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Center Stage Physics
Alysha Leighton
Sister K. Kelly
Leo Hayes High School
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Dance Terms
Foxtrot - A ballroom dance in quadruple time, combining short and long steps in various sequences.
Cha Cha - A fast ballroom dance of Latin American origin, similar to the mambo. It follows a rhythmic
pattern based upon a quick three-step movement.
Hip-Hop - Refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part
of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping.
Phunk - The combination of hip-hop and jazz. Typically slower than both.
Krump - characterized by free, expressive, exaggerated, and highly energetic movement involving the
arms, head, legs, chest, and feet.
House - The main elements of House dance include Footwork, Jacking, and lofting.
Tombé – A movement in ballet which involves falling from one leg onto the other.
Chassé - A slide with both legs bent either forwards, backwards or sideways.
Plié - A bend of the knees while the torso is held upright.
Jeté - A “throwing step” where a leaping jump is executed from one foot to the other.
chaînés - “Linked like a chain”. A series of small turning steps with the feet in first position
Pirouette - A whirling about on one foot or on the points of the toes.
Relevé - A rise or spring onto the toes.
Retiré - A static position in which the hip of the gesturing leg is externally rotated and abducted, the knee
is flexed, and the foot is pointed and touching the knee of the stance limb.
Coupé - A ballet position in which one foot is placed at the ankle of the other in turn-out.
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Do you ever wonder how a dancer stays perfectly still and in balance as she spins
multiple times on one foot? Or how she can overcome the force of gravity to jump fluidly
through the air as if it were effortless? At its best performances, dancing seems so elegant and
nimble fingered; even from a spectator’s point of view, it may seem that a dancer is simply
moving and floating through space without the glimpse of a challenge. However, to be a
professional dancer, understanding the mechanics that are involved in dance can enhance
performance results. With some knowledge of the simple forces within physics involved in basic
movements and dance concepts, a dancer can use that information to jump higher, spin faster and
move quicker.
The dictionary defines the term dance as a way to move one’s feet or body, or both,
rhythmically in a pattern of steps to the accompaniment of music. (Random House Dictionary,
2012)This way of dance has been the case for thousands of years. It first began during the
ancient civilizations of Egypt as a way to worship during temple rituals. Priest and Priestesses
would use harps and pipes to mimic significant stories that revolve around the gods and
significant events during their lives. Women would regularly perform to show the repetition of
time, such as the seasons or even day and night. In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games held in
famous Olympia showcased talented victories made by many athletes. This annual performance
was a sacred occasion shared by the Greek civilization. In honor of this event, specialized dances
were made to worship the god, Zeus, whom the Olympic Games were held in celebration of. In
India, as early as the 1st century AD, the interpreted hand movements of the priestesses held in
Hindu temples were a famous part of everyday life and culture. Each formalized hand gesture is
a meaningful significance based on stories of the past. This genre of dance is known as Bharata
Nhatyam, and it still known and regularly performed today. (Gascoigne, 2001)
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One of the genres commonly known to our society today is ballet. Ballet’s origins began
during the Italian Renaissance courts in the 15th and 16th century. (Gascoigne, 2001)This style of
dance quickly migrated from theatrical performances with wigs and masks to famous classical
stories explained through graceful movements. Using their bodies, they would elaborate on
specific details of an image to portray the story to the audience. One of the most famous
performances that are still portrayed today is Swan Lake, originally created by Russian
choreographer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The story is based on an angelic swan who meets a prince,
but her evil twin seduces the prince and then pretends to be her sister, the angelic swan. Over
time, the angelic swan becomes jealous and depressed, so in the end of the performance, she
takes her life. This tragic story of love and jealousy has amazed audiences internationally for
many years.
Swan Lake. Photography by Jordan Beth 2012
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At one point in history, ballet was the only entertainment everyone in Europe and Russia
attended. But as centuries went by, ballet immigrated to North America. The original ballet
academies that were built back in the late 1800’s in Canada and the Unites States are still very
popular and are still prosperous schools that are still attended by dancers today. But as decades
passed, styles of dance emerged from ballet. However, people looked down upon all of these
styles due to the fact that they so very different and rebellious compared to the classical norm
ballet provided. Society liked this though because it gave them a chance to be different. In the
1910 and 1920’s, styles such as the foxtrot and jazz became very popular and were regularly
performed in nightclubs. As the 50’s and 60’s rolled around, styles like the swing, lindy hop, the
cha cha and rock and roll emerged. (Buzzle, 2012) Musicians that were very popular around a
specific decade changed the way people danced as well. Between the 70’s and 90’s, musicians
like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Brittney Spears, and the Backstreet Boys changed music
altogether. Music around these decades were upbeat and very memorable. From this, styles like
hip-hop, phunk, krump, house, modern and contemporary became known to the world. It would
not be far from the truth to state that the dance styles of each decade reflected the overall feel of
that time, which encompasses a collective combination of the arts, economy, societal norms and
popular culture peculiar to that decade. In conclusion to this theory, as society evolved, so did
the many styles of dance.
Not only have famous performances entertained audiences all around the world, but the
fact that a dancer can walk, run and dance in the most uncomfortable shoes have troubled people
for many years. Styles like jazz and hip-hop may not be however due to the fact that those styles
usually only use sneakers or a slip on soft shoe, but Pointe shoes are specially-made shoes worn
by ballerinas in order for them to dance on the tops of their toes. From a by-stander, they look so
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delicate and fragile, but to a ballet dancer, they’re one of the most painful aspects of ballet. The
tip of the shoe is a rigid box made of densely packed layers of fabric, cardboard and paper
hardened with nails and glue. The dancer depends in it to be extremely flat and sturdy because
their entire body weight is balanced on the small platform within that box. The rest of the shoe is
made of leather, cotton and satin. Each shoe is custom hand-made to fit each dancer’s foot
specifications. If they do not fit perfectly, they could severely hurt the dancer’s foot due to
blisters or by tearing off their toenails. Also, if the blocks aren’t made accurately for each
dancer’s body weight, they could have difficulty balancing on their toes which could cause the
bones in their ankles to grind, or simply, lose balance and conclude in a possible injury.
Pointe shoe.
Photograph by: Bodythings 2012
A ballet dancer can’t just slip a point shoe on and start dancing though; they need to
‘break’ them in. Once a dancer has purchased their specialized shoe, they know that they must
cut the bottom sole with scissors or a knife to allow the shoe to have grip on the floor while
dancing. In physics terms, we know this as friction. As the dancer cuts, they give the shoe tiny
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grips on the bottom sole. This increases the friction of the shoe, allowing them to dance
gracefully without the fear of slipping. As choreographers established the fact that friction plays
a key role in the dancer’s ability to perform, they came up with ways that would substantially
improve a dancer’s stability.
Oil called rosin is often used on the wooden floors in studios to increase friction. But
when a dancer needs to change from a horizontal motion such as a pique into a spin motion such
as a pirouette or a Chaîné, the floor must be able to supply the right amount of friction to do so.
Sometimes, too much friction will inhibit this as the dancer’s shoe will simply stick to the floor
without any rotational movement. Thankfully, the portable floor coverings used in most theatres
and show stages already contains the frictional properties dancers need: Enough of it to spin, and
just enough of it to avoid slipping and falling.
Modern and contemporary dancers do not use shoes because these styles are usually
performed in bare feet. Skin is normally moist, especially when exercise is taking place,
therefore, when the foot comes in contact with the floor, it makes the floor less slippery for the
dancer as opposed to the dancer wearing shoes. However, having too much of that moisture
reverses this effect. If the foot is too moist or otherwise known as “too sweaty,” the floor
becomes slippery again. Shoes have been made for this specific problem. Toe shoes, sometimes
called toe thongs are provided for dancers who prefer to dance in bare feet, given that their
performance includes rotational movements. They are made of suede, elastic and silicon lined
rubber. The shoe consists of a small piece of suede that sits comfortably on the ball of the
dancer’s foot. It is attached by elastics that go through each toe and wraps around the foot,
meeting the other side of the suede. They act as a second skin and are barely noticed being worn
by dancers. The suede acts as a perfect turning device and the heel of the foot, provided it has the
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perfect amount of moisture, acts as an excellent stopping device for turns, jumps and linear
movement.
Toe shoes
Photograph by: A Dancers World
As a dancer performs linear movements, whether it is vertical, horizontal or a
combination of the two, they must control the forces that are exerted on the floor and themselves.
These forces must be taken account of during the acceleration or deceleration of jumps and
movements, the balance needed during turns and overcoming the force of gravity. (Laws, 2002)
The force that acts against a dancer the most is the force of gravity. This force often comes into
play for jumps. In order to overcome this force, a dancer must exert enough power through the
floor before jumping in order to get the appropriate height specified for the jump before the force
of gravity pulls them back down to the floor.
Not all of the forces that act upon a dancer are bad though. Dancers purposely build their
own force in order to stay anchored and to keep their center. The supporting force on a dancer is
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what keeps their body stable against all forces being exerted on them. This is what also gives a
dancer good posture. To apply the supporting force, a dancer must pull up through their stomach
and torso. Teachers will tell young students to pretend as though there is a string attached to the
top of their head. As somebody above them pulls the string, the abdomen lifts. A shift against the
supporting force will cause instability. Another way dancers hold their center is forcing their
bodies into something they call “turn-out.” Turn-out is a rotation of the leg from the hips,
causing the knee and foot to also turn outward, away from the center of the body. This causes the
weight of the dancer to stay directly below their body. It takes many years for a dancer to have
complete turn-out. In the professional world, perfect or near perfect turn-out is almost always a
requirement for employment and success.
Horizontal movements from rest position require a horizontal force exerted against the
floor. This force commonly arises from a shift in the supporting force relative to the center of
gravity of the dancer, or from an acceleration of the body before a horizontal movement such as
a tombé or a chassé. (Laws, 2002) These are usually required in order for a dancer to enter a
horizontal jump with height. Tombé and chassés are steps that generally end in something
dancers call a plié. The use of a tombé or a chassé provide the dancer with enough momentum to
get into the jump and the plié is used to push against the floor to overcome the force of gravity
and give the dancer the proper height to achieve the specific jump. However, some jumps require
more of a plié than others. A jeté is a jump in which a dancer needs more of a plié to overcome
the force of gravity and more momentum to overcome the horizontal force to get achieve a
greater distance. A jeté is a jump from one foot to the other. It is similar to a leap, in which one
leg appears to be "thrown" in the direction of the movement. There are several kinds of jetés,
such as petit jeté, grand jeté and a jeté entrelacé. A sauté is more of a manageable jump because
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it is just a simple vertical jump with no horizontal movement; therefore the dancer only needs to
overcome the force of gravity.
Grand jeté. Photograph by:Rachel Zar
Sautés. Photograph by: NADA
Horizontal motion can be stopped only if there is horizontal force acting against the floor
in the same direction of motion, resulting in a force from the floor on the body in a direction such
as to oppose the motion. (Laws, 2002) This is otherwise known as the deceleration of horizontal
distance jumps. When a dancer prepares to land a jump, they must arrange their torso to lean
forwards so that they appear to float for a brief second and then quickly force their weight
towards the back of their bodies. They must also prepare themselves to land in a plié and have
the center of gravity behind the landing foot in order to allow their body coast to a stable stop. If
they don’t assemble themselves ahead of time, their chances of a hard landing or a fall increase
because their weight will land in front of them. If they land and quickly realize they didn’t have a
good enough plié and their weight landed in front of them, if they don’t exchange their
bodyweight back fast enough, they will fall forward.
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Vertical jumps that require no horizontal movement require vertical forces that act
against the floor that need to be adjusted to produce the height required and the time in the air to
be determined by the rhythm of the music. Dancers say it takes a jump four times as high to last
twice as long. They know this because they already know that they need to have a deeper plié to
overcome the vertical force and gravity in order to jump as high as possible. If arms are to move
up-wards above the head during the take-off of this jump, the height could substantially be
decreased as air resistance acts on the dancer and the change in the supporting force is shifted.
(Laws, 2012)
Balance plays a key role in the physics of dance as well. The forces acting on an
individual dancer create a push and pull relationship between the dancer and the surrounding
space. The force that a dancer exerts on the floor is affected by the direction and magnitude of
the force. When balancing in relevé, or on their toes, they are exerting a force against the floor
that is equal to the force of gravity being exerted on them. (Laws, 2012)This initially results in a
zero sum force acting on the body placing them in their center of gravity. When a dancer is
balancing on their toes, their bodyweight is acting against them. In order to counteract this to
make the sum force zero, they must place their weight over their toes and use the supporting
force to stay perfectly balanced.
Rotational movements, such as pirouettes are one of the hardest for dancers to achieve. It
may take many years before a dancer performs one perfectly. Anyone can whip themselves
around, but it takes practice, strength, and good alignment to perform them with quality. One of
the hardest concepts involved in a pirouette is aligning ones center and balance.
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When dancers are young, they are taught many exercises on how to align their core with
the addition of how to engage their supporting force. Sometimes, dancers spend their first 3-6
years of training practicing these exercises so that their core can grow strong enough in order for
them to try pirouettes. They are also taught where to place their weight while standing on one
foot. When standing perfectly still on two feet, the most common place for their center of gravity
lies in the dancer’s lower abdomen. When a dancer is in preparation for a pirouette; their center
of gravity shifts slightly toward the back of their body.
Preparation position involves the dancer with their arms held in third position, and their
feet placed in fourth position with hips in turn-out. As the dancer snaps as quickly as possible
onto one foot with their arms raised to first position with their other leg in retiré , and turns
toward the desired direction using spotting, the dancer’s center of gravity shifts forward.
Therefore, the axis the dancer wants to spin around is right in the center of the circle created by
their arms. When performing pirouettes, the dancer must stay as vertically balanced as possible.
If they lean forward or backward while turning, they are throwing off their center of gravity and
they are no longer spinning around the proper axis. If dancers are spinning around the wrong
axis, it causes their pirouettes to spin slower and it can throw off their balance. But more times
than many, dancers have spun in the wrong axis and it has resulted in the fall out of a turn or an
expired turn. However, choreographers have found a way to improve a dancer’s ability to focus
on balance and to stay in the right axis while turning.
Spotting is a technique used by dancers during the execution of various dance turns. As a
dancer turns, spotting is performed by rotating the body and head at different rates. While the
body rotates smoothly at a relatively constant speed, the head periodically rotates much faster
and then stops, so as to fix the dancer's gaze on a single location. Sometimes dancers will focus
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on an actual visual spot if one is available such as a light or a hole in the wall. But if no object is
available they will attempt to end each head rotation in a consistent location. However, spotting
will only get a dancer around a minimal amount of times after they lose complete balance, so if a
dancer isn’t achieving the proper pirouette, they can alter their arms and legs to perform a more
efficient one. The Conservation of Angular Momentum property states that an object of constant
mass will spin faster when the radius is smaller. (laws, 2012)This means that if the dancer’s arms
come closer to their bodies, and if they attach their leg to the ankle of the supporting leg,
otherwise known as coupé, their pirouettes will spin faster and easier.
Prep position.
Photograph by:
Dance Spirit
Pirouette. Photograph
by: Treva Bendinghaus
Bodyweight plays a big role in the physics of dance as well. It is highly unlikely seeing
an overweight dancer due to the fact dance is a complicated and physically demanding sport. As
earlier discussed, a dancer must be able to overpower the forces that act upon them while
performing specific movements. This includes friction, horizontal and vertical forces, gravity and
momentum. If a dancer is at a slimmer bodyweight, their opportunities of overcoming these
forces are automatically increased due to the fact that they can align their center better, jump
higher, spin and generally move faster. About a century ago, a dancer could be any size
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regardless of what genre of dance they practiced. But as the professional aspect of dance realized
the physics behind the bodyweight of a dancer, they’ve set some intense requirements. The harsh
reality today that a dancer must meet to become a professional can be somewhat unhealthy. Most
dancers do need to meet the demands of some ballet industries’ weight limits which usually
range between 90-110 lbs. However, this does not necessarily mean that you are a bad dancer if
you do not fit into these limits, and it may be a good thing too. Some dancers who live in the
professional world who demand the perfect dancer body may lead them to become physically
sick because they fall into eating disorders and sometimes drug abuse to stay slim.
Being a dancer myself, I would never have thought that dance involved so many concepts
of physics until I thoroughly thought about it. However, not all dancers take physics, but they
learn how the forces involved in physics act on them from experience over many years of
training. A comprehensive answer of how a simple knowledge of physics can improve dance
results implies a thorough study of the body posture and the analysis of the phenomena that
surround us for knowing our own limits. Knowing what the limits of a dancer are and what we
do as dancers to produce them and what eventually help us to overcome them are what make a
dancer perform beautifully and flawlessly. During my own personal experiences of all types of
dance, I’ve discovered that these two worlds of physics and dance are closely linked and it is
interesting that the sport I am most passionate of demonstrates a perfect explanation of the
physical laws that govern it.
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Random HouseDictionary, D. C. (2012). Dance. Retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dance?s=ts&ld=1125
Gascoigne, B. (2001). History world . Retrieved from
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab82
Laws, K. (2002). Physics and the art of dance: Understanding movement. Retrieved from
http://books.google.ca/books?id=9xDyOo9DY_EC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=dance
friction&source=bl&ots=smhHaI3uYF&sig=idzsl6CZSGj4oCdqRH9pG12iCM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lwLJUPSnC_ON0QGrlYHQBw&ved=0CDcQ6AE
wAg
Buzzle. (2012). Dance styles timeline. Retrieved from
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dance-styles-timeline.html
Picture References:
Swan Lake: Photo by: Jordan Beth 2012: http://dancetabs.com/2012/09/australian-ballet-swanlake-melbourne/
Pointe shoe: Photo by BodyThings 2012: http://www.adancersworld.co.uk/bloch-so602-footthong-178-p.asp
Toe shoe: Photo by BodyThings 2012 : http://www.adancersworld.co.uk/bloch-so602-footthong-178-p.asp
Grand jeté: Photograph by:Rachel Zar: http://www.dancespirit.com/2012/06/meet-the-cast-ofdance212-spring-session/victoria-grand-jete-2010/
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Sautés. Photograph by: NADA: http://www.northatlantadanceacademy.com/Programs.htm
Prep position. Photograph by: Dance Spirit: http://dance.about.com/od/ballet/ss/Pirouette_3.htm
Pirouette. Photograph by: Treva
Bendinghaus:http://dance.about.com/od/ballet/ss/Pirouette_3.htm