Bourrees

[Giselle]

I'm having the most awful time with bourres! I can't seem to relax my knees or convince my feet to move fast enough. Everything just looks clunky and slow. When it comes to bourres, I'm the polar oppisite of graceful!

Thanks for any help.

-Giselle

[Mel Johnson]

Then don't try to start fast. Start as slowly as you need to, then build up speed as the coordination grows. This growth won't happen in one try or even one class, but will have to be built over several days and weeks.

[Victoria Leigh]

Giselle, try practicing bourrée in place, to get the correct movement of the legs and feet. Actually the knees are supposed to be relaxed! You should not be in a demi plié, of course, and the knees should "look" straight, however, they MUST be able to move or it would be a very wooden look. Be sure that you are leading with the BACK foot when you start to move!

[Guest DDancer32]

This year, I'm in Chopiniana and our teachers are really making sure that our bourrees are perfect. Because you travel toward your frong foot most of the time, try making sure that your back foot is the leading one and your front foot just has to go along with it. Even if you're not going toward your frong foot, the back foot can lead when you go foward. Also, making sure to hold your upper thigh and inside muscles helps. Good luck!

[shimmerynight22]

Hey- in this pas we are doing, I have the same problem. I think it's like an OCD thing, because when I just think of like marking it/doing it sloopily, it turns out better, because I'm not all tense and stuff!

[luv2dance515]

This is a common reply, but just remember that your back leg is leading. Think of it like it is pushing your other leg, because when the back leg moves, the front one has to also. This really helped me. Good luck!

[Mel Johnson]

I took class from Antony Tudor for awhile, and he always taught in a suit, white shirt and tie. One day, he untied his tie, and corrected one girl's bourrées by tying her knees together. One good way of communicating that the knees had to be kept rather close together.

[FlexNPointe123]

Make sure that you lift your feet as well, instead of grinding them across the floor! Of course don't lift them too high, but thinking about lifting will mae you bend your knees: unless one leg is longer than the other! Good luck!

 

~*Erica*~

[Skye90]

My teacher always tells us to imagine that we're stomping on bull ants......that helps. I found practice at the barre really helpful, because then you don't need to worry about the travel.

[Victoria Leigh]

Skye, the "stomping" part of that bothers me, as it would indicate to me that one is pounding the floor. The feet must move very quickly, but it must not be noisy and you have to keep lifting up higher and higher out of the shoes as you proceed in the bourrées. Imagine Myrtha clumping across the stage in her opening sequences of Act II Giselle!.

[feet]

 

When I went to some of my first pointe classes, and we worked on bourees, we would work on them without arms because a lot of the time arms tend to slow us down. Try starting with your hands just on your hips.

[Victoria Leigh]

The arms should not slow one down, in fact they should help, if they are used properly. Bourrées should be learned first at the barre, in place, and then traveling. The fingers lightly skim the barre for this, but don't really hold the barre.

[Skye90]

Sorry, I guess the stomping word is not quite right.....we were told to stomp silently though, which, I guess, is a contradiction of terms, isn't it? I think that steping on ants was just to get us to move quickly.....

[Mel Johnson]

Remember, in French folk dance, the name bourrée means "buzzing". It's like a dental scaler, not a jackhammer.

[Giraffedancer]

One thing our teachers will have us do is slow down a whole lot-just go across the floor taking a step with your back foot, and catching your front foot up, slow at first, and just gradually try getting faster. We are also told to pretend we have a hundred dollar bill in between our thighs and if it stays in, we get to keep it(it's usually just a piece of paper), but if it falls out, the teacher gets to keep it.