Technical Tuesday Arabesque
Yesterday I blogged about how a dancer’s bones must be
stacked correctly in each position in order to balance effectively. One of
those positions, arabesque, creates an interesting problem.
I often see students attempting an arabesque and struggling
valiantly to keep their hips square. While a square hip line is important in
many other steps, it doesn’t work in arabesque due to the nature of the human
bone structure.
In order to achieve good extension and a turned out working
leg in arabesque, the pelvis must be permitted to tip (the exception to the
rule of “no tipping, tucking or tilting”), after the leg is lifted above about
45 degrees (or sooner). This makes a completely square position of the hips impossible. If the pelvis isn’t allowed to tip, the
leg will turn in and the extension will be compromised. And it makes for a very
frustrated student.
Practice arabesque facing the barre. As the leg lifts into
arabesque, keep the hips square as long as possible, and then allow the upper
torso to move up and forward slightly, and add the necessary tip in the pelvis.
Doing this makes it clear how soon and how much the pelvis needs to tip. It
also lets the student see whether or not their rib cage stays square (it must).
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Secret #18i:
“In an arabesque, the hips cannot be perfectly square, but the rib cage
should be.”
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of the Day:
“No matter what
happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better
tomorrow.”
― Maya Angelou
― Maya Angelou
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