Wacky Wednesday Tips and Edges

Wacky Wednesday Tips and Edges

Yesterday I talked about the correct position of the tendu foot in derrière. Today’s subject, not surprisingly, is the foot in devant.

The foot in devant isn’t usually as much of a problem as the foot in derrière, largely because the rotation (turn-out) is easier to achieve (and see) in the front. The problem here is that sometimes the ankle area relaxes and/or collapses, creating a sickled foot.

When this happens, the little toe touches the floor, instead of the tip of the big toe. It is the tip of the big toe that should touch the floor in a tendu devant, just like the edge of the big toe should touch the floor in a tendu derrière.

For good tendues front and back, remember: Tips and Edges.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #4m:  

“In a tendu devant, the tip of the big toe is on the floor.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkPL9xqfRqc

Quote of the Day:

“Follow the three R's:
- Respect for self.
- Respect for others.
- Responsibility for all your actions.”

― H. Jackson Brown Jr., Life's Little Instruction Book

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 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

Technical Tuesday Edge

Technical Tuesday Edge

Since a tendu is the second most important step in ballet, it is important to know exactly how the foot should be placed in each tendu. I’ve talked before about where the knee faces for each of the Big Three directions: front, side, and  back; and today I’m going to talk about how the foot is aligned.

The most difficult of the Big Three is the derrière position. So often the leg doesn’t rotate (turn-out) enough and the top of the toes end up on the floor when the foot is extended in tendu. Scary. This also tends to squash the poor toes.

Instead, remember that in tendu derrière, the edge of the big toe is the only part of the foot in contact with the floor when the foot and leg are fully extended. That’s correct. Just that little sliver.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #4lp:  

“In a tendu derrière, the edge of the big toe is on the floor.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkbryr8FG78

Quote of the Day:

““Complacency is a sword of two edges. One edge kills hard earned successes while the other end stops future glories. Complacency is a murderer and a barrier!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

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 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 Milkshakes

 Mad Monday Milkshakes

Dance teachers try a variety of images to get students to understand the strong feeling of lifting away from gravity. A common one is to imagine drinking a thick milkshake through a straw, and use that amount of energy to pull up. 

I’m going to take it up a notch. Imagine that the milkshake is made with chocolate chip ice cream. If you have ever had the experience of getting a chip “stuck” in the straw, you will remember how difficult it is to dislodge it so the milkshake can flow again. This is the amount of energy required to lift the hips away from the legs, and the body away from the floor. 

This image can also be used to imagine the energy the dancer must send downwards – through and beyond the floor.

So don’t just pull up. Pull up like drinking a thick milkshake made with chocolate chip ice cream through a straw.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #1oo:  

“ Imagine pulling up as strongly as trying to get a chocolate chip milkshake through a straw.”

                Link of the Day: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2l1e_QPOes

Quote of the Day:

“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.”
― Don Kardong

                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

Sunday Two Choices

Sunday Two Choices

Each day is filled with opportunities. That’s right. Chock full of them. Opportunities to add to the happiness in the world, or take it away. It’s simple. There are really only two choices.

Adding to the happiness in the world is simple, too. It doesn’t mean doing something big like inventing a cure for cancer (although that would be nice). It means choosing  to say a kind word to someone, choosing to help an elderly person open a heavy door, or just choosing to smile at a child. Bingo! Just like that you have added to the happiness in the world.

How awesome is that?

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Motivational Secret #79:  

“Every day you have two choices. You can add to the happiness level in the world—or not.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu9UtVaWYaI

Quote of the Day:

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

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 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 Leaning Statute

Saturday Leaning Statute

A ballet barre is a tempting thing. It looks like one should be able to swing, hang, pull, slump or use it like a piece of gymnastic equipment. But no. It is not designed for that, and although most attached-to-the-wall-barres are secure, they may not stand up to such use.

Which brings me to today’s Ballet Statute: “Leaning on the barre is not allowed.”  Yes, that’s right. Never.  Well, almost never. The exception would be in certain stretching movements, but that’s it. 

The temptation to lean on the barre is strongest between combinations and /or when the dancer is tired. But leaning is simply not allowed. Some teachers have been known to ask students to leave class if they are caught slumping against the barre.

So never lean. It causes the body to droop (and we all know there is no drooping in ballet). Plus, once a body leans, collapses, reclines or sags against the barre, then extra effort is required to come back to proper posture.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Ballet Statute #34:  

“Leaning on the barre is not allowed.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r78eZUETiPI

Quote of the Day:

“Too much rest is rust.”

-          Sir Walter Scott,

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 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

Fun Friday Happy Landing

Fun Friday Happy Landing

Happy Friday! Today let’s discuss piqués - those useful steps that allow a dancer to transfer weight efficiently onto one leg, on pointe or demi-pointe.  The word “pique” means to prick or stab and I have discussed this in previous blogs.

The usual problem in a piqué (for example, a piqué to arabesque) is a failure to lift the body high enough. It is as though the dancer is climbing up to the piqué from a long flight of basement stairs.  This is particularly problematic if the dancer is on pointe. That’s when the basement stairs get even longer and steeper.

Instead, imagine descending onto a rooftop at the moment of the piqué, as though lowered from a helicopter. The preparation for the piqué is an under-circle (see previous blogs), but the actual piqué moment comes from a high place – like an airplane.

From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:

Secret #13l:  

“Imagine landing from the top, not climbing from the basement in a piqué.”

                Link of the Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3f0yGHFOpA

Quote of the Day:

“The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.”

-          Marcus Tullius Cicero

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 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

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