Fun Friday Burning Floor

Fun Friday Burning Floor

Here I go again with yet another two-way energy blog. This one involves performing.

When you step onstage, imagine that during the choreography – whatever that may be – you are sending so much energy downward into (and beyond) the stage floor that you make it hot. Really, really hot.

This isn’t difficult to imagine when the lights are bright and follow your footwork, but this image works even in dim lighting. Picture a cartoon version: every time your foot hits the floor, the temperature and color of the floor changes – to red hot.

Burn the floor!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Performance Secret #29d:

“Imagine making the floor burn.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRJtMgD6ia8

Quote of the Day:

“Walking the streets of Charleston in the late afternoons of August was like walking through gauze or inhaling damaged silk.”
― Pat Conroy

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https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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Throwback Thursday and Dorothy Toy

Throwback Thursday and Dorothy Toy

Dorothy Toy, born Takahashi, was not Chinese but a Japanese American born on May 28, 1917 in San Francisco. She was discovered by a vaudeville theater manager as she danced in front of her parent’s restaurant. She teamed up with Paul Wing, and together they became known as “The Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers”.Their skill and style is shown in the 1937 short “Deviled Ham”.

Not long after WWII began, Toy’s family was interned in Topaz, Utah. Toy avoided this by moving to New York, although she still couldn’t escape the prejudice.  In 1943 Wing was drafted into the Army. He survived the war, but Toy said it was never quite the same afterwards, although they continued to travel and perform together. Wing died in 1997 at age 85.

Toy taught dance in her own studio until a hip injury sidelined her. A documentary of her life called “Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story” premiered December 11, 2016 at the Great Star Theater in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Dance History Factoid #246:

“ Dorothy Toy was billed as the Chinese Ginger Rogers.”

Links of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJxGxRN5zTk

Quote of the Day:

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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Wacky Wednesday Seat

Wacky Wednesday Seat

A  couple of years ago I did a blog about the three important buttons. You can find it here: http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/search?q=seat+buttons. Today I’m talking about the two important “butt-ons” that are essential for holding and maintaining the rotation of the thighs in the hip sockets.

Teachers often say to their students: “squeeze your seat”. This is an attempt to get the pupils to feel and engage the “turnout muscles” in the derriere. Unfortunately, I have found that when students squeeze their seat, they often tilt the pelvis under. This is a case of squeezing gone too far.

The trick is to create a visible “dent” on each side of the seat by rotating the thighs and feeling a sense of lifting everything in and up. When the turnout is engaged, the dents are very visible, and should be seen without the the pelvis tilting at all.

As I said in the blog listed above, one of my students coined the term “butt-ons”, for this essential turnout manuever. Clever.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Secret #7rrr:

“Don’t squeeze the seat, push the buttons.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zC7LXuHbWQ

Quote of the Day:

“Even the simplest things had a glorious pointlessness to them. When buttons came in, about 1650, people couldn't get enough of them and arrayed them in decorative profusion on the backs and collars and sleeves of coats, where they didn't actually do anything. One relic of this is the short row of pointless buttons that are still placed on the underside of jacket sleeves near the cuff. These have been purely decorative and have never had a purpose, yet 350 years later on we continue to attach them as if they are the most earnest necessity.”
― Bill Bryson

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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Terminology Tuesday Fondu

Terminology Tuesday Fondu

We are all familiar with fondues, and I’ve talked about this step in several previous blogs. The word means “melting” or “sinking down”. I prefer the melting definition myself, since sinking down has a rather negative connotation (think Titanic).

But fondues are extremely important steps. They develop a sense of control in all movements on one leg, and help build the muscular strength necessary for this control. Also, as I’ve mentioned before, a fondu is an important part of many, many other steps. Without fondues we would all dance like robots.

Fondues, since they are essentially pliés on one leg (see earlier blogs), they allow the cushioning and flow of movement so essential to a dancer’s technique.

Never underestimate the power of a fondu!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Secret #17d:

“Fondu is one of the most important steps in ballet.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXUIOY8uZZk

Quote of the Day:

“Dancing is creating a sculpture that is visible only for a moment.”
― Erol Ozan

                Help expand the knowledge base!

 Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas, or images that worked best for you!

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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Mad Monday

Mad Monday Gargouillade Volé

I have written about gargouillade before: http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/search?q=gargouillade, but today I ran across a version of this step that I had never seen – or heard of: gargouillade volé.

You may remember that gargouillade means gurgling or rumbling, and volé means flown. Hmmm, a gurgling flying thing. Gotta love ballet! Anyway, this step is listed as a step of the Cecchetti method in Gail Grant’s book Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet. It is described as follows:

“Gargouillade vole (Cecchetti method) [gar-goo-YAD vaw-LAY].

Gargouillade flown. Fifth position R foot back. Execute a double rond de

jambe en l’air en dedans a la demi-hauteur with the R leg and finish with the R

foot in retire at the side of the L knee. Spring off the L foot onto the R and land

in demi-plie sur place, turning the body efface. As the R foot comes to the

ground, draw the L point upward to the side of the R knee and open it to the

fourth position en Fair, pointing to the left front corner of the room.

Immediately lower the L foot to the fourth position, pointe tendue, body

remaining efface. “

Well, this doesn’t seem too clear to me, so I tried to find a demonstration on Youtube, but nothing came up except the standard gargouillade. So there you are. It’s a mystery.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Secret #15rrr:

“A seldom seen step is gargouillade volé.”

Link of the Day (gargouillades at 2:04):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ-q---yf0o

Quote of the Day:

Actual artists are like mythological creatures,' she heard herself opine. 'You hear about them, but a sighting's pretty rare.”
― Garth Risk Hallberg, City on Fire

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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Sunday Work Out

Sunday Work Out

Enough said!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

 “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.”

Link of the Day:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swe7bhhfyfA

Quote of the Day:

“It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.”

― Babe Ruth           

     Help expand the knowledge base!

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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Saturday Sequins

Saturday Sequins

Dancers often wear rhinestone stud earrings to catch the light onstage. But what if one earring goes missing, or the pair is forgotten? Gasp!

Always keep some silver sequins in your make-up box. Instead of rhinestone studs, they can be affixed to your earlobe with a dot of eyelash glue and the results are the same – maybe even better.

Some directors even prefer them to the rhinestone studs due to the fact that they seem to sparkle better, and everyone in the cast can have the same size. Not to mention the economical factor.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Secret #135:

“Keep some silver sequins in your make-up box to use instead of rhinestone studs.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtwX3U6jGzo

Quote of the Day:

“Ideas come from everything”
― Alfred Hitchcock

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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Fun Friday Fallacies

Fun Friday Fallacies

Ballet, like so many other areas, has its own set of fallacies. The word fallacy means “a false or mistaken idea” according to Merriam-Webster. 

Beware of these false ideas! They seem to appear on days when one is feeling unmotivated or discouraged. Don’t let them filter into your brain!

Here’s one: you can’t be a ballet dancer if you started training late. Well! I’ll put that one to rest right now. I started at age fourteen, generally considered to be too late, and I had a career as a ballet dancer. That being said, many of these fallacies have some basis in truth but get twisted. If you start dancing very late – in your thirties for example - you probably won’t be a performing ballet dancer. But! You could still be a choreographer or teacher or both.

Here’s another one: if you’re not naturally flexible, you’ll never have good extension. Another fallacy. Unless there is a structural abnormality,  good extension comes with time and practice.

There are probably hundreds of these fallacies. If you’d like to read about someone who overcame fallacies and nay-sayers, read about Misty Copeland here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/unlikely-ballerina

What fallacies have you heard?

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Secret #21uu:

“There are many fallacies in ballet.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=654787304920821&id=100011686715349&__xts__[0]=68.ARBu66vecTGtQWUwU4SZ3qK6rniHBOOH2AFDbu5zsM0G-HsoekjIie3CIpMYJ11N8C1CXeolZnQFs56EZHbCbjZQBnd92vmXFwubfATN7aBdAbEVf-cQUaJPymn1YbCUMXGR0ipiweafesmo3OplwZxVNPNuGCoQ5nGSi37Bx5VLt9y5S3Jw&__tn__=CH-R

Quote of the Day:

“The more intense the belief, the less likely that reason and evidence can dislodge it.”
― Linda Elder Richard Paul, The Thinker’s Guide to Fallacies: The Art of Mental Trickery and Manipulation

                Help expand the knowledge base!

 Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas, or images that worked best for you!

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

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Throwback Thursday and Eva Clark

Throwback Thursday and Eva Clark

Born in 1881, Eva Howard Clark was a trapeze performer with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus (now the Cole Brothers Circus) during early part of the 20^th century. Her parents were Alice Adair and Lee Howard, also circus performers.

On September 6, 1906 she was accidently shot in the abdomen by her husband who was said to have been in an altercation with Eva’s purported lover. Eva was taken to King's Daughters' Hospital in Staunton, where she lingered for a month, left in the care of the townspeople, since the circus was forced to move on. She died on October 1.

The people of Staunton buried her and whenever the circus is in town, they gather at the Thornwood Cemetery to honor her. See the full article here:

https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2014/09/02/circus-honors-aerial-artist-died-staunton/14985285/ and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37757670/eva-clark

Eva never implicated her husband and he was never charged.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Dance History Factoid #245:

“Trapeze artist Eva Clark is still honored over 100 years after her death.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6_LKynsXhk

Quote of the Day:

“Never be so busy as not to think of others.”
― Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

Want to know more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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