When Ballet Attacks: Get Big!

Beautiful dancers, when I started this blog post, I was searching Google for a picture of a person surviving a bear attack by making themselves big. Let me tell you, that was not a good phrase to search. I was rewarded with lots of photos of bears being very mean and scary and lots of photos of people who had survived the attacks but had been bloodied and disfigured in the process.

So this will have to do:

Courtesy YouTube

FYI this image is TOTALLY WRONG! If you encounter a brown or Grizzly bear, you are supposed to lie down and play dead; if you encounter a black bear, you are supposed to make yourself big. Here's more about bear safety. (#1: talk to it??? Really???)

Thank you for coming to my TED talk about bears.

Now back to ballet...

Imagine if you will, ballet is your bear. It looks cuddly and you think it must be soft and cozy to curl up with, especially from a distance where you can see the sun catch its sleek coat and admire its graceful lope along the park path. 

"Ah," you think. "I would like to walk alongside this bear and get into bear adventures with it."

But you get closer and you see it's got teeth - really big ones - and its paws are the size of your head and if they get too close, they will swipe your face clean off your skull. Uh-oh! Run away!

For some people, this is how they approach ballet: as if it's a terribly mean bear and they are encroaching on its territory. Some bears, I mean ballet dancers and instructors, want you to feel this way about ballet. They want you to think you don't belong so run away or play dead but you can't join us on our bear, I mean ballet, adventures.

That's just B.S. (bear s***). You do belong. You just haven't learned the bear language yet.

Another FYI...it takes years to learn to speak the bear language. But that's okay. You're not in a rush, are you? You start slowly, studying the basics, then once you've got a handle on those, you progress and study further, maybe try a higher level or learn to perform. But how do you manage in the meantime? What do you do when the bear sneaks up on you and threatens you? You don't speak bear yet, so how do you handle this encounter?

In ballet terms, I mean you're taking class and you're faced with a step or correction you don't understand. What do you do, especially if you worry that the bear/ballet doesn't want you there?

1. Talk to the bear...ask the teacher for a more specific breakdown of the step (preferably at a time when it is convenient to do so or when questions are allowed to be asked). You might need a private lesson or two to feel comfortable attempting it in class.

2. Get to higher ground and be bigger than the bear...when we feel anxious about something, we naturally make ourselves physically smaller. We retreat (play dead, run away) instead of attacking it back. When you feel anxious in class, deliberately make your arms bigger and your upper body the focus of the movement. It helps regulate your breath and it keeps you lifted instead of collapsing. Use your demi-plie to help you get off the floor or travel farther and faster. Don't run away, take a breath, extend yourself beyond your immediate physical boundary.

While I hate the admonition to "fake it til you make it," it comes in handy here. Sometimes you need to act like you know what you're doing before you actually do.

3. Be bigger than the bear mentally...you came to the park to see bears. You're prepared. You want to go on bear adventures even if they are scary and you don't know how long you'll be hiking. But that's the joy of ballet: the adventure it takes you on. It's a lifelong adventure. It has its ups and downs. Some days you will nail a double pirouette with ease; some days you can hardly manage a wobbly balance. The bear doesn't show you how hard it is to be a bear - you discover that yourself. But you have every right to be there so give yourself permission to not get things correctly the first time - and be all right with it. If you have to grin and bear it (ha! see what I did there?), so be it. 

Happy dancing, everyone!

Tips from the pirouette mini-workshop!

Hello beautiful dancers!

I'm so impressed with the group of dancers who attended the mini-workshop I held on Zoom this past weekend. Practicing pirouettes at home is not easy and these students were all-in. If you missed it, here are a few takeaways that you can try to apply on your own.

1. In every workshop I teach, I always try to give students a new way of approaching pirouettes en dehors. The fact is, every dancer responds to different images, concepts, and techniques. If the one I give you in a class doesn't click for you, maybe a different one will. That's why I tell students to never give up on turns. Saying, "I can't turn!" is not real. It's something you tell yourself or in some cases, something someone else might have told you.

I was told by a teacher I would never do more than a double turn. That stuck in my head for years!

The concept I introduced on Saturday was using the knee to guide the turn: an image of drawing a circle in the air with your knee, kind of like a compass (does anyone use compasses to draw perfect circles anymore?). This will prevent you from losing your rotation as you turn and also keeps you level. Once you are up in your releve, you let the head snap you around and let the knee guide you.

Compass drawing

2. The second thing I try to do in each workshop is to emphasize the rhythm of a turn, from preparation to landing. Every turn, inside or outside, attitude or arabesque, etc. has a rhythm to it. You need to keep that rhythm in your head - in your muscle memory - so you always do the same thing. But what is in your head is not necessarily in someone else's head.

On Saturday, I gave my dancers the rhythm of --

Reach

Reach the arms out

 

Look

Look at something

 

Land

Land the turn

If you can keep in your head a rhythm of Reach/Look/Land, you will have a rhythm for every single turn. My dancers reached their arms in front of them, saw what they were going to spot, and then landed the turn. Reach/Look/Land. Reach/Look/Land.

Honestly, it doesn't even matter what those three words are. They could be --

Prep/Spot/Land  

or Bend/Stretch/Bend  

or Start/Rise/End 

or Arms/Head/Knees

I prefer single syllable words because they pack a punch and are easy to recall. You just want to have a word in your brain that means - for you - what the start of the turn is, what word reminds you to focus on during the turn itself and a word that reminds you about finishing the turn.

Hope these 2 tips help you the next time you take a class or spend some time working on pirouettes. Especially now while you are home without a mirror, it's important to develop proper muscle memory. When you do get back to the studio, you will find turning even easier!

Happy dancing~

The Forgotten yet Powerful Middle Back

Do you have a sagging, unengaged back?

Some signs:

You sink into your hips when you shift from two feet to one in the center (e.g. during adagio)

Your arms get left behind when you turn

Your quads and calves get tired when you jump

Your big jumps feel labored and grounded

These are just a few tell-tale signs that you're not using the middle muscles of your back. Think of the muscles in the center as the T's: Trapezius, Teres major and Teres minor. Your Traps are a pair of triangular muscles that also wrap up across the upper back but we're interested in the lower portion of the triangle. Your Teres major and minor are under and to the side of the Trapezius. You can find them if you reach under your arm pit and walk your fingers toward your spine.

By Henry Vandyke Carter, derivative work: Rafael Di Marco Barros, Public Domain

Above from Wikipedia: Posterior view of muscles connecting the upper extremity to the vertebral column. A -Trapezius, B - Teres Major, C -Teres Minor, D - Latissimus Dorsi, E - Levator Scapulae, F- Rhomboid Major

The middle muscles, like the middle child and the middle manager but not the middle of an Oreo cookie, often get neglected on pirouettes, jumps and adagio in favor of the flashier muscle groups.  We think of our quads and hamstrings on jumps, our glutes on adagio, and a whole host of things during pirouettes.

But the one thing all of those actions have in common is the mid-back. If you can engage these muscles, you will find yourself far more lifted in adagio, more suspended during turns which will allow for multiples, and lighter during jumps.

Accessing the muscles is a matter of being mindful at barre.

--When you prepare through first to a second position arm, feel the fingertips reaching out from your center and to the side.
--When you cambre forward, try not to let your shoulder roll but lengthen the spine as you tilt forward and really try to think of your middle back returning you to your neutral position.
--When you bring your arm overhead in fifth, try to initiate the movement from the middle of your back rather then your elbow or biceps.

Think of these mid-back muscles as the complement to your torso. Just as you engage your torso (your core, your center, whatever you choose to call it), you need to work the muscles on the opposite side of your body.

As you start to become more aware of those muscles (and of course, you are also incorporating the Serratus muscles we talked about in this blog post), your muscle memory will kick in when you are off the barre and moving with nothing to hold onto. These powerful muscles will provide added stability in the center.

Happy dancing~

Underarm Pirouettes

Technically they should be called "serratus anterior" pirouettes. The serratus muscles connect the first 8 ribs to the thorax (think of a serrated knife on either side of your rib cage under your armpits).

Illustration courtesy Wikipedia

We turn with so many parts of our bodies, such as:
--our feet, which push us up to releve and initiate momentum
--our calves, which hold us up in releve to sustain the turn
--our arms, which help give us lift and sustain momentum
--our hands, which help initiate the turn
--our backs, which can initiate the turn as well
--our necks, which keep our alignment from head to toe
--our eyes, which spot and keep us from getting dizzy
--our heads, which help keep our balance
--our torsos, which keep us balanced and lifted during the turn

That's a LOT of body parts! So which one is missing?

Kneecaps? Pull 'em up on the releve!

Chin? Don't let it dip or pull back on the spot!

Elbows? Keep them rounded!

Shoulders? Keep them down!

Derrieres? Engage those glutes but don't grip them!


Which leaves us with...the underarms! With so many other body parts to talk about, we forget about the underarms, the serratus anterior muscles, but they are so important for our turns. They need to be engaged like the back muscles, lifted like the torso, and feel connected to the arms before and during the turn.

How do we find these muscles? Next time you're at the barre, try to do one of the simpler exercises with both hands off the barre and the arms in second. In order to hold yourself in a turned-out position and prevent yourself from falling over while also working the gesture leg, you need to ground yourself in two places: the glutes of the standing leg and the underarm of the barre arm.

How do we know if they are engaged on the turn? You will feel a lift like you are a balloon filled with helium and you will turn as if you are floating. Conversely, if you are aiming for multiple pirouettes, you will feel the rotation like a washing machine, spinning in opposite directions as you reach the arms away from you and snap them back in.

Photo courtesy Daily Nothings, cc license

Something new to think about during turns! Happy dancing~

Pirouette technique tip: Don't settle!

We should never "settle" for anything, whether it's a bad seat at the theater, a lukewarm cup of coffee, or a partner who lets us down (oh wow, way to lift our spirits, Leigh!).

When it comes to turning, we especially shouldn't settle:
- don't sit in your demi-plie
- don't sit back on your heels
- don't sink in your hips
- don't let your arms relax

If you settle yourself into your demi-plie, you lose the springiness, a feeling that should be like a coiled Slinky or one of those snake-in-a-can practical jokes.





If you sit back on your heels, you have a tremendous amount of weight to shift from two feet to one. Instead, feel as if you have just lowered yourself down from a releve, rolling through your demi-pointe - toe-ball-barely-heel - of each foot.

If you sink in your hips, especially into the back hip, you are throwing yourself off-balance before you have even begun the turn. Try to feel your ribcage lifting out of your pelvis, and be sure the torso is more over the front foot than the back foot.

 

If you let your arms relax and "settle" into a third position without any energy, they become decorative parts of your body rather than active participants in the turn. Always feel the energy flowing from the back through the arms into the hands and be sure to initiate the turn from the center of your back/shoulders.

By not settling into a position and instead being active in the demi-plie, you will feel lighter and you also won't have a moment of, "OhmygodnowImgoingtoturn!"

Anxiety, as we know, is a momentum killer.

Happy dancing~

Questions from students: Plateaus and proprioception

Plateaus

"I can't seem to get any better with these jumps/turns/choreography. Is this the best I'm going to be?"

My snarky reply: If you think you're done, you're done.

My teacherly reply: No. You aren't done until I say you're done and you'll never be done as long as you work hard.

The realistic reply is somewhere in between the two. Let's be honest about dancing: it's hard. And ballet is well, it's really hard. Whether you started as a kid and have danced for fifty years (ahem, milestone achieved!) or you started as an adult and have been studying for less than five years; whether you are or have been a professional at some point, or if you've never performed on stage ever in your life...we all ask ourselves the question: Is this the best I will be?

dance by antonella morrone, cc license

We all plateau at some point, whether it's in our personal life or our dance technique. Sometimes we won't even realize we're stuck until we've been there for a while.

That's when we need to make the extra push to get out of the rut. And a great way to do that is to consult your instructor or coach. But don't just come to them with a whiny complaint (oops, that was the snarky reply!), come armed with a specific issue so they can help you tackle it.

How to do that? Easy-peasy. With your phone's camera. Just set it up to record you doing something you're not happy with (it's not for public consumption and you can always delete it later) and make an appointment to talk to your instructor or coach. Show them the video of your turn or your jump or your port de bras and together you can figure out what is wrong.

Maybe you're not getting high enough in your releve and no matter how many times you try to apply a correction, you still aren't getting it.

Maybe you're not traveling far enough in your grand jete and you thinking you're using all the right muscles but you still barely move.

Maybe your arms look weak or stiff and you can't seem to find the fluidity in them.

There is always an answer. But you may not know what it is. You may have to, get ready for it, push harder.

Build more strength in your calves to hold your releve; build more core strength to jump higher; take more care and time in your port de bras.

You may need to add an extra class or two to push your technique or you might need a private session to tackle a very specific issue that can't be addressed in class. You might have to take a more challenging class - or conversely, a more basic class.

I don't believe you're done. I don't believe anyone is ever done. There is always a way around a problem if it can't be fixed head-on.

Proprioception

"Why is it so much harder to balance in the center but I can balance forever next to a barre?"

The phenomenon is called proprioception. (And don't bother to look up the Wikipedia definition; they call it a sixth sense when it's no such thing.)

Proprioception is the awareness of your body in space and in relation to other objects, fixed or moving. It is as important in dance class as it is when driving a car or walking down the sidewalk. Just as you find awareness of other people or objects without actually looking at them, so too do you "feel" other bodies in class. This awareness prevents us from crashing into other people (or cars!).

When you're in a ballet class, you are first aware of the presence of the barre next to you. You rarely look at it; you just feel it under your hand. You move your body forward and back, to and away from it; and you slide your hand down the barre as you work.

What you also do is find your balance. The barre is your invisible partner. This is why we try not to grab at the barre or grip it too tightly. You want to keep a nice loose grasp on it, as if you were holding onto another person for support. Think too about personal space with your barre: you don't want to crowd up against it or stand too far away from it.

Awareness of the barre beside you also gives you an object to balance against. Because it's not moving, it's easier to gauge your alignment to it, to maintain a parallel or perpendicular support. We feel it beside us and we can adjust accordingly.

Yay, balancing forever!

balance Yaletown Illuminate by m sew, cc license

But what happens when we get to center? We don't have the same stationary object to align ourselves against and thus it's harder to find our balance. We can still use our proprioceptors, though - we just need to find another object. That can be a mirror or another body (although be aware that they may be moving too) or, for the more advanced dancer, our own bodies. Find the center of your body and use your proprioception to notice the alignment of your arms and legs and head in relation to that center.

Generally speaking, we simply need to practice. When you're at the barre, close your eyes or take your hand off the barre. In the center, practice a balance on one foot flat before rising to demi-pointe.

Got a burning question? Shoot me an email. Happy dancing!

Web of muscles OR: Why we wear slippers instead of socks

Under your foot is a web of muscles we call, collectively, the intrinsic muscles. They do so much work for us!

By Henry Vandyke Carter - Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body

There is both dorsal flexion and plantar flexion of the foot (top and bottom, respectively). The easy way to remember which is which is to think we "plant" our foot on the ground and that is the plantar side of the foot.

We definitely need both types of flexion to do ballet but when it comes to releve, pointe work and just basically pointing our feet, we rely on the muscles on the bottom of the feet and toes. The problem with this is that we tend to think of them as one muscle when they are in fact, dozens (almost a hundred!). The result of this is that we grip the bottoms of our feet and toes when we dance rather than activate and lengthen them.

One way to do that is to wear slippers with soles rather than socks.

"But I can articulate all the muscles of my feet and my toes when I wear socks!" you say. "Plus they're so comfy!"

Both of these things are true. However, when you wear slippers that have some sole (and nowadays, people only wear split soles rather than full), you give your feet some structure and you give your muscles something to work against and in turn, help strengthen them.

Another reason to wear slippers instead of socks is to give the foot a shape that finishes the line and helps guide the toes inside. Not everyone can point their feet and have their toes look like a perfect point; ballet slippers help the toes find that shape and train the muscles to keep the toes in their place.

A ballet slipper will also lift the medial longitudinal arch of the foot which is the long arch on the inside of the foot that, when active, domes the foot (hollows it out) and lifts it off the ground. Strengthening these muscles and this arch is critical to pointe work and to maintaining a high releve in demi-pointe for multiple turns, etc.

Happy dancing~

A million tendus

If you're an experienced dancer with years of classes behind you, you've likely done thousands of tendus, thousands more degages, and perhaps a million demi-plies. As a teacher I try to structure my combinations so you don't realize you're doing the same tendus you've seen a bajillion times but honestly, there are just so many ways to combine steps at the barre.

But there's a very good reason for this: muscle memory. Just as baseball players and golfers practice their swings over and over and over again, we dancers must practice the same steps over and over and over again until they are so much a part of our bodies that we don't think about them.

cc lic Paul L Dineen "Big Swing"

 If we had to think about every muscle and every bone that must move and coordinate in order to do a grand jete developpe, we would never get off the ground!

Take a look at this breakdown of a baseball player's swing - and he's not even propelling his body into the air!

Baseball Swing Anatomy

Today I want to talk about the tiniest little things that have a BIG impact on your turns, your jumps and your lines.

Your toes.

cc lic melalouise Sous Sous

Ten tiny parts of you that really sell you as a polished dancer, no matter how many years you have been taking class. Your toes do so many things!

--they keep you on the floor
--they push you off the floor
--they start your pirouette
--they finish your lines
--they form the platform upon which you balance
--they are the basis of your pointe work
--they shape your foot and guide your leg through the air no matter what you do

cc lic Quinn Dombrowski, A Leg Out of Nowhere

 And they MUST be STRETCHED. This is an absolute MUST.

Teachers always tell you to point your toes but instead, think STRETCH, not point. We don't want to grip our toes or feet - we want to lengthen them. With the stretch/lengthen imagery, we will spring ourselves up to retire for a turn; we will spring to glissade and brush every jete.

Without exception, your toes must be stretched to a fully extended position EVERY TIME they come off the floor (unless the choreography calls for a flexed or soft foot) and they remain stretched until the foot returns to the floor. From the very first exercises at the barre (typically a plie combination), think about the toes adhering to the floor; think about them when you balance flat or en releve. Think about them as you articulate the foot during slow tendus. The more you engage the toes, the more you articulate them, the more muscle memory you're gaining. Soon it will feel weird for you to not point your feet.

Happy dancing~

What does tin foil have to do with port de bras?

cc lic courtesy Pascal

Wrinkly tin foil...you know what that looks like, what it feels like.

Now imagine your bones and muscles are like that crinkled up aluminum. Your spine is out of place, the joints of your fingers need to be cracked, and the muscles of your back and stomach are knotted and tight.

You are made of tin foil.

But you can smooth out that crinkled up ball of foil, can't you? When you want to re-use it for a slice of cake you're sending home with a friend or to line a pan when you're cooking? You know what to do with that, don't you?

That's right: you take the side of your hand and you slide it across the wrinkles, over and over again until they are (mostly) gone.

If you can, as you cambre forward or back, think of a hand sliding across your spine, smoothing out the vertebrae and muscles. And as you extend your arms and sweep down and around in a circular port de bras, imagine the wrinkles along your skin and inside your bones get smoothed out all the way to your fingertips.

You're taller now, aren't you? And longer. And graceful. Your arms and upper body sweep around the space; in adagio, they make your movements more sinewy and organic; during turns, they connect for aerodynamic support; during jumps, they help lift and hold you off the ground.

Be smooth, my dancers, smooth like tin foil.

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!

Help! I've got a cup of water in my pelvis!

I should totally write headlines for a living!

Okay, beautiful dancers, here is a tip to start your week off right:

Imagine you're holding a cup filled to the brim with water (or a cool beverage of your choice, nothing hot!) in the center of your pelvis, in the triangle formed by your pelvic bones and your pubic bone.

Each time you bend your knees for a jump or rise up to a releve, try to keep the cup level so the water doesn't spill. You want to avoid tilting forward or tucking under.

A perfectly level cup of water.

It will also help you keep your balance if you picture trying to keep the water level even. When you're at the barre for plies or working en fondue, imagine the cup in the center of your body, just below your torso, and try not to let it spill over. If you can glance in the mirror at your profile, you can often see what you can't necessarily feel.

Remember: neutral pelvis, neutral back, nothing hyperextended or tucked, and you will be able to balance more easily en releve. You will also be more likely to engage the inner thighs on the return to the standing position from a plie, rather than the larger gluteus muscles in your derriere.

Hope this helps! Happy dancing, everyone~

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~

Dancing and Aging

Like most dancers (and most women), I can be hypercritical of my body. As women, we tell ourselves that "everyone hates something about their bodies" and "if it weren't for xyz on my body, I would be happy/wealthy/successful/loved".

I can't remember meeting anyone who didn't feel that way about themselves and in fact, if a woman was happy with her body, then she was criticized by others: "how dare she think she's perfect?" and "did you see her thighs?" And on and on.

But there is a difference between thinking you're perfect and being happy with the way you look. And if you do think you're perfect, then more power to you, because it takes a lot of inner strength to inure yourself to others' opinions.

As dancers, though, our self-critics are not just fully employed, they work overtime. Not only do we have to contend with the physical image we see in all those mirrors! We also have to contend with what our bodies can do. And as we age, they can do less and less.

(They can also do more and more...I'll get to that in a minute.)

Our aging is so evident because one day we can do several pirouettes and the next day, just one. This week our legs can developpe to 150 degrees but next week, it's barely above 90 if we're lucky. Jete battu? Saute cabriole? Italian fouette? Oh please no! Let's just do another port de bras and call it a day.

There it is in stark black-and-white-and-marley-gray. We are aging. We are weakening. We are no longer the best in the class. We no longer get chosen for the best roles. 

We become invisible.

Invisibility has to be the biggest blow to one's ego when one is a dancer. We practice for years for people to watch us on stage, to be noticed in the classroom by the teacher and other dancers. As we age, we become less relevant in the dance world.

If we're completely honest, ballet is painful. Not just emotionally but physically. Few people have natural turnout or the kinds of physical gifts needed to make the art form easier on the body. To achieve some of the kinds of things we want to do (or if we were forced to do them by teachers when we were young) we had to compromise our bodies. We had to give up time to rest and heal after an injury because we were performing at the time. We had to push ourselves harder than anyone else. We might have self-diagnosed because we couldn't afford a doctor and proper treatment. So years later, we have scar tissue buildup, muscles that are not balanced, and poor alignment. Women (and many men) who had/have eating disorders might also suffer from osteoporosis.

When we get to 40s, 50s, 60s, we often say "no more" to ballet. We discover yoga or another exercise that is less painful on our joints but really? We're afraid ballet doesn't want us anymore so we leave. If we're competitive people (and dancers often are simply because of the nature of the dance world), we often don't want to be seen at our lower points. Our egos get too easily bruised.

So...should the aging dancer just leave ballet behind? Should we turn our backs on the art form we spent years studying, whose discipline shaped our brains and bodies?

If you are indeed "broken," whether in body or spirit, no amount of talk from me is going to make you return to ballet. And that's fine. You have to do what is best for you. But if your soul is still connected to ballet, or dance in general, don't go! 

Find a different way to dance.

That can mean lots of things, depending on who you are. It can mean taking a beginner class instead of an advanced one. It can mean concentrating on demi-plie instead of grand plie. It may mean skipping one of the petit allegro exercises or modifying them so you can complete them in your own way. It may mean finding a different teacher, one who accepts that you won't be doing everything or that you won't be doing everything as choreographed.

There is, without a doubt, something you do well. It might be an arabesque. You might still turn well. You might have excellent balance. Whatever it is, acknowledge it and embrace it. Develop it. Look for it in every exercise you do. For me, that's adagio. I don't have the turns I once did, nor the super fast feet, but I have balance and precision. So when I approach every combination, those are the things I look for. The result is increased confidence, increased presence in the class. I look like I am enjoying myself because I am. I love it. I love dance. I love ballet.

I'll bet you do too.

I was feeling pretty good yesterday - far from perfect, I know my body is nothing like it used to be. Can it be better? Probably. Can I make it better? Maybe. Do I hate it a lot of the time? Yup. I sure do.

But yesterday I didn't hate it. I was taking class for myself and was happy to not be in pain, as I frequently am, happy I could releve and hold my balance at the barre, happy I could perform the adagio well, happy that my body was doing things I wanted to do. So I took a picture. I wanted to be able to look at this picture and think, "that's a moment I liked my body, that I appreciated what it could do."  I wanted to see it and be reminded that it wasn't a super thin body that did what I wanted. It wasn't a super young body that did what I wanted. It was a middle-aged, average size body but I was still able to make it do things that I loved doing and was proud of.

Don't leave ballet. Just find a different way to love it.

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~

Relax...your demi-plie!

Lately, I've been on a rant about two things with my students in all class levels:

Relax more in your demi-plie

Hold your turnout during jumps

They go hand-in-hand, actually!

Rant #1: Let's first tackle the relaxation of the demi-plie.

From the very first exercises at the barre, we are working our rotation but some of us, particularly during the plie combination, grip our glutes or tighten our calves.

Remember: you only want to engage your glutes and your calves on the recovery from a plie. On the descent, you are engaging your quads and stretching your Achilles tendons.

If your calves are activated during everything, they won't be there for you when you need them to jump. That is when we get tears in our muscles. The calves simply can't activate any further than they are activated but you're asking them to do more, and like a loving friend, they really really try to do what you want. But alas, they can't do anything extra so they break.

Friends don't let friends tear their calf muscles.

If you are a dancer with short Achilles tendons which don't allow you to get a deep demi-plie, then try to relax the muscles at the top of your thighs on the descent. Also try exploring a deeper plie by focusing on sending your kneecaps over the center part of your feet and feel the expanse of the bend there. In other words, don't just think your plie has to be in your Achilles.

And don't forget to exhale on the descent so your muscles are truly relaxed.

Courtesy Danza Ballet blog

Now when you take that plie to center for jumps, you will only be activating the calf muscles on the push off rather than on the preparation.

Rant #2: Holding your turnout during jumps.

When we leave the ground, either one leg or both, we inevitably lose the connection between the tops of our legs. What we don't want to lose is the rotation.

Do you do this? Try this exercise:
--stand facing the mirror in first position
--demi-plie and press up to releve with knees engaged
--check the tops of your thighs for turnout.
--repeat the plie-releve but this time take the toes off the floor for a jump
--check the tops of your thighs for turnout when you are in the air and when you land

More than likely, you are losing your turnout. Again, RELAX your muscles so you can engage them on the jump, hold the backs of your thighs and think about landing toe-ball-heel into your demi-plie. Your plie before a jump or turn should be as ooey and gooey as possible, like you're melting into a pile of marshmallow.

Mmmm, marshmallow

Remember: Relax!!! Happy dancing~

We're off to see the Wizard - and we'll do it with a pas de basque balance!

Did you know that Dorothy and her friends head off to see the Wizard (the Wonderful Wizard of Oz) doing a series of pas de basque balance?

Pas de basque is a compound step, in which one foot does a demi rond de jambe either en avant or en arreriere from fifth position and then the second leg performs a chassee, developpe, or battement degage through first position and finishes in fifth or fourth position tendu. Sometimes it will feel like a rond de jambe to glissade a la seconde to tendu derriere.

When it's a balance, we have to add a traveling step to it so we move forward on the step through and bring our derrieres with us. This is where we typically run into trouble: the movement forward and the rhythm to do so. It's a tricky series of steps but once you find the rhythm of it, it's a lot of fun.

I often tell my students, both beginners and advanced, that it's the Wizard of Oz step and that's an image that comes quickly to mind. For those of you who can't picture it or have never seen it, here is a clip from the movie of Dorothy and her friends dancing down the Yellow Brick Road. They don't turn out their legs or feet when they do it but it's the correct rhythm. If they were in ballet class, I would give them a C+ or a B- if they stretch their legs. Ha!

Happy dancing~

Heels out, toes in

In physics, scientists are always looking for universal elements (see Unified Field Theory as an example), things that are true throughout the universe that can be applied in every situation.

Let's face it, it's a lot easier to say we should always hold our arms like this or we should always tilt our heads like that. But we don't. There are lots of different styles of ballet.

Still, that doesn't stop us from trying to find them! Rules, give us rules! We are disciplined ballet dancers who want to do everything right.

Here is one possible addition to our Unified Ballet Theory:

Heels out, toes in.

That is, every movement from our centers outward and away from our bodies, whether that is a battement tendu or a developpe devant  or even a retire, needs to begin with the heel of the foot moving first and then returning to the position (or the center of the body) with the toes.

Try it yourself.

1. Start in fifth position, right foot in front.
2. Using the heel of the right foot, begin to slide it en avant as you perform a tendu.
3. Notice how the heel stays lifted and the foot's arch is nicely curved as you stretch it all the way forward.
4. Now, using the toes of the right foot, pull it back to your fifth position and nestle it snugly against the instep of your left foot.
5. Feel how the muscles at the top of your leg are engaged and your rotation is being used as the foot returns to 5th.

Repeat the exercise with degage, grand battement, rond de jambe a terre, etc. Anything you want! And definitely try this a la seconde and  en arriere. It works!

Happy dancing~

Photo Alicia Heaney, CC Lic

Get your fit on!

There are so many great reasons to visit your local dancewear shop:

~ They are usually independently owned so you can be sure you're supporting people who live in your neighborhood and town.

~ They are often owned by people who are or were dancers themselves or who have a real passion for dance.

~They are frequently owned and managed by women - and I am a HUGE supporter of women-owned businesses (like my own!).

But the very best reason to patronize your local shop is...

...you can be fitted for dance shoes properly!

Let's be honest...from footwear to leotards and costumes to classes and performances and workshops, dance isn't cheap. You can find bargains on some items (buy a class card instead of individual classes, look for discount tickets to shows, reuse costumes, etc.) but the one area you really shouldn't skimp on is shoes.

A ballet slipper should not bag or be too tight. A pointe shoe should not be too hard or soft (or short or long and so on...). Character shoes should not squish your toes. A good shoe fitter will know how the shoe is supposed to fit - on YOU. An online store? Not so much.

The price of a pair of shoes at a local store might be a little higher than the price at an online discounter (although not always - many stores offer discounts or will price match after you've paid for a fitting) but you're missing out on a lot by not visiting someone in person. You don't get to feel the shoes or to try multiple styles or sizes. Remember that if you mess up your size with an online order and need to try again, the shipping costs add up. You also get to walk out of your local store with a brand new pair while an online store might be backed up for weeks or months!

Another reason for in-store fitting: pointe shoes are handmade so there are slight variations with every single pair. You could try on a Bloch Sonata 3B and it's not quite right but then a second pair of 3B's are perfect.

You will be wearing these shoes often - several times a week for some dancers - so you need to get the right fit. It's no fun to wear a pair of shoes that were cheap but too hard or you can't get over the box fully or you can't turn easily or your arch looks lousy. No matter how much money you've saved, you won't be happy.

I recently learned that some pointe shoe makers are not allowing some newer styles to be sold online because they want them to be properly fitted. Some of these shoes are way more high tech than the typical shoe (Capezio Kylee and Bloch Grace are examples) and need an expert opinion. P.S. I saw these 2 pairs in a store this week and was blown away!!

My rules:

~If you're a newbie, you must be fitted properly and in person.

~If you're on your second pair of pointe shoes, you need to be fitted again because your foot likely has changed, as has your strength and so on.

~If you're an experienced dancer, you should be fitted again because styles change or are discontinued or something new has come out that could benefit you.

Okay, local students...time to take a look at the stores on MY FIT LIST! We are lucky to have some wonderful shops in the Pasadena/La Canada area with skilled and caring fitters. Starting west and moving east:

Karabel Dancewear, Burbank CA

Karabel Dancewear, 3901 West Magnolia Blvd, Burbank CA

Lori Binkly owns this venerable (and spacious!) shop in the heart of the entertainment industry. She has a wide selection of Bloch pointe shoes, and some Capezio, as well as So Danca, Bloch, Capezio and other brands of slippers. Her store is filled with leotards, warm-ups, accessories, and undergarments (possibly the largest selection and diversity of colors I have ever seen in person!).

Inside Karabel

She has everything for performances, classes, competitions and auditions - kids and adults. Lori has been in the business for almost 30 years and she can probably fit you in one try but definitely see her, or her associates, to get the best shoe for you. Lori will not sell you a shoe that isn't right for you and she will not upsell you things you don't need.  The store is on Facebook and Instagram.




Priscilla's Dance & Theatre Shoppe, 3528 1/2 Ocean View Avenue, Montrose CA

Priscilla's in Montrose CA

Jennifer Ward owns this charming 3-year old shop in the cutest area of Montrose. As the mother of a dancer, Jennifer has always been around dance and is a big fan of zombie ballet, so naturally we are a fan of hers! She carries Russian Pointes and Bloch pointe shoes, plus Capezio, Bloch and Sansha slippers for men, women and kids, as well as tap and ballroom shoes. If you want something that she doesn't have, like Gaynor Mindens, she will find them for you.

Inside Priscilla's

Her leotards for girls and women are gorgeous! She also thinks outside the (pointe shoe)box with events like book signings, group outings and other fun things planned for kids, parents and adults. The store is on Facebook and Instagram.



The Red Shoes, 1018 Mission Street #1, South Pasadena CA

The Red Shoes, South Pasadena CA

Alice McIntosh opened her shop 40 years ago because the male owner of a dancewear store where she was shopping with her daughter was so incredibly patronizing that she decided she would open her own place (yay, Alice!). She has been a successful businesswoman, a "legend" in Pasadena as many people call her, ever since. Her shop on Mission Street is charming in an old-school way; it reminds me of the types of stores I would go to when I was a kid.

I spoke to Hilary, one of the fitters at the store, about their shoes and the time and commitment they take with each customer. Alice stocks Bloch primarily but a few Capezio and Mirella too. Slippers from So Danca, Bloch, Sansha, and lots of pretty warmups. Styles of everything for men, women and children. The store is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Gigi's Dance Closet , 468 S. Sierra Madre Boulevard, Pasadena CA

Ruth Veerman opened this unassuming yet well-stocked shop on the San Marino/Pasadena border when her children were dancing. She loves to talk about pointe shoes! I learned so much from her and got to see some of the latest styles from Capezio and Bloch (the aforementioned Kylee and Grace) as well as Grishko. She's got a LOT of slippers, including loads of sizes and styles from Bloch, Capezio, and So Danca, among others. Leotards and warm-ups, she's got those too. Plus she mentioned she would give discounts for pointe shoes (whatever the manufacturer allows, she will match online prices) after fitting or if you're picking up.

Enchanted Dancewear, 403 South Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia CA

Enchanted Dancewear in Monrovia CA

Sarah Gallegos recently took over this lovely shop in Old Town Monrovia. She's got a large selection of leotards and tights for both adults and kids. A former ballet dancer herself, Sarah now teaches a Mexico folklorico group that was inspired by her daughter. Her shop often hosts monthly "Mom Nights" in the small studio she and her husband built in the back half of the store: a night for "moms" to come in and learn things like line dancing.

Inside Enchanted Dancewear

Sarah fits Russian, Grishkos, and Bloch and has a selection of slippers for kids and adult as well as bags and gift items. See me for a 10% discount card! The store is Facebook and Instagram.

Hope this helps you all when you're looking for shoes and clothes for your classes. If there are questions you have about any of these shops that I haven't addressed, just shoot me an email or catch me in class. 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~