Your developpe could be better...3 tips!

Just as with pirouettes, there are so many things we can be thinking about when we do développé.

And just as with pirouettes, we can't possibly think about all of them at the same time!

So here are 3 things to focus on when you work on your développé, one for each direction. If you can make them part of your muscle memory, you can free your mind to think about other things, like choreography or performance quality:

Devant

Gamzatti Variation Classical Ballet Solo by Harclade

This means "to the front."

Think about: lower belly (that triangle-shaped area underneath your belly button).

When we talk about "lifting" the lower belly, we mean trying to keep your pelvis upright, not tilted (don't spill your cup of water!). Often when we stretch the leg to the front, we collapse our centers and the lower belly tilts backward. To compensate for this, we grab onto the barre tightly. Instead, when you are working to the front, try to imagine your lower belly flat and the cup of water you are keeping there upright. As you stretch the foot away from your center, picture the heel rotating outward to spiral out and up, not down.

A là seconde

Aurora Ballet 20120504019 by Greg Gamble

This means "to the second position" which we commonly interpret as "side."

Think about: the side of your rib cage from under the armpit to the top of the waist.

You can apply this correction when you work to the side, thinking about the "barre" side of your body. As you stretch the leg out, try to think about the opposite side of your waist lengthening and providing a strong stable complementary base to the working leg. While you do want to extend the leg as high as it can go, you also don't want to allow it to pull you off your standing leg. If you can picture yourself growing taller on both sides of your body, you can evenly extend the leg to the side without collapsing toward the barre (or in the center, you will remain upright and not fall over).

Derrière

IMG 0224 by Dubna Fantazia

This means "to the back."

Think about: working through back attitude.

I don't have eyes in the back of my head and I'm pretty sure you don't either. That's why it can be hard to stretch your leg to the back without crossing it over the heel of the standing leg or leaving it open (what we call "secabesque" when we are being silly). It's also quite easy to lose your rotation and wind up with a turned-in leg. As you develop the leg from passe, try to go through your back attitude before you completely stretch it out. This will keep your rotation and also ensure that you are not crossing it too much. It's a very 3-dimensional feeling to move through the space like this, rather than simply a straight line from the knee out.

~Happy dancing!~