Today we continue our posture series (see previous blog posts regarding feet and knees) and we move up the body and into the hips! I love talking about the hips and pelvis. Perhaps I’m just a belly dancing nerd, but I often find that many belly dancers don’t know a lot about how and why their body works…even their hips. While this blog post is only an introduction to the basics of our posture I hope this brings more awareness as to why our dance posture can be helpful to identify imbalances, bring an understanding as to why all our bodies are so different and inspire people to learn more about their bodies. With a little extra body awareness and mindful movement we can tune in and find areas that could use more love. And by love I mean strengthening, lengthening and movement. Besides, you can drill and drill a million times, but often when you learn exactly what you are asking your body to do it will respond a lot faster. Instead of one million repetitions maybe now it only takes 1/2 million!

Let’s jump right in….. First, this may be a reminder for most, but worth repeating, when we move our pelvis we are actually really moving either our legs and/or the lower portion of our spine to create the hip action. While the actual pelvis does have joints, they are not very mobile and most of them fuse as we age. The joints in our pelvis are mostly to soften impact (shock absorbtion) and allow a little expansion for childbirth, But these joints are certainly not like our other, more mobile joints. If you’ve ever had your SI joint move a little too much you know exactly what I’m talking about. I think this is an important reminder because in order to be more aware of movements, we need to understand exactly what IS moving. In short, the pelvis is moving as a reaction to the femur bones or the spine.

So what is our hip joint? Our hip joint is technically the acetabular femoral joint. It’s where the head of our femur bone (upper thigh bone) sits into the acetabulum portion of our pelvis. This forms a ball and socket joint.

Our hip joint allows movements like hip flexion (as in a forward fold) and hip extension (as in a back bend) and also internal/external rotation and abduction/adduction of your femur bone. As an ATS® bellydancer, we can feel the movement in this joint most often in any kind of slow pivot or turn like when we internally rotate one leg for a T-step in a slow half turn . Another movement where we really feel this joint is during the circle step. In fact I love imagining I’m massaging my hip joint in all directions any time I drill Circle Step!

However, most of our hip movements combine the action of the hip joint and the lumbar (low) spine.

The lumbar spine allows for lateral hip flexion and extension (think lift and drop like a shimmy) as well as rotation (think Egyptian Basic).

Remember, that while the shape of bones and joints allow for movement, it’s the actual muscles that are generating the action. More on that later!

What does this have to do with dance posture? Well, The lumbar spine and hip joint also allows for anterior and posterior tilt of the pelvis.

When we teach dance posture, we say “engage the lowest most portion of your abdominals”. What is the purpose? What are we trying to get our students to do? We’re trying to get them into a more neutral pelvis. Most of us tend to have more anterior tilt of our pelvis due to muscular imbalances, tightness in our psoas, weak core, tight QL muscles, etc. This is because most of us sit behind a desk or in a chair all day. Then, after a full day of not moving, we show up in dance class and expect our hips to just shimmy away! As teachers, we are trying to get you to begin moving from a more neutral hip position. This helps balance the body, provides better alignment of your spine, prevents low back discomfort and makes the movements feel and look more natural overall.

But here’s the thing, this posture cue isn’t right for everyone. Some people already have a neutral pelvis or even a posteriorly tilted pelvis and asking them to engage their low abdominals actually puts them in more of a posterior tilt. If you tend to contract your glutes in regular dance posture, then you could be over correcting an already neutral pelvis. Stop working so hard! :)

Let us instead learn how to find our neutral pelvis and then we can ensure we aren’t over-correcting our pelvic tilt. Plus we can use this to learn a little more about areas of our body that could use some extra conditioning and lengthening love!

Find your feet and knee posture based on the previous blog posts. In short, feet flat, knees soft. Next, place your hands on your hip bones (ASIS).
Anteriorly tilt your pelvis as much as you can. Notice your low back muscles engage and to create this action.
Posteriorly tilt your pelvis as much as you can, Notice your abdominal muscles engage to create this action.
Continue tilting your hips forward and back, making the actions smaller and smaller. Then pause in between.
When you aren’t anteriorly tilting or posteriorly tilting…..this is your “neutral”.

Another way to find neutral is to lay on your back with knees bent (bridge pose) and try increasing and decreasing the space between your lower back and the floor. Ideally, your neutral hips should allow just enough space to slide a pencil between your back and the floor. Keep in mind, every BODY is different so this is just a simple rule of thumb, but can definitely be a tool to help you find more awareness in your posture.

I should point out that depending on the extent of muscle imbalance, you may need to do some focused conditioning to help find your true neutral. If you tend to have low back pain (in general, but specifically after dancing) then a little psoas release and core strengthening would be a good way to help you more accurately find your neutral posture.

It may feel awkward at first, but now that you are aware of what neutral means for you, it will be easier to find this posture without over correcting. You’ll find more mobility in your hips, less back pain and overall more natural looking movements!

This post was just an introduction! There is so much more to share. If you are interested in anatomy geek sessions then please check out my four day intensive Alignment of ATS.

Below is an “oldie but goodie” hip healthy yoga flow you can find on my YouTube channel. Thanks to my friend Lisa for the inspiration and for ATS® Reunion for inviting me to teach this as a warm up a few years back.

What are some of your favorite ways to prep your hips for bellydance?

Posture Series Part Three - Hips

ATS® Block Party Playlist!

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