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:
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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