jump a la seconde

[Guest Medora]

I am staying after class working on the variation from Corsaire with the jumps a la seconde. The variation is going well, except for those jumps a la seconde!! I am having trouble getting my legs the same height and my feet all the way pointed. Could it be that I am not strong enough? It's a very tiring jump! Any help? I want this to look good!

[Victoria Leigh]

It sounds like you are just not strong enough yet to maintain both the jump and the extension of the legs and the full stretch of the feet. Practice the step separately, and just keep working on it in the variation until you build the strength. Repetition is the key here. This kind of strength doesn't come easily, and don't forget that this is a ballerina variation. It is difficult. Don't expect it to happen overnight ;)

[Guest Medora]

Thanks. I'll drill it hard!

[Guest Medora]

Would it help if I practiced the releve seconde into the jump movement in my flat shoes to get the placement better? Maybe if I didn't have to deal with the pointe shoes I could make it better, and then go back to en pointe? My releve is dead, and my muscles that do releve, in my ankles and below the calves are killing me! I don't know if it's from working so hard in class recently, the slow eleves I have been doing, or this variation, but whatever it is, as my legs get sorer and sorer it gets worse and worse! Ahh! I hope it doesn't cause tendonitis, hopefully it's just soreness.

[Victoria Leigh]

Yes, it might help to practice it in soft shoes for a while. This variation is probably just a bit beyond your technical strength at this point in time. Do not push yourself to the point of injury to do it, please.

[Guest Medora]

Yeah, thanks for the warning, I tend to push myself to the brink, and I am afraid that my teacher believes in my potential just a little bit too much. ;)

[Mel Johnson]

Remember, that at its base, the jump you're doing, if it's the variation I'm thinking of, is just a plain old jeté dessus.

[Victoria Leigh]

Well, it's really more like a grand jeté, dessous ;)

[Mel Johnson]

You're right, it is dessous, I forgot the "o" - have to start reading the posts before I post them. But are we talking about the variation that Fonteyn used to do in "Corsaire"? The Queen Dryad one?

[Victoria Leigh]

Yes, and the jeté is supposed to be quite a bit larger and travel more than a regular jeté dessous. There is an à la seconde moment in it, and it travels side, or écarté actually, much more like a grand jeté than a regular petite jeté.

[Mel Johnson]

The way that sticks in my mind is probably traceable to Fonteyn's classical restraint, something we don't see very much of anymore. It does travel in an écarté manner, and immediately goes into a developpé en écarté, but the way I recall her doing it, she made less of the "grand"ness of the jeté, and used it more to lead into the developpé. It was thrown wide apart, to be sure, but was certainly no big sidesplit in the air.

[Guest Medora]

Yes, I have seen it done as the Queen of the Dyrad one that Susan Jaffe danced in Don Quixote with Baryishnikov and Cynthia Harvey. I have watched it a million times, and while Jaffe doesn't acheive a full split in the air, her legs are even extension, turned out, etc, and I'm just struggling with it. I am having trouble with even height of the legs, feet pointed, landing turned out, and bringing the foot all the way into su de coudepie (sp? I'd look it up but it's almost bedtime). It's not a real pretty sight right now ;) , sad too, because I can do the rest of it much better, even though that still needs work as well.

[Victoria Leigh]

It's not a big split thing, but it is far more than a little jeté. Yes, Fonteyn did underplay it, but it is done somewhat differently today ;)

 

Sur le cou de pied, Medora

[Mel Johnson]

Just start practicing it as a plain old jeté dessous, and then think of "hold it" right at the top of the jump. We'll work on the travel a little later.

[mandy1313]

There's a very good tape of Alla Sizova doing that variation. I can't quite remember the name--It mght be something like stars of the Kirov or backstage at the Kirov. She almost appears to float in the air when doing the a la second jumps you talked about. I actually had to check for strings! I can't tell you if watching her would help you personally but it would be a great tape do see anyway.