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:
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
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
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