The Magic of Tension
Tension –
Noun
1. The state of being stretched
2. Mental or emotional strain
Verb
Apply a force to (something) which tends to stretch it.
For most of my life when I heard the word tension, I automatically thought of mental or emotional strain. I associated tension with something bad, something I didn’t want and actively sought to get rid of. Heck there’s a billion dollar industry on helping people get rid of tension and stress.
But ten years ago when I started diving deeper into anatomy, I started hearing the term more and more as a verb. Still, it took my brain a while to be comfortable using the terminology in classes because I never wanted anyone to associate the instruction or movement with something negative.
These days you hear me use this term often in the context of muscular contraction, specifically isometric contraction (for all you non-anatomy geeks just stick with me).
This morning I woke up thinking about the concept of tension. How a certain amount of tension helps us grow, but too much can shut us down. It’s such a delicate balance.
Without tension we’d likely be super relaxed, comfortable and at ease. Sounds nice right? But without tension we also would get stuck, not challenge ourselves or find creative ways to solve problems. We wouldn’t be able to paddle above water, let alone swim. We’d simply sink. Both metaphorically and physically!
OK DeAnna, so how does this relate to dance? Many ways!!
While we definitely want to be relaxed and let go of tension when we dance (think relaxed shoulders and relaxed hips for shimmies), we also want a certain level of tension. The balance, knowing when and where to add tension and where to add release creates the magic of isolations, strength and grace.
When working with dancers, I often find that adjusting where they are adding or holding tension vs where they are relaxing can immediately ad drastically improve their technique and overall energy of their movements.
For instance, in our arm movements we mention soft elbows and while our arms look relaxed and flowing easily, adding the right amount of tension can change the impact, improve posture and create more range of motion and isolation in your ribcage.
So how do we add tension (aka resistance) to our movements?
Ah well, this is best explained visually and kinetically, like in my Bodywave workshop this week or in our recommended RESIST! class from last week's recommendations. However, try this out and it will give you a beginning idea of the concept.
THREE STEPS TO FINDING (the good kind) OF TENSION:
1. Grab two empty wine bottles. Yes, the fun part is making them empty which, coincidentally, helps me relieve the emotional kind of tension. :) Not into wine? Grab a couple of heavy glasses or bottles. One in each hand.
2. Come into dance posture and lift your arms overhead.
3. Slowly lower your arms to shoulder height and hold them, in dance posture, for 20 seconds.
Do you feel how your arm and back muscles contracted to hold your arms in place? Now add a few arm sweeps with this same amount of muscular contraction and you’ll feel the difference between just moving your arms through space vs moving your arms through space with tension.
Want a real challenge? Hold your arms at shoulder height and add a shimmy! Now you see the tension is held in the upper body so the lower body can have more release.
Fascinating right?! I absolutely love exploring movement.
Our bodies are amazing!!
If you try this out, take a photo, tag me in it and share your experience! Not only will you help spread this tip to other dancers, but you may also receive a little something in the mail.
This concept will also greatly help you with this month’s Super Extra Slow Challenge!!