{{unreferenced, date=January 2011
A weight transfer or weight change is
dancer
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
's movement so that their weight is moved from one supporting foot (or supporting limb/body part) to another one fully or partially.
Walking
Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an " inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults o ...
, for example, involves shifting of the body's weight from one foot to another, so freeing the first so that it may be lifted and moved forward. This process is a 'natural' movement in humans and other animals, but is in effect a complex process of
biomechanics
Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...
.
In the full weight transfer, the
center of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. For ...
becomes vertically projected onto another body part (e.g., foot) freeing the first one so that it may be freely lifted or moved. (In fact, lifting the foot off the ground is a simple test often suggested for the beginners to ensure that they have completed the practiced
dance move
Dance moves or dance steps (more complex dance moves are called dance patterns, dance figures, dance movements, or dance variations) are usually isolated, defined, and organized so that beginning dancers can learn and use them independently of each ...
and their weight is on the proper foot.)
In partial weight transfer the center of gravity is shifted to project between the old and new support body part. In some dance moves, such as
ball change Ball change is a dance move that consists of two steps: a partial weight transfer on the Ball (anatomy), ball of a foot (placed e.g., behind), followed by a step on the other foot.
Kick ball change
Kick ball change is a dance move that consists of ...
, the force produced by pushing with the new supporting foot at the moment of the partial weight transfer makes it possible to lift the previous support foot for a short time, followed by the drop back onto the first supporting foot subject to the gravity force.
Partner dancing
Control of weight transfers is an important part of the
partner dance
file:Tanzturnier 28.JPG, Ballroom dancers performing the tango.
file:dance-At-Bougival.jpg, upPartner dance, ''Dance at Bougival'' by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1883
Partner dances are dances whose basic choreography involves coordinated dancing of t ...
technique. In general, important components of foot action during a dance step are foot movement, foot placement, and weight transfer.
Weight transfers of the leader are important cues in
leading and following
In some types of partner dance, lead and follow are designations for the two dancers' roles in a dance pairing. The leader is responsible for guiding the couple and initiating transitions to different dance steps and, in improvised dances, for c ...