1.5 new teachers

[booklover234]

I had the advanced male teacher in Ballet for the first time this week. (He teaches beginner classes, which I took even though it was below my level).

The good:

He demonstrated in more detail plie, releve, degaje (how to spell?), and tendu.

The not so good, but sort of good:

Apparently I sickle my leg in back tendu's, and in balances and jumps I lean to the left. Why did I never know this before? How to correct it?

Also, I had a newish jazz teacher for all three of my jazz class. (below my level, my level, and above my level.) The one above my level had four people in it. There, when she could focus on me, she realized my core is pretty weak (totally true). She asked me not to turn until I could get it stronger and asked me to do it fast (she said it nicer than that sounds). How do I strengthen it quickly (I am already doing 100-200 situps a day). Are there other exercises?

[Clara 76]

It sounds like your teachers are trying to help you, which is good, and it sounds like you are trying to understand and apply the corrections!!!!

 

First, vocabulary:

Plié

Relevé

Degagé

 

Somewhere around here, there's a thread on how to make the accent marks, but for the lower case é, you hit alt and 130 at the same time. You can look up alt codes if you wish.

 

On to the sickling:

It sounds like you haven't yet found your rotators, because typically when a foot is sickled, the entire leg is turned in! Stand with your right shoulder facing the mirror, best 5th position you can manage, right foot behind. Lift up and out of your supporting leg (the left leg) and concentrate on leaving your leg rotated and keeping your heel forward so that you don't sickle. Do the same thing with your left leg and see what it looks like. Try to connect what it feels like when you don't hold your rotation, and what it feels like when you do.

 

Leaning in your balances and jumps: I think that one probably has to do with alignment again, and probably some of your basic ballet training has been maybe more quickly gone over than your body may have needed. I'm glad you're taking the beginning classes along with your other classes because that will give you time to develop your technique!

 

As far as the jazz teacher goes- building your core takes some time, and situps are only targeting a few of the ab muscles. Is it necessary for you to take the advanced jazz class? Perhaps it would be a good idea to take your own level of jazz class?

[booklover234]

Thank you so much for the ballet advice! I'm in a rush today, but when I have a free moment i'll try the turnout help.

In jazz, other than the core, it is a really good class (the teacher can teach mixed levels) and the studio director recommended it to me several times (funny story there). The one my level is good, but slightly too easy and since it is summer and most of the teaching staff is gone this one teacher pretty much teaches every teen jazz class so that is the next best thing to my level.

And thank you about the accents, I always wanted to be able to do those!

Does the shortcut work on a mac?

[Clara 76]

Oh! I don't know about Macs........

[booklover234]

Well, I can always copy and paste .

I have another MAJOR rant. I'm putting this in the same topic because it is kind of similar.

So today I had three classes.

First was ballet, with my favorite ballet teacher of all time. It was great. No complaints whatsoever.

Next I had jazz, also with my favorite teacher.

Her class is structured like most summer jazz/hiphop/contemporary summer classes.

Warmup (took about half of class but was serious stretches).

Technique (across the floor and a little in center.)

Combo (short, took about 10 minutes).

Finally, I had contemporary.

It was structured the same way.

A compare and contrast between the two classes.

Jazz Warmup:

Everything we did had a specific purpose. I could feel every single stretch. The teacher pushed us down, but not in a way that hurt at all. It felt amazing. At the end, I felt tired, but in a good way, and very stretched out.

Contemporary Warmup:

We barely stretched at all. She demonstrated something to the front, expected us to pick up that it was supposed to be to the side and back, which wasn't actually symmetrical. Then, she expected us to pick up that it wasnt en que (on qua, don't know how to spell.)

Jazz Mini-Breaks:

During across the floor (as it says in our studio's rules) when there is a long break between your next time across, you can quickly grab a drink of water/stretch. If there is room, you can try a turn.

Contemporary Mini-Breaks

When I asked if after warmup I could get a drink of water she said "you should have gotten it before class" (I had had no time for a break as I ran between studios.) Then she let us get water, but during our breaks, when I got water like it said in studio rules we could, she sarcastically told me we couldn't.

Jazz Technique:

I absorbed every correction. Even though the teacher was sometimes sweet and sometimes less sweet, I felt like everything I did I learned.

Contemporary Technique:

I didnt feel like I learned anything. Even though she said the same things, I didn't feel like she got the message across at all!

Jazz Combo:

It was fast, but she didn't take breaks teaching. We were moving the whole time.

Contemporary Combo:

We worked really slowly. We worked for twice the other time and got a less clean combo. She had us taking so many breaks I actually wasn't warm by the end of it.

Jazz Reverance:

She stretched us a little bit and then had us bow.

Contemporary Reverance:

Random movements that didn't seem to go together.

In total:

Awful contemporary class, that I have to endure in a few weeks again. How do I get through it?

i was almost crying in frustration at the end of class.

[Victoria Leigh]

Not all teachers are created equal, Booklover. Just deal. It's one class in an SI program, right? It comes after several other classes and you should already be well warmed up. Just do your best and you will benefit, even if she is not the best teacher.

[booklover234]

No, this is a studio summer class.

I'll deal with it I'm sure. When I wrote the post, I had just come home and was still blowing off steam.

In other news, I have inherited my fathers bad back (as well as his nice long legs, so you win and you lose). My alignment, which as the new ballet teacher pointed out, was off, was so bad this week (and I didn't realize it until he pointed it out) that he felt my vertebrae and asked if I had scoliosis. I told him I didn't think so, but when I came home, I asked my dad, who said he had scoliosis and that I probably did too (minor, but still).

When I get back from camp, I'm going to get that checked out.

I'm hoping that all will work out!

[Clara 76]

Meanwhile be careful of any moves you're asked to make that exacerbate the issue.

[booklover234]

Moves like what? I know for a fact that really high arabesque (not a penchée) does hurt my back, whether or not I lean forwards.

Are there other steps like that?

[Victoria Leigh]

Arabesque most likely hurts your back because you are not doing it correctly. And by the way, you not "lean" anywhere in an arabesque, not even in a penché, which is an equal and opposite movement with the weight of the torso moving forward and downwarwd, while the leg is equally moving backward and upward. The body should not go further than the leg can go. It's like a seesaw!