I wonder if there's a way to increase the flexibility of the upper back - whenever I do exercises/stretches to increase the flexibility of my back, it only seems to work with the lower back. When I do a cambré back, I don't want to look like I just snapped back in half, so any advice is very welcome!

You might try the Pilates "Spine Stretch": see www.dummies.com . . . or www.youtube.com . . .

My Pilates instructor emphasizes that the lower back should be kept straight against the "wall" (imaginary) behind you, so that it's just the upper back that "peels away." It took me a while to get used to this, as it seems more natural to bend from the hips and stretch the lower back and hamstrings, but doing it properly may give you some help.

That's a flexion exercise and a cambre is an extension movement.

This would be a much better one for you, it could be done on a balance ball too without coming right up to a seated position.

video.answers.com . . .

^ Oops, sorry...highland dancer, not ballet. I was just going with general upper back flexibility; sorry for the misleading info.!

No problem, I'm still thankful for the help! But yes, I need to be able to bend my upper back backwards. Definitely trying to find something to replace that funny wobbly half-ball thingy for me, as I don't think I can fit another piece of training furniture into our teeny tiny flat >.< I thought about getting a gymnastic ball and replace my old desk chair with it, so I'm sure I could use that then.

When I get to Jazzercise early, I sometimes do something similar relaxing backwards over one of their balance balls. But one of those balls definitely takes up a lot of room. I've also tried doing a Yoga cobra stretch pushing up only my shoulders and upper back. That's better than nothing but it's certainly not a stretch you can relax into. I happen to have an "overstuffed" couch with low, fat, padded arms; so I've tried sitting on the couch with my back to the arm, adding a pillow to make it even wider, and doing an upper back stretch across it. That works pretty well but I think most couches would not be suitable.

The first time I tried it I got a surprise. I had planned to simply relax backward with my arms over my head and breathe deeply for an even better relaxed stretch. But I could breathe only with shallow breaths! My chest muscles, and indeed the muscles all down my front were stretched so tight that my lungs could not expand very far! So not only does my spine need to be more flexible, backward, but so do my chest muscles.