Stretching and Tendu down

Marcus asked for more stretch. I was having a hard time finding it. But I think I know what I want to try next.

Mary had been talking about the tendu down, which is to say the supporting leg in a jump points in a "tendu", meaning stretched, but "down" in the sense that it's beneath you. But this image extends further, so that even relevés to demi-pointe can be seen in my mind as a tendu down.

This helped me figure out that my pelvic alignment was off (in an attempt to attain more turn out). once the pelvic alignment is off, all the wrong muscles start working. No wonder it's been hard!

Mary also mentioned that piqués are like walking down the stairs. Again, In my mind I'm thinking of this as a tendu down.

Pirouettes were better when Ilona said think of the "up", not the around. But I couldn't re-create it after class. She also said to get bigger in the turn. She also said that the power from the en dehor turn comes from the back leg.

Ilona was also asking for stronger support in the arms. The elbows should be pulling away from each other.

Mary and Ilona

Ilona:
The fillé into the chassé from arabesque. She's still getting after me for it. It's because I don't fillé through the first position the way I do balançoire.

En dedans turns: it's the connection to the second arm/side/back that's missing.

Also, don't drop the chin! Keep the focus out and lifted.

Work on the head, especially in allegro. This came up during the sissone développé, coupé, assemblé, both a la seconde. We use the "écarté derriere" heads and arms, even though the torso is en face.

Don't forget to actually jump in petit allegro! It's about the UP.

Especially in allegro, roll through the foot on the way down. Even just in the steps. or tombé.

Mary
I was trying to do fast tendus and my tendus à la seconde weren't in a straight line.

Turns from second. Yikes. Really get on the leg by pressing down into the floor, and stretching the front of the hip joint.

There's always so much in this class, yet I struggle to remember it all! Remember more corrections!

Just Ilona today

Forgot to add from yesterday that the bending of the front knee in tendu as described by Mary in the Ballet U blog seemed to make it easier to close fifth. But if you don't have a tight fifth, are you supposed to bend the knee?

Ilona mentioned something about it the other day.

We talked about the rhythm of glissade, grand jete. I don't think I got it. will need to ask again. and how it differs when you grand jete with the same leg. and how big is the glissade?

Should also follow up on the part of the foot that makes sure it doesn't flop. Not the toes, Ilona, said. At least, that didn't always work.

Ashley told me that I wasn't spotting my turns a la seconde with my arms up in fifth. It's true, once I added the spot, I was more on balance.

I think I also turn in my turns a la seconde. Need to check. and also, Ashley said my knees aren't straight.

Tendus en tournant pivot in 5th and then tendu, but they happen pretty quickly.

working on keeping the fillé turned out, especially from arabesque.

also, placing the foot on the floor is more important than how we leave the floor, at least in terms of what I need to work on now.

Mary, Ilona

Tendus: Mary said that the tendus initiate with the foot. Amazingly, I thought of lifting the instep, and it made a huge difference in my tendus. Mary even noticed.

Petit allegro, Mary said that the gesture leg should only go as high as you can jump, and the position should assemble in the air above it.

Retiré: I have been unable to balance my pelvis laterally. Ilona told me I needed to release a muscle (maybe it was the glut. med.s or something), but when she fixed it, I felt a definite release on the outside of my hips. (Lateral as opposed to medial.)

Closing fifth: Now that I have a decent enough fifth to be corrected, but Mary and Ilona corrected my fifth, as in I need to close it and rotate it more.

Chassé: remaining turned out. we worked on that with Ilona.

tendu, cou-de-pied en tournant: turn in fifth, then move the gesture leg.

En dedans turns: Ilona was pushing me to go for two, but I couldn't do it. I need to generate the force correctly, so that I don't distort my alignment. Needs more work.

Gino thoughts

work through the feet, even the toes, to have that smooth, even feeling. in tendus, in jumps, everywhere.

hmm...guess that's the main one.

Marcus Sunday, Ilona Monday

Marcus:

When I stand in fifth, Right foot front, I'm not grounded. Please work on that!

It's really hard to hold an extension in second. The gesture leg needs to be fully active!

Balancés should have it's own character and fluidity, not just ignored until you get to the next step.

Chassés should be much more grounded all the way through.

When I plié, I tend to lower my chin. But instead, open up. Show yourself to the audience as you prepare for the next step.

Ilona:

Standing in a very loose fifth makes it easier to find a tighter fifth later in class.

as I éleve, there's a point where I lose my ankles, but if I think of pulling up the insteps of my foot, I regain stability.

keep hips even in retiré. (Tendency was to lift the side of the gesture leg.)

Arabesque, even with tendu, needs to be on the balls of the feet of the supporting leg. Otherwise it goes into the rectus femoris.

When doing big jumps, don't lose the form of the turnout nor of the feet.

Pirouettes: keep my arms with me (instead of leaving them behind me when I turn).

Breathing

Taylor worked on taking a breath.

I leaned against the wall with my hands pushing forward so that gravity could help me release my abdominals.

There's a release before the inhale, and when I inhale, there's an even bigger release. I currently feel it as a stretch, probably in my lower abdominals.

It's incredible. It completely changed my Gyrotonic work. I felt much more connected from the sitz bones to the skull. It released my low back, kept my hips open and in line, and gave meaning to the breathing rhythms.

Definitely something to try to incorporate everywhere. Maybe even ballet.

Horton

Sitting out during Jimmy's class was interesting. It was a small class so he could give more corrections.

The theme of the day was: DON'T ARCH.

In the flat back series, especially in the relevé sequence, people tend to arch in the flat back and coming back to upright in the arch causes them to be off center and fall.

In the coccyx sit, Brittney was feeling it in her lower back. That's because she was arching. Jimmy said that the coccyx sit should actually be done with a wide angle between the torso and the legs. The small angle was added way after Lester Horton.

Brittney's stag turns were a little shakey. She was tilting her torso toward the supporting leg.

Coming from the front T, parallel rond de jambe the gesture leg to the side, to get the leg higher, you twist at the hips. At least, that's what everyone else did.

I don't remember any other corrections, but there were a lot of good ones today.

Alexander Technique private with Shannon

I don't know what happened. But, here goes:

I went in with my knee strain. We took it very carefully. the entire session was table work.

First we followed the directions: Allow the neck to be free so the head can roll forward and up and the back can lengthen and widen.

Then she added hips back (hips = pelvis girdle), knees forward, heels back and down, calves up and forward.

She held my leg up by my foot and asked me to release down into it, as I would into the ground. I felt my foot unsickle, and my leg got longer. She also worked with a bent knee position, when my hip released, it started to turn out. I also felt my knee spasming, but it slowed down.

Odd that my legs lengthened, but not through the usual Gyrotonic way. Guess I'll have to add that to my toolbox.

She also focused on my pelvis. She thought that my sacrum was "out". I think that means out of alignment. She put her hand under my sacrum and helped me release. It was okay, but the tension went into my hips. then we let the legs extend along the table and it seemed to change. my hips and knees released.

Walking was challenging. I felt my knee unstable again. And my sacrum/pelvis fell out of alignment again.

It's a long road ahead.

Stephen Petronio's Release technique

Move from the distal ends of the bones.

This is such a life changer.

Revisiting Anna's Class

Anna wants my arabesque with a more forward back.

I found the upper back in the arabesque today, by calling upon the same muscles that I feel when I do the back strengthening exercises.

Anna, similar to Molly, I suppose, asked us to use our arms in the jumps and open at the top. She even said this for fouettés in a relevé (from arabesque to a front extension).

Anna also likes the accent on the open movement for many of the petite allegro steps. Today it was a balloné.

Anna corrected my arms in high fifth during an en dehor pirouette. As soon as I corrected them I zipped around in the cleanest pirouette I've ever felt in my life.

My a la seconde on the right needs work. I need to remember to not use the hip flexor. That's why it's getting tight.

Also, reading Eric Franklin's alignment book, I found Lulu Sweigard's nine lines of the body. Many of them have already helped me. The back releasing down, the pubic symphysis coming closer to T12. the first ribs widening out into a bigger circle. the back of the pelvis widening, the front of the pelvis zippering up. The middle of the spine rising up.

Figuring out the mechanics of the steps

Marcus' Modern:
The psoas is what is being strengthened by the Graham work. (not sure exactly how that works, but it's worth thinking about more.)

Also, an idea I want to try out is the Russian idea that you breathe in on the effort. Maybe I should try breathing in on the contraction.

In the spiraled attitude on the floor, I had much more rotation than I thought I did with the right leg in attitude, spiraling to the left. The left attitude, spiral to the right needs work.

The épaulment is tricky in the spirals in second. Take a left spiral. It starts with the right hip pulling back, but the upper body, I'm still not sure about. I know that when the right hip pulls back, the head goes to the left.

The contraction to the ground is still tricky for me. Marcus said I get stuck in the contraction before I roll back. He said think of a steam roller, or a wave.

In the combination, Marcus told me to find the drama in the phrase.

Molly:
On the soutenu to the développé écarté devant, Molly said to use the upstage arm, the one in second, as a brake to keep the pelvis (and body, really) in the écarté line.

Going for the tour jeté, The second leg was in a flexed foot, as I took the leading leg into a chassé. Also, the feet need to keep strongly pointed for the jumps.

Working through an off day

Molly said the distance between my hip and ribs were too high on the gesture side of a balance in passé. Not sure what that meant, maybe an anterior pelvic tilt.

She said it came from the sous sous.

Left hip is sore in a new place. TFL? not sure, because it's not the IT band. Rectus femoris? not sure because it's not the normal one.

General correction to keep the foot pointed in arabesque.

Balances were off in passé on demi-pointe.

temps levé beats aren't always beating fully. beats the thighs.

Jeté beats still need to have the degagé side. aim for 45 degrees?

Molly: the turn happens from the en dehor leg.

Molly also physically corrected my shoulders. I felt much better about it afterwards. And it helps my focus.

Port de bras

Cambre side: upper arm reaches its position and then the ribs tilt. As the ribs tilt, then the allongé upper arm rotates to the "regular" position.

My shoulders need to be a bit more back than where I think they need to.

Glissade pushes from the second leg. Likewise with assemblé.

The écarté head is a turn and a look up. Not a tilt.

From before, don't nose dive into a port de core forward. lead with the sternum.

Working on the ribs: keep lifted, back and up (a la Alexander Technique). This will help avoid the anterior pelvic tilt.

Image for the head and arms: present to the audience. Don't look down, look out.

My pirouettes to the left are falling out in the very beginning.

Addition: Forgot to mention tour jeté. With the left leg leading, I tend to fall toward the left (supporting) leg. Keep the ribs lifted. On the right, the left side tends to let go and cause me to over rotate. Keep strong in spite of the force!

Arms, etc.

It should feel compact around the shoulder blades.

My low fifth is not shaped correctly. Elbows should stay away from the torso.

Allongé hands should still be in line with the arms. Don't wing it too much. Also, allongé arms should feel like a stretch across the chest.

Feel the energy from the chest out through and past the fingers, just like the legs start from the abdominals and extend out through and past the toes.

My shoulders tend to be front and down. When they are back into place (but not behind), and feel a lift from underneath, not only does it look better, it also releases tension in the lower back.

Speaking of lower back, when in arabesque, if my lower back hurts, then I need more lift in the ribs.

Pirouettes: get to passé retiré quickly and hold as if it were an extension. But when coming down, go straight to the lunch. It should be as tight as closing to fifth or sousou.

Rules of this blog

The premise of this blog is that the act of writing down all the corrections I can remember will, in itself, help solidify the corrections.

Because this can seem time consuming, I am starting with just five minutes a day. If there are more, I can worry about it later.

My other blog was attempting to be more reflective than this, but it became difficult to maintain, so we'll see how this goes.