Mad Monday Milkshakes

 Mad Monday Milkshakes

Dance teachers try a variety of images to get students to understand the strong feeling of lifting away from gravity. A common one is to imagine drinking a thick milkshake through a straw, and use that amount of energy to pull up. 

I’m going to take it up a notch. Imagine that the milkshake is made with chocolate chip ice cream. If you have ever had the experience of getting a chip “stuck” in the straw, you will remember how difficult it is to dislodge it so the milkshake can flow again. This is the amount of energy required to lift the hips away from the legs, and the body away from the floor. 

This image can also be used to imagine the energy the dancer must send downwards – through and beyond the floor.

So don’t just pull up. Pull up like drinking a thick milkshake made with chocolate chip ice cream through a straw.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1oo:  

“ Imagine pulling up as strongly as trying to get a chocolate chip milkshake through a straw.”

                Link of the Day: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2l1e_QPOes

Quote of the Day:

“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.”
― Don Kardong

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http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers