Academy 4 - Elegance 11 - The Feminine Walk

Hello again sweeties!

It’s Becca here. Miss Frida was so pleased with my bonus course (honestly, once I’d calmed down I was grinning from ear to ear for days 😁) that she asked me to write a follow up to develop some of the ideas in a bit more depth and, now that you’re comfortable with the basics, femme up your walk even more!

Begin again

I hope you all know how I like to work by now, I’ll talk for a little while and try not to go too far off topic, we’ll watch a video, I’ll break down some key points and then we’ll repeat the process until we’ve covered everything. If you’re very lucky I may even set some homework, I know what you girls get up to if you have too much free time on your hands!

Now if you’re all sitting comfortably (and girls, I REALLY shouldn’t have to prompt you or tell you how to sit!) we’ll begin.

Refresher

This will still be fresh in your minds girls, but the key steps of walking are (check your notebooks if you need to):

Posture - steps - arms

Good! As we’ve discussed, these are what you should focus on when you’re learning to walk correctly. Obviously, after some practice they’ll become second nature so it’s worth mentioning them again so you know what to look out for when you’re watching a video.

First video, this is one we’ve seen before but don’t use that as an excuse to not pay attention to it. See if there’s anything you’ve missed or forgotten about.

Excellent, well done girls, I know you’ve been seated for a while, so feel free to change posture if you wish. You’ve all had plenty of practice by now so you should be able to hold seated postures for longer stretches of time and I’m comfortable that you are capable of not fidgeting and (elegantly) switching positions when you need to.

Advanced Tips

You all have the basics pretty much down by now. We’ve gone over them enough times and you’ve been practicing hard, so what we’re going to do now is look at things on the micro scale a little. These will be a little harder to work on, if you’ve fallen into a groove with your walking these small fiddly changes will seem awkward and uncomfortable at first and you’ll have to work to stop falling into your familiar habits but stick with it. They may be small but they’ll bring big benefits when you incorporate them.

Video number 2 now, as the host says, it’s all about tweaking things so you glide across the space and improve your efficiency

First up is your arms, make sure your thumbs (or palms) are pointing forward. This will open your shoulders up, which will make you seem more open and approachable.

Next (and this will feel really weird, like you’re really over exaggerating things), make a point to  swing your arms behind your body. Again, this will open your shoulders and help you walk more upright

Then add a very slight pause on your back leg when you’re stepping and then rolling your foot. This will open your hips but also transfer more of the effort when you walk to the back of your legs. This is especially important if you’re walking in heels. Your weight is naturally thrown forwards more, so you want the effort to come from the back of your legs.

As the lady said, it’s time for a little practice, stand up girls...really? I think you can do better than that! I did try and catch you out but you should be used to my little tricks by now. Sit down again, now stand up girls...better.

Find some space and practice. Just try each of the points raised one by one. Under and over exaggerate them until you get a feel for each one and then zero in on what feels like the right way for you.

Once you’ve got them down, try and put them all together and practice walking with them. Start slowly and feel it through until you get the hang of it and then speed up little by little until you get up to your usual walking speed. These little changes can feel peculiar at first, because they’re relatively small and niggly, but keep at it.

Ok, take a seat, it’s time for video number 3, it’s relatively lengthy, watch it through once and then we’ll have a bit of a chat and break it down.

All done? Excellent! So this ties in with the first video a little but also into posture in general. I’m sure you all noticed that open shoulders are the focus here again.

So first (and rather obvious) point, don’t try these stretches sitting down!

So stand up and move so your back and heels are against a wall (do this barefoot or in socks for now). Then move your head back so it’s against the wall, if this feels a little peculiar or like a bit of a stretch for your neck, you probably bow your head forward a bit. If you have a full length mirror, you may be able to stand in your natural posture and see this as well, but it can be tricky! If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll subconsciously try to adjust the flaw.

If you do bow your head forward, follow the tips in the video and try and find a neutral position. You’ve already started working on opening your shoulders, so getting the correct neck and head position will feel a lot better.

Homework

I’m sure you’ve all guessed this! Practice, practice, practice. Work the tips from the second video into your walk until they become natural. Work the tips from the third video so you can find the correct head and neck position, this will give you a much more regal and elegant walk, can you really picture a lady walking across a square, shoulders hunched, head down staring at the floor in an elegant manner?

The next step are the stretches in the third video. Try and do them daily, either add them on to your existing stretching practice or, as she suggests, do them when you get out of the shower. If you don’t have a dog lead, use a towel or a Yoga strap or a tie. Your upper body should open up relatively easily, but don’t push or force things too much, tweaking one of your intercostal muscles is not what we want.

The Model Walk

This is a little teaser for my next walking class (which will be a little while in coming). You should have the basics down so we’ll move the focus to heels and achieving a stride that would fit in on any catwalk. Watch this (it’s another one we’ve seen before) and focus on the after portion. What’s different about her walk from your normal stride? Is it the step, the hips? Notice her poses, a little over exaggerated but to good effect. I love, love, love the spin at around 46 seconds with the little smile, so smoothly done. Hands on the hips for emphasis.

If you’re watching catwalk shows, pay attention to the walk as well as the fashion, just see what differences you can notice between an everyday walk and a catwalk one.

Ok girls, I think we can wrap it up there. We had some fun and did some work as well. Keep practicing and stretching and I’m sure we’ll talk again soon!