Sway

So i recently made a new friend who too is a dancer, so we talk all day about dance and have the greatest laugh. I mentioned yesterday, because we are both considering applying to a college in the south of Ireland which has a lot of heavy ballet, that I have a swayed back, to which he replied "Your joking right? Oh my god this is crazy so do I". We have a lot in common, both contemporary dancers and both got injured and out of dance for a while.

But this blog is about sway backs. Dictionary.com defines a "swayed back" as a "Veterinary Pathology" and the noun means "an excessive downward curvature of the spinal column in the dorsal region, esp. of horses."

My friend was proud of his sway, demanding that it made our fifths tighter and I didn't disagree. But then I got thinking "sway backs are not desirable", which they aren't, they kill pirouettes and ballet teachers will do everything short of beating it out of you? For him he has embraced it and looked on the bright side, maybe its his contemporary and jazz history. However for me I have been constantly aware of it, due to ballet, so much to the extent that I perfect my posture so much contemporary teachers mistake me for a ballet dancer so i have to loosen up. Personally I don't know which method is best! Ballet being my second style I would lean towards eliminating the problem, but having a stiff back in contemporary is no good.

However, from my experience if you ever talk to a dancer who ha a sway back, they will tell you that you can never get rid of it and only control it. C'est la vie! At least we get a tighter fifth!

Billy Bell, SYTYCD 6 has a sway back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0w_TKMtZFI and I belive Victor Smally did too