helpl with arabesques

[Guest dancingpeacock99]

Hello, I'm new here, and if there are any problems with this post being in the wrong forum, please tell me.

 

I want to ask for some straight up advice on the rules to doing a perfect arabesque. All I need is a list on things to do, like

 

1 point your toes

2 turn out

3 wing your foot

and so on. (but of course, not that simple.)

 

I want to know things like do I turn out my hip or not, and things like the alignment of the ribs, and stuff like that.

 

This is kinda a weird post, and I hope you get what I mean. Thanks!

[Victoria Leigh]

Hello dancingpeacock, and welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers!

 

I moved your post here, but I'm not sure it's the right forum for you. Since it's a technique question, it goes on either one of the Young Dancer forums, or the adult student forum. Let me know if this is the wrong one.

 

I will be back to try and answer your question in a few minutes. Just got home and need to check the rest of the board.

[Victoria Leigh]

Okay, peacock, I have finished dealing with the posts on the board while I was at work, and will try to help on your arabesques. By the way, there are quite a lot of topics about this, so you might also want to try the Search feature!

 

The first step to a good arabesque is a good tendu derrière. Once you understand how to place your body and rotate your leg and extend the leg and foot in tendu, then lift it off the ground. The more you lift it, the further forward your weight moves. As you approach a real arabesque position of 90º or more, your body weight will have moved forward and upward quite a bit. The hip will open slightly in order for the leg to rotate, but it must not lift. How much it opens depends on your own natural rotation and extention and general flexibility. The shoulders and the ribs NO NOT open. The foot is an extension of the leg, and if the leg is correctly placed in the tendu, and the foot correctly pointed in the tendu, then it is the same in an arabesque. From the tendu lead upward with the toes, but do not WING the foot unless your teacher has determined that this is the ONLY way that you can achieve the line.

[Guest dancingpeacock99]

Wow, thanks a whole bunch! Sounds like you know your stuff.

[Guest meliss83]

may i ask what it means to wing the foot?

[Mel Johnson]

Winging the foot means to allow the point of the foot to diverge OUTWARD from a straight line running from the knee to the big toe. It is sometimes called "sickling out". Usually, it involves the foot being incompletely pointed.

[Marjolein]

I was told by a guest teacher that my arabesque would look better if my foot was SLIGHTLY winged, because of my foot shape. Unfortunately, that's all i understood (my french isn't that great, and that's all she spoke), so how do i do it while keeping my foot pointed? It only needs to be winged a little bit, just enough to make to line from my leg to my foot look straight.

[Victoria Leigh]

Practice your tendu derrière facing the barre, where you can see the working leg in the mirror. Get the foot right in the tendu, and, keeping it pointed lift it to a low arabesque trying to keep the same feeling it had on the floor, with heel pressing down and the inside of the big toe leading up. If you don't flex the ankle and unpoint the foot, the line should hold. If it doesn't hold, try using a bit more hip rotation, as the line of the foot is also controlled by the rotation. Also be very sure it is behind your shoulder, and not out to the side. There is nothing worse than an "alabesque", where the leg is too far side instead of back, and compounded by a overly winged foot.