Headlights and Dancers

 

Essential to correct technique is what I think of as the geometry of ballet.  This involves how the body is placed in space, and whether the dancer is facing straight (toward the audience), or angled slightly.  A common image, and a very effective one, is this:  Imagine the hips having headlights, just like a car or truck.  These headlights always face straight ahead (or in the desired direction), and seldom twist. 

This concept is usually introduced with the dancer facing the barre, and later expanded to mean the proper “right angle to the barre” facing.  Later, when the dancers learn to angle in and out from the barre, the concept of correct, square, “headlight facing” follows them. 

 

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #5a:

 “ Imagine your hips as headlights on a car. Always keep them focused “on the road”.

 

                Link of the Day:

                http://dancers.invisionzone.com/

 

Quote of the Day:

 “How far that little candle throws his beams!  So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

-          William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

 

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