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Walking On A Straight Line

A common site in the rural areas, almost throughout the world, of women balancing a pot on the head, and effortlessly going about their daily routine.

Exercise 1
On the floor draw an imaginary straight line, which will be referred to as the line of dance or the LOD. And walk on it forwards and backwards. Ensure that LOD passes through the centre of the either foot. The upper part of the inner thighs remains in contact, and the hip is kept relaxed. Look straight ahead at a point, which is at eye level and directly above LOD. Now practice walking a few steps forward and equal numbers of backward steps with normal strides. Also note that when moving forward the heel touches first and the toes touch first when moving backward. Always feel the hip leading prior to the movement of the foot. Thus swinging it from the hip moves the foot. As soon as you get the idea of this, move on to the next part.

Exercise 2
Swing the arms as in a normal walk. Thus when moving forward if the right leg is to move forward the left arm moves forward, and it moves the shoulders with it. The opposite movement is when the left leg is to move forward.

Similarly when moving back, it the right foot is to move back the left arm and shoulders in turn moves back.

This might take a little time to understand, especially when moving back.

Exercise 3
When moving backward or forward the bending from the hip is very subtle. When moving forward the shoulders move forward by a slight bending forward from the hip. This makes the body move forward and not the feet. Immediately next part is the straightening of the back, this makes the foot to swing forward and land under the body.

Note here that the bend is very subtle, and when it occurs the body still appears to be straight. At this stage if the straightening is not done and the foot is not moved, then one will invariably fall.

Similarly to move back the back bends forward from the hip, but the whole hip keeps moving back. This will make the body start moving backwards. Immediately the back is straightened and then only the foot is released to move and land under the body.

Note. Here similar to when moving forward, the slight bend is not distinctly noticeable. It the feet are not moved on will invariably fall.

Here one should distinctly and very consciously feel the bending and straightening of the back that result in the feet to move. So every walking step is initiated from the upper body. This is very natural and similar to jumping. When one jumps and lands, the immediate instinctive reaction is to bend the knees and absorb the shock. The next reaction to bending is the straightening of the knees. But to keep jumping continuously without effort and rhythmically is to use these instinctive bending and straightening of the joints.

Thus after landing, when the knees are straightening give a little more force and you will rise further with least effort, since the movement is already in the same direction. Using such movement consciously is required here for the forward and backward walks.

Exercise 4
Although the body weight is carried only on one foot, both the feet remain in contact with the floor, and consciously one should feel the push from the foot for the backward or the forward walk. When moving froward the push is from the ball and toes of the back foot, and when moving backwards the push is from the heel of the front foot.

The roll of the foot should be experience very consciously. This roll is exactly same, as a ball would roll on the ground. The roll is experienced between the toes and the heel; thus this gap should feel like an ark of a circle.

Exercise 5
The last part here is to practice all the above with an object balanced on the head.

Prologue
Funny that it appears near the end. The funnier part is that all that is mentioned above is what we do subconsciously to a larger extent, when normally walking.

Also the technique required here is exactly the same as that for a walking race. Almost all these movements and technique for the walking race is required for the Latin American dances, however the hip movement is reduced considerably for the Ballroom dances.