Screws and nails - dig deep into your toolbox!

As always, I am inspired by my students to write a blog post.

Last night, I was teaching my beginners an adagio in the center, which required them to shift from two feet (fifth position) to one (a developpe en avant). What frequently happens when we do this is we allow the knee of the support leg to get soft as we move the gesture leg through developpe. It's a common problem, kind of a "sympathy" bending when one leg bends because the other is too.

I often use the imagery of a barbershop pole to imitate the spiraling action of the leg in rotation but another way to look at it is

Screw vs Nail

Reach down into your toolbox (both your literal and figurative ones) and find a nail. It's got a nice sharp end and it's super straight, which are equally good images for a long spine and alignment of torso over feet. But it's smooth, right? It has no edges, nothing to grip.

Home Depot image

Now take out your screw. It's got grooves that grip whatever it's being drilled into, yes? Whether it's a Phillips head or a flat head, it will spiral into the wood or other material and the threads of the screw will hold it into place more firmly than a smooth nail.

Home Depot image

Your legs need to be screws, not nails. They need to be threaded and grooved so they rotate down into the floor and hold very solidly. This will make your knee far more stable than just a straight nail (leg) that tends to bend or become soft during developpe or pirouette, etc.

Now add that image to your dancer's toolbox! Happy dancing~

Is that a grapefruit under your arm?

Hello beautiful dancers!

Lately I've been unhappy with my students' armpits. 

It's not that they're smelly or gross - they're empty! 

Caveat: this is NOT my original imagery. A teacher friend of mine likes to tell her class to hold something under their arms when they are standing at the barre, to feel as if there is an object they are keeping pressed between their arm and their torso.

This week, I'm asking all of my students, regardless of their level or experience, to imagine they have grapefruits under their arms. This imagery serves several purposes:

1. It keeps space between the arm and torso.

2. It adds shape to the arms.

3. It activates the back muscles.

Beginning at the barre, try to picture the space under your arm as filled with an object like a grapefruit. As you move the arms through port de bras, continue to hold that object, even when the arms are above your head. However, be very careful that you don't squish the fruit under your arm. You must shape the armpit around the fruit and hold it in place.

HINT: When you do cambre, lifting your spine up and back, turn your head gently to the side and take a sniff of that grapefruit. That is where your head should be, rather than facing the ceiling.

When you come to the center, hold that grapefruit when you are doing pirouettes and that will help you engage your back muscles and keep your abdominal muscles active, which in turn will help you stay lifted. If you're really concentrating, think about this image when you do big jumps; keep those grapefruits under your arms even as you fly across the stage.

Take a look at Misty Copeland in this photo. Notice how there is shape to her underarms even as she holds her hands high above her head. The grapefruits are still in place!

Misty Copeland, courtesy American Masters

Don't lose your grapefruit! Or as the French say, Ne perdez pas votre pamplemousse!



Happy dancing~

Pirouette Tip: Using Imagery

In my lifetime, I have heard a million metaphors from instructors about pirouettes:

"Imagine you have a long pole from the top of your head through your spine."

"Imagine you are lifting your arms through marshmallow."

"Imagine you are a spinning top and your waist is the pull string."

One of these may work for you; who can say until you try? Those of you who take my classes or read my blog know that I approach just about all dance moves in a very practical fashion. I want to know the muscles that are needed to move the leg to retire. I want to find the bone to adjust to properly align the torso for balance.

But every once in a while an image works for me - or a student - and I want to share it, in case it turns out to be the elusive element that flips the switch on your pirouettes.

Photo: Coastal Dance Company

Be the balloon.

Imagine that your lungs are filled with helium, not oxygen. They don't lift your shoulders; they lift your ribs up and out and away from the center of your body. Unlike a normal balloon that deflates because it's just air, a helium balloon stays buoyant for a very long time.

That is YOU. That is your torso. That is your abdominal muscles pulled up and your rib cage and back wide. You don't sink on your demi-plie. You don't collapse as you releve. Because you are a helium balloon that rises, rises, rises.

Try it.

Happy dancing~