...for every time that I realized that my problem is that I am not engaging my abs, I would be just rolling in money.
On the one hand, it's a huge cheer-up for my day, since I can do something I've been trying to do all x amount of time; however, there's also the moment of "why weren't you just using proper technique to begin with?!"
Some discoveries I've made in the last year:
1. En dehors pirouettes: Big duh moment, but engaging your core while turning keeps you up for another rotation or two. Especially the lower abs region.
2. En dedans fouettes: This has more to do with a tip from our principal dancer, which is that if you are turning with your arms in fifth, put them farther forward than you think you ought to. This keeps you from flinging your back and keeps your ribs knit together and you don't have to strain to engage your abs. Immediately after she gave us this correction I did a flawless double TO THE LEFT and landed it like a Real Dancer. And I've been consistently nailing those ever since, except on my bad days. Which may or may not be days when I just plain forget to use my abs.
3. Plie developpe en pointe to the front: Well, this one is highly specific, but there is a line of choreography in our studio's Dewdrop that has you bourree into a developpe front, in plie, en pointe, that I just kept falling out of and kept falling out of. Then a week before the performance I had the thought: "abs?" And like magic, it worked. Well, not magic. Technique.
4. Fouette turns en dehors in attitude front: This one is a total no-brainer. Helps you keep your leg up in a nice attitude without falling backwards from that opposition. Happily I figured this one out very quickly with the aid of our director, who asked if I could keep my leg a little higher, and upon seeing me struggle, said, "yeah, it's really hard on your abs, but keep trying" and I went "oh. Right."
5. Pique en dehors pirouettes: Which I realize should be a subset of the en dehors pirouettes in (1), but damned if I wasn't falling everywhere the other day trying to do doubles when I finally realized I should engage my core and suddenly everything was beautiful at the ballet.
6. Balances: Every balance, all the time, everywhere, everything is better with abs.
7. En dedans pirouettes in attitude: Yeah, yeah, another turn, another front attitude, and I realize that if I want to hold that balance (uh-huh, it's got a balance too) so that it looks like I really am a floaty dewdrop fairy, all I have to do is... engage my abs about two steps before I plie into that turn. I actually discovered that one pretty early on in the game. But at that point in the choreography I was working more on my technical and physical stamina, because A. that part wears you the eff out, and B. there are two of those turns in the part, one in the middle right before a massive jumping sequence and one at the end when I'm about to die but still have to look like a fairy for four measures of bourree and four saute arabesques. Followed by an en dehors pirouette where all I do is yank in my abs and pray.
Those are the main ones, but there are others too. They work every time, and every time I think I was such a doofus for not just maintaining the core right off the bat.
Part of my regimen since the start of this season (i.e., September) is core work every MWF. I have noticed the effects. Even on my jumps... which was unexpected. But you get great ballon if your hips and core are supported!
Also, yes, welcome back to me. I have been dancing since my last post, just not writing about it.
