Friday, February 19, 2016

Fun Friday Basketball Hoop


Friday Basketball Hoop

A wonderful student of mine said she thinks about making the shape of a basketball hoop with her arms when they are in fifth en avant (first). This is a great image and when teaching this arm position an instructor could even throw some soft Nerf balls through the “hoop” to demonstrate correctly shaped arms.

This concept is important because a major problem is often a drooping elbow or two (and Ballet Statute # 18 states: “There is no drooping in ballet.”) If the elbow droops, the position squashes inward (see Ballet Statute #48: There is no squashing in ballet) http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2015/10/super-saturday-squash.html and there isn’t  enough room between the dancer’s hands and torso for a Nerf ball to pass through. Scary.

So try shooting a few “hoops” in your next ballet class!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Secret #6hh:  
“The arms in fifth en avant (first)have the shape of a basketball hoop.

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