3 Technique Tips to make your Ballet Better!

Happy Friday, beautiful dancers!

It's been a while since I've posted some handy-dandy technique tips so to make up for that, here are 3 that I think will help you:

1. When stacking your boxes, watch that middle one! It could sink!

When we talk about aligning the body for balance, we often use the imagery of stacking your head on your torso on your hips, don't we? Well, that's not exactly accurate. That picture assumes all 3 boxes are the same size and shape, right? But in truth, a more realistic image is that your middle box - your torso - is solid while the lower one - your hips - is open. If you're not careful, the center box could sink right into it.

What does it look like when your torso drops into your hips? If you are en releve, you will feel your heels drop closer to the floor, your knees might buckle, and your elbows will collapse (if they are over your head, you will see the circle flatten and if they are in first position in front of you, the elbows will be lower than the wrists). If you are flat, you might notice it's hard to shift your leg out to a tendu without pulling your hips back behind your heels, and you might feel your ribcage soften and your shoulders roll forward.

How do we fix this? Engage the core! (I imagine Captain Picard from the Starship Enterprise) 

Engage the core! Make it so! (Getty Images)

If you activate the muscles of the torso - back, sides, and abdominals - you will keep yourself pulled up and feel a lift out of your hips. Your middle box will be balanced over the lower box and you will find it much easier to hold a releve longer and to do things like chaine turns and so on.

2. Use your small muscles to find your turnout and your big ones to hold it!

Do you ever feel a soreness deep in your hips after class, like your hip sockets are inflamed and sensitive? More likely than not, you are overusing your deep external rotators (the Deep 6 muscles are: piriformis, obturator internus, obturator externus, gemellus inferior, gemellus superior, and the quadratus femoris). These muscles are used to move the hip joint by externally rotating the femur head. Many dancers not only use these muscles to rotate the bones but then they use them to hold the turnout, especially when they are at the barre or center, balancing on one leg.

What does it look like when you're gripping your rotators to hold your turnout? Well, you might not actually see it but you will certainly feel it after class! A teacher looking closely might notice that your derriere is tucked under you and your hips are tilted when you are doing an extension; they might also see that you are sinking into the support leg and your torso might be collapsed slightly. Or they might see nothing at all!

External rotators (Courtesy Wikipedia)

 How do we fix this? First of all, you need to access those Deep 6 to rotate the femur but to hold the rotation, use your big muscles: your glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings. Your gluteus maximus is the big muscle of your behind and the gluteus medius is just above at your lower back and protecting your hip bones. These muscles are the ones that will help stabilize you when you are balancing on one leg in the center during adagio and turns, while the quads and hamstrings will hold your turnout once you find it. The key is to not grip: gripping is the enemy of smooth turns and big jumps.

3. Take jazz class for isolations!

One of the things dancers, especially ballet dancers, are known for is control. We control every muscle, every ligament and bone. We tilt our head just so, and we use the pinky toe to spring off for a pirouette or jump. When we start to lose our balance, we do an internal spot-check of every. single. thing. affecting our bodies. It requires us to isolate different parts of our body, even the very smallest of them, to make micro-adjustments.

Yet, we never do isolations! Jazz class is where dancers do this, not ballet. In jazz, we spend lots of time doing series of body isolations: head, shoulders, rib cage and hips, primarily, but we also do head rolls, shoulder rolls, hip rolls, and so on. We connect hips and head in different ways than in ballet. Our arms might move en dehors over our heads when we do a balance rather than in middle third or we might swivel our hips before we do a pirouette. These small movements give jazz its sharpness, its rhythm, and its style.

Dogs doing head isolations (photo InterMountain Pet Hospital)

So why don't we do them in ballet class? You know, I don't know the answer to that other than: it has never been done like that. In most classes, a ballet warm-up might include gentle shoulder rolls and head circles to smoothly warm up the neck and back. We might also do some forced arch releves but that's the extent of it. But how valuable would it be to be able to move a shoulder back or forward during an arabesque or to shift the hip from side to side while balancing? 

My recommendation: get to a jazz class and start working on those isolations. Not only will isolation exercises help you access muscles in different ways, they will also get your head spot sharp for turns - you know we are always looking for ways to improve our turns!

Happy dancing, everyone!

Shoulders forward & the importance of incidental activity

As we close out the year (good riddance, 2020!), I want to offer a final technique tip and an observation.

First the tip:

Keep your shoulders in front of your hips during pirouettes, penchees, promenades, jumps, and generally speaking, during pointe work.

What do I mean?

Grab a mirror and observe your alignment in profile when you stand up straight. Where are your shoulders in relation to your hips: behind your hips, centered over them, or in front of them? Most likely they are centered over them. If you have a tendency to slouch, your shoulders may be behind your hips.

When we rise onto demi-pointe or pointe, we often pull our shoulders back or allow them to droop; this includes turns and pushing off the floor for jumps. 

Now, still in profile, lift your ribcage up out of your waist and gently move your torso forward. Note that your hips are still over your heels and your pelvis is in a neutral position, nothing is tucked or gripped. This is where you want to be when you prepare for a pirouette or take an arabesque into a penchee or even when you push up off the ground for a jump.

What do I not mean?

Don't roll your shoulders or hike them up to your ears. Also, try not to hyperextend your lower back and avoid splaying the ribs.

(This image was made by Loadmaster (David R. Tribble) CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Please note the dancer's shoulder placement in the arabesque to the left.

(Ron Kroon / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Please note the placement of the shoulders in this grand jete to the right.

What will this do for you?

For one thing, it helps stabilize you, balancing your natural tendency to fall back as you go up. And for another it will help you engage your back muscles and keep you lifted and not sinking.

And now...an observation about the influence of the pandemic on our bodies (as if we didn't need to know about yet another negative effect!):

When incidental activity is diminished, our baseline of movement is affected. 

What do I mean by "incidental activity?" 

That's the walking from our cars to the grocery store, the running into the bank to deposit a check, the filling up of our gas tanks, the casual jostle walking among crowds at an event or in a school or a theater or on public transportation...all these things contribute to the baseline of our movement including balance. 

Remember before the pandemic when you used to walk around with a purse or shoulder bag or backpack? You would have to balance that on your shoulder and move it with you when you moved, from side to side or up and down. That's movement. That's balance. That's activity. When you're not doing that as frequently, you have far fewer chances to practice.

In your homes, it's a quick walk to the restroom or to get some water but at the dance studio, maybe it was down the hall. That's extra movement, extra walking you did.

In our Zoom environments, we sit to talk to people because if we stand, we are at waist level with our cameras; if we move around, our microphones won't pick up our voices and our auto focus gets blurry. But these are all things we used to do when we talked to people in real life.

What is the result? And how does that affect dancing?

One thing we lose is muscle tone: all that sitting doesn't give our quads and calves and hamstrings opportunities to strengthen, nor does our core engage as frequently. When we don't walk as much, we lose our stamina and get out of breath more quickly. And when we don't have to adjust around people, we don't have chances to find our balance.

For our dancing, this means we must take extra steps in class. Even if you were taking the same number of classes as you were before, likely you are not working as hard or have the ability to do things like jumps or allegro. Our balance might not be as good because we aren't calling upon it as often. 

What can we do?

In class, we can take the time to work on balance OFF the barre when we need to engage our cores and stabilize ourselves. We can build calf and ankle strength through extra exercises. We can also do small jumps in sneakers if we don't have the correct flooring.

Outside of class, we can walk a little bit more (an extra turn around the block with the dog), maybe carry something with us so we build some upper body strength and work on balance. Hiking or carefully navigating uneven surfaces can also help us balance.

Easy fix: Raise Your Gaze!

Ever have a problem in class, whether it's turning or a balance on one leg, and you find yourself wishing there was one simple way to fix it? Something that didn't require hours in the gym working on your core or quads?

Well, there is!

(cue the dramatic music)

Raise your gaze!

cc lic Clare Black "black eyes"

Sometimes it's as easy as that to get your balance, to stay lifted in your pirouettes and get more height in your jumps.

Many of us tend to dance small in class, whether it's because we are focusing on learning or we're tired from a long day or we're anxious about something. That can often translate into a gaze that is cast downward or inward. Our shoulders might roll forward and our centers might collapse as well. All of this leads to a very heavy energy in your body which prevents you from feeling lifted in turns or supported in adagio or jumps.

But by simply --

lifting your gaze

opening your eyes a little wider

actually seeing something

--you can change your posture, alignment, and energy in one easy move - and you will see an immediate result.

I can nearly guarantee it.*

*Note: nearly. I mean, I'm 99% certain it will work for you but there's always a tiny chance it won't but really, what could it hurt to just try?

Happy dancing~

cc lic Ethereality Pictures "Generations of Perfection"

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!

3 Technique Tips for Tuesday!

Last night I thought of 3 random tips I wanted to share with you. None of them warrants a full blog post but together they make 1! In no particular order:

1. Balance Tip: some of us live in earthquake country so we know what construction companies do to bolt down houses to their foundations to help make them resistant to the shaking of earthquakes. You know what also shakes? Your balance when you are en releve. If you find yourself unable to hold a balance, especially in first or second, you're probably not engaging your deep external rotator muscles (they are the very small muscles that rotate your thigh bone in its socket to create turnout from the top of the legs). They also might not be strong enough to hold your turnout which can also result in shaking or collapsing.

Instead of just thinking about your feet holding you in place, visualize the ball-and-socket joint in your leg as if it were bolting your house (body) to its foundation (floor). Once you can grab onto that and engage those muscles, your legs will feel much more stable and you will feel the energy moving in all directions, not merely your feet and ankles.

2. Pirouette Tip: we can never have enough of these! If you are having trouble with getting over your leg on your turn, if you fall backward or can't seem to keep your arms in front of you as you turn, try thinking of someone tapping the back of your shoulder when you go up into your retire position.

From any preparation, let's say left foot front in 4th position so that you will be turning en dehors to your right, imagine your teacher is about to give you a gentle shove on the left shoulder to get you moving. She would be pushing you just above the scapula. This has the effect of getting you over your leg, giving you another source of momentum and preventing you from lifting your shoulder on the turn. And it works! I tested it on myself. Ha!

3. Jump Tip: one of my biggest pet peeves for allegro work is when students don't roll through their feet on their jump landing, whether for grand or petit. Sometimes they land flat footed which shudders my spine just thinking about it. Other times, even if they think about rolling through a pointed foot, they neglect the ball of the foot so it's not nearly as smooth or connective as it could be.

Think about a 3 point landing with every jump: toe, ball, heel. Always. Toe, ball, heel. Toe, ball, heel. This will make you fondu rather than simply plie and bend the knees. It will be easier to use the demi-plie as you move from one step to the next and it will also be safer for your knees and spine.

Hope these tips help! Happy dancing~

Post 100! Pirouettes!

Let's discuss pirouettes. Everyone's favorite thing to do, right? When little kids come to class for the very first time, they always want to spin around and around because it's so much fun. As adults, we associate multiple turns with superior dancing skills. Both kids and adults are right: turns are fun and they do mark a dancer as skilled.

Unlike most other aspects of ballet, good pirouettes are a product of physics, not philosophy. The emotional core of a dance, the connection of dancer to audience, can be conveyed through expressive gestures and facial movements. Turns, however, are strictly virtuosic. When a ballerina does 32 fouettes, we applaud the technique not the passion, although certainly her passion for dance forced her to practice those pirouettes!

There are so many ways to teach turns, so many hints different people give that I don't proclaim to have the absolute best way to turn. Honestly, each person requires different critique and usually in person. That being said, there are certain things that are necessary in order to turn properly:

1. A sharp head spot.
Practice for beginners: stand in front of your bathroom mirror, hold your own gaze, then begin to twist your shoulders to the right and continue walking around yourself, snap your head back to the mirror as quickly as you can and then go in the opposite direction. Try not to lift your head in a circle but keep it level as your shoulders and body twist.

Practice for intermediates: perform a series of increasingly fast chainee turns across the floor, keeping your arms in tight and your feet in fifth position. This will help get your head around fast and isolate it from your shoulders.

2. A fast passe.
Practice for beginners: stand at the barre or a chair that is balanced with weight so you can press down on it. Holding the barre with two hands, stand in fourth position with your right foot in back, do a deep demi plie, then very sharply, bring the right leg up to passe (a retire position) with the toes under the front of the left knee. Hold for two counts and then put it back down to the back. Do this several times and then repeat with the left. When you feel stable during those 2 counts, try the same exercise but release the arms from the barre and pull them to first position. Always try to hold for as long as you can without tipping over.

Practice for intermediates: in the center, do half turns from fourth position. Stand in fourth, take a very deep demi-plie, then lift the leg to passe, balance and land facing the back of the room with the leg behind you, and gently lower it to the floor in demi plie. Then do the same from the back to the front. By doing only 1/2 turns you will be forced to concentrate on the leg pulling up very quickly so you can balance and not on the turn itself.

3. A strong port de bras.
Practice for beginners: pushups. I'm serious! Beginner students have a tendency to let their arms hang by their sides or curl their shoulders in as they turn. They need to feel the energy from their back muscles through their arms to their fingers. This suggestion comes from a teacher I admire, Melissa Waters, who does the same with her young students. Face the barre, about 2 feet away, feet in parallel. Place your hands on the barre as if they were in second position, then do very slow pushups. This will strengthen your back muscles and your biceps, but also will isolate those back muscles so you feel where your arms need to be controlled.

Practice for intermediates: keeping your arms in a wide second position, perform chainee turns across the floor and slowly bring your arms in to first position as your turns speed up. You will feel the muscles in your back bringing your arms in, instead of your shoulders. This is the feeling you want to have as you pirouette - that your arms are being controlled by your back.

This is just the tip of the turn iceberg! There are many, many other things to keep in mind during turns. I will probably revisit this subject again and again. Questions?

Happy turning~

Pas de bourree v. Balance

A beginning student asked me recently, "What's the difference between 'pas de bourree' and 'balance'?" We had learned both steps within the space of a couple of weeks and she was confused, seeing as how both steps seemed to have 3 parts and involved shifting the weight from one foot to the other.

The question stopped me short. I knew I knew the difference and could show it to her but articulating it was another matter. First of all, let's look at the definitions:

Pas de bourree: It consists of three quick steps. It literally means 'Step of the Drunken Lady' and when done à la seconde the feet usually change positions (right left right or back, side, front). (Wikipedia)

Balance: A rocking step. A step that shifts body weight from one foot to the other, usually in 3/4 time. A balance may be performed by crossing the foot in front or in back. (About.com)

Btw, balance is often called a waltz step because it is done in 3/4 waltz time, da-dum-dum, da-dum-dum.

Now, here is the practical difference: with pas de bourree, we start with the weight on one foot and end on the other but with balance, we simply shift to one foot and then back. Try it yourself:

For pas de bourree, start with your feet in fifth position, right foot in front. Lift the left foot to coupe, step onto it, step side with the right foot and then step forward with the left. Your weight shifts from right to the left, to the right and to the left - back, side, front.

For balance, start with your feet in fifth position, right foot in front. Degage the right foot to the side, step onto it, bring the left foot to coupe behind the right and rock onto the ball of the foot and then settle back down onto the right foot. You've just done right, left, right.

And there you have it. Happy dancing!