How to Maintain Body Posture in Tap Dance

It's important to maintain body posture in every form of dance, including tap dancing. Proper posture is actually the most important part of dancing. Even if you struggle while performing complicated tap steps, maintaining proper body posture and a bright smile will help disguise those difficulties.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tap shoes
• Wall-mounted mirror

1. Keep your chin up and your eyes looking forward. Avoid looking at the ground or your feet. Many dancers want to watch their feet to see if they're performing difficult tap steps properly. No matter how difficult the tap steps are, you still have to communicate with your audience by looking at the audience and smiling.

2. Relax your shoulders and keep your neck elongated. Avoid hunching your shoulders upward. This is sometimes difficult for both novice and advanced tap dancers. When the footwork gets more intense and complicated, it's natural to tense up your arms and body while concentrating.

3. Maintain your form. While you shouldn't tense your body or arms, you still can't allow your arms to be limp. Keep your arms graceful and somewhat relaxed, but not limp.

4. Vary your body posture with the tap style you're performing. Certain tap dance steps require unconventional posture. Some steps require that you lean or bend forward. When appropriate, match your posture to the dance style or tap step.

Tips & Warnings

• Tap dance in front of a wall-mounted mirror to check your body posture. Almost all dance studios have walls lined with mirrors. This helps the dancers check their body posture and technique.