Lifeless Arms

Before

After

Limp, droopy arms are one of Sheila Barker’s pet peeves. “There’s no energy flowing through the body and the fingers,” says the popular Broadway Dance Center jazz teacher. Holding excess tension in the neck and shoulders, and failing to initiate port de bras from the back are usually the culprits (as opposed to lengthening the neck, relaxing the ribs down and rotating through the shoulder, releasing energy down the arm and past the fingers). “It’s not just about the arms,” says Barker. “It’s all connected to the body.”