grand battments

[Guest coppelia]

I am VERY flexable but my developees aren't high. My teacher says I'm using my quad when I should be using under my leg. but I don't know how to do that and the way she explains it confuses me. PLEASE HELP ME!

 

How do you HOLD your leg high?

[Mel Johnson]

In order to engage the muscles which will produce the most satisfactory results in extension, care must be taken to cause the thighs to be as fully rotated in the hipjoint as possible. The quads rightly only come into play in order to straighten the knee.

[Victoria Leigh]

coppelia, how old are you? It takes longer to develop the strength to hold the leg up than it does to get the flexibility to get it up. I don't usually expect to see full extension or the ability to hold it until after the student has stopped growing!

 

In terms of not overusing the quads, when you are getting ready to do a grand battement or a développé, take a deep breath just before, and exhale into the extension, thinking of a force coming from behind and underneath your leg. It's a circular force, sort of like a ferris wheel going in reverse around you. The breathing really helps a lot in finding this feeling and allowing the imagery of the energy pattern to work for you.

[RainbowBrite32]

When you go to extend your leg, think of lifting from underneath. Try to relax your quad until you fully stretch your leg. This way, sincew you are already using your quad to extend, it will still be activated and helping you lift, but now things will be more equal.

 

As ^ said, think of a circular motion. When you extend, all your energy is going out throught the leg and then it closes like a circle.

[Guest coppelia]

Thanks that does help a little... but my quad is still REALLY tightning it's clenching and I really want to work on it. Is there any imagry that might help???

[Victoria Leigh]

Um, I think I gave you some imagery in the post above.

[dancergirl39]

I took a master class with the Ballet Master, Johnny Chang, of Royal Winnipeg Ballet yesterday and he helped a lot with this!!!

 

Start in fifth position. Slowing bring your foot into coupe by pushing your toes IN toward the barre. Think of keeping the femur (upper leg aka thigh) in the same place while the calf bone (I forget the name, tibia?) comes up to meet it. Get into passe. You will be able to feel the muscles you need from this exercise. From there, you can extend and feel what you are using.

[Victoria Leigh]

dancergirl39, I'm really sorry, but I think you need to try that explanation again. It really makes no sense at all to me. The post was about how to not overuse the quads in a développé, and find the imagery to make the hamstrings more active in lifting the leg, even though the quads have to be working. You are describing getting to rétiré, but not beyond. I also do not understand about "coupe" and "pushing your toes IN towards the barre". There is a sur le cou de pied position in a développé, but no coupé (which is an action, not a position). Pushing the toes towards the barre could would work, but only if you are also pushing the heel AWAY from the tibia, otherwise you would have a very sickle foot.

 

This is one of the reasons that we are very careful about any technical advice given by anyone other than teachers. It can be very well meant, but also very easily misrespresented or not explained well enough to make sense.