High (On Ballet)

I always leave ballet class happier than I came in. No, that is not entirely correct. Most of the time I'm as happy going in as I am coming out, because I know what to expect. There is the familiar sequence of barre and center, of course, and that of adagio and allegro. I know that my teacher is going to put us through our paces and that there are going to be lots of corrections. Real work and sweat. Praise too. Also moments of self-doubt and of frustration. But class is more than the sum of its parts. Any which way I do my reckoning, it all adds up. Ballet does me good.

A good ballet class is already a fine thing to have and behold, but sometimes it gets even better than that. Call it pay-back for doing time on the learning-plateau, or call it a really good day. Or call it like I do: the bestest high! I had such an awesome class last Tuesday, and I'm still riding it. Actually, it was class times three: my Super-Tuesday-Triple-Bill with Marie-Pierre. Not the official name in the class schedule, but it might as well be! First off, the basic level with mostly barre-facing exercises. You might think that after 20 years of ballet there is not much to gain from a beginner's class, but then you would be wrong.

For one thing, there is always room for improvement. For another, a basic class lets you work on your basics, clean up and maintain what technique you already have. When you have four counts for one ronde de jambe instead of two, there is that much more time to be aware of your turnout and your heel alignment. Let me explain how it worked out for me.. Since November 2010, Marie-Pierre has been persistently coaching and coaxing me to realise my full potential en dehors, along with improving the arch and instep of my pointed foot. And you know what? The results are finally showing off! By no means has it been an over-the-night-success; I had to do both the mental and the muscle work. But this past Tuesday, when my leg was in degagé derrière, my teacher told me once again to turn out more - and I did. Then she took hold of my foot (again) and showed how much more I could and should pointe, and how to hold the turnout at the hardest part of the ronde - and I did. The difference was real and visible and it felt totally awesome. Better than any A+ I ever got in school!

That alone would have had me on a ballet-high, but there were still two more classes to learn and to dance. Really, how lucky can you get?

Ahaa!

Still recovering from last Friday´s ballet and pointe class.. Why? It was absolutely awesome, that´s why! Got tons of feedback from our Fabulous French Ballet Teacher, corrections, and even some praise (yay)! Best of all, I had two rare ahaa-moments. The stars must have been finally properly aligned, right along with my feet and toes. This is how I got there:

Present your heel. Your teacher has probably taught you to forward your heel in order to maximize turnout of the working leg. The idea is to rotate from the hip joint, so that there is one continuous line, spiraling from the upper leg all the way down to the foot. A screwdriver is another popular visual image. It´s the correction I keep getting the most, and yet I struggle with it. Slower exercices are fine, as there is time enough to think and rotate. With fast dégagés, however, the heel loses its maximum turn-out at the last moment of the tendue. It´s really frustrating! At its worst, the foot looks almost sickled, not a big banana, but still. And in ballet this is very, very bad. Because as we all know, any inward sickling is a sign of improper training and or weak ankles. I´m very aware of this, and it makes me feel pretty self-conscious about my feet.

1. winged   2. neutral   3. sickled (don´t !)
image from www.dance-teacher.com

My ahaa-moment. Madame had just recently instructed us how to wing the working foot in arabesque (note: the foot is not supposed to wing so much that it looks like a crease, but a beautiful continuation of the line). The effect is rather subtle, since my foot is capable of only 5-10 degrees of outward movement (as opposed to 40 degrees inward). Anyway, my  big realization  came when I figured out that if the working foot is winged just a little (even the idea of "winging" seems to be enough), the action prompts the to heel turn more forward, and hey presto: instant improved turnout. Ahaa! It is a small change with a huge difference. Even my brisés are better than ever. Why? Brisé is a traveling and beating step, and beating your legs in the air works best with actively turned out feet. All this time I had used less turn-out than I´m actually capable of! Ahaa..