2 3 Fun Friday Hide the Heel | Ballet Webb

Friday, August 29, 2014

Fun Friday Hide the Heel



Fun Friday Hide the Heel

Ah, the lovely arabesque.  It is one of the most beautiful positions in classical ballet, yet it is one that is often out-of-focus.  This is due to the fact that students are usually admonished:  “don’t lift the hip”.  Hmmmm.

Well.  In any arabesque higher than 45 degrees (and often even sooner), the hips do and must tilt.  This is one of the few permissible areas when the alignment of the hips changes from being square and level.  Try doing a high arabesque without tilting the pelvis, and you’ll see what happens – or doesn’t!

When a dancer tries to maintain the perfect alignment of the hips in arabesque, something has to give, and it is usually the turn-out in the (working) arabesque leg.  Now when viewed from the side, the knee is facing the floor, and the heel is visible on top of the foot.  The heel now looks like a big pimple on the ankle!

So remember that in arabesque there is a permissible tilt in the pelvis that occurs as the leg lifts – usually at about 45 degrees or even before.  This is not, I must emphasize, the dreaded “seca-besque” that happens when the whole arabesque is twisted into something between à la seconde and arabesque. Instead, the rib cage stays square, while the pelvis gradually tilts to allow for the high arabesque position in which the knee faces the side and the heel is hidden.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #18f:  
“When viewed from the side, the working foot in an arabesque should not appear to have sprouted a giant pimple.”

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(This could also apply to dance)

“Take the leap. If you love theater more than anything, take the leap. It's so rich if you give over fully to it; there are no halfers or returnsies in this business - if you don't... There's no way to go other than full tilt with your life and job.”
-          Michael Lomenda



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