2 3 Terrific Tuesday Towels | Ballet Webb

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Terrific Tuesday Towels


Terrific Tuesday Towels
In pirouettes of all kinds, the arms have a tendency to wander around on their own.  And arms, as we know, cannot be trusted to randomly meander about.
The path these rogue arms tend to take in pirouettes is a twisting one.  Instead of remaining perfectly centered, with the hands directly in front of the lower rib cage (in first or fifth en avant), they twist to the side.  This twists the torso and destroys the integrity of the turn.  It is difficult to pirouette when everything is all twisted.
To prevent this, use a towel (or anything similar), and ask the dancer to hold it in the hand that begins in front (first or fifth en avant) on the preparation.  Then, as the turn begins and the other arm joins the hand holding the towel, this hand grabs the towel as well.  During the pirouette, both hands hold the towel firmly in the correct fifth en avant position in front of the lower rib cage.  This prevents the twisting action and makes the dancer more aware of where the arms need to remain for the duration of the turn.  

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #20f 
“Use a towel to demonstrate how the arms must stay centered on the torso in a pirouette.”
 

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