Need help with extensions.....

[RainbowBrite32]

I can get my extensions to the side pretty high, but my hips always tilt. I've been working really hard to improve upon this, but I've made little progress so far. Is there a way to help this?

 

Also, I have a problem with extensions to the front. My hips stay level, but I lose my turnout as I raise my leg higher. Is there anyway to help this?

 

Any advice is extremely welcomed!

[Mel Johnson]

First things first: I bet that your hips are cocked in developpé a la seconde because you're trying to get the leg to the absolute side. Inch it forward a bit, and see if that doesn't help with getting the hips squared more, and also help with a higher developpé. Of course, you realize that anything above 100° extension (just above the waist) requires some displacement of the hips?

 

Now on developpés to the front, it is necessary to maintain rotation of the leg in the hipsocket, but devant is exceptionally difficult. Rather than feel that the leg is being carried into place with the quads, it is good practice to feel as though the leg is being supported from underneath by the abductor muscles and like structures. Front is the hardest direction to extend to, so it's just practice, practice, practice!

[Nycbdancer]

Maybe it's just me, but front actually seems easier than either a la seconde or arabesque, and I've yet to get a correction on my rotation in my working leg in developpe devant. And from checking in the mirror, I'm usually pretty good about keeping my hips squared at the same time. I don't know, maybe those are just muscles I worked more when I was younger?

[Mel Johnson]

Very possibly. You may have learned correctly early, and it's still with you!

[Astrodancer]

knock, knock from a 17 year old.

My developpe extensions to the front are terrible! I also have trouble maintaining my turnout, but I have the hardest time preventing myself from tucking my pelvis under in order to get the leg up. My body doesn't know what it feels like to NOT tuck when my leg is in the front, so when teachers are correcting me about this, I don't always understand how to fix it. Any tips??

[Victoria Leigh]

Astrodancer, there is really only one way to correct tucking under, and that is simply not to do it. Ever. The torso must lift up out of the pelvis, not push down into it. When you tuck under it rounds the lower spine and makes lifting your legs much harder, and movement in any direction almost impossible.

[RainbowBrite32]

Thanks guys!

 

To Mel Johnson-

 

Ok! I think the pushing to far side thing is what's doing it to the side. Yes, I do know that your hips have to tilt after a certain point, but I'm just trying to reduce that large amount! The quad thing makes sense. It's kinda like how my teacher says to think of your extensions coming from underneath.

 

To Astrodancer-

 

I agree with Ms. Leigh, the only way to correct this is to stop doing it! I had a hard time with tucking under early this year, but it improves with effort!

[Astrodancer]

Yeah, I guess the answer is just to be very disiplined about proper technique. As Hamlet says:

 

Refrain tonight,

And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence, the next more easy;

For use almost can change the stamp of nature

And either lodge the devil or throw him out

With wonderous potency.

 

In other words, just by practicing good habits it will become second nature to eliminate the bad ones!

[Mel Johnson]

And of course, never forget:

 

"A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malemute Saloon,

And the kid who handled the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune...."

 

Oh wait, that's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and isn't really useful unless you intend to murder someone in a barroom.

[RainbowBrite32]

lol, shooting someone in a barroom......... Why would I do a thing like that!

 

*Evil Laugh*

 

Anyways, thanks for all of the great advice! I'll be sure to apply it in class this week.

[balletbum74]

I am pretty flexible when it comes to hamstrings and the backs of the legs but my hips are tight. Is that why I can't get above 90 degrees for my front and side extension? I'm in physical therapy for it so it should get better soon.

[Mel Johnson]

Lindsey, you're what? Fourteen or fifteen? Just about now is when things should start loosening up for you and the extensions get higher.