Fun Friday Scoops

Fun Friday Scoops

I have blogged before about using the image of an under-circle, or an under-curve to achieve the correct movement pattern necessary for so many ballet steps. Here is a new way to think about this important concept.

Imagine standing in an ice cream shop staring down at the big bins of ice cream, trying to choose a flavor. Chocolate? Mint Chip? Vanilla with sprinkles?  Okay. Now imagine that you have finally selected your favorite and are watching as the attendant  takes the ice cream scoop and dips it down into and along the ice cream – making a nice, long scoop-shaped mark. Yummmm!

This is what should happen in many ballet steps. But let’s use chassé as an example. For instance, when you chassé to a relevé arabesque, think of the chassé as the scooping of the ice cream. It must be looooong as well as deep. Otherwise you won’t get much of that cool, delicious ice cream.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #7oo:  

“Think of scooping ice cream to visualize a good under-circle.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-vyZAtLsyQ

Quote of the Day:

“...stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. ”
― Robert J. Hastings, Tinyburg Tales

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