Throwback Thursday and Janine Charrat

Throwback Thursday and Janine Charrat

Born in France in 1924, Janine Charrat was a child star in the 1937 movie Ballerina. She began choreographing at age fourteen, and later in life gave concerts with Roland Petit in Paris from 1940-1944. In 1946 she was a ballerina with Nouveau Ballet de Monte Carlo, where she danced in ballets by Serge Lifar and others.

In 1951 she formed her own company that toured in the U.S., Europe and Japan. In 1959 she worked with  Maurice Béjart, assisting in the reorganization of the Brussels Theatre de la Monnaie.

In December 1961, her career was interrupted due to an accident in a television studio in Paris. She was rehearsing  Les Algues when her costume caught fire. Although burned over much of her body, she recovered and returned to work 540 days later, starring in a ballet in Switzerland.

She went on to direct the Geneva Ballet in Switzerland and then opened her own studio in Paris.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Dance History Factoid #71:  

“Janine Charrat was child star and multi-talented French ballerina.

                Link of the Day:

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

Quote of the Day:

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”
― Francis Bacon, The Essays

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

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

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

Wacky Wednesday Airplanes

Wacky Wednesday Airplanes

As everyone remembers, there is no crashing in ballet. This is especially true in grand battements, where the force of the kick often isn’t controlled on the way down, causing  the working foot to crash into fifth position. Scary.

The foot never crashes. Never. It is always placed.

So try this. Imagine that the feet are small airplanes filled with tiny passengers. All landings must be gentle enough to protect these occupants and even ensure that they are unaware of anything other than a soft “landing” in fifth position.

Of course, the wings of these small airliners are invisible, and able to pass through obstacles.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #12e:  

“Imagine the feet as airplanes and always have gentle landings.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe2_ixh1H90

Quote of the Day:

“Why don't they make the whole plane out of that black box stuff?”
― Steven Wright

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

Want to know more about me?  Here is my interview on Ballet Connections:

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

Technical Tuesday Glass Elevator

Technical Tuesday Glass Elevator

One problem dancers face is keeping the knees straight without pushing them backwards. As I tell my students, unless there are flamingos in the class, I shouldn’t see dancers standing with their knees pushed backwards.

Instead, the legs (and knees) straighten by lifting up and lengthening – and this is true for dancers with hyperextended legs, too. Our knees are not designed to be forcibly pushed backwards. Ouch.

To assist in achieving this, imagine a glass elevator running up the back (or the seam) in the tights. This elevator goes straight up, since any elevator that doesn’t would put fear in the hearts of its occupants. It also wouldn’t operate efficiently.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1nn:  

“ Imagine a glass elevator running up the back of the tights.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCkQCMu4yPI

Quote of the Day:

“There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.”
― Mandy Hale

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

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

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

Mad Monday Vultures

Mad Monday Vultures

When moving the arms through a first port de bras (from fifth en avant to à la seconde), it is important to lead with the fingers and not the elbows. Usually this is relatively easy to accomplish.

The problem occurs when the port de bras accompanies the leg moving from passé to arabesque or attitude. Here, the body moves forward slightly to compensate for the placement and weight of the leg in the back. Since the body has to move forward, so must the arms. Now, not only should the fingertips lead the port de bras, they must travel forward before opening to à la seconde.

If this doesn’t happen, it creates a peculiar, vulture-like movement of the arms, since the body moving forward will cause the elbows to lead, usually moving sideways and up.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #6z:  

“Avoid vulture-like arms in first port de bras.”

                Link of the Day:

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

Quote of the Day:

“It doesn't matter where you've been, only where you are going.”
― L.M. Fields

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

Want to know more about me?  Here is my interview on Ballet Connections:

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

Sunday Four Legs

Sunday Four Legs

Dance is a competitive business. Dance is competitive recreation. This tends to breed situations where dancers say or do things that they shouldn’t, and this can be especially true for teenagers.

There are several stories from different cultures that involve three pillars, three ideas, three questions or three affirmations that are used to guide an individual into thinking before speaking (or doing) something debatable. Today’s link discusses these three questions, but I am going to add a fourth one. 

Imagine a chair or table – without any one of the four legs, the chair will topple and bad things can result.

Here are four things to ask yourself before you speak or act: 

1.       Is it true?

2.       Is it kind?

3.       Is it necessary?

4.       Would you want it said (or done) about you?

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #78:  

“ Remember the four legs of support.”

                Link of the Day:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/23/1092850/-Is-it-true-Is-it-kind-Is-it-necessary

Quote of the Day:

“You are master of what you say until you utter it, once you deliver it, you are its captive. Preserve your tongue as you do your gold and money. One word could bring disgrace and the termination of a bliss.”
― Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

Want to know more about me?  Here is my interview on Ballet Connections:

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

Saturday Statute Bourrées

Saturday Statute Bourrées

A bourrée is a unique step. When a series of bourrées are beautifully executed across a stage, it is awe-inspiring, because it gives the illusion that the dancer is actually floating. This is heightened in a ballet like Giselle, where dry ice mist is involved.

How do we achieve such magic? By perfecting our bourrées. And the most important thing about bourrées is this: the knees must be relaxed at all times. The knees are never permitted to lock. Relaxed knees produce a smooth, gliding action since they act as shock absorbers for the dancer as she floats across the floor.

This only happens in bourrées. Nowhere else in ballet technique is a step performed with relaxed knees. The dancer is either in a plié, going through a plié, or the legs are straight. That’s it. Except in those lovely, skim-the-surface, surreal, bourrées.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Statute #33:  

“The knees are relaxed during bourrées.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4xlqnpB7U

Quote of the Day:

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

Want to know more about me?  Here is my interview on Ballet Connections:

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers

Fun Friday Grapes

Fun Friday Grapes

I’ve blogged several times about the hands and how to shape them correctly. Here are a few:  Like holding a baby bird in fifth en bas; like doing hand modeling; and the ever popular sending-energy-through-the-fingers, etc.

Yet there are still problems. Sigh. One of the most common is allowing the fingers to droop as though the energy is blocked at the wrists, and it stops there, never reaching the fingers. This makes the hand look like a bunch of grapes hanging on the vine. This is wonderful for grapes but bad for dancers.

No grape shapes. Not ever. Use one of the aforementioned images to help extend the fingers, or imagine putting on a pair of gloves (another image from a previous blog).

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #6aa:  

“Never allow the hands to look like a drooping bunch of grapes.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KHuDHfFApo

Quote of the Day:

“People pretend not to like grapes when the vines are too high for them to reach.”
― Marguerite de Navarre

                Help expand the knowledge base!

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

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

http://balletconnections.com/DebraWebbRogers