Technical Tuesday Mercury Attitude
I’ve talked about attitudes before, both devant and
derriere. But there is another attitude, and a very interesting one at that. It’s
the "Mercury Attitude".
Carlo Blasis is credited with creating the attitude position
in 1829 and he is said to have based it on the statue of Mercury by Giovanni da
Bologna. The specific “Mercury Attitude” we refer to today is a characteristic
position of the Italian school and involves a twisting of the upper body in
opposition to the working leg it attitude.
One arm is raised in fifth en haut and the eye focus is upward toward
the lifted arm. The photograph above shows the great ballet master Enrico Cecchetti
coaching Anna Pavlova and although she isn’t in attitude, her upper body shows
the position used in Mercury Attitude.
If you remember the icon associated with a florist shop, it
shows the god Mercury in a similar position. He has wings on his feet – wouldn’t
that be something for dancers to have?!
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Secret #18j:
“The Mercury Attitude is named after the Roman God Mercury.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can
only make them think”
― Socrates
― Socrates
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