"Anonymous. So you are saying nobody dances correctly."

Exactly - show me a picture of anyone, and I will find mistakes in it. And if the dancers pictures are not total fools, they could probably find quite a few mistakes in their best performance as well. Nobody is perfect. But we can all try to be more perfect today than we were yesterday.

"Didn't the mathematician Stephen Hawking say in his book with time everything goes from order to disorder."

On the whole, yes. Eating and breathing while you learn to dance is contributing the overall disorder of the universe at a rate that vastly outweighs the tiny amount of order that you construct by improving your dancing.

"One thing though if you twist your spine and have been doing it like that for a while. You most likely already have degeneration of the spine."

I don't think so... It's a fairly normal human activity, the quantity of twist actually needed being well within the capability of any undamaged body.

Anonymous. If we were meant to twist our spine nature would have provided us with a swivel thing inbetween each of our disks to make it easier.

"Anonymous. If we were meant to twist our spine nature would have provided us with a swivel thing inbetween each of our disks to make it easier."

And what makes you so sure you don't have that?

You *can* rotate your head can't you?

And what is supporting it - spinal vertebrae. Now those in your neck may support more rotation than those in your spine, but that rotation has to be concentrated into just a few of them over a short distance. Wheras any net rotation of the spine between shoulders and hips could be spread over a long distance, with comparatively little rotation between each vertebra.

Anonymous. My head was made to turn. Now your getting it right.
Any rotation will be spread over a longer distance with little rotation through the vertebra. Try the whole of your side moving around your own centre. That's a longer distance with no rotation through the vertebra. Consequently no strain on the spine. No back aches.

"Anonymous. My head was made to turn. Now your getting it right."

When you rotate your head, you impose a twist in the cervical vertebrae. 90 degree or more of twist in fact, spread over just a few of them.

When you rotate your hips a small amount relative to your shoulders, you impose a twist over most of the length of the spinal column. That means there is much less rotation between any adjacent pair of vertebrae there than there is in the cervical vertebrae when you rotate your head.

Even if the cerical vertebrae are more accomodating of rotation in their "design" than the others, you'd have to be pretty ignorant (or previously injured) to claim that the vertebrae cannot comfortably accomodate a moderate degree of rotation.

And the amount that dancers use is nothing in comparison to other movement arts.

What was the question, anyway? I was twisting around trying to check my back. Oh, you guys forgot too, hey?

I prefer to focus on what is right, rather than who is right.
It's much more productive and makes for better dance partnerships. (Good thing you 2 do not dance together).

Last post I misspelt Andrew's name it is an i and not an e.
I attended his workshop yesterday. I believe that what he taught is like copyright. So buy his tape.
One thing I will say though because it has come up before. The angle between the floor and the shin is. Heres a clue. When you are on your two toes the angle of the foot to floor is 45 degrees. Another clue. The rear foot for man and lady is to the tip of the toe. That's as the lady steps back, and as the man steps forward
I'm going to boast here. Out of a hugh crowd ,which included professionals and some of our best Ametuers. The question was asked
" How many different movements are there in one change step in the Waltz ". Nobody was game to answer. I volunteered to answer and got it right. That finishes my claim to fame. My legs at this moment just don't want to move. The different exercises we had to do to simulate the correct movements was severe. Like on one leg rising and lowering which included the bending of the knee. Then when we got with a partner that's where we had to go. In all, this was the most brilliant teaching and demonstration of the steps I have ever encountered. He is an extremely fit person and I don't think has put on an ounce of weight since I saw him last 18 years ago .Now I am looking forward to the next and last workshop here tomorrow. Foxtrot this time .

"Heres a clue. When you are on your two toes the angle of the foot to floor is 45 degrees."

Rubbish. That's a reasonably answer for some situations, but it is entirely dependent on the physical capability of the dancer and the movement they wish to achieve. It could easily be quite a bit more or quite a bit less.

Anonymous. 45 degrees is the amount mentioned. If you can't get your heels off the floor that's your bad luck. 45 degrees is normal. Now you tell me who said it isn't. Apart from yourself.
Heres another you wont be able to do. Stand on one leg with your other off the floor with the shin level with the floor. Extend the one that is in the air backwards. Keep verticle. You can bend the knee.You are balanced at this point or you are not still standing. Extent the foot back, The farther it goes the lower to the floor it gets ,untill the tip of the toe touches the floor. The only way you could get any further extension is to lean forward and we don't do that. This is about where you should be on the count of three (and). First get the supporting heel to the floor quickly otherwise you won'have time to extend. All of this is well within your reach. Don't forget . To the tip of the toe. This is what seventy dancers including myself was doing last evening. Hold on you might say. Theres something different here. How come the leg is back on an (and) count. The person going back extends . The person in front doesn't. On one the person in front moves his leg forward leaving the tip of the rear toe on the floor. Do you notice there are no legs to push or clash.At this point we have two beautiful leg lines one in front the other behind. If you look this is what you see if you put a DVD on in slow motion. After that the roles are reversed. First though we had to do it solo. Theres lots more. Like a collection point, rising up on our toes . Lower on three (and) and do again. Or start backwards. Don't forget where you saw it.

You guys are very lucky to be having workshops with Sinkinson. He is a brilliant dancer and a brilliant teacher. Luckily, i've been to a couple workshops with him and could nearly do the drill exercises