Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Wonderful Wednesday Stillness


Wonderful Wednesday Stillness

A dancer’s torso should be an area of stillness. Except during cambres or port de bras, the torso doesn’t twist, bend, angle, crunch, etc. Keeping the torso still and square and in one piece is essential for stability.

Watch any videos of accomplished dancers and notice what the torso does or doesn’t do.  Weird, isn’t it? Almost no movement at all.  Most of the time the torso (see my blog on cereal boxes) is completely still and solid.

However, this stillness is really only an outward appearance.  A quiet torso hides the effort required by the dancer to keep it still.  In other words, torso stillness requires a solid core strength and a conscious effort by the dancer to keep the muscles (particularly the abdominal ones) engaged at all times to prevent the aforementioned twisting, crunching or bending.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1jj:  
“The torso is an area of stillness, except in port de bras or cambres.”

                Link of the Day:

Quote of the Day:
“Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance.”
-          Morgan Freeman


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 Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas, or images that worked best for you!


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