Chaines and spotting over your shoulder

[hart]

I am embarrassed to admit that after three years of ballet, I really stink at chaines. I still look like a drunkard doing the stupid things. I just cannot get the rhythm and feeling of the movement. When you do them, do you really do half turns? Or is it more like quarter, 3/4? I seem to get thrown off because I seem to turn too much, throwing the rhythm of my spot off, but I am not even sure of this. My feet always look turned in on these things, especially as I initiate the en dedan part of the movement. The weight transfer also seems to be way too obvious, but it is hard to fix chaines when you can't see yourself doing them. I know I need to keep working on my spotting over my shoulder because I also struggle with pique turns, soutenu turns, and emboites going across the floor. Any suggestions?

[insidesoloist]

Do you do your chainés in first position or in fifth?

[hart]

Uhmm,

 

Sometimes second, sometimes fourth, sometimes 6th, a wide sixth . , rarely 1st or 5th. Think Frankenstein. Seriously though, I have been taught both ways, and I am not good at either. I usually attempt 1st. If someone more fully explained the 5th position, I would try it because my main teacher does seem to prefer fifth position.

[WendyMichelle]

Hart! You sound like me! I used to blame it on my eyes, but maybe now it's inner ear or something (that's my excuse this week anyway!). I can get the spot and keep the spot for about three of them........then I'm going wildly out of control and finally stop and start falling around and walking/stumbling with hands out for something/someone to grab hold to. I always tell the girls that I swear I've not had anything to drink before class. They get a kick out of it!

 

WM

[insidesoloist]

Hart, have you asked your teacher what's wrong with your chainés? She or he can see you at least!

And ask him/her about chainés from fifth as I can do them, but have yet to think about how...and I'm hardly one to go there right now. I'll take a crack at helping with those in first, but bear with me because I've just started trying to teach kids chainés this week and I'm munching on some humble pie as I type this. That said, for chainés in first, see if any of this works for you:

 

1. Take them slow. This alone might help you diagnose the problem yourself.

 

2. Figure out if you can manage even footsteps.

 

I learned chainés in first by starting them with a piqué onto demi-pointe and doing slow 1/2 turns in second position across the floor. Really slow. As in pique right foot, left foot hits second position. Pause. Push off right toes and complete second half of turn. Pause. Et cetera. As my class became comfortable with these, our teacher had us bring the legs in closer to first and faster little by little. We ended up doing chainés in first and all was well.

 

I think starting them this way helped us get into our bodies the even half-turn feeling. After years of not dancing and then coming back to it, I had lost this, and found I was making three-quarter turns on my stronger leg. I went back to the way I learned them as a child and found that this helped me regain my even footing.

 

3. Get your spotting straight.

 

If the real issue for you is not the half-turn aspect, but the spotting, ask a friend to take a look and see if you are tilting your head when you spot. Some people try so hard to keep their focus before they whip their head around that they leave their head in place too long and as it has no choice in the end, it starts to tilt before it whips around. Another common problem is that people have a shoulder that dips and pulls them off balance (often towards the back of the room). A friend can probably spot this as well. And make sure you're holding your arms in first position and not letting them collapse in and allow you to speed up!

 

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

[Garyecht]

Insidesoloist’s suggestions were excellent I thought. I might add the following.

 

My guess is that if you are turning too much you are worrying too much about turning enough, perhaps using your arms too much, and not just letting the turn just happen. My experience is that this kind of worry is hard to overcome and is overcome about the time you essentially give up trying so hard, relax, and wa-la, magic happens.

 

Try keeping your feet close together, which will make you turn faster and more rhythmically. At home, see how many turns you can do in a given space, which will help you learn to keep your feet closer together.

 

I also think of chaines as a spotting exercise rather than a turning exercise. Perhaps concentrating on your spot and essentially forgetting the rest might help, I don’t know.

 

Most of all, keep a positive attitude about learning. Try different things to see what works for you and be both patient and persistent.

 

For the adult student, I also think after three years of class you reach something of a crisis point. You are at the point where you realize that you are not that good, but your motivation to be good is high. Resolving that tension in a way satisfactory to you is both rewarding and important I would say.

[Kate B]

For the adult student, I also think after three years of class you reach something of a crisis point. You are at the point where you realize that you are not that good, but your motivation to be good is high. Resolving that tension in a way satisfactory to you is both rewarding and important I would say.

 

That is so true. I've been dancing ten years now and I still feel like that.

 

My chaines stink too. I know spotting is my major problem, because for ten years various teachers have yelled 'spot - spot - spot - why aren't you spotting?!' at me as I ramble around dizzily in pique turns and chaines.

 

Asking your teacher to tell you what you're doing wrong is an excellent idea - but make sure you act upon their advice or you'll always have a sticking point with turns.

 

I should listen to my own advice more often...

[appleblossom]

You could get someone to videotape you doing them, then watch it back. That may give some clues.

[insidesoloist]

Oooh, appleblossom, yes. Hart, if you do so, while you're at it, might as well have them videotape the whole class. There's loads to be learned from seeing video of yourself dancing.

[appleblossom]

Oooh, appleblossom, yes. Hart, if you do so, while you're at it, might as well have them videotape the whole class. There's loads to be learned from seeing video of yourself dancing.

 

 

Though, you need to be prepared to see yourself in an unflattering way. Cos i have seen me on video before, and being such a perfectionist - to have all my glaring faults captured forever was nearly enough to make me quit. So dancer beware! (I know and im the one that suggested it)

[dianec]

Lots of good advice here already. I would echo garyecht: When I watch other people doing chaines, it strikes me that one frequent problem is they're taking too big a step, because it slightly throws them off balance and then it's really hard to maintain the spotting.