Terrific Tuesday Timing
Timing in ballet is a critical thing. It involves not only a dancer’s musical
ability, but also the skills to “manipulate” the music a tiny bit for the best
dancing results. Let me explain by using
grand allegro as an example.
In any big jump, it is essential that the steps immediately
preceding the jump be faster than the
steps before. (Remember the airplane on
the runway? http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2013/12/mad-monday-airplanes-and-acceleration.html).
If the music is a steady oomp-pa-pa, oomp-pa-pa, this can cause the dancer to make each step even in timing – deadly for the success
of a grand jeté! Instead, a slight
hesitation at the beginning and an acceleration of all the steps that follow is
what will produce the best jump.
Counter-intuitive perhaps, but this works! That being said, this musical manipulation is
very subtle – at no time should a
dancer be unmusical!
There are many other examples of timing that make ballet
technique work beautifully, but I’ll leave those for another day.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Secret #7v:
“Correct timing in ballet makes many steps successful.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing
timing against available resources.
Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.”
-Gary Ryan Blair
Help expand the knowledge base!
Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas,
or images that worked best for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment