2 3 Marvelous Monday Sit or Not | Ballet Webb

Monday, May 16, 2016

Marvelous Monday Sit or Not


Marvelous Monday Sit or Not

Dancers are often told not to “sit” in their pliés or other positions. This, unfortunately, often confuses students. A plié, after all, goes down and then comes up – not unlike getting up and down from a chair. Positions like attitude devant are also easy to “sit” in, since the tendency to tuck the pelvis under is almost a given.

To help clarify the meaning of “sit” in ballet technique, a small to medium size stool can be used.  Begin with pliés and have the student plié and tell them to literally sit on the stool at the bottom of the plié. Then ask them to come up out of the plié and notice how difficult the upward movement is now that the body has been allowed to sit instead of lift.

This can be done for other positions, like the aforementioned attitude devant, but it is most effective in a basic plié.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Secret #20n:  
“Use a small stool to demonstrate “sitting” or “not sitting”.

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