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Parlez Vous Ballet?
BALLET DANCERS
Detect The Details – Reworking Technique In Class
How can we create a greater focus on plié in class?
Texture. We can play with different speed, rhythms and texture with plié in class. A slow, continuous, four count plié that has a melting quality will feel very different than a quick and light two count plié that has a bouncing quality. A dancer who understands the physicality of each will understand the reason why one might be better served than the other depending on the movement or circumstance.
Core Strength. To feel comfortable working in a deeper plié, dancers need to develop their core strength to easily maintain their posture. Once the dancer is connected to their core, they will have an easier and more enjoyable time working through transition steps with ease. They will also be more likely to take risks in how much they travel through the space and play with level changes.
Feel Their Feet On The Floor. The more a dancer can feel an even weight distribution between their feet, the more they will pay attention to the connection they feel from their core through their leg. The dancer who pliés while feeling their feet spread and open on the floor will have a different connection to their entire leg line through plié than the dancer who is gripping their toes. The dancer that can open their feet will also become more aware of how they are using them in other transitioning movements through plié.
Finding Opposition. A plié is a movement that expands in all directions, but many dancers think a plié simply goesdown. If the dancer has an understanding of the contrasting directions of a plié, they will find more length throughout their entire body to support their movement. By finding more length, they will be able to feel their lines differently and find more release and grounding.
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Notes On Getting Your Leg Up
a-b. From passé, you rotate slight forward to an attitude position and lift your knee as high as it can go while your hips stay square. You have to seperate your femoral head while rotating it to get to this position. then you just have to extend the heel forward till your leg is fully extended.
c-e. I teach my students to start shifting their weight into their standing leg, and aligning the opposing hip. I tell them to use the full power of the backs of their leg to rotate forward, bring the leg even more slightly infront of their body allow the look of maximum turnout. Then bring the knee into the front of your armpit using your psoas, and pressing down through the student’s core to get the maximum stability and correct tension saving the hips. Then guiding through the heel, like the later part of a ron de jambe en l’iar. So instead of thinking of extension as a line, you have to think of it as a circular motion… like turnout… like everything in ballet. Use your hamstring to supply the support needed. But the higher your leg gets, the easier it should feel. It is simply physics, as the weight is now all shifted into your standing leg, freeing up your working leg.
f. Then, for those students who are hypermobile, and have mastered the ability to rotate the extension upwards, I let my students shift their weight even more into their standing leg, and then like a teetertotter shift their hips even more to get those last six inches of extension. Unfortunately, this puts a lot of pressure on the lower back, so you have to be strong and pretty advanced to achieve it.
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Five Summer Intensive Must-Haves
1. Notebook
Though cell-phones these days can accommodate our random thoughts at any moment, you should still consider brining a good old-fashioned note pad with you to your SI. You are about to embark on a journey that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you want to make sure that you get the most out of it.
2. Your Favorite Leotards
This may seem like an obvious one, but you know the saying, “Dress for success”? Why wouldn’t this apply to ballet as well? When you feel good in class, your confidence is higher, you are able to work harder, and you are able to focus on what really matters, instead of how you feel. So throw that hair in a nice tight bun and flaunt your favorite color.
3. An Open Mind
You choose this summer intensive in order to try something different: something challenging. In order to take full advantage of your new environment, be open-minded! The teachers and students have so much to offer you, so embrace it.
4.Your Work Ethic
That work ethic that brought you to this point, don’t forget to pack it, and let your teachers see it. Contrary to what you may think, teachers in these programs aren’t drawn to the most talented dancer in the room, they are often drawn to those who prove potential by willing to work for it. You can do quadruple pirouettes for days, but if you don’t work hard to perfect the weaknesses in your technique, a teacher can only help so much.
5. Confidence
You are about to meet a lot of new people, who are likely good dancers. But remember, you got into this summer course too! They picked you! The school saw something in you that they want to nourish and expand on. You are walking into the studio on a level playing field.
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Ballet Technique: Renverse | Kathryn Morgan
Re-think Negative Corrections as Active Instructions
The most effective way I have found to turn negative corrections into active instructions is by referencing the dancer’s anatomy. For example, a common correction at the barre is “don’t roll (the foot) in.” However, the action of simply pulling the arch of the foot off of the floor may have an unintended consequence of shifting the weight too far into the outer edge of the foot.
What I am really asking the dancer to do is keep all five toes on the ground, thereby centering the weight in the foot. When I change the wording of this correction from “don’t roll in” to “(do) keep all five toes on the floor,” I notice that more students seem to understand, and are able to apply it to their dancing. Other common negative corrections that I have since re-written include:
- Don’t slouch -> (do) elongate your spine
- Don’t sit in your hips -> (do) distribute your pelvic girdle evenly into your femur heads
- Don’t stick your chest out -> (do) ‘close’ your rib cage
By changing from negative corrections to active instructions, I notice a greater understanding and retention among the students. Additionally, the dancers begin to cultivate a greater awareness of their body on a skeletal and muscular level.
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Balletboyz Launches Online Dance Teaching Resource
A new online resource to support the teaching of dance in schools has been launched by award-winning company Balletboyz.
Launching today, the resource consists of a series of lessons for different key stages. Within each, a lesson plan ties together specialist videos, inspired by BalletBoyz’ use of digital content in its artistic work.
Featured videos include the deconstruction and teaching of choreography, as well as some taken from the BalletBoyz archive.
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