Mad Monday Envelope Pliés

Mad Monday Envelope Pliés

In this new month and new week, I’m going back to the basics: specifically pliés. I’ve posted many blogs about pliés, and today I’ll add one more.

Imagine doing pliés in a giant envelope. It’s a narrow space and under no circumstances should the paper be torn. By plié-ing in a large envelope, good posture will automatically be maintained. Otherwise knees, hips or derriere (gasp!) will tear the envelope.

Envelope pliés!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Ballet Secret #2iii:

“Plié in a giant envelope.”

Link of the Day:

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

Quote of the Day:

“Yes, a deep lesson from the postage stamp. It attaches itself to a moveable material, the envelope and gets going..”
― Israelmore Ayivor

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My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

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Sunday Gratitude

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeTwl_Tzhf8

Quote of the Day: 

“7 Effective Ways to Make Others Feel Important
1. Use their name.
2. Express sincere gratitude.
3. Do more listening than talking.
4. Talk more about them than about you.
5. Be authentically interested.
6. Be sincere in your praise.
7. Show you care.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Help expand the knowledge base!

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

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/

Saturday Superstitions and the Dance World

Saturday Superstitions and the Dance World

I’ve talked before about dancers and their pre-performance rituals. It is a common thing in the dance world. For an extensive look at this phenomenon you may find this dissertation interesting: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6b00/1f91890e16b69d8fbd4033d0af15fde8c0f8.pdf

The author references Boutcher (1992) who proposed “five main benefits from pre-performance routines for golfers: improving concentration, avoiding negative thoughts, selection of appropriate motor schema, preventing ‘warm-up’ decrements and allowing golfers to perform their skill through automated mechanisms.” I’m sure these five benefits are the same for dancers.

Other dance superstitions discussed include four specific areas: shoes, make-up, choreography and, interestingly, premonitions. It makes for some pretty interesting reading.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Superstitious Secret #179:

“Rituals and superstitions are common in the dance world.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gCpQSSaZ8c

Quote of the Day:

“Perhaps the most important thing we can ever do in our life is to find a way to our intuition.”
― Ivan Erenda

Help expand the knowledge base!

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

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/

Fun Friday Men

Fun Friday Men

Here is a fun and easy way for female dancers to improve their jumps: jump with the men. You can do this in any class where the male dancers have their own separate group (with corresponding slower tempo music).

Or, actually take a men’s class. These classes focus on strengthening the muscles necessary for higher, more powerful jumps and will also work on pirouettes and other turns. I don’t recommend that female dancers do this too frequently, since we don’t want to build our muscles to the same degree as men, but an occasional class can be beneficial.

Or, simpler still, jump behind or beside the best jumper in the class. Fun!

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Ballet Secret #16bb:

“Jump with the men or take a men’s class to improve jumps.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viL-HEis-h4

Quote of the Day:

“Sometimes there are no words to help one's courage. Sometimes you just have to jump.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Help expand the knowledge base!

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

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/

Throwback Thursday and Swan Wood

Throwback Thursday and Swan Wood

Swan Wood was a dancer during the early part of the twentieth century. She performed in many different venues from a solo at the Orpheum in Los Angeles (1909), to performing at the Palace Theater (June 1915), and the Seattle Orpheum (November 1915), and The Metropolitan Opera House Ballet (see The Pacific Coast Musical Review, Vol. 29).

One review of her performance at the Seattle Orpheum mentions Swan Wood and her “eight barefoot dancing girls”. She was featured in The Passing Show of 1913 https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-passing-show-of-1913-6904. She was also in the Broadway show The Rose of China (1919).

But when it comes to her personal life history, I have been able to find little. The 1920 Federal census lists a Swan Wood as a single “roomer” in a house on West 48^th Street in Manhattan and also states she is an actress in the theater industry. Also listed is a “Rose Wood” age 68 (her mother?) along with numerous other residents. Her father was born in Kentucky, her mother in Indiana, and she was born in California.

So was Swan a stage name? Apparently Wood was her maiden name, based on this census record. More research could probably solve some of these mysteries.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Dance History Secret #295:

“Swan Wood was a ballerina in vaudeville.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm4uiALzTcs

Quote of the Day:

“The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don't know.”
― Sherman Alexie

Help expand the knowledge base!

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

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/

Wild Wednesday Brilliant Brisés

Wild Wednesday Brilliant Brisés

For some reason, brisés seem to strike fear in the hearts of many students. It’s true that it takes a bit of practice to get the feet to beat and not miss, but once that is accomplished, I think brisés are rather fun.

You will remember Ballet Secret #15n:  “The secret to a brisé is in the plié.” And after the plié comes another secret: Brush! Just like your parents always told you about good dental health, good brisé health comes from brushing.

It is that lovely downward brushing push that helps the feet beat.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Ballet Secret #15cccc:

“Brush your brisés.”

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiPjno8I0nk

Quote of the Day:

“Every life is a canvas and every interaction is a brush, therefore we’d be wise to consider how we handle the paint.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Help expand the knowledge base!

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

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

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For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/

Terminology Tuesday Tour-Hanche

Terminology Tuesday Tour-Hanche

In the area of Strange but True Things in Ballet comes tour-hanche [toor-AHNSH]. It means “hip turn” and it was a mechanical device from the eighteenth century. Seriously.

This piece of equipment was a vise-like thing that allowed the dancer’s feet to be secured in a turned-out position. Of course it did nothing to achieve rotation in the hip joints (despite the name), but instead forced turn-out only from the ankles. Scary stuff.

But it gets better. Dancers were strapped into this device at night so they could improve their turn-out while they slept.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets

Terminology Secret #65:

“Tour-hanche was a mechanical device.

Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lq-SBibDns

Quote of the Day:

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, A Case of Identity

Help expand the knowledge base!

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

My latest books are coloring books! They are available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Tree-Coloring-Debra-Rogers/dp/0980191947/

https://www.amazon.com/Frames-Borders-Backgrounds-Color-Rogers/dp/0980191955/

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

http://www.balletconnections.com/?s=debrawebbrogers

Or "Like" me on my Facebook Author Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Violet-Rightmire-256648280108/timeline/

Or visit my Pinterest page:

https://www.pinterest.com/debtutu/

For interesting articles involving mental health:

 http://balletwebb.blogspot.com/2018/05/