2 3 Terrific Tuesday and Relaxed Knees | Ballet Webb

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Terrific Tuesday and Relaxed Knees


Terrific Tuesday and Relaxed Knees
Today I am addressing the ladies – mostly.  In an earlier blog I talked about how the knees have smiley faces when the patella is pulled up, and the knees should almost always be smiling when the legs are straight.  Now I’ve come to the exception:  bourrées.
Bourrées are one of ballet’s most magical steps, especially when performed on pointe.  Without any special effects at all, a dancer who executes them well will appear to be floating across the stage – more so if there is a layer of mist from dry ice wafting across the scene.
To achieve this floating illusion, the knees must be relaxed.  The legs work like a fine sewing machine needle with more of an up and down motion than a side to side one.  The back leg propels the dancer forward, and the thighs come apart very little or not at all.  But it is the relaxed nature of the knees that allows all of this to happen. 

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #13f 
“In a bourrée, the knees must be relaxed.”
 

                Link of the Day:  

Beginning at 3:25 for some beautiful bourrées


 

Quote of the Day:

“Work.  Don’t Think. Relax.”
-Ray Bradbury

 

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