Pirouette Problem

[Guest dragonfly7]

I decided today to put in some time at home practicing my pirouettes, and the time alone actually helped a lot in identifying weaknesses that would never have occurred to me in class. I noticed that on my en dedans, I do clean, near-perfect ones to the right, but to my left it's an entirely different story. After studying the way my body behaved differently for each side, I found out that when I do the ones to the left, I tend to "fall backwards", if that's the right term. I then end up bringing the passe down behind me very quickly to catch the fall.

 

I tried to apply the techniques I used for my right side, but when I try to do it, it's never as clean. I always arch back and fall during the ones to the left. How do I overcome this - exercises, mind games, tips, anyone?

 

Thank you so much!

[Mel Johnson]

This is one of those Carnegie Hall questions, dragonfly:

 

Confused Pedestrian(to NYC cop): How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

 

Cop: Practice, practice, practice.

 

Everybody has a "leading side" like right- or left-handedness. One of the challenges is to get past this predisposition and be able to do things equally well to both sides. It's difficult, but it is being done every day, every class. What may help you is to make the necessary adjustments you feel from your turns to the right, and put them into HALF-turns to the left. Once you get that down pat, then you can take the corrections and apply them to whole turns. Depend a lot on "eyes outside your own". That is, rely on the teacher to help you, and/or another dancer whose opinion and ability you respect to give you some tips.

[lampwick]

Remember to practice perfectly too. Mel's suggestion of doing half turns is a good one. You don't want to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over or you'll develop a bad habit. If I'm having a bad turning day, sometimes I'll avoid attempting multiples altogether. Your brain really does get "programmed" a certain way.

[Guest dragonfly7]

Thanks to you both! I tried the half-turns and they are working. I hope to build them up to full turns soon. My teacher also agrees with doing away with multiples -- she told me to keep practicing my basics everyday - even if there is no marked change right away, one of these days I'll get to do those pirouettes right.

[Mel Johnson]

That's the way, dragonfly! I thought that would help. And your teacher is right. It's just like the old saying, "mind your pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves." Work on the small things, and get them perfect, then everything else will follow logically. There is no ballet fairy to sprinkle dancing dust on us, but we can make it seem that way, just by the way we work!

[Guest Kelsey]

Hi dragonfly,

 

You could also try to 'hang on' to the releve before you put your working leg down. I also have a tendency to fall backwards on my releve, and I found that it helped when i practiced half turns and tried to hold the balance before coming down.