Sunday Best

Sunday Best

The above photograph says it all.  Simply do the best you can.  It may not always be easy, and often isn’t, but if you do the best you can you will sleep well at night, and be happier.

Doing your best means many things.  Being kind is a big one (see Motivational Secret #1d, and Motivational Secret #10).  This means being kind to yourself, too – something dancers can have a difficult time doing, perhaps because we work with lots of constructive (hopefully) criticism.  But do your best even if no one gives you credit!  You’ll know, and you will benefit from that knowledge.

Doing your best means no excuses.  There may be reasons for not doing your best:  you are sick and can’t dance, etc., but as I say to my students, reasons and excuses are two different things!

So think about doing the best you can this week.  You might be surprised at what happens.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #40:

 “Do the best you can.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

Quote of the Day:

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”

-H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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Saturday Flow

Saturday Flow

Dancers are always reminded of Ballet Secret #1a:  Energy must flow out in all directions.  That’s great, but sometimes the energy overflows!  In other words, so much energy (sometimes tension) is sent outward that it distorts the correct shape of the arms or the legs.  

This is especially true for the arms.  If the energy is too extreme, the arms with straighten and the elbows lock, ruining the proper position.  So it is important to think of the arms and legs as a conduit, or a pipeline – and the energy always flows in the shape of that pipeline, just as water conforms to the shape of a hose.

This is also related to Ballet Secret #1k:

http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2013/10/eggs-and-fun-friday.html

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1ff:  

“Remember that the energy flow (Secret 1a) must follow the shape of the arms and legs and not distort the correct shape.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSXBGZur_84

Quote of the Day:

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt

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Fun Friday Hide the Heel

Fun Friday Hide the Heel

Ah, the lovely arabesque.  It is one of the most beautiful positions in classical ballet, yet it is one that is often out-of-focus.  This is due to the fact that students are usually admonished:  “don’t lift the hip”.  Hmmmm.

Well.  In any arabesque higher than 45 degrees (and often even sooner), the hips do and must tilt.  This is one of the few permissible areas when the alignment of the hips changes from being square and level.  Try doing a high arabesque without tilting the pelvis, and you’ll see what happens – or doesn’t!

When a dancer tries to maintain the perfect alignment of the hips in arabesque, something has to give, and it is usually the turn-out in the (working) arabesque leg.  Now when viewed from the side, the knee is facing the floor, and the heel is visible on top of the foot.  The heel now looks like a big pimple on the ankle!

So remember that in arabesque there is a permissible tilt in the pelvis that occurs as the leg lifts – usually at about 45 degrees or even before.  This is not, I must emphasize, the dreaded “seca-besque” that happens when the whole arabesque is twisted into something between à la seconde and arabesque. Instead, the rib cage stays square, while the pelvis gradually tilts to allow for the high arabesque position in which the knee faces the side and the heel is hidden.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #18f:  

“When viewed from the side, the working foot in an arabesque should not appear to have sprouted a giant pimple.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6TZnQQoq4

Quote of the Day:

(This could also apply to dance)

“Take the leap. If you love theater more than anything, take the leap. It's so rich if you give over fully to it; there are no halfers or returnsies in this business - if you don't... There's no way to go other than full tilt with your life and job.”

-          Michael Lomenda

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Throwback Thursday and Alicia Markova

Throwback Thursday and Alicia Markova

Even at the age of 92, Alicia Markova was still actively teaching class.  Her real name was Lilian Alicia Marks, and she was born in London on December 1, 1910. She began as a child prodigy, proclaimed as “Little Alicia, the Child Pavlova”, and she did, indeed, resemble Pavlova with her dark hair and slender build.  She even met Pavlova once and was invited to her home, Ivy House, where she taken through some barre exercises.  At age 14 she was hired by Diaghilev.

Markova grew up and began her career during a period when ballet was almost non-existent in Britain.  She helped develop the first companies there:  Ballet Rambert and the Royal Ballet.  She also had a performing partnership with Anton Dolin that lasted for thirty years.

Her list of credits is long and includes being a dancer, teacher, director and writer.  Just a few of her accomplishments include:   co-founder and prima ballerina of the English National Ballet; Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Dancing; and Professor of Ballet and Performing Arts at the University of Cincinnati. 

Not bad for a young girl who began dancing on the recommendation of a specialist who hoped it might help her turned-in legs and flat feet!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #44:  

“Alicia Markova was a legendary British ballerina.”

                Links of the Day: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_qnqgF_l6w

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dame-alicia-markova-6156634.html

Quote of the Day:

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

-       Christopher Reeve

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Wild Wednesday Wings

Wild Wednesday Wings

It is easy to think of the arms as starting at the shoulders – they look that way, after all.   But it works better for dancers to think of them as starting at the spine.  

Think of them (the arms) as having lots of long feathers, like a bird’s wings.  They start at the spine and span outward and downward so as to catch the air if the dancer suddenly decides to take flight.

This image works very effectively because the muscles do work that way.  Many of the muscles in the arms come from (extend into) the back, and when these muscles are allowed to take the day off (or droop), the arms are no longer adequately supported.

So whenever performing any kind of port de bras imagine the unfolding of wings!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #6v:  

“Imagine the arms starting not at the shoulders, but at the spine – like wings.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3GAjAKges

Quote of the Day:

“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.”
― C. JoyBell C.

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