Dancing Pros and Physics

The other week my family and I had the opportunity to go see a Dancing Pros Live event.  If you're unfamiliar with Dancing Pros, check the link below.

Dancing Pros Live

The show is hosted by Alan Thicke and is composed of several top dancers that compete in a entertainment style competition.  I had no idea what to expect from the show, but I was very impressed.  Both of my daughters loved it!  My 4 year old fell asleep after intermission, but my 7 year old was just as amazed as I was at the moves these dancers could pull off.

There's a lot of physics that goes into dancing, much of it centered on balance.  Consider a person standing straight up.  At what point does one topple over?  If you lean over far enough, eventually your center of mass moves outside of your feet.  Everything else being equal, that's the point at which you will fall over.  The muscles in your body will help to avoid this, but eventually you will fall.

At the Dancing Pros Live event, we saw a male dancer do a hand stand, which is already a difficult feat.  Then, while on his hands, he slowly bent the bottom portion of his body over, stomach facing up, and keeping his feet straight out.  He reached a point where he was almost bent over at the waist at a 90 degree angle, and held it for a couple of seconds!!!  WOW!!!!  Simply wow!!!  The muscle strength and control needed to do that is simply amazing!  It looks physically impossible and is unless you have an extremely strong core.

Anyways, if you get a chance, take your kids to a Dancing Pros Live event.  They will love it!!!