Ballet Re-boots coming this week!

Monday, July 8th:

Beginner re-boot!

***For everyone who has taken my beginner class at Inspire Dance Studio, you know the level has been creeping up...and up...and up...because some long-time students wanted to gain more vocabularybut my advanced beginner classes at Dance Arts were too far to travel to. Now that Dance Arts is closed, the BEGINNER class can go back to what it was: an encouraging and supportive environment with very basic combinations and an emphasis on building technique. Whether you are brand new or want to clean things up, THIS is the class for YOU!

Days and Times: Monday & Wednesday 8-9:30PM, Saturday 9-10:10AM
Location: Inspire Dance Studio, 457 Foothill Blvd, La Canada Flintridge 91011

Tuesday, July 9th:

Advanced Beginner re-boot at Live Arts LA!

***With the move from Dance Arts, my ADVANCED BEGINNER class will slide into the slot between my Beginner and Intermediate levels. It will be great for dancers who want to challenge themselves and for those who would like to work en pointe. I am moving it to Live Arts Los Angeles, a 2000sf marley covered sprung floor studio in Glassell Park and I am looking forward to meeting new people from the area! NB: I'm trying to move this class to a later start time but have not been confirmed for that yet. Until then, it's at 7PM.

Day and Time: Tuesday, 7-8:30PM
Location: Live Arts LA, 4210 Panamint St, Los Angeles CA 90065

Thursday, July 11th:

Advanced Beginner re-boot at Inspire!

***As with my Tuesday class, this ADVANCED BEGINNER class is perfect for students who want more than a Beginner class but aren't quite ready for Intermediate. It's also in the studio where I teach my Monday/Wednesday/Saturday classes so if you're close by and used to that studio, you will love this too. NB: beginning in late August (or sooner) this class will likely move to a 7:15 or 7:30 start time due to some studio conflicts.

Day and Time: Thursday, 7-8:30PM
Location: Inspire Dance Studio, 457 Foothill Blvd, La Canada Flintridge 91011

 Got questions? Just ask!!

New classes in new locations! Come dance with me!

I'm excited to tell you some news about my classes:

1. Beginning JULY 9th - Tuesday 7PM Advanced Beginner is moving to Live Arts LA in Glassell Park!  2000sf open studio with marley, a large dressing room/lounge and stretch area, water cooler, bathrooms, and unrestricted street parking, very conveniently located right off the 2 freeway near the 134 and 5.

More:
I love this space! It's a hidden gem that deserves more notice! Many of my friends teach here (Carol Guidry on Sunday mornings; Bertha Blankenship on Monday evenings and Saturday afternoons; Helen Nasillski on Friday mornings) and I have always wanted to teach here myself. The space is huge and very spacious - high ceilings, skylights and windows - with a marley-covered sprung floor. I love taking class here so I know I will love teaching here too. 
Bonus:

Water cooler! Just bring your water bottle and stay hydrated. 

2. Beginning JULY 11th - Thursday 7PM Advanced Beginner is moving to Inspire Dance Studio in La Canada! Studio is quad-sprung with marley, dressing /stretch areas, water cooler, bathrooms, plenty of free street parking including a small private lot in back, right off the 210 freeway near the 2.

More:

I've been teaching at this studio since 2014 (!) after I decided to be a completely independent businesswoman and go out on my own. I love this studio and I love how my classes have grown. Julie made it even better by building a quadruple sprung floor and adding marley which gives us such a great cushion for our knees and ankles.

Bonus:

I now have all levels of ballet available to my students in this location. From beginner to intermediate and pointe, all of my students will have access to the 3 levels of classes I teach. I might also start a new pointe class here afterward.

3. With this move comes a re-launch of my Beginner class on Monday and Wednesday at 8PM. It will be a true beginner class! 

More:
 As my classes have evolved and my core group of students have become more experienced - but not quite experienced enough for the intermediate class - the beginner class has tended to skew more advanced, with us doing pirouettes and bigger jumps and more complex combinations than I would typically do with my beginners. By making this change, I will give those advanced students another level of class and thus be able to make this beginner class one for real beginners.

Bonus: On Wednesdays I'm going to add 15 minutes of men's conditioning and steps for a small additional fee.

4. June 30th-July7th - Vacation, no classes will be held.

Thursdays at Dance Arts are getting BIGGER!

Beautiful local dancers and friends~

 

Beginning this Thursday March 7th, my Advanced Beginner ballet class at Dance Arts Academy on Thursday nights will be moved into the GIANT STUDIO! I'm very excited we can do some big jumps across the floor and super waltzy combinations. 

 

We'll be testing the waters to see if the studio size is a good fit for the class so be sure to come in and check it out!

What: Advanced Beginner Ballet in the BIG STUDIO

Where: Dance Arts Academy, 731 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles 90036

When: 7-8:30PM, starting March 7th

If you're new to the studio, check out my parking info blog post so you know where to park. See you in class!

Glissade tips

One of my very favorite steps is glissade.

It didn't used to be, though, especially when it was performed with petit allegro steps like jete or assemble. I would watch other dancers (usually more petite dancers than myself since conventional wisdom says taller dancers are less likely to be fast with their feet - a MYTH! - and older dancers are slower - another MYTH!) and be envious of their sharp glissade a la seconde.

In ballet, the term glissade is a "linking step," one that is performed between other steps, as in the aforementioned allegro.

(Did you know "glissade" also means to slide down an ice slope? Yes, this is true! But please don't go backpacking or ice-slope climbing if you're a dancer - too dangerous! Thank you from your teacher and artistic director.)

How do we perform a glissade?

When we do a glissade, we begin in a fifth position (typically), demi-plie, then degage the back foot to the side. We push up and off the floor with the front foot and straighten both knees at the same time. For a split-second we are airborne! Both legs are straight and off the ground and we look like a triangle in the air.

At this point, things get tricky.

To come down, we land on the first foot (toe, ball, heel and en fondue) and then pull the second foot into fifth position as if returning from a degage. The timing is important because we don't want to land on the first foot with the second foot sticking up in the air. Not only is that awkward but it is also incorrect. That would be more like a jete instead of a glissade.

We also need to land in demi-plie so it's a soft finish. Please don't straighten the first knee before finishing the jump in fifth position, either en avant or en arriere.

And finally, the most challenging part of all, the toe-ball-heel slide of the second foot. One of the things I give the most corrections on is the second foot. We forget about it. We leave it dangling. We don't push from it to a pointed foot. We don't drag it in smoothly. Instead we often place the foot into fifth position as if putting it down (like a normal non-dancer person would!) while we are walking. It's vitally important that you replace the foot as if you were returning from a battement degage. That can be a quick toe-ball-heel or a slow, gooey one but it must be a glide and cannot be a "placing down."

So that's glissade.

What are some tips and tricks to make this an easier step?

1. Think about the suspension in the air. Spring both feet off the floor to get that second position straight and sharp.
2. Use your "underbutt" muscles to keep you off the ground. A good practice for this is balancing in second position en releve. The muscles you need for this are the same for the glissade.
3. Practice sautes in second position. Again, these same muscles under your derriere are the ones you need to engage to keep you off the ground.
4. Focus on your inner thighs when you perform tendu and degage exercises at the barre. Strong adductor muscles will increase your speed.
5. Work the articulation of the your feet with Therabands or other exercises. Feet that are more pliable will have a more aesthetically pleasing appearance and also be easier to spring off the floor.
6. Practice. Seriously. Practice them as much as you can. Alternate front and back or all front or all back. Watch yourself in the mirror and be critical about the suspension in the air. Use your torso and core muscles to lift you off the ground. Easier glissades make all allegro easier.

Hope this helps! Happy dancing~

And Happy Thanksgiving!

The beautiful and talented Vera-Ellen!

My favorite class is...

...my Advanced Beginner class.

(Did you think I was going to name one of my own teachers, past or present? No way! I couldn't possibly pick a favorite!)

Of all the classes I teach, I think the Advanced Beginner class is the one I would most like to take for myself. This is not because of my students, although I do adore all of them, but rather because of the level of the class.

While I love the challenge of my Intermediate level class and the simplicity of my Beginner class, I think the one right in between is a great class; it's thorough from start to finish. It's an ideal "in-between" level for advanced dancers who need to spend a little more time on technique and for upcoming dancers who want to boost their vocabulary.

But I have heard dancers wonder what makes it "Advanced Beginner." It's not advanced, after all, and it certainly isn't beginner. I tell them it's not quite intermediate but if you are an intermediate level dancer you can certainly make it more challenging. However, a beginner dancer who hasn't had much training might struggle. I expect students in this class to understand some of the basics, even if they can't perform them technically perfectly (that's what I'm for!):

At the barre:
plie, tendu, degage, grand battement, rond de jambe, port de bras, developpe, frappe, passe, cou de pied, arabesque

In the center:
glissade, chasse, jete, changement, balance, pique, pas de bourree, grand jete developpe, pas de chat

Me with 2 Adv Beg students - I have no pictures of my class!

So what does it look like? 
*I'm usually consistent with this class in terms of vocabulary and technique building.
*I use classical music although from time to time, I shake things up with special holiday theme tunes.
*At the barre, I focus on cleanliness of technique, shifting weight from one leg to the other, and warming up the muscles sequentially.
*In the center, I focus on performance.
*I like to do what I call "dramadagio" (I should trademark that) to emphasize stage presence, especially with adagio combinations.
*However, I am also careful to correct technique: pirouettes are my number one focus in the center.
*I want you to get the most out of the barre work you did and apply it to the center.
*Allegro is about brain work and fast feet - I want people to shed their anxiety about small jumps and just try it!

My Advanced Beginner class structure:

Barre - 
1. Begin with standard simple warm-up from head through feet
2. Plie combination is set with 2 demi-plies and 2 grand plies to maximize stretch
3. Tendu combination from first, slowly and simply, with a balance
4. Tendu from fifth position a little faster, with a balance
5. Faster tendu from fifth position to get the feet moving faster
6. Slow degage combination with a full-body stretch and balance
7. Faster degage to challenge the brain
8. Rond de jambe a terre with a stretch and balance
9. Fondu developpe with rond de jambe en l'air, typically moderate tempo
10. Frappe with petit battement, balance and pirouette practice
11. Adagio
12. Grand battements

Center -
1. Tendu with pirouettes en dehors
2. Adagio
3. Waltzy turns across the floor, first right and then left, often with en dehors and en dedans pirouettes
4. Small jumps with or without grand battements to warm up and roll through feet
5. Petit allegro to challenge the brain
6. Grand allegro
7. Reverence

I hope this helps some of you determine if the class is right for you (it probably is! why don't you try it?).  Happy dancing~

Are you doing your grand plie correctly? Are you sure?

When beginning dancers first learn to do a grand plie, teachers try to guide them with three main alignment corrections (it's always 3, isn't it?):

1. Keep your spine straight - don't tuck or stick out your derriere.

2. Send your knees out over the toes - don't allow them to roll in front of the big toe.

3. Let your heels come off the floor gradually - don't pop them up and force the arch.

As I watch dancers advance and learn to incorporate more alignment corrections, I've noticed that the 3rd correction about the heels seems to be the last one that can be applied properly. In terms of the sequence of understanding, it appears that the first two are easier to comprehend and apply to our bodies. After all, we can see in our mirrored reflection whether our spines are straight and if the knees are rolling forward of our toes.

But the feeling of heels lifting too soon (or being popped up) is a challenging one for dancers to find. Remember that lifting the heels too soon can have major repercussions, including:
*shortening the tendons and weakening them
*constant engagement of calves resulting in pulled calf muscles
*crossover to lifted heel before pirouette

 DO NOT

 

Try this next time you're at the barre for plies in first position:
--find your balance evenly on both feet but test whether you are "sitting" back by gently lifting the heels off the floor and setting them back down.
--imagine a weight at the base of your spine pulling you straight down to the floor.
--begin to open the plie at the top of the legs - don't initiate in the knees; they come later.
--allow the thighs to part and the knees to open and extend beyond the center part of the foot and the middle toes.
--feel the calves and Achilles tendons lengthening as the knees open.
--keep your spine straight and feel the lower belly engage as you get closer to the floor.
--the knees will naturally pull off the floor - allow them to do that - but instead of bringing the heels closer to your pelvis, bring the pelvis closer to your heels.
--let me repeat that: instead of bringing the heels closer to your pelvis, bring the pelvis closer to your heels.
--to come back to standing from the grand plie, put your heels down first, feel the Achilles and calves engage, and then initiate the return by pulling in your inner thighs, not your knees.

DO

Hope this helps! Happy and healthy dancing~

Don't turn with your butt!

How's that for a headline? Grabs your attention, eh?

Today's Pirouette Tip comes courtesy of a number of my students of all skill levels. I noticed a tendency among them to initiate their en dehors pirouettes with their derrieres which results in:

--a sinking in the center of the body like a fallen souffle
--drooped arms and a collapsing of the pirouette's integrity
--a lowered heel so the turn becomes more like a spin
--"kneeing" the turn so the knee is in front of the body during the rotation instead of turned out to the side

There are 2 main reasons for this occurrence:

1. Pirouette anxiety which prevents you from taking the "leap of faith" required to fully stack your head, shoulders, torso, hips, etc. all the way over your leg.
2. Lack of strength in your glutes and core to hold the external rotation and press the floor up and away from you rather than in a circular motion.

Are you doing this? How do you know if you are?

Q. Are you falling out of your turn?
Q. Are you unable to complete more than one turn?
Q. Does your support knee bend during the turn?
Q. Is your passe knee in front of you instead of the side?
Q. Do you sink instead of float?

Honestly, a well-aligned pirouette is the best feeling in the world! You float, you're lifted, you feel...well, you just feel right. That's not very technical but for anyone who has completed even a single pirouette correctly, you know you have done it right.

So how do we stop doing this? A few tips:

1. Strengthen your core and glutes so they will keep you lifted during the entire turn. Exercises are found all over the web but they can include planks, sit-ups and push-ups, squats, etc.
2. Push the floor away with your entire foot when you start the turn.
3. Use the external rotation at the tops of your thighs in your 4th position to work like a screw going straight up.
4. DO NOT initiate the turn with your butt.
5. Leave the passe knee behind as you turn; feel it rotate as you press it back in opposition to the opposing shoulder, e.g. right knee & left shoulder.
6. RELAX...don't hold your breath before you start the turn. Exhale instead. Create a rhythm in your pirouette from plie to releve to plie.

Stackables!

It sounds like a new snack, doesn't it?

Have some Stackables with your Lunchables!

Actually, I'm talking about creating a stackable alignment in your body as a way to "get over your leg."

When I talk to my beginner students, especially, about pique and releve, I often tell them they need to get over their legs. In other words, they need to get their torso over their hips and pull up so they can fully point their legs and feet and arrive at the highest releve possible. We never want to sink back into our knees or try to turn or balance on a low releve.

But for many dancers, it's hard to imagine how they get to that place. They end up leaving their hips and derrieres behind them and they never get the highest peak possible.

So add one more "stacking" item as you push yourself to arrive on your leg: your knee.

Think about getting your knee over the center part of your foot and your hips over your knee, stacking one on top of the other.

Courtesy Dance.Net

The above is en pointe, but the same holds true for working in demi-pointe. You will add one more item to the stack: your heel.

So in flat slippers, the stack is: HIPS over KNEE over HEEL over MIDDLE TOES.


When you feel the moment of arrival on the high releve, it feels like you're floating! You can balance forever (or at least it feels that way).

Hope this helps! Happy dancing~

What's new on the blog?

My company, Leigh Purtill Ballet Company, recently started rehearsals for our upcoming show, SWEET SORROW, A ZOMBIE BALLET, which will be performed on October 20 and 21 this year, at the Lanterman Auditorium in La Canada.

So far we've gotten a great head start on the Funeral entrance and opening dance, the Witches, Romeo & Juliet's pas de deux, and a brand new piece, the Spiders! They are elegant and frightening. I'm so excited to be doing new material for this show!

Here are a couple of shots of Holly (Juliet) and Bill (Romeo) working on the pas yesterday. I'll post more pics/stills from rehearsals as I get them.

I've posted a separate calendar below my teaching schedule at the bottom of this page which will include all the rehearsals for the company. (If I could figure it out, I would integrate all of my calendars but I am not that tech-savvy!) As rehearsals are added or changed, this calendar will also be updated so if you are a member of the company or someone who is excited about the show, you can check the calendar for updates.

What else is new? 

I'll be subbing for Carol Guidry on a couple of upcoming Thursdays, June 21st and July 5th, at Studio A on Hyperion Avenue in Silverlake, at 10:15AM. The class level is comparable to my Advanced Beginner class, maybe a little more Intermediate than usual. Cost is $15, cash only, please, no class cards, since I have to do my bookkeeping with the studio directly. Hope you can make it if you have those mornings available!

Happy dancing~

Spiral action!

A consistent problem I see in my classes, among all levels of students, is a gripping of muscles and shortening of the line, whether it's legs or arms that are being "stunted."

A great visual image is to imagine your limbs spiraling away from the center of your body (from your shoulders if it's the arms and from your hips if it's the legs) all the way to your fingers and toes.

source: Martialbody.com

Try a developpe devant at the barre first before you come to the center. Bring the leg from 5th to coup de pied devant up to passe and extend the leg in front of you; feel the femur in the hip socket rotating as you develop the leg out and imagine the muscles rotating outward like stripes on an old-fashioned barber shop pole. Your leg should feel like it's lengthening and your muscles should not feel like they are gripping to hold the leg off the floor.

Now try the same thing when you come to the center. Really hold onto your center as you bring the leg up and out and away from you.

Your arms too can be spirals; it's a great image to keep in your mind especially when you are holding them in second position. Too often people simply open their arms to the sides of their bodies, not noticing that they are drooping at the elbows. Sometimes when I ask people to engage their backs, instead they merely lift with their shoulders. If you think of your arms twisting en dehors as they reach away from your body, you can keep all the muscles engaged, out to the very tips of your fingers.

Once you get the visuals of spirals in your mind, it's easy to see them in other parts of your body:
--the connection between opposing shoulder and hip
--attitude devant and derriere
--your head and neck connection as you tilt it in ecarte
--your knees as you jump in changement
--your back foot as you push off the floor for a pirouette

And so many others! Don't think lines. Think spirals! Happy dancing~

Two Tips for Tuesday!

Good morning, beautiful dancers! On this stunning 75 degree day, I'm feeling energized and ready to tackle technique!

Let's talk about 5th position and pirouettes, but not together. Ha!

First of all, you're bouncing out of your 5th. I can't even see you but I know you are doing this, especially at the barre. Your fifth is a position of strength: it's where we start and end so many steps and it's where we form the base for jumps and turns. If you don't have a strong 5th position, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Sounds harsh, I know, but I want you to be aware of 5th as a home base and one you can rely on.

From the very first tendu exercises, take a split second to hold the fifth when you return the gesture leg to the start position and feel the legs squeeze together at the top of the thighs. This will help build strength and speed for petit allegro work later in the center and it will also build stability for developpe, etc. during adagio in the center.

Try to avoid "bouncing" out of the position, that is, swishing through it without actually finding 5th.

Second tip: imagine yourself pirouetting with an invisible partner. For ladies en pointe who have partnered before, you can imagine when a gentleman is standing behind you, you don't want to fall backward into him. You want to keep your hips and back and knees completely straight but your arms and rib cage slightly forward so he has room to assist you on a turn.

Now, even if you have never been partnered before and regardless of your gender, you can picture yourself being partnered by an invisible partner. That person is behind you so you don't want to collapse underneath yourself and fall into them. You want to stay completely held and strong in your core but also lift and lean slightly forward so your arms are balancing out your backside.

Courtesy Charles Askegard

Trust me, 99% of the time, we fall backward out of a turn, not forward. We are very rarely ever too far forward on our leg. It's in fact the opposite - we can't get OVER our legs enough or our knees buckle or soften and we collapse or our heels drop, etc.

And here's a favorite video of mine, from the inimitable Lisa Howell who is based in Australia, unfortunately, so I can't get to get to her workshops but I try to learn as much from her as I can through her online presence. She and I share the same philosophy about ballet and she approaches the biomechanics in the same way I do, although she focuses on kids and teens and I focus on adults.

This video is Lisa discussing how to perform a perfect tendu. I teach this and emphasize the same 3 things she does (core, standing leg turnout and foot articulation) in the same ways but she breaks it down very clearly and has a lovely young demonstrator. Enjoy (and thank you, Lisa!):

Technique talk! Three tips...plus one more!

Hello beautiful dancers!

I say a LOT of things in class, especially when I'm searching for just the right image to help a student grasp a concept that is elusive or otherwise challenging. Sometimes they're helpful, sometimes not. One visual image might help one student while it does nothing for another.

Here are a few that I think could be helpful to students but each didn't warrant an entire blog post.

1. Grab the floor with the pads of your toes
The image here is to help you with balance en releve. We think so much about pulling up in our quads and hamstrings, engaging our core muscles, and lifting our backs when we go up on demi-pointe, but we often neglect the toes themselves. You should be aiming to touch all ten of them on the floor (even if the baby toes don't make it all the way) and gripping the floor with the little pads under them. This will help keep you connected to the floor all the way through your feet in one long line.

2. Think of your 5th position like a pair of scissors
We sometimes forget the fifth position (or any position) begins not in our feet but at the tops of our legs. If you think of your legs like scissors, the sharpest point is not at the ends but where the blades connect near the handle, right? Right! That's what you're cutting with: the tops of your legs. Each time you recover from a demi-plie or perform a step like glissade, imagine that the inner thighs - the sharpest blades- are slicing the air.

3. Point your foot beyond your toes
How many times have you heard your teacher say, "Point your toes!" I can't believe how many times I have yelled it out, at no one in particular, "Point!" But really, what happens when someone screams that at you? Your toes probably curl up in your shoes or you sickle your foot. Instead, if you think about pointing beyond your foot, into the space past your foot, you will actually be stretching the entire leg/calf/ankle/arch/foot/toes, not just pointing your toes.

4.  Spot with your fingertips on pirouettes
This applies to pirouettes en dehors or en dedans that are performed with arms held in first position, either crossed or rounded. So many times we start a turn with our arms held properly but as we begin to move, we leave them behind or they crumple into a weak position at our waist or open up, etc. While I instruct students to "bring your arms with you" as they turn, I think another helpful approach is to imagine your fingertips are spotting as well. This will naturally bring the closed first position around as you turn.

Hope these tips help you! Try them and let me know! Happy dancing~

Starry starry lines: Don't be a star(fish)

No, you're not a mermaid or a character from SpongeBob SquarePants, but you might be a starfish.

You should NOT be a starfish, no matter how cute they are.

Why? Because, unlike the crab (see previous post), a starfish does NOT have a firm center nor does it have any "lines" we would like to see in ballet.

Source: Wikipedia

 As an instructor, I see what I call The Starfish in 2 specific places:

1. Pique arabesque. This usually happens with new students who don't get all the way over their support leg and don't keep their back leg turned out and directly behind them. They throw themselves over their pique leg and fling both arms out to the sides in an attempt to balance. But what they forget is that the pique arabesque is not a pose but a movement. Balance is not static: you must continue to stretch your arms in opposition (or in whatever position the arms have been choreographed by the teacher) to your leg, which is constantly lifting and extending behind you.

Source: Ballet North, dancer - Kristin Smith

2. Grand jete developpe (or saut de chat). This often occurs when the hips are not facing en diagonale. Many new students throw themselves into a jete with the lead leg en avant (in front of) but the back leg in sort of a "seco-baseque"- not quite a la seconde, not quite arabesque. The hips end up sort of front too. The arms are tossed wildly in the air as if the dancer were throwing confetti at a parade as a means of lifting herself off the ground. Again, going back to the basics of the arabesque: extend the front and back legs directly from the center of the body with the back leg turned out. The arms should be reaching forward (typically) and not just up. The hips should be square to the corner of the room in the direction you're traveling.

Source: WikiHow

Ballet is all about lines and shapes. Be very clear and cognizant of the shapes you're creating, especially as you're traveling across the floor. Happy dancing~

Time change? Change the time!

Hello local students!

This weekend we Fall Back but this Thursday, we will Spring Forward!

Thursday Advanced Beginner Ballet will now begin at 7PM

Just like my Tuesday Advanced Beginner class runs from 7-8:30PM at Dance Arts Academy, so too will its Thursday counterpart, starting November 9th. We will even be moving into the same studio (studio D) as the Tuesday class so it will be like we never left...(cue spooky Halloween music).

Tbh, it's always bothered me that the 2 classes started a half hour apart - how confusing is that for a new student? How confusing is that for the old teacher? Seriously, though, I wanted to make it easier for people to attend if they were coming from work. It's a bit rushed to get to class by 6:30PM, especially if you are in crosstown traffic or are looking for a parking space. This gives you just a bit more time to get to class - so NO EXCUSES! Get to class!

To recap for the TL:DR crowd:

Advanced Beginner Ballet
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 7-8:30PM
Dance Arts Academy
731 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

See you in class! And don't forget to change your clocks! Happy dancing~

Javelin your pique!

Yes, that's correct. I just used "javelin" as a verb!

Jessica Ennis, British track & field superstar

One of my biggest pet peeves as a ballet instructor is when students bend their knees as they pique to either a turn or a balance and no amount of my shouting, "Keep your knee straight!" seems to help.

Pique is a difficult concept to grasp. In our daily lives we always bend our knees when we walk or run or climb stairs, and certainly in ballet class, we are admonished to bend our knees during plies at the barre or when we jump in the center. But in order to pique properly, we need to keep our entire leg straight and to engage our hamstrings and quadriceps.

Let's use an example with pique arabesque. Here are the basics:

1. With your right leg in tendu devant (knee straight!), prepare with a fondu on the left leg.
2. Push off the left leg and arrive en releve with the right leg completely straight (toes pointed as the foot hits the floor; don't anticipate the releve by flexing the toes).
3. Pull up on the right side of the body so your torso doesn't pitch forward but remains upright.
4. Point the left foot and send the leg up into a long arabesque.
5. Finish with a failli through first position en releve and bend the right leg as the left leg swings through to tendu derriere croise.

Okay, that's simple enough. Except many, many dancers insist on bending the knee in step 2 and end up "climbing the stairs" to their balance en releve. How can we avoid this?

Let's go back to the javelin. I'm sure all of you can picture how a javelin thrower launches her javelin. She heaves it over her head and it arcs up through the air, landing with one end sticking straight into the ground.

In the example above, your right leg is the javelin and your left leg is Jessica Ennis. Launch your javelin in an arc so it goes up and out before landing in the ground. This will mean you place your toe (the sharp end of the javelin) into the ground a foot or more ahead of the rest of your body.

Think LAUNCH then ARRIVE. You launch your javelin and then the body arrives behind it.

Hope this helps! Happy dancing~

Update for Summer Schedule

Hello beautiful dancers!

A couple of notes for summer...

1. Memorial Day weekend - ALL classes as usual throughout the long weekend.

2. Summer subbing - on Thursday mornings, June 1-July 20, I will be subbing for Carol Guidry at Studio A in Silverlake, 10:15-11:45AM. The class will be similar in level to my Tues/Thurs evening classes. Fee is $15, cash only. (No credit card/check/class cards for these classes.)

AND Congrats to all my students who performed on Sunday!

Would you like to perform with a lovely group of dancers? Save the Date for Nutcracker: 11/19!

A Trio of Tips for Thursday!

Not one but 3! No matter what level you are, I have a helpful dance tip for you!

1. Beginner:

Promenade - one of the biggest errors I see in students attempting promenade (which is a series of small heel lifts to turn in place and can be executed in arabesque, attitude, retire, etc.) is that they begin the movement with their hips, knees or shoulders. 

The very first thing you do to begin a promenade is to lift the heel. There should be no weight at the back of the foot during promenade or else you will find yourself rocking back and forth and eventually falling off your leg. Unless otherwise choreographed, you should keep a very straight support leg with knees pulled up by your quads and hamstrings. As you turn in place, do not allow the support leg to bend or the knee to go soft. Maintain the position you are turning in by lifting and lowering the heel by about 1/4" or 1/2" but not usually more than that.

2. Intermediate:

Pirouette arms - in my ongoing quest to dissect and diagnose pirouettes and to offer guidance to students who struggle, I would have to say the #1 problem I see is the arms are not held in front of the body for the entire turn. Whatever position you are taught (a classic first position, a higher first position, a portrait style low first position, crossed arms, etc.) you must keep them in front of you until you finish the turn and roll down.

Pirouette anxiety, whether you are working flat or en pointe, usually causes us to pull back with our upper body. We fear falling which often makes us collapse in our centers. Our shoulders slump or roll and our arms droop or get left behind during the turn. Some of us fling our arms open to second long before the turn is completed.

Instead, try to bring the arms very quickly to your first position as you push up to releve and hold them there! Don't let them open or drop until you have completed the turn and can see yourself in the mirror in retire before you open the arms and roll down. I can virtually guarantee you that your turns will improve if you do this.

3: Advanced:

Finishing the lines - some of the most beautiful things in ballet are the lines that are created on stage. For example, an arabesque does not need to be higher than ninety degrees to be gorgeous but it does need to be finished. Same with arms: they may swirl and swish through the air but when they are posed, they must be finished with fingers extended and elbows lifted. How many times have you been in the audience and gasped at the stunning lines of professional ballerinas? They know how to get very last inch out of their legs and arms.

You can too! But you must focus on arching the top and bottom of your foot, reaching through your back to the palms and fingers of your hands, lengthening the back of your neck and holding a strong core. When you practice these things at the barre (rather than simply flinging your arms and feet away from you), you will have beautiful lines in the center. Your movements will be complete and you will avoid that weird strobe effect that you see on stage. If you are in the corps, you absolutely must finish your lines or you will look out of sync with the other dancers.

Hope these tips help you! Happy dancing~

Additional parking at Dance Arts Academy!

For my local students who take class with me at Dance Arts Academy -

I discovered another few streets with unrestricted nighttime parking! Yay!

The SOUTH side of 8th Street, from Orange Drive to Highland Avenue does not appear to have any signs other than street sweeping hours during the day. Orange is 2 blocks east of La Brea Avenue where Dance Arts Academy is located. See map below:

As always, CHECK BEFORE YOU PARK! Tickets are expensive and annoying. When in doubt or if you're really running late, park in the Lassens garage and buy yourself a smoothie after class to get some free parking.

I'm subbing at Studio A on Monday 3/27

Hello local dancers!

Tomorrow, Monday 3/27, at 10:15AM, I'll be subbing for Micah at Studio A on Hyperion Avenue in Silverlake.

It will be a class similar to my Advanced Beginner class on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Because this is a sub situation, my class cards cannot be used but if you'd like to attend, the cost is $15, cash (I cannot accept credit cards since that would be going to me and not Micah).

Here is a link to the studio's website. At that time of day, there is usually plenty of street parking on Hyperion (free on the west side, metered on the east side).

2306 Hyperion Ave, Silver Lake, 90027

Antony Tudor teaching class in 1961

Reminder: No class on Thursday, March 23

Local students of mine, this is a reminder that my Advanced Beginner ballet class this Thursday, March 23rd at Dance Arts Academy, is canceled.

This one day only! My apologies for the disruption your schedule.

NO other classes at Dance Arts or Inspire are affected. In fact, if you can, perhaps you'd like to try a different class with me. See my calendar below for days and times.

Happy dancing (just not this Thursday!)~