Sunday Four Legs

Sunday Four Legs

Dance is a competitive business. Dance is competitive recreation. This tends to breed situations where dancers say or do things that they shouldn’t, and this can be especially true for teenagers.

There are several stories from different cultures that involve three pillars, three ideas, three questions or three affirmations that are used to guide an individual into thinking before speaking (or doing) something debatable. Today’s link discusses these three questions, but I am going to add a fourth one. 

Imagine a chair or table – without any one of the four legs, the chair will topple and bad things can result.

Here are four things to ask yourself before you speak or act: 

1.       Is it true?

2.       Is it kind?

3.       Is it necessary?

4.       Would you want it said (or done) about you?

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #78:  

“ Remember the four legs of support.”

                Link of the Day:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/23/1092850/-Is-it-true-Is-it-kind-Is-it-necessary

Quote of the Day:

“You are master of what you say until you utter it, once you deliver it, you are its captive. Preserve your tongue as you do your gold and money. One word could bring disgrace and the termination of a bliss.”
― Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

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Saturday Statute Bourrées

Saturday Statute Bourrées

A bourrée is a unique step. When a series of bourrées are beautifully executed across a stage, it is awe-inspiring, because it gives the illusion that the dancer is actually floating. This is heightened in a ballet like Giselle, where dry ice mist is involved.

How do we achieve such magic? By perfecting our bourrées. And the most important thing about bourrées is this: the knees must be relaxed at all times. The knees are never permitted to lock. Relaxed knees produce a smooth, gliding action since they act as shock absorbers for the dancer as she floats across the floor.

This only happens in bourrées. Nowhere else in ballet technique is a step performed with relaxed knees. The dancer is either in a plié, going through a plié, or the legs are straight. That’s it. Except in those lovely, skim-the-surface, surreal, bourrées.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Statute #33:  

“The knees are relaxed during bourrées.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4xlqnpB7U

Quote of the Day:

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

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Fun Friday Grapes

Fun Friday Grapes

I’ve blogged several times about the hands and how to shape them correctly. Here are a few:  Like holding a baby bird in fifth en bas; like doing hand modeling; and the ever popular sending-energy-through-the-fingers, etc.

Yet there are still problems. Sigh. One of the most common is allowing the fingers to droop as though the energy is blocked at the wrists, and it stops there, never reaching the fingers. This makes the hand look like a bunch of grapes hanging on the vine. This is wonderful for grapes but bad for dancers.

No grape shapes. Not ever. Use one of the aforementioned images to help extend the fingers, or imagine putting on a pair of gloves (another image from a previous blog).

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #6aa:  

“Never allow the hands to look like a drooping bunch of grapes.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KHuDHfFApo

Quote of the Day:

“People pretend not to like grapes when the vines are too high for them to reach.”
― Marguerite de Navarre

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Throwback Thursday and Asaf Messerer

Throwback Thursday and Asaf Messerer

Asaf Messerer was born in Lithuania, and began studying ballet when he was a teenager. He took private classes at Mikhail Mordkin’s  school and then began performing with the ballet company of the Theater of Working Youth.  Soon, he entered the Bolshoi Ballet School, becoming part of the senior class.

He took technical skills to a new level, as well as creating “a stir by substituting naturalistic acting for conventional mime as Siegfried in Swan Lake” according to the New York Times. He began choreographing for the Bolshoi’s 1962 tour, and is probably best known for creating “Spring Waters”, a short, exciting pas de deux that helped define Russian bravura dancing.

In 1923 he began teaching at the Bolshoi school and soon became known as one of Russia’s greatest teachers. His system of teaching is documented in his book “Classes in Classical Dance” which was published in the U.S. in 1975.

Asaf Messerer taught up until his death from bronchitis in 1992.  He was 88 years old.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #69:  

“Asaf Messerer was a great Russian dancer, teacher and choreographer.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT1nsfHpS0Y

Quote of the Day:

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
― William Arthur Ward

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Wild Wednesday Tight Jeans

Wild Wednesday Tight Jeans

The abdominal muscles can be a neglected area. Dancers often start out with these muscles engaged, but as they go along, things deteriorate. The muscles relax, and well, you know what happens after that.

The other problem occurs when the muscles fail to fully engage. The belly-button-to-the-spine doesn’t happen, largely because the amount of effort required to do this is considerable. Thus, the abdominals are working only halfway.

To prevent having a poorly engaged set of abdominal muscles, imagine the sensation of putting on a tight pair of jeans. Then imagine zipping them up, and feel the sensation of pulling the stomach in – strongly- so the zipper can be fully closed.

Now the abdominal muscles are working correctly.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1mm:  

“Imagine getting into a pair of tight jeans and zipping them up.”

                Link of the Day:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDP2c2FCHAM&list=PLEUXLnYyt0kQGBpW-3l8XOiQ-tC2DkcWa

Quote of the Day:

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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Tuesday Little Toe Velcro

Tuesday Little Toe Velcro

The poor supporting leg. It is so often forgotten or neglected. All the work and concentration goes toward the working leg and the supporting leg is left to its own devices. Not good.

When the standing leg is ignored, the most common problem is excessive pronation: the foot rolls forward and the little toe comes off the floor. Sometimes it is off the floor a little bit, sometimes a lot, but either way is incorrect.

So imagine a tiny piece of Velcro under the little toe. Keep it firmly attached to the floor whenever that foot is acting as the supporting foot.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1mm:  

“Imagine a piece of Velcro under the little toe.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzGk96UelMI

Quote of the Day:

“This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything.”

-          Scott Reed

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Marvelous Monday Memorial Day

                Link of the Day:

http://www.usmemorialday.org/?page_id=2

Quote of the Day:

“ A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”

-Joseph Campbell

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Sunday Future

Sunday Future

In this season of life changing events like weddings and graduations, I sometimes give my students a short assignment. It is usually done during the last class of the year or close to it. I tell them to write down where they would like to be and what they hope to be doing in ten years. It’s the Ten-Year Assignment.

This type of activity can help motivate at any time of the year, however. By physically writing down goals and dreams, it helps clarify them, and provides a tangible item to refer to – now or in the future.

Students have contacted me ten years later and asked if I still have their papers. I do. It is interesting to see how closely, or how differently their lives unfolded compared to what they wrote down as teenagers.

So write down your goals, both near and far. Put the paper in a safe place. Refer to it often – or in ten years. It will be inspirational and educational.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #77:  

“ Write your future story.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1NJ9Vv-Y6Q

Quote of the Day:

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

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Super Saturday Teetering

Super Saturday Teetering

It recently came to my attention that teetering is, in the opinion of one of my students, slightly similar to the look of long distance bourrées. Hmmmm. At first I was skeptical, but then I thought about it. I can see the point (no pun intended), perhaps  where the feet are concerned.

However, there should be no teetering in ballet. Sequential bourrées that look like teetering are being done incorrectly and if any actual teetering is involved, the smooth, floating movement that bourrées should produce will not happen.

Here are the three definitions of “teetering’:

             1. To move or sway unsteadily or unsurely; totter.

             2. To alternate, as between opposing attitudes or positions

             3. To be close to or in danger of failure or ruin.

Only #2 might be considered as having a place in ballet, but not the other two.  Especially not #3.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Statute #32:  

“There should be no teetering in ballet.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i93PLXPpR5k

Quote of the Day:

"Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”

-Anonymous

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Fun Friday Hooks and Eyes

Fun Friday Hooks and Eyes

Today I’m talking about posture again. Since it is the most important thing in dance, I don’t believe one can discuss it too much.

One common postural problem is “spare ribs”. That’s when the ribs jut forward, causing the back to arch (or vice versa), and thus destroying the correct body alignment. Often the ribs aren’t poking out much, but even a little bit is too much.  

So to prevent spare ribs (except for lunch or dinner), imagine there is a large hook and eye located on the front of the lower rib cage. This hook and eye must always be hooked, unless the dancer is doing something like a cambre back. It is helpful to think of sucking the stomach in too, as often this is all it takes for the hook and eye to become properly connected.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1ll:  

“Imagine a hook and eye located on the front of the lower rib cage.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-YqYWxGuv0

Quote of the Day:

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

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