argh help me with my petit allegro and triple pi

[Guest ballet-boy]

Hi

I have been dancing for a while but I have 2 huge problems and you be soooooo greatful if someone could help me

 

1) petit allegro

 

I have problems with this in every class. I dont know if I lack coordination and should just quit ballet (I really dont want to do this because I really love it) or if I am just missing something.

yesturday we had a simple allegro ( glissade pas de chat jete repeat) and I just kept getting lost. I can do each of these steps individually it is just tying them together that is the problem

has anyone else had this problem? will it get better with time?

 

2) I cant seem to get enough momentum for even a tripple pirouette what should I do

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for reading this

 

K

[Victoria Leigh]

I wasn't sure which Young Dancer's forum to put this in, so moved it here to the Men's forum. If you tell me which age group you are in, I could move it again, or, it can be left here for Mr. Johnson or mbj.

[Guest ballet-boy]

I wasnt sure where to put it either because I feel that it is a question that anyone can answer be they male or female. I would greatly appreciate it if you could place it in whatever category you feel it would get the most attention as it is a problem that is very frustrating for me and i would really appreciate many opinions as possable

 

 

 

 

Many Thanks

Kirk

[Mel Johnson]

Dear Kirk,

 

It sounds to me as though you may be getting stuck down at the bottom of your demi-pliés in petit allegro, possibly even with your weight going back into your heels. That's a very common way for students to be slowed down in petit allegro.

 

And a triple pirouette doesn't take much momentum at all! What's the problem, are you just losing speed in the pirouette and coming to a halt on balance, or are you falling out of it? If it's the latter, you're just losing balance. Any pirouette is just a balance that happens to turn! Maybe you're flinching at the thought of the big, bad triple, and you hold your balance well throught the double, but at that third time around, you flinch ever so slightly, and bring your shoulders forward and the chest caves in. Don't do that.

[Guest ballet-boy]

Many thanks for your reply

in the allegro i just get confused and cant seem to do it as quickly as others

in the pirouette i just cant seem to get the momentum

 

Many Thanks

 

Kirk

[Dance_Scholar_London]

If you have more than two steps linked together, break them down. Instead of glissade - pas de chat - jete, try to get glissade - pas de chat right, then add the jete. Breaking it down helped me a lot!

[Guest ballet-boy]

Thank you so much

 

does allegro get easier as you do more and more of it?

 

You see my big problem is that i was trained in russia by a really wonderful teacher but we never really did any allegro but insteaad spent all our time perfecting individual steps and the muscle allignment thereof. Her attitude was that if you do things quickly you can easily cover up mistakes so everything has to be done really slowly untill it is perfect. we used to spend hours and hours on plies

 

 

Thanks a mill

kirk

[Mel Johnson]

Yes, allegro gets easier to remember as you do more and more of it. It's a very fine line that instructors have to walk. How do you teach students so that they do clean work and everything reasonably correct? Slowing everything down can have the effect that you've described. Moving them too quickly can lead to sloppy technique. It's a real knife's-edge.

[Danny]

Hey Mel,

 

I listened to a seminar on the Prix de Luassane website and one of the presenters talked about petite allegro and elevation in general. Basically they are saying that profeciency at these are highly related to the nervous system-how fast your muscles can contract rather than simply strength. I know in sports/running there is a lot of talk about fast twitch and slow twitch muscles is this the same thing? Can we develop such muscles or is this something people are born with?

 

Danny

[Guest ballet-boy]

interesting point

there is evidence to suggest that the brain adapts to changes in performance requirments. This process is know as neural plasticity and may explain why so many people report petit allegro being hard initially but most report that it gets easier.

 

 

kirk

[Mel Johnson]

Yes, and then there's functional fixedness, which involves no neuropathy, but just the way we process information. One develops a habit which must be consciously addressed when doing a step or combination which contradicts the habit. For example, a student develops an absolute tic about ending grand jeté en tournant entrelacé in first arabesque. If a teacher or choreographer wants the step to end in SECOND arabesque, the dancer has to think consciously about contradicting his/her usual practice.