Emerging Concepts of Posture and Alignment

Abstract

Dance educators have been posing questions and theories about the alignment of the body for centuries. In The Life and Works of John Weaver , Ralph includes lectures by Weaver, written in 1721, in which he describes good posture for the dancer. Blasis first published An Elementary Treatise Upon the Theory and Practice of the Art of Dancing in 1820, in which he expounds in detail about the correct placement of the segments of the dancer’s body. By the 1900s these concepts of alignment were becoming extended, and detailed discussions of the importance of teaching proper alignment began to appear in the literature.