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~

Gettin' crabby

Are you ready to start the new year with some "crab-itude"?

As an instructor, I'm always looking for a new way for my students to approach their technique. Students are so individualistic that an image that works for one might not work for another so it's a constant search to find unusual ways to express a technical correction or mental image.

I've noticed recently that many of my students lose their cores when they move without the barre. I call it having an "ooey gooey center." It's hard to control your torso, especially when you shift your weight from two feet to one.

A good visual image is that of a crab:

By © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=518367

Picture yourself like this crab with a strong and inflexible center while your arms and legs move independently. Each time you shift your weight, hold fast to your center and extend the arms and legs as far away from you as you can.

Be the crab.

Happy new year and happy dancing~