It can be overdone! Find a flexion of around 40%-60%, your Goldilocks zone, rather than squeezing too much or too little.
- Pliable means easily bent or flexible
- Engage means involve or participate
- Muscular framing specifically engages in support of the body’s joints, so you can practice each of these engagements separately or by putting them all together
- While dancing there is not a “correct” amount of engagement. Each partnership is different and will need small adjustments from both dancers to find what’s best for those people, at that time, to that song
- This is body movement under control. So have a great time exploring and developing YOUR relationship with YOUR own body and enjoy getting to know yourself 🥳

This is such a fun part of the journey. Especially since we are doing most of our learning at home. Dance like no one is watching, and remember to engage your Muscular Framing because one day 😉 they will be.
As we practice focus on the
1. Shoulder Girdle
2. Pelvic Girdle
3. Connected Core (rib cage and spine)

Then try combining these with our previous material to really push yourself to develop a comprehensive synthesis of the information. Good luck practicing!

Follow us on facebook!
  / bodylanguagecurriculum  

And Instagram!
  / bodylanguagecurriculum