Fingers touching in Prep-position

[Skittl1321]

I took a class recently that was geared towards those who had never taken a ballet class before (most barre work was done facing the barre, and much in parallel, slowly moving to 1st position).

 

In center we held our arms in preperatory position for tendus in 1st position, and the teacher reminded us to shape our arms like we were holding an egg (not a ball), and to have our middle fingers touching.

 

I've never heard of fingers touching. Is this common in a style/method I'm unfamilar with (and which one) or is this likely just an aide to beginners to be aware of their placement?

[Hans]

I haven't heard of a style or method that requires the fingers to touch in this position, so I'm going to guess it is for beginners only.

[Skittl1321]

Thanks I won't think of it further. I thought it was odd, but moved my hands closer together because thats what the teacher asked for.

 

(He otherwise did a fantastic job of giving advanced corrections to those of us who could take them while still only doing REALLY simple exercises.)

[vrsfanatic]

While this is not correct Vaganova methodology, I can say that I have asked students who keep their finger distance too far apart, to touch their middle finger tips together rather than hold their finger too far apart. It has been my experience that in order to change the shape of the arms from holding the fingers outside of the thighs to the pinky being held in the middle of the thighs (one hand width in front of the thighs), this correction, while not perfect can be helpful to help make the necessary changes. Eventually, just my experience, the fingers fall naturally in front of the thighs. In lower level classes, it is really quite helpful.

[silentlysailing]

I agree with vrsfanatic, my most recent teacher does it a little bit in the beginner class only and then only with the very beginners really, that are having trouble with the positions.