This week, I have been obsessed with dancing with less effort by grounding my axis into my heels. You already know that I disapprove of dancing with heels lifted off the ground: you lose energy in each step, and you can damage your feet more easily. However, how far back onto your heels should you balance?
Your heels are bigger than you think
Look at a diagram of the foot. Do you see how enormous your heel bone (calcaneus) is compared to your other foot bones? Look at the location of your ankle joint. Your ankle joint is above and IN FRONT of a large portion of your calcaneus. Think of the calcaneus as a kickstand behind your body, helping to balance you every time you land.
Use your heels instead of leaning
Most tango dancers are too far forward on their feet. I know: I just watched a video of myself leading in a performance, and I should have been better aligned! If we all lean, why should you care about technique and your foot structure? Why is standing on axis so important?
Leaning forward as a leader puts your head over your partner’s feet, which means that you will land on their feet. If you stand up and put your weight back into your calcaneus, you can move forward without the weight of your leg making you fall forward onto your partner and their feet.
Leaning forward as a follower often leads to sore toes, hurt arches and lower back pain. If you put your heels down—and stack yourself up from the center of the arch and metatarsals, you will have more ease in your dance. You will look more elegant because your body is more relaxed, and you will have fewer injuries.
Check out what I have to say on my YouTube video about this topic!
Pivoting
But, Elizabeth, how can I pivot with my heels on the floor? Don’t I have to tip forward to turn? NO. You will have to take weight off of your heels to pivot, but please keep them touching the floor. Instead of tipping forward, engage your pelvic floor and use the power of your inner thighs, pelvic floor, and deep abdominal muscles to elongate your body so that you can maintain your axis as much as possible while pivoting.
Remember: if your heels are already skimming the floor, you can put them down easily if you are falling over! Dancing with your heels up makes you vulnerable to other dancers knocking you over and hurting you!
Exercises to improve your technique
Piece of paper
Grab a piece of paper, or a small towel, or anything thin that you can put on the floor. Put your standing leg heel on it. Then practice pivoting and taking the object with you. You don’t want to turn around your heel: the heel should slide on the floor as you pivot, taking the paper/towel with you.
At first this IS difficult. Your brain will want to pop up on your toes. Then it will try to do heel pivots. Be kind to yourself and patient. Eventually, you will feel your heels skim the floor but not impede your pivoting.
Yoga block or exercise ball
Hug a yoga block, an light exercise ball, or a pillow between your upper thighs, and practice pivoting while you turn on your adductors, pelvic floor, and deep abdominal muscles. You will notice that you can turn around your axis more smoothly. You will also start to feel how that muscle activation allows you to keep your heels against the floor while pivoting.