Improving Port de Bras

Once dancers are aware of their cores and have a better understanding of how to use those muscles, teachers can begin to work on their port de bras and grace.  In this article from Dance Magazine, Improving Port de Bras, author Joseph Carman gives very practical tips that teachers and students can use in the classroom to get those Margot Fonteyn arms.

Author Joseph Carman writes that improving the port de bras starts with understanding the anatomy of the torso. Then, the dancer must use the "breath to initiate the port de bras," which is commonly missed, and coordinate the arms with the head, eyes, and torso. The body must work in complete unison.

Getting to the Core

One of the main areas of weakness I see in my students is lack of grace and control in their upper bodies, generating from a lack of core strength. But what I haven't realized until recently, is that it's not necessarily a lack of core strength, but a lack of awareness of their core and how to properly use it. I find that their arms, shoulders and upper backs are stiff and and hold all of their bodies' tension, which prohibits them from doing more than 2-3 turns and landing jumps properly. This was something I struggled with a lot as a young dancer and it wasn't until I was in my 20's that I realized my arms shouldn't move until after I engage my upper back, and then I felt I was truly dancing from head to toe.


Margot Fonteyn was known for her beautiful port de bras and grace. Here she dancing the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty.

I found an excellent article in Dance Magazine (May 2010) that gives practical advice on teaching dancers to use their core and arms correctly. Check it out! Break Your Bad Habits: The Core Muscles

The article addresses bad habits as it relates to the core muscles and how to fix them. Habits such as:

• Underused pelvic floor and transversus abdominus
• Overly constricted core
• Hypermobile lumbar spine