Wacky Wednesday Eyes and Head
When children first learn the basics of ballet technique,
they are usually told: “the eyes follow
the hands”. This is only partially true in reality, but it works for little
ones.
The problem occurs when students take this habit and use it
for too many years. The truth is, the eyes often do not follow the hands – not literally. Especially when the arms
are overhead, if the eye focus is on the hands, the dancer is looking up too
high – or worse, they are trying to keep the chin down and the eyes up, which
produces a very strange expression, to say the least.
The reality is this: the head
follows the movement of the arms.
Sometimes the eye focus is directly on
the hands (in first, or fifth en avant), but most of the time the head simply
follows the movement of the arms. If the arms are circling, the head is
circling…etc.
The goal is for the dancer to look as natural as possible.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Secret #6bb:
“Sometimes the eyes literally look at the hands, but most of the time
the head follows the movement of the hands.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“The
soul, fortunately, has an interpreter - often an unconscious but still a
faithful interpreter - in the eye.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
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