Arabesque

[honeyb2]

Whenever I do a grand battement to the back I can get my leg up high. But I know I must be twisted because whenever I do a pique arabesque I can't get my leg up at all when I'm square. What should I work on to get my arabesque higher? I can do my splits.

 

Thank you.

[Victoria Leigh]

First, practice your grand battement correctly! Your shoulders and ribs should be square, but the hip has to open a bit to have any rotation and to get up higher. If you can do it at the barre, you can do it in the center. Practice piqué to arabesque facing the barre. Stand back a bit, and piqué towards the barre.

[honeyb2]

In class today I tried to stay square when I did my grand battements and my arabesque lowered a lot. When I look in the mirror and stay on flat, my arabesque isn't even to 90 degrees anymore. I want to get stronger but I'm really sore tonight so it was hard.

[Victoria Leigh]

Are you moving your weight forward and upward in order to get your leg up? You have to adjust your balance point for arabesque, you can't just stand upright and not move at all.

[honeyb2]

Okay. Thank you. I'll try that and see if that's the case.

Edited May 6, 2004 by honeyb2

[Guest Gringa]

The same thing happened to me a while ago. My teacher recommended doing the splits but keeping your hips sqaured by bringing the back one in line with the front one. You can also try going down in the splits with completly parallel legs. I hope that helps

 

Always,

Lauren

 

 

 

 

*dance as if no one is watching*

[Guest fouette8O9]

ahhhhhhh thats my mom's user name!!!!!!!! The one above is from fouette8O9

[vrsfanatic]

honeyb2, make sure you are not pulling your weight back into your heels with any arabesque movement. Many times we think about taking our upper backs forward but forget to think about the placement of the supporting hip over the whole foot of the supporting leg. Once you understand how to keep your weight forward, next step is to remember to lengthen and hold the supporting thigh, generally the muscle grouping just above the supporting knee. Often we forget to strongly hold this area. Students can sometimes just align the bones without really using the musculature.