If I had a dollar...

...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. 

Challenge of the week: March 23rd, 2015

Location:  Center

Combination:  Adagio

Step:  The full challenge sequence is: developpé croisé front, elevé, close to high fifth, release back leg into third (Vaganova) arabesque (still on your balance), quarter promenade still on demi pointe to first (Vaganova) arabesque, lower heel. 

Challenge:  Maintaining balance!

Success?: Only one direction (balancing on my right leg).  My core placement and support is much better on the right side, so although I could do everything until the promenade on both sides, to the left, the promenade just fell apart. 

Tip:  Remember that your core holds you up, and pulls you out of your hips.  Stay pulled up on your supporting side throughout the balance, and place your arms with precision and decision.  Do the whole rotation to the same degree with every part---i.e., don't yank the heel on your supporting leg around and leave the gesture leg (new term I've recently seen; I like it) out where it was.  Don't turn just your hip and have it poking out while the rest of your body is still in its previous position.

Also, use your eyes and look up and out to where you're facing. 

One of my friends, who used to dance at a conservatory in Brazil, reported that Sylvie Guillem was capable of doing a full promenade en pointe with no partner.  That's just crazy. 

Studio etiquette: Space

One thing that separates experienced dancers from beginners is how they treat space in the studio.  At best, those who do not follow studio space rules irritate those who do or expect it.  At worst, they get in the way and get themselves or someone else injured.

Unfortunately, a lot of these rules ARE unspoken.  Which means that you have to figure them out as you go.  But to start you out, here's my top list of spatial etiquette tips.  

Barre 

1. Don't stand too close to other people.  Pretty obvious, right?  You should be as evenly spaced as possible.  Preferably you should be able to do a grand battement front and back with room to spare.  I think it's cute when younger dancers start a class and they're all awkwardly crowded together in some parts with nobody in others. 
2. If unavoidable:  turn to the inside diagonal when doing things that risk putting your foot upside someone's head or kicking them in the arm.  Be especially conscious during high arabesques--the person behind you likely has their arm up and in front as well.  
3. In general, those with long legs need more space.  If you are this dancer, be conscious.  If you are next to this dancer, be courteous. 
4. In the corner:  Make sure that your battements a la second will not result in two feet crashing into each other.  
5. This is probably my own pet peeve, but if you cannot go through class without constantly gripping the barre and pulling around on it, please, PLEASE do not stand on center barre unless absolutely necessary.  These barres move.  If someone pulls on it from one side, the person from the other side loses the barre. 

Center 

1. Same as barre!  Don't stand too close to other people.  
2. Stagger for mirror access--this can be difficult in really crowded classes, but in general, try not to stand directly in front of someone.  
   
3. Standing in front vs back: 
• if you don't know the combination, don't stand in the front.  
• If you're in a mixed class of professionals and non-professionals, I think it's usually that professionals have the right of way and go in the front. 
• Similarly, advanced dancers get first rights to the front.  
4. If you're in the front line, actually be in the front line.  Don't stand halfway back and crowd everybody else behind you.  Don't be shy.  It's not like the instructor can't see you anyway. There's nobody in front of you! 
5. If doing something in two groups, and you're not going, stand against the wall/barre.  Do not get in the way of the people dancing.  Do not obscure their view to the mirror.  If marking, mark next to the wall or clearly out of the way.  I repeat, do NOT get in the way of the people dancing.  This is dangerous for both you and the dancer, but you are the one that will get kicked during a grand battement to the back.  

Across the floor 

1. ...don't stand too close to other people.  :)
2.   If you can see another person without looking in the mirror, it is YOUR job to stay out of their way.  They cannot see behind them.  They do not know you are there.  If you are too close, back up.  Use a low leg.  Make space somehow.  This is the same as when you're doing choreography and the director reminds the girls in the back that they're responsible for holding the line, not the person in front--who can't see where people are behind them. 
3.  People travel differently.  If you find you have gotten too close before something like a pirouette or a big battement, readjust.  
4.  When switching groups without stopping music, NEVER retreat into traffic.  If the combination starts from the back and moves forward, continue forward and then break like the Red Sea and go out to the walls.  
• If, when doing this, you are moving up the side walls and the next group is approaching in such a way that you might get in the way moving past, stay where you are and wait until the coast is clear.  





5.  When waiting your turn, again, like center, wait on the wall.  Basically make it so that if the person runs into you, they would have also gotten themselves tangled in a piano or the barre or something else equally unpleasant.  
6. Big movers should be aware that they are big movers and be prepared to readjust or travel less.  Those that are not big movers should be aware that others may be moving more, and not stand to block them.  Particularly dangerous during grand allegro.  It's best to go with people that move approximately the same amount as you.  

General 

1.  When readjusting, be aware of the people around you.  Take a quick look around.  Don't just move backwards into people.  (This is the one exception for the responsibility of people in the back--if you're doing something not in the combination, you are now responsible for everybody.)
2.  When exiting/entering a studio during a class, do not get in the way of people that are still dancing
• Barre: Unless absolutely necessary (nosebleed, vomiting, other emergency), wait until a break between combinations or sides.  
• Center:  Hug the walls.  If you are dancing and suddenly have to exit, just get to a wall as quickly and safely as possible and then hug the wall to leave. 
3. The best tip is to set yourself up for success.  Space yourself well prior to the combination.  It's much harder to fix spacing while you're actually dancing.  

~*~

What rules have I forgotten?  Or what are your pet peeves? 

Challenge of the week: March 16th, 2015

I have missed a couple of weeks!  My apologies.  The last two weeks have been really busy in my department.

This one is not so much physically difficult; it is just outside the realm of what we normally do and requires some speed and coordination.  

Location:  Center

Combination:  Petit allegro

Step:  The full combination involved a lot of cissones--this particular one was after a large sissonne ouverte to croise with the back leg in attitude, and then two running steps and an assemble.  And then sissonne fermee a la seconde towards the front leg, turning a quarter turn (and changing legs, as one is wont to do), sissonne fermee to the front leg turning another quarter, sissonne with another quarter, sissonne to face front again.  Tada! 

Challenge:  Since this was at speed, doing tidy sissonnes is challenging, but also coordinating the turning and the arms and the head. 

Success?: I'm pretty sure I got it; at least, I turned the right direction and ended up with the correct foot in front. 

Tip:  For speed, like the teacher described, think of being in a box and not doing one of the grand sissonnes that you may be more accustomed to.  That way you won't travel too much, and it'll be easier to switch directions and turn on the next jump.

For coordination... well... practice?  XD that's totally unhelpful.  Also, if you can't do side to side sissonnes rapidly WITHOUT turning, do master those first.  The turning is somewhat natural if you follow the line of the sissonne; for example, jumping towards the left, you bring your left shoulder backwards (so you turn counterclockwise, viewed from above).  Then you just keep moving your left shoulder back for all the jumps. 

Challenge of the week: March 2nd, 2015

Location:  Center

Combination:  Preparation jumps for petit allegro

Step:  The full combination involved some eight counts of straight up-and-down jumps (first first fifth x2, or changement x8), then jump to second, jump to fifth, jump to fourth, double/triple pirouette, land fifth, entre chat quatre. 

Doing a double gives you a count to prepare, or a count to land in fifth after, but doing a triple felt better for me, timing-wise.

Challenge:  Landing the fourth position jump in such a way that you are prepared to immediately pirouette out of it. 


Success?: Yes!  And it was fabulous, because I had just had a horrific pirouette exercise--the floor was too slippery for me to maintain my turnout through the whole preparation.  Anyway, I put some water on my heels and bottom of the toes (closest to the arch) before this combination and went for the triple, and actually nailed it on both sides.  So that was cool. 

Tip:  Technique, technique, technique... whenever I physically and mentally engage my technique, and experience drastic improvements, I just laugh at myself for not having engaged it in the first place.  I actually remember to do turnout and core before pirouettes now. 

- Be soft and supported in the plié, not tense because you're anticipating going back up for the pirouette. 
- Remember all those tendu-temps liés through fourth and having the right sized fourth position, with your weight in the middle, immediately. 
- Support through the core and pelvis.  Because why not?  It'll make sure you don't collapse in the plié and lose that lovely buoyancy.  And it'll hold you together in your turn.  Just all kinds of good things.
- "Use the music."  It works for me, but might not for everybody.  Don't panic that you don't have time to slip slowly into the preparation and wiggle around getting it just right.  Pull out all the stops (technique-wise) and spot with the music.  If your technique isn't reliably there at speed, never fear!  Keep dancing and working at it.  It'll come.  

Pointe shoes: Hard shank? Soft shank? Part II: Dancing

The continuation of the eternal debate.

In my last post, I addressed the foot issue, and how shank strength depends on if you need extra stiffness to prevent yourself from going too far over and overly stressing muscles/tendons/ligaments, or if you need less resistance to compensate for a naturally less flexible foot and/or ankle.  In this section, I'm going to talk about the second half of the list.

1.  Do you have high, flexible arches that are prone to falling over the pointe?  Or do you have an ankle that makes a straight line and a moderate arch (like mine)?  Or do you have inflexible ankle that doesn't go fully vertical, and a tendency to not get over the box?  (I imagine you could have combination flexible arch/inflexible ankle, but I have to admit I have not met many folks like this.)
2.  Do you have strong feet, or weak feet?  Strong ankles, or weak ankles?  Often, but not always, natural flexibility and natural strength are in inverse relation.
3.  Are you tall?  Broad?  Heavy?  Tiny?  
4.  Do you have strong or weak hips, quads, and core?
5.  What are you trying to do in your shoe?  Fast relevés that you need to pop up for?  Hops on pointe?  A soft adagio?  Long balances?  Jumps?  Repeated pirouettes?  Les Sylphides?  (That's the ballet that always comes up when people mention wanting a softer shoe...)
6.  How badly do you not want to buy another pair of shoes in two days?  (This, and this blog in general, applies to amateurs, not professionals, of course!)

Last time, I talked about strength in the feet and ankles.  However, you need far more than just strong feet and ankles to dance en pointe.

While I do not recommend getting a harder shank and box in order to just "sit" en pointe instead of actually engaging, each dancer newly en pointe will have to find where their shoes are hard enough to enable them to dance, but soft enough to ensure proper technique and development.

Here's the description of Aspirations:

Bloch's Aspiration is built for students. This pointe shoe features a harder, more supportive box that assists the beginner. Its full shank is designed to flex at the "three-quarter" position.

The harder, more supportive box and full shank are helpful for balances, I've found.  That is, once you're up on the shoe, it holds you up.  On a new shoe, I have actually been able to disengage through the hip, core, leg--actually all the way down into the ankle and foot--and still balance on the shoe (on one foot, no less).  I don't actually like this.  It makes it hard to roll down, on top of the obvious damage this would do to my technique.  However, if you don't actually have those muscles, this is a helpful feature.

I'm not saying that everybody should go out and buy hard boxes and shanks so they don't have to strengthen their technique and muscle tone!  However, people max out their strength at different ranges.  New students are still developing these muscles.  Why would you get a shoe that you can't do anything on at all? 

~*~

The balancing point plays into point 5, which is "What are you trying to do with your shoes?"  Here's a list of things I like to do with various shoes:

1.  New, hard: strengthening two-footed elevé, working feet through each stage of the rise. 
2.  Fairly hard, but not new: hops on pointe, bouncy relevés where I don't have as much time to plié, bourrés, if I were to ever do a lot of partner work with long balances, probably this hardness until I developed the requisite strength to go down to number 3. 
3.  Middling, still with some resistance on the demi pointe: things with a lot of piqués, pirouettes, more "flashy" choreography that may be combined with smoother relevés, bourrés
4.  Soft shank with smooth roll-through in demi pointe: things with a lot of relevés, things with lots of jumps (two bonuses: quiet, and less resistance going into the jump), fouettés, softer or Romantic choreography
5.  Approaching dead: strengthening ankles, hip, quads, core with relevés and one-footed elevés; easy rehearsal

Giselle is an interesting challenge because of the infamous hops on pointe combined with the obviously delicate choreography.  That's when you just go shopping for stronger legs and ankles. 

My favorite shank strength is 4, with 3 close behind.  At 4 I've also finally gotten rid of that hard box that comes with the Aspirations XD

If you poll the interwebs, you'll find very similar preferences among dancers.  Here's what Paloma Herrera of the beautiful feet says.  Here's what a bunch of dancers on a forum say. 

Since I'm somewhat paranoid, and since I don't dance en pointe enough to kill shoes immediately, I have gotten into the habit of wearing shoes until they're just a little bit too hard for the role I want, calomining them (did you know that there are matte pointe shoes available??), and wearing them once or twice again to make sure they're where I want, and then "rinsing and repeating."  That way I always have two or three pairs of shoes I could potentially wear for a performance, just in case something dreadful happens to one.

It helps that Aspirations are cheap, and I can get three pairs at once and wear them all until they're where I want them.  In fact, I've just gotten one pair to number 3 on the above list.  I'm going to finish sewing the next pair and start wearing them.  

~*~

Finally, there's the issue of how pointe shoes can cost anywhere from 40 to 100 dollars per pair.  If you're not a professional, you don't have a shoe allowance.  Remember the quote that I opened with?  The one that said that Blochs are for beginners because they break in so fast?  Well... if you can afford new shoes every week/day, that's not really a problem!  If your combination of flexibility, strength, and dancing works best with a soft shank, that's awesome... except that shoes die.  And then you go roll around in the bathtubs gold coins that you receive as a dancer and buy new shoes with whatever sticks--oh wait, that's right, there are no bathtubs of gold. 

Professionals with their shoe allowances and strong feet and glorious technique can break in their shoes right where they want them, wear lovely soft shoes, and kill them in a day.  But alas, we students and amateurs cannot afford this luxury. 

Which is why Gaynor Mindens are supposed to be excellent (albeit pricy).  The theory is that they start at one shank strength and STAY THERE.  You don't have to get super hard shanks; Gaynor Mindens are offered through I think five levels of shank strength, from extra hard to nearly dead.  But instead of going from nearly to dead to six feet under in one class, they will stay at nearly dead.  

There's actually a girl at my studio that has strong (but not flexible) feet and ankles, is taller, and average weight (for normal humans, not dancers).  I think she likes hard shanks because they don't die as fast on her, but if that weren't an issue, I think she would do better in a medium to softer shank. 

~*~

So, there you have it.  Very strong feet, ankles, core, and technique... hell, everything... hold up the dancer, and require less support from the shoe.  However, we are not these people.  Or these people.  Or these people.  Nor are we rolling in money.  That's okay!  Do the best and safest with what you have.

Challenge of the week: Feb 23rd, 2015

Location: Barre, or with a partner, or if you're really awesome, just in the center.  En pointe is an additional challenge. 

Combination: Frappés and petits battements, originally

Step: This is actually at the end, where you face diagonally into the barre, on full relevé, and start your petits battements with the inside leg.  Find your balance (== let go of the barre) while still beating.  Hold balance.  End petits battements with leg in coup de pied back.  On your balance, lift your leg to full attitude back, and your arms en haut (en couronne, fifth position, etc.). 

If you're really cool, developpé attitude leg back, close fifth (still on relevé and on your balance) and turn back away from the diagonal, and open your other leg a la seconde, along with your arms. 

Challenge:  Not falling on your face!  lol

- You really find out if you're doing petit battements with your hip or your knee.
- You really find out where on your hip you're placed when changing poses.

Success?: Doing all balance pose switches on my balance is actually a challenge I set to myself, not one that is required in the class.  In class we are not required to do the entire sequence on your balance (you only find your balance when already in attitude). I'm pretty good at this one, though not entirely consistent.  I am nearing 100% consistency when the right leg is the supporting leg.  Meanwhile, the left hip is still not as strong at pulling UP.  Of course.

When I started engaging my core more, my "hit" percentage went up drastically.  I finally understood how, rather counter-intuitively, it's your core and abs that actually help you lift your leg up to the attitude.  And I can feel the engagement every time I do it properly. And then, because this is a fairly taxing balance to maintain even in technique shoes, I admire the dancers in the Rose Adagio and Don Q pas de deux even more (Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella, ABT, PDD from DQ.  Attitude at 1:38.)

Tip: As with everything ballet, the engagement is not a clench or a forced position. Engage your core, engage your hip. 

I like doing very slow elevés up and down in first, second, and fifth and maintaining the lift in the hip and the engagement in the core.  Doing these en pointe (in the center!), especially in first and second position, amplifies any weaknesses you may have in these areas.  Most (non-professional, beginner, etc.) dancers fall backwards doing very slow elevés due to the core not being fully knit together (and sometimes ankles doing things they're not supposed to do).