Click on the photo to make it larger!Clue: Ballet lesson number 1
This week I would like to know what you've learned in ballet class that you can immediately apply to your dancing. I would also like to know what have you learned that you understand intellectually, but cannot yet integrate into your dancing.
30 comments:
!!! Their knees are not over the middle of their feet! So bad. Their feet are turned out much too far.
I think a concept that will help me is the idea of taking up lots of space, but being strong and sturdy. I had never had the aesthetic of ballet described that way and it was really helpful. I am not sure I am good enough to constantly practice that idea, but I will certainly try, and keep it in mind.
I also learned that I had been doing my coupes wrong :)
A concept that you spoke about that really stuck with me is that ballet is meant to be very ethereal, meaning you are supposed to stay up and mentally conceptualize that you are always rising. Thinking about it in this way is already helping my balance! It may sound silly, but I didn't realize that I wasn't pointing my toes. So I want to make sure that in trying to get the larger moves right, I don't forget the smaller ones.
For the picture, all of the dancers feet are turned out by force and much farther than their hips would usually allow. You can tell by the dancer's knees being over their feet that their turnout is not correct. Thus far in ballet class, I have learned that dancers use long muscles and that everything in dance is elongated. Whether at the bar or dancing across the floor, dancer's stretch to elongate in everything they do. Also through this class, I have learned that something the teacher may say at this point in time can benefit throughout my entire study of ballet. Whether it's in one week or one year, at any point any concept may click and suddenly become that much more important.
They have crazy 180 degree turnout! Knees are not aligned with their feet, and their poor joints are not going to be happy doing that after many many years...
In class I have enjoyed going into specifics about the basics: port de bras, in particular, have always seemed like a simple enough idea (arms up, arms at the side, etc), but it has been very helpful to figure out exactly where each position is--this is something that I can work on right away:) I am also finding the idea of "downloading" rather fascinating and helpful, because my mind completely does wander, and developing the discipline of mind to concentrate is such a good skill (and so easily effected, I am finding, by things like lack of sleep, lack of breakfast, my stress level, etc,), it is something I will continue to work on..
The answer is that their knees should be aligned with their feet. Although their feet are turning out 180 degrees, their knees are not opening that much. If they want to open their feet 180 degrees, their knees should turn out 180 degrees.
What I learned from last week and Monday is mainly about the posture and the basic terminology. In terms of the posture, I learned that the way ballerina use their muscles is different from the way athlete and body-builder do. Ballerina need to extend their muscles and try to show themselves bigger and aesthetically. In order to do this, you need to care about angles too.
Also, I learned the basic ballet terminology. Every word was new to me since this is my first ballet. Because I don't know the spell of the words we learned, I cannot type here... But I can recognize them now.
Now because everything is new for me, I need to copy others all the time. I try to follow them as much as I can... So please bear with me!
For the picture: all of these dancers feet are turned to the "Russian" 180, which cause their knees to torque!
One thing I have learned and am applying is being lengthy and tall and using space as well as watching to make sure I am over my foot, not having to catch up with it.
Something I am continually working on and trying to help make "click" is the downloading process, as well as the focusing on my movements and where I am placing my feet, arm positioning, etc. I guess in general I am slowly working on keeping my mind open and focused. For me, this is something that doesn't quite come so naturally, so I am working on making it click.
Those knees never would have stood out to me before Monday, but I noticed almost as soon as I looked at the pictures. Ouch!
I've really enjoyed hearing about what to THINK while dancing ballet ... staying tall and stretched, constantly rising, etc. And the constant focus on fun has helped me to remember to enjoy what I'm doing, too. :)
I had trouble putting the correct port de bras with the coupes. I liked that it was clearly explained, but I just had trouble doing at the same time while trying to make my feet and legs do as I wanted.
those are some seriously over turned out feet, the one girl in particular has her legs at little more than 45 degrees and yet her feet are at 180. Seriously don't they know how bad that is for the joints?!
speaking of turn out I am trying to be aware of mine and also of not being lazy and actually opening up my hips and making sure my whole legs are turned out, not just the feet. As for what I have learned in class I really am not sure what to say at this point, I have quite a bit to work on! There has been good advice given from the port de bras to posture and also staying relaxed and making long extended strong forms, I just need to be mindful of it all as I dance.
I think everyone has mentioned it: the knee suppose to be over the middle of their feet when they plied.
At the same time, their posture is not straight up in the air. There is a heavy emotion due to the upper torso when they plied.
owch owch owch.
For me this week was all about coupe. In the past I have pretty much just put my coupe somewhere kinda close to my ankle and called it good. Specifically, I think this is the first time ever that I've bothered to specifically place my raised foot for pas de bourree.
The first thing I notice about this picture is the arms on the dancer. For some the arms are to high and for the person in the bottom right quarter her wrists are high and then her hands just flop down. They also turn out to far and so their knees don't follow the line of their feet.
This week I learned how to stay balanced on my toes for an extended period of time. Imagining going up and up and up is really helpful in staying still and balanced. I also learned about the comparison of a body builders movements being short and compact vs a dancer who is all about being elongated and lean
The dancers in the picture have their feet too far for their turnout, and their knees are not over their toes.
This week in class I have learned how to do second position arms (the hardest one for me right now). I think it might take a while before I get it right every time, but I am going to focus on making them "birds of prey" rather than putting them behind my shoulders.
I also have learned how to think about balancing, and I understand the concept, of making oneself tall and full of energy, but I feel like I do not have the muscle strength yet to actually do all balancing positions I want to do. Hopefully I'll develop the strength during this quarter.
The problem with this picture is that the girls' knees are not on top of their feet. Their knees should be right over on top, in the middle of their toes. They turned out their feet too much.
When you told us to extend our spine and make it long, it helped me to really get the posture as I posed each form and helped me to create a form, especially on plie and tondue. Something I had a hard time intergrating into my dancing was fondue. I had the picture in my head of my body just melting down into the posture, but when I was dancing it, it was hard to make it perfect. I think I would have work on that a little more.
The girls knees are not aligned with their feet, which will no doubt cause problems later on.
At least one of the things that I've learned is that you need to check the alignment of your arms when you lower them from fifth position to the second, so as to keep your wrists below your elbows.
The idea of reaching up and letting energy soar up through your body when you're balancing feels really useful to me. In my mind that's linked to another idea that I hope to integrate to my dancing, taking lots of space and making movements big. Thinking like that is especially improving my arm movements, like the circular port de bras, and I can also feel it affect my alignment in whole.
I also liked the idea of jumping as one "packet" and not moving too many parts of you body at the same time, it makes me feel stronger while jumping.
knees inside toes of course - bad! glad i finally remembered to put this website on my homepage list. :)
Although I had intellectually understood it before, I never was able to truly comprehend the connection between rooting your movements with strength, but adding an ethereal quality to them. This is the perfect combination for good dancing, and though I have not yet perfected my technique by any means, I am now closer to good form than I was before. An intellectual concept I am still grappling with is the turn out of my feet and knees. I am still fairly conditioned to turn my feet out 180 degrees, but my knees no longer naturally follow (maybe a good thing?) It is clear why full turn out is a bad idea, but it is a hard habit to break.
Ouch! Those knees...
This week I thought a lot about the music, timing, playing with timing and dancing big. I love the look of reaching out as far as you can with your body--intellectually I get that. I respond to that. Those thoughts are in the back of my head as I work on building a little bit of muscle memory so I don't have to think so much about all my parts--my hands, feet, filling space, etc.
That turnout just looks painful...
Something I have learned so far that seems to really help is the vision of always going up, rising above. When I think of going up all those moves that seemed nearly impossible seem attainable with practice. Something else I have learned so far is something that applies to all of life. What we learn now may not click for several years down the line, and it may frustrate us sometimes to hear something from someone and we ask ourselves how important is this to us now. Just because it isn't applicable right away does not mean that it will never become so. One more thing on that note, but we will continue to learn for the rest of our lives, so as we get older we may find that things that were once difficult are no longer, dance, work, or just life in general.
Imagining that I am extending and growing taller even when stationary has made a big difference in the way if feels when I am trying to balance or shift weight lightly. I'm not sure if this has translated to an actual improvement of my dance form, but it feels more stable and aligned. Also, it seems to make the movements demand less effort.
What's wrong?... their feet are so turned out and their kness aren't, you can really see all the weight they are rolling toward their arches... ekk.. I agree with what Louis said in class that they'll be needing knee replacements later in life.
Anyways, I think what really struck me most in class was really focusing on your energy going past your hands, I've always heard think up and always pull out of your hips and extend but there was something about focusing your energy up that made it clearer.. I still need to focus on this...
And I really need to focus and work on finding my center when balancing. Balancing has always been a problem for me, that I really want to work on....
Horrible turn outs! Their feet are turned out so much that their knees are not lined up with their toes. OUCH!
What i have learned this week goes back to the focus of what I am doing with my arms. Jurg helped me focus on keeping my shoulders down and when I received the comment about leading with my fingers while leaning toward the bar that reinforced what jurg had already worked with me on. The idea of Energy flowing out of the body and all of it's extensions is not a new concept to me but a difficult one to remember especially while tired.
The things I have learned that i can not yet integrate into my dancing are actually concepts that i have been informed about from other dancers in the department and from Cornish. Working with only the necessary muscles while still remaining relaxed and still have the flowing energy. It sounds so easy but difficult to do even on my own outside of class. A level was added to my view of dance the last few days through these conversations and help I have received that has taken what I am doing past the idea of just moving my body.
The knees are turned way too much to the center. As we discussed in class, they should be going OVER the foot every time.
This week what helped me the most was the repetition of three times that was a theme for our classes. To me it helped me to practice the exercises more than just once in order to insure that they are done correctly.
All I can say about the picture is owwwww!! Especially the ones on pointe!! That is so bad for your knees and ankles! : ( 180 degree turnout does not count if you cannot support it!!
As for me, this week, my main lesson has been how much I need to work on. I am so glad that I talked to you today about where my body: pelvis, ribs, head should be. This will be a big challenge to actually apply, because it is so easy to let go of posture when you are dancing, yet without it, you cannot support yourself.
I also realized just how much I do check out in Ballet class, and this is something I need to work on to improve and focus. Another thing I realized is how conditioned I am to do certain steps a certain way. For example, when we did out tombe, pas de bourre today, I could not do the port de bras that you asked us to do because my body is so conditioned to doing something else. I guess I have to work on my flexibility in the mind. : )
And one last thing is that I have noticed my laziness and lack of balance. I am so thankful for this class because I really have to think about what my body is doing, unlike other classes where they are so fast that you don't have time to think. I have lots to work, work, work on!!! : )
P.S. The anon comment was from me, Nicole Boutillier. Sorry for the confussion. : /
One thing that we work on in class that I have been trying to incorporate into my dancing immediately is really working through my feet on tendus and degages. One thing that I understand and try to do even though it doesn't always get applied is focus my energy more when I'm balancing. I feel like my balances are really static, so what you've been saying about reaching our energies up beyond ourselves as well as down through the floor is something that I'm working on eventually doing naturally.
ok this picture does not look healthy on the knees! Although ever since I started this class I have been more aware of the placement of my knees...I notice that my turn out is always wider than it should be and I have to constantly correct it. I grew up with a teacher that always yelled at me to have a straighter turn out! So now I have to attempt to correct that mistake so my knees won't have to many problems in the future.
Hey, Louis. Has Hannah by chance talked to you about her latest news on the knees over the toes thing? She came into the 200 level class last week and pretty much blew everyone's world to pieces. If she hasn't said anything to you about it, I think you should ask. It's pretty interesting.
OH aouch!! That looks painful especially the girl in the green... EEE. I am aware that my turn out is not as wide as some may think it should be. I know I can work on making it larger by gently stretching everyday. But I am oh so glad that we don't have to torque our knees and ankles in such a nasty way.
I love the idea and continually growing and sending the energy out farther than the end of our limbs. Taking up the space of the whole room and watching it float around... what a cool concept.
I've actually heard that there are new studies out about the proper alignment of knees over toes. If a dancer does not have 180 degree turn out than they shouldn't necessarily have their knees directing over their toes and if they are then they might be throwing off their alignment. Of course it is still important to not force any position and land jumps with the proper care so not to put pressure on areas of the legs prone to injury. The girls in the picture are doing something more scary than not turning out their knees. They are rolling their arches which puts strain on the whole front of their legs (thighs, knees, calves, and ankles). this can cause a dance to "roll" coming down from a jump and really hurt themselves.
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