penchée and splits

[Guest haylee]

do you think that if you can do the spilts you should be able to have a really nice ponchee. If not how do you work on having a great ponchee.

Thanks

[balletowoman]

The flexibility is certainly of help. You will need to be flexible enough to be able to put your leg at that height. However, it's not sufficient to be flexible, you also need the strength to hold your leg up there (and hold your back in position without collapsing it)... So there's a whole range of muscles in action in addition to just 'being flexible'....

 

A penché (arabesque penchée) is especially hard, because you're supposed to raise your leg so high that it will tilt your body forward. It's your leg height that dictates how much you can tilt your body... So, before you're able to really do the split as well in the air as you can do it on the ground, you need to ensure you're sufficiently comfortable with a nicely placed arabesque and that your whole body is strong enough to be on a 'non vertical' axis and still remain firm and placed.

[Mel Johnson]

Balletowoman has it right. Doing an arabesque penchée is a combination of flexibility AND strength. In any arabesque, there is a pull diagonally forward and upward, and in a penchée, this diagonal gets so strong that there's only one way to go - "down" into the penchée - again a sort of "pull up to go down" situation. It takes a good deal of strength to develop this capacity, but it's obviously doable - so many people DO get it right!

[Guest karenfixe]

Major Mel,

 

I can do both splits (although right side is better) and my penchee at the barre is pretty good. I'm almost at the 6 o'clock position, but in the center, it's a whole different story. I don't seem to be able to do my penchee with a lick of turnout on the standing leg (or I fall) and I certainly cannot get to the full extension in the center. Is this a flexibility issue? Or just strength and balance because I no longer have the barre?

 

My teacher is always asking us to make sure the standing leg, whether in penchee or pique arabesque (hold for 4 counts) is turned out. My whole body seems to twist and throw me down. What am I doing wrong?

[Mel Johnson]

Sounds to me like an overreliance on the barre. While you're at the barre, lift your hand off every so often to make sure that you're not using it as a "life preserver".

[Guest karenfixe]

Major Mel,

 

Thanks for the advice and I'm getting ready to throw the life preserver back. ;) Last night, I made sure to be aware of alignment and let go of the barre a few times during each exercise. I found that my frappes derrierre were VERY weak without it!

 

To everyone else, when you have a spare moment while waiting for the microwave to finish, practice standing in a low arabesque (nothing obvious) and stay in alignment with turnout in the standing leg. Dang... it's harder than I thought!

[Mel Johnson]

Yup! Kinda thought that might happen!

 

That's a good thing, though! Now we've isolated a problem, and once identified, then it's easier to cure because we know what's got to be worked on. Keep at it. You've done a good job!

[Guest Giselle83]

If I may add, me too, I get splits but my penchee isn't still full 180 degrees. It lacks actually almost 45 degrees! When I try to get it there I gotta use ALOT of back muscles and else too.

 

I was just wondering, how different methods allow it done. Or is it a matter of different teachers?

I was always taught to keep back and the raising leg in 90 degrees angle, even the leg wouldnt go so high then. I often see penchees which are pretty but back kept alittle lower. So Do you know an answer to this? :-)

[Mel Johnson]

180º isn't mandatory in any school I know of. What IS important is to maintain the sameness of angle between the "working leg" and the torso, except if the arabesque goes allongée.