Guest dance4life87 Posted March 20, 2003 Report Share Posted March 20, 2003 Im not the best turner, but some days I can do rewally good clean doubles and then other days they just look sooo horrible. O was thinking about everything that you must do in a pirouette to make it good and that every part has a purpose. The spotting helps you to get around the having the back straight and stomach pulled in makes it so you stay up so you dont fall or leanand the arms help you to get around as well. Well I was just wondering if the passe leg helps doing anything in the turn, or if it is just there turned out and pointed correctly for beauty purposes or if it actually has to do with turning? Quote Link to comment
Administrators Victoria Leigh Posted March 21, 2003 Administrators Report Share Posted March 21, 2003 It has a great deal to do with it, dance4life. The rotation of that leg, taking it to it's maximum position on the very first moment of the turn can help enormously in making the whole turn work. Many students make the mistake of either "lifting" that leg, or of bringing it to position slowly, instead of making the OPENING and immediate position of that leg crucial to the centering of the turn and also to the rotation of the turn itself. Take a look at your very best retiré passé position at the barre. The purpose of that position is for your pirouettes! Are you using THAT position when you turn in the center? I find that a lot of students THINK they are using that position, but when confronted with it, actually realize that they are doing something very different in their pirouettes. If you "own" a good retiré position, then USE it in the center for your pirouettes! Make sure that you are not doing something different, like lifting it up instead of opening it out, or bringing it up late which makes it overcross and that lacks the rotation to help the turn. Quote Link to comment
Guest dance4life87 Posted March 21, 2003 Report Share Posted March 21, 2003 thank you so much that helps me sooo much! becuase the problem with my pirouettes is that I dont do that ! I mean I do but not very well and I get the same correction day after day! and sometimes my foot sickles as well. What should I practice to really get it to do a good passe in my pirouettes? Does balancing in a releve passe help at all? Whats the best practice to do? Quote Link to comment
Administrators Victoria Leigh Posted March 21, 2003 Administrators Report Share Posted March 21, 2003 The best way to practice for your pirouettes, in terms of correcting the position, is to do the relevé from fourth to the pirouette position where you can see it in the mirror. Start from facing back, and do a quarter turn on the relevé, which places you facing the wall but your knee is facing the mirror, and you can see the shape of the foot. Do this over and over until you see it and fix it. Then do it without looking in the mirror to be sure that your foot understands what your brain already understands ;) Have someone watch you to be sure. It takes a lot of repetition to teach the body what to do, even when the brain totally understands! Then go to a single turn and see if you can maintain the correct position. When you have that, then proceed to more turns. Quote Link to comment
Guest twinklehooves Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Yeah, sorry for butting in- but how DO you keep your passe leg from sickling?? I know I always do it too... Quote Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Hi, twinklehooves, and welcome to the Young Dancers' forums here at Ballet Talk on Ballet Alert! Online! Now, I'm going to assume that you mean the foot of the leg that's in retiré (pirouette position, passé position), rather than the entire leg. I've never seen an entire leg sickle, except maybe mine, but then I'm VERY bowlegged. That's why we practice pointing the foot straight ahead all through the class. It sounds to me as if you're forcing the knee of the raised leg back and using the foot as a fulcrum of a lever with the supporting shin as a base. Don't do that. The rotation of the "working leg" (lousy term, they both work) must be all its own and not depend on wedging it back against the "supporting leg". Quote Link to comment
Guest twinklehooves Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Ok thanks!!! I should have said the passe foot... Sorry, wasn't thinking!! Quote Link to comment
Guest Medora Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 As many of you know, my pirouettes are less than wonderful. There are just so many pieces to the puzzle that I either haven't fixed or am having trouble putting together. When I try to turn, shoul I think about all of these things at once? I run through my checklist, but it seems like so much to think about: the arms, the spot, pull up, foot unsickled, legs turned out,etc, etc, etc. Should I not try to think about everything, but fix one thing at a time? Its just that everything depends on everything so I feel like I have to make sure that everything is there, and then of course, its still a mess! My teacher says I am thinking to much, and she's right. My friend sees me practicing and tells me don't think just do, but that can't be right, can it? I mean it doesn't matter if I can get around if it looks like slop. What should I do? Thanks, I just want better turns!!!! My teacher has been working me about pulling up in turns this week and I get stuck on my toes sometimes when I do a single! But then I still don't land my doubles cleanly, with the exception of an accidental triple. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.