Sunday Gifts All Year Long

Sunday Gifts All Year Long

In this holiday season, most of us will be giving and receiving gifts. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this happened all year long? I don’t mean brightly wrapped boxes being exchanged, but the idea of giving things that can’t be easily wrapped or put in a box.  Of course, boxed items would be nice to have all year long too, but I’m thinking about the things in life that aren't so tangible.

For instance, a kind word can be a gift. Offering to help an elderly person with their groceries, or reading a story to a child, or just picking up a dropped item for someone – all of these are gifts and the list is infinite.  Think of these things as gifts and it changes your perspective.  And the opportunities for giving gifts like these pop up all the time in our daily lives.

How much better would the world be if everyone walked through their day with the idea of constantly giving gifts?

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #51:  

“Gifts all year long.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkuKHwetV6Q

Quote of the Day:

““We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
― Winston S. Churchill

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Super Saturday Statute

Super Saturday Statute

I have blogged before about how the knee can be imagined as having a smiley face.  The curve below the patella (knee cap) forms a perfect smile, and it is easy to imagine two eyes above it . 

This is helpful for turn-out.  Today’s statute says it all:  In classical ballet, the knee (smiley face) never faces the floor.  The only exception is when the dancer is descending to the floor and planning to pose with the weight on one knee.

The problem is often having half of the knee facing the floor.  This occurs when the dancer’s leg isn't rotated (turned-out) enough, and it appears as though one eye of the smiley face is staring at the floor.  For correct rotation to be achieved, both “eyes” must be “looking” outward and not at the floor.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #27:  

“The knee never faces the floor.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlSujNro5c8

Quote of the Day:

“I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I'm like, 'My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don't have it. I just want to chill.' We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it.”

-          Kobe Bryant

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Fun Friday Elf Ears

Fun Friday Elf Ears

In the spirit of the holiday season, here is today’s Fun Friday thought:  When pulling up, imagine pulling up from your ears, and that your ears are shaped like an elf’s. 

Traditionally dancers are taught to pull up from the top of their head, and this is true.  This is designed to prevent the automatic response to “pulling up” which is to pull up from the upper chest.  I’ve talked about this before:  it causes the back to arch and the posture to curve backwards.  This natural reaction must be consciously overruled by thinking about pulling up either from the top of the head, the ears, or both.

But since this is December, elf ears are the way to go.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1hh:  

“Pull up using elf ears.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEhfVh8CbO0

Quote of the Day:

““It's easy to believe in magic when you're young. Anything you couldn't explain was magic then. It didn't matter if it was science or a fairy tale. Electricity and elves were both infinitely mysterious and equally possible - elves probably more so.”
― Charles de Lint

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Throwback Thursday and Toe-Tap

Throwback Thursday and Toe-Tap

Toe-tap was born in vaudeville as an effort to raise the stakes – simply dancing on one’s toes wasn't amazing enough to satisfy the audience any more.  Two stars of the day that popularized this dance form were Harriet Hoctor (http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2014/01/throwback-thursday-bending-over.html ) and Marylin Miller.  Ms. Hoctor was a Broadway star in the 1920s and 1930s who tapped up a escalator in pointe shoes constructed with steel shanks.  Ms. Miller was famous in vaudeville and was considered one of the best toe-tappers of her day.

Other dancers soon incorporated steel shanks into their pointe shoes that allowed them to dance such things as the Charleston on pointe.  Some performers added other things to their choreography, like playing the trumpet while tap-dancing on pointe.

It wasn't long before toe-tap became a national craze.  Dance studios began offering lessons in this eccentric dance form and students performed it in their recitals.  It was popular until the 1960s when horror stories of debilitating injuries caused by the use of these toe-tap pointe shoes began circulating.

There are few teachers today who teach this novelty – and I don’t recommend it to my students due to the injuries that could result.  But it provides a fascinating glimpse into the past.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #58:  

“ Toe-tap was a dance craze that developed during the vaudeville era.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=553296584775221&set=vb.392734504164764&type=3&theater

Quote of the Day:

“The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behavior as one two things: either love, or a call for love.”
― Marianne Williamson

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Wild Wednesday Walk the Line

Wild Wednesday Walk the Line

When dancers move from the barre to the center, there are several established rules of conduct.  Each studio or company then adds their own – or sometimes subtracts.  But students are expected to know and follow the generally accepted (international) rules of classroom etiquette throughout class and rehearsal.

When moving into the center, dancers are expected to form lines.  This serves more than one purpose:  it allows the teacher to see each individual, it allows a free (safe) space for movement, and it helps dancer learn to work in lines (critical for corps de ballet work).

The established method is this:  the dancers in the front line get into place first, then the next line forms with a dancer in each “window” (space between dancers in the front line), and so on.  For young students, the teacher often begins by assigning places or showing the students where they are expected to stand.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #16n:  

“In the center, the front line is established first.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR2sW3Wd8fo

Quote of the Day:

““The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”
― Thomas A. Edison

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Terrific Tuesday Elbows and Tennis Balls

Terrific Tuesday Elbows and Tennis Balls

One of the difficulties beginning dancers have is understanding and maintaining the correct curvature of the arms.  Either the curve is too extreme resulting in an angular appearance (pointy elbows); or the arms are too straight and tense (like a toy soldier).

To create the correct shape, there must be space between the elbow and the body when the arms are in fifth en bas (low fifth).  This space is too small for a basketball to pass through, but large enough for a tennis ball to be held there. Or, to think of it another way the space is approximately the width of your hand.

For a fun activity, bring a tennis ball to class and have the students try holding it in place while their arms are in fifth en bas.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #6y:  

“When the arms are in fifth en bas, the space between the elbow and the torso should be just large enough for a tennis ball to pass through.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeUdY9vinXc&list=PLjO-Thy_-le_1iz_UB2Qu16FRlvkMjr-G

Quote of the Day:

““Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
― Mario Andretti

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Mad Monday Armpit Zone

Mad Monday Armpit Zone

Accomplished artists in any area make their skills appear effortless.  For dancers, this involves “hiding” the physical effort needed to produce each step. Part of this is simply control over facial expressions – no grimacing allowed.  But it goes beyond this.

Most of the work, or physical effort, is done below the armpits.  That’s right, everything from there down works – the turn-out, the extension, the stretching of the feet – the list goes on and on.  But the type of effort is different above the armpits.

The arms, head, shoulders, and even the upper back do not do “grunt” work.  The effort here is absolutely physical, but in a more sculptured way.  The arms are shaped and the muscles are being engaged, but no barbells are being lifted.  The spine is being lengthened away from gravity, but it is not like pulling a horse out of the mud.  It is a kinder, gentler sort of physical effort. 

Above and below the “armpit zone” require two different kinds of physical effort – the difference between holding a raw egg and squashing it (see previous blog, Secret #1k).

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #7hh:  

“The work occurs below - in the armpit zone.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ew37turPc

Quote of the Day:

“The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.

-          Charles Baudelaire

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