In a previous post, I talked about the alignment of a
dancer’s body being “straight and slightly forward from the ankles”, which is
Secret 1c from the imaginary (so far) Big
Blue Book of Ballet Secrets. This
forwardness in the posture has been described as a “rocket angle”, since
rockets are not launched into space in an exact, straight up trajectory. (For anyone interested in rockets and how
successful launches came about, I would recommend the wonderful, inspirational
movie, October Sky).
This forward angle of the body is necessary largely because
of the skeletal structure of humans: we
weigh just a bit more on our back half, skeletally speaking. Among other things, we don’t have a spine in
the front! If we did, it would be easier
to hold our abdominal muscles in, but it would be extremely limiting to our
flexibility!
The trajectory that dancers use whenever they relevé or jump
should follow the line created by the slight forward alignment of the
body. I have my students stand so they
can see themselves sideways in the mirror and thus observe the correct “rocket
angle” in action as they jump or relevé.
Link of the Day: The trailer for the movie October Sky:
Quote of the Day:
“If a window of
opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.”
-Thomas Peters
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