Correction about arms in pirouettes

[Tiffany]

I got a new correction today about my arms in pirouette. I was preparing from fourth for en dehor turn with left arm in first and right arm in second. My teacher said to let the right arm lag a little before pulling it in and then to pull it in quickly. I think it will help after I've practiced it a few times but I couldn't do it quite right today.

 

Oh another thing my teacher says...blink while turning to decrease dizziness--you only see what you're spotting, instead of seeing the whole room as you turn.

 

What other tips have you heard about arms, or anything else about pirouettes? I'd love to hear your tips/imagery/ways to think about pirouettes!!

[Skye90]

This is not advice...just a comment.

 

I've never heard of blinking in pirrouettes before. And I don't see the room go around when I'm turning. I see my spotting target....and the my spotting target.

[Toadette]

My ballet teacher says to keep your arms up quite high and strong. A lot of us have floppy arms that throw our weight too far forward, and then we end up falling over. Well, I do anyway! She says that if you think of keeping your arms up it stops your shoulders and upper-back posture from collapsing, and helps you to keep a 'pulled-up' feeling.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

This is not advice...just a comment.

 

I've never heard of blinking in pirrouettes before. And I don't see the room go around when I'm turning. I see my spotting target....and the my spotting target.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Same hear. And it must look strange

[scoop]

Hmmm, I don't think letting the right arm lag a bit behind would work for me -- seems that would throw my shoulder back. That could just be one of my idiosyncrasies, though. One of the corrections I get a lot during pirouettes is to make sure I take my shoulder with me. One thing I've found that helps with my arms is to open the left arm (using your example of an en dehor turn to the left) a bit as I plie, then bringing it back in with the right arm as I start turning. Makes me feel like I collecting all my energy and turning in one piece ....

[Tiffany]

I've gotten the correction about keeping my arms up, too.

 

Ok, so no one blinks when they turn? And no one has heard of this. Maybe my teacher should patent it or something. Or maybe not since no one would use it. I don't think it would be noticeable from the audience, maybe in the classroom it would be....

[Garyecht]

Any time anyone talks about imaging, Eric Franklin’s book about imaging (sorry, I can’t remember the title and am too lazy to go upstairs to find the book) comes to mind. He must have something like 50 different image ideas for pirouettes alone. Most I found not useful, but some were true gems.

 

One idea I got from his book that no teacher had ever mentioned concerned the height of the arms during the turn. His observation was that excellent turners tended either to have their arms higher or lower than average while turning. Keeping my arms higher than average was a disaster for me, invariably resulting in my leaning back during the turn. Deliberately lowering my arms below what was natural for me would often fix my turning. Of course this simple correction didn’t always work as many possible problems can occur during a turn.

[AnneT]

The book is "Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance" by Eric Franklin

ISBN 0-87322-943-6

 

It's an excellent reference manual.

[Garyecht]

Thanks AnneT, that’s it and though I said I didn’t find everything completely useful, I highly recommend the book and trying as many images as you can. The book must have 2,000 images, not all relating to ballet, but often applicable. If only 10% are useful, that’s 200, which is quite a few.

 

One of the good home practice sessions I used to do, especially when I felt tired and sore, was to take one or two sections, say tendu and develope, and work through combinations using each image in the book. Might take 30-40 minutes doing this. I’d cross off what didn’t seem to do much for me and make notes in the book about what I liked. Provided a nice change from the usual.

[dianec]

The arms in pirouette image which works for me is to think of holding a huge beach ball ie. keep them rounded and extended. But that's good for droopy arm syndrome, not for timing.

[Tiffany]

I've not heard of this book, thanks for mentioning it.

[jimpickles]

Our teacher here has just advised against blinking - if you are moving correctly, it will all be a blur anyway in between spotting.

 

Jim.

[mrpensayshello]

Another correction and tip is to spot in the mirror. The director of my ballet school taught us to spot the corner but the as I went to various summer intensives they advised to spot the mirror. I think it tremendously helps, and when you are older then the mirror will turn into the audience. As soon as I used this , I was pulling out triples.. en pointe! So I hoped I helped.

[ami1436]

I think 'where the spot is' changes depending on the person and their way of turning, but most importantly, where the turn starts from and where it *ends*. Sometimes if I need to land croise or efface (so, like 2.25 turns or so) - I *underspot* and spot front because I know I'll still get to the end position and whatever that position is, it is intended for my head to be front. However, if I'm going to end a turn in a tombe croise or so - I tend to spot to the corner where I need to land.

 

Direction, direction, direction!

 

And remember, 'fronts' can change so the mirror won't always be there - heck, I don't have a mirror in most of the studios I go to.

 

I don't think spotting my own face in the mirror would work for me - One I don't want to be boring a hole in the mirror. But what happens if you start to fall over or so? Or catch your reflection in the mirror at a different angle? I'd prefer a fixed object. And I would need an eyeline slightly higher than my own eyes. And, for things that go en menage or so, you need to be able to spot somewhere other than front, and to change your spot. Certain pirouettes with certain endings can even be taught with a changing spot (although I prefer not to change my spot.)

[lampwick]

The most helpful tip I can offer for pirouettes is to practice them without much force. I usually do a few singles slowly and don't worry about the landing. Just try and maintain that retire position with the shoulderblades square. You can almost coach yourself through them when you do them without much force since you have the time to really feel what's going on with your body. I've noticed that the best turners often do these slow motion pirouettes when practicing. The releve still needs to happen quickly, but just don't give yourself much spin. I can usually pull very nice triples like this on pointe. In flat shoes, you may not be able to get around much more than twice, but it's not really the quantity that's important. Just the sense of maintaining a good position without flinching.

 

I usually think of the turnout as being an active movement in pirouette. If I constantly think of moving the knees to the side during the turn, it really helps a lot.