My journey to jetes: from zero to grand in 7 months!

Beautiful dancers, like everyone during the pandemic, I was stuck at home in a small space with a slippery wood floor that had no give. Over the course of a couple of months, I brought in a portable barre, marley flooring, and some springy dance floor squares (which I liked so much I bought a second set to make the area bigger!). 

Also like you, no matter how I was able to modify my former dining area, I couldn't do anything big - no grand allegro at all and very limited petit allegro. I focused on maintaining strength in my quads and hamstrings as well as building core strength through sit-ups, pushups and planks. I also ended every class I taught over Zoom and YouTube with releves to keep calf and ankle strength up for all of us, including me!

Returning to my classes as a teacher (first outdoors on concrete last winter and then in-studio in the spring), I was cautious doing jumps. I didn't want to injure myself or my students! We began with very small jumps like sautes in first position, gentle glissades into jetes and assembles but no beats. For grand allegro, we did temps leves in passe and arabesque, some grand jetes and pas de chats and worked up to tour jete and sauts de chats.

I loved watching my students find their jumps again but for myself? Up until about a month ago, my progress followed my students except for sauts de chats. I wasn't quite at the point where I felt confident to really push myself off the floor and attempt a big jump. I worried that I would never be able to do grand allegro again, which was always something I enjoyed.

So how to get my jump back? Gradually and carefully, like all things. Here are some things that I did that might help you:

1. I added beats to my petit allegro which forced me to really push my body off the ground - something very important for big jumps, obviously.

2. I did lots of grands battements to work my quads and get my leg off the ground quickly.

3. I worked on my splits for hamstring flexibility.

4. I focused on developpe during adagio at the barre, especially en avant and holding fully extended for as long as possible.

5. I continued my planks every day to keep my core engaged so I could get extra lift on the jump.

No matter what you want to tackle, take it slowly, beautiful dancers. You don't want to injure yourself (believe me, hamstring injuries take forever to heal!). Enjoy the journey! Happy dancing!

 

Photo CC license

Will this be me in next week's classes? Hmmm....

Why do we do grand plies? PLUS: Why Leigh gives super fast degages at the barre

You can always count on people who love ballet, dancers or teachers or simply avid balletomanes, to argue about the art form. Is that a tour jete or a grand jete en tournant? A pas de chat or saut de chat? Do you point or flex the foot in a frappe en releve?

Lately I have heard the argument against doing grand plie at the barre.
"They are too hard on your knees!"
"They are not used in the center!"
"They are really hard to do correctly and I don't feel like doing (or teaching) them!"

Those are all valid arguments. As a teacher of many levels of dancers, I can say unequivocally that grand plie is not easy to teach, to learn or to re-learn, which many of us do if we weren't taught correctly or if we skim through them without actually using the correct muscles. And let's face it, plies at the barre are often an exercise people do by rote. If it's the first or second exercise at the barre, you may not even be thinking about them! You're thinking about where you parked your car, what you might have left at the office, and if you need to stop at Trader Joe's on the way home. So plies are an afterthought.

However, I would argue there are two very valid reasons to do grand plie:
1. Jumps
2. Stability

The first is obvious: when we do deep knee bends, we are building our quads and our hamstrings, both of which we really need if we want to jump off the ground. Of course, we move through our demi-plie at the beginning and end of each jump, but the power has to come from somewhere!

The second is less-obvious: when we are in the center performing an adagio, we need to stabilize our center so we don't wobble and our knees don't buckle. When we talk about holding our core muscles (front, back and sides of our torso) we really want to engage the very deep muscles in our abdomen called the rectus abdominis, which are two long muscles running down the center front of your body, side by side, and the transverse abdominis, which are under our obliques and connect on the sides of the pelvis. These muscles are critical to holding us steady away from the barre. And what's a great way to engage them? Grand plie! How, you ask? When you perform a demi-plie at the barre, it's easy to correct the pelvic tilt but when you go just a bit deeper into a grand plie, it's that much more challenging to keep your pelvis aligned properly. To do it correctly requires that you engage the muscles very deep in your center.

Source: Wikipedia, CC lic

NB: correct pelvic posture is important to fully engage the deep abdominal muscles and strengthen them for center stabilization so be sure to either ask your teacher for guidance or take a quick peek at your profile in the mirror to see what's happening in your pelvic region. If you're tilting (i.e. spilling your cup of water!), engage the muscles and align them properly.

Source: Wikipedia, CC lic (NB, the darkest shade of red is the Transversus Abdominis)

Now, do you really need to do a super deep grand plie all the way to the floor? Absolutely not. And it's very difficult for many dancers to do that and maintain the turnout in their hips without forcing it. You should take your grand just to the point before you begin to turn in. You need to be able to lower yourself to this position and then recover from it without turning the knees in and allowing the hips to swing back behind the heels. Again, this may require a bit of guidance from your teacher, especially if you're not exactly sure what it should feel like. That's what we're here for! We want you properly aligned and building strength!

It's up to you and your knees (and your teacher!) as to whether you do a grand plie and there may be lots of good reasons for you personally to not attempt them but if there isn't and you find that you're wobbly in the center or you can't get off the ground in big jumps, consider working on your grand plie.

BONUS!

QUESTION from the class: "Leigh, why do you give such fast degage combinations at the barre? They're hard and confusing!"

Good question! No matter what level class you take with me, I will give you a fast degage combo at the barre. You might have trouble with it because of the speed but I want you to try it anyway. Why?

1. Step out of your comfort zone! We all have a tempo at which we like to perform certain steps (for instance, I like slow grand battements so I can get my leg high which takes time) so if you push yourself a little bit, it will be that much easier the next time you try it. This goes for anything! Try for the triple turn when you want a double, etc.

2. Focus on speed for allegro. Fast small steps in the center require quick feet and fast reflexes. If we do a fast combo at the barre and constantly shift our weight from side to side, that's going to have a direct impact on our movements in the center later. We will be more likely to be able to shift our weight and our muscles will fire up faster.

3. Engage the inner thighs. Slow degages tend to use the quads more than the inner thighs, especially if the accent is on the degage extension rather than the close to the position. When we do a quicker action, we are accenting the close, which requires us to use the muscles that close the thighs together. Again, this has a direct application to our allegro combinations in the center.

Do I expect you to perform a super fast combination perfectly? It would be nice, sure, but it takes time to feel comfortable or at least allow yourself to not be perfect. You will flub it and feel like your feet and toes are made of concrete but the more frequently you do them, the more you will find the time to work the feet properly.

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~

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!

Important info for my students

1. I've added the March workshops at Vonder Haar to my website, so you can sign up for them in advance. They are:

3/5 contemporary ballet
3/12 pique and lame duck turns
3/19 pointe/variation
3/26 pas de chat & grand assemble

All Saturday workshops are at Vonder Haar in La Canada from 11:30AM-12:30PM and are limited to 12 students with a minimum of 4. The cost is $17. You can sign up in advance for all of my workshops being offered at both Dance Arts Academy and at Vonder Haar Center at my website here.

2. As of March 1st, the price of a technique class will be $16. A 5-class card will be $75 and a 10-class card will be $140. Note: my class cards do not expire so if you'd like, you can purchase a card at the current price even if you do not need it yet.

  Happy dancing~