Pirouettes En Pointe

[Guest ballet princess]

I have been on pointe for about a year now, but I struggle with my pirouettes en pointe. Occasionally I can do a single, but that seems to be once in a blue moon. I find that my main problem is falling back and coming off pointe before I have completed the turn. Can this be a matter of fear? I have to admit, sometimes I am scared to do them en pointe. My goal is to have my singles consistent by the end of the year, so if you have any tips, please share!

[Victoria Leigh]

Cathy, you answered your own question When you are afraid of something, the automatic reaction is to pull back. When your body weight is back on pointe, gravity pulls you right down! Pointe work has to be attacked, and it won't work if you are afraid of it at all, especially for turns. Lack of fear stems from confidence, and that stems from getting strong. Therefore, build up your pointe strength by doing lots of relevés, first at the barre, and then in the center. Practice the relevé to the pirouette position until you can get up there really centered and feeling totally on balance. Then do it around the corner. Then a little further around the corner. Suddenly, you will have a pirouette!

[Marenetha]

This isn't quite about pirouettes en pointe, but it's related (somewhat). I can pirouette. That's a fact. My placement in pirouettes, when I remember to do it properly, is fairly good - I can do 2-3 without trying too terribly hard if I remember to spring straight up. My body aligns itself, or something. However, in adagio, for example, or when merely balancing at the barre, I simply cannot keep my body in the way it's supposed to be - I always seem to forget how to do it. Could you please give me a brief explanation of where my body is supposed to be positioned? (Passes are most certainly my weakest point in dancing ... They HAVE improved, but improvement is hardly enough.) Thank you!

[Victoria Leigh]

Marenetha, I think you must understand alignment and placement by now, or you would not be doing pirouettes on pointe......or at least should not be! In order to do pirouettes you do need to "own" a good retiré position, centered and balanced, on relevé. I don't think that just "happens" all by itself when you suddenly do pirouettes!

 

Let's try to answer this from a different perspective. Please tell me exactly what you do not understand, or remember. Are your balance problems on flat, demi pointe, or pointe, or all of the above? Are you not sure where the working leg is placed, where the hips are, where the body weight belongs, or what? Give me something specific here to work with

[Marenetha]

All right, sorry if that was a little bit general. It's mostly a demi pointe problem - my pointework isn't exactly what you would describe as incredible, it still needs a lot of work, but it's not the main thing. I guess I mainly need help with hips/body weight - somehow it seems my position changes almost every time, and I know that that can't be right.

[Victoria Leigh]

The bones are aligned like a set of blocks, Marenetha. The head is the small block in the center on top of the other blocks. The shoulders sit squarely over the hips, which are even and not tilted, and the hips are over the feet with a higher percentage of the body weight in the forward 2/3 of the foot. The ribs are relaxed, the abdominals are working, and the back is lifted. When you move to one leg the weight of the body moves moves over that leg but the alignment does not change for a retiré position. When you rise to demi pointe you will move further over that leg to get the body centered over the foot of the supporting leg. The higher you rise the further you move over and the more forward the weight of the body needs to be. (Your center becomes further away from the ground on demi pointe, and even further on pointe.)

 

If you know how to stand correctly aligned on two feet, you simply (well, simply is relative here ) move that alignment over to one leg. The weight and alignment move together, whether you move over to the supporting leg or spring up, bringing the supporting leg under your center. Things change when you go to arabesque or attitude derrière positions, but not for retiré or front and side extensions.

[Marenetha]

Thank you so much! I've had people tell me most of that over the years, but it's a bit more understandable/appliable if all of it is placed before me. Thank you!

 

Amanda

[Guest ballet princess]

Thank you very much for your reply Ms. Leigh! I've been working on not being afraid to try steps en pointe and its helping. However, this has caused a new problem to rise. My new problem is, now that I can turn fairly easily because I'm not as afraid, I have a hard time landing the turn. For some reason I keep landing funny. For example, sometimes I sort of fall forward when landing.

[Mel Johnson]

Time to discipline your brain! Without your knowledge, your mind is reasoning that because you've done the turn, you can let down. That's not so. Every step has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The turn part of a pirouette is just the middle. You have to end wherever you have to end, whether it be fifth, or arabesque, or even doing a grand jeté straight out of the pirouette without closing anywhere! Just because you've turned, the body starts to collapse, or even flinch. Don't let it! Keep erect and on balance until you've reached the very end of the end. (And by that time, you'll be into something else!)