pirouette

[Guest dancerwannabe]

Hey guys! I took my first two classes after ADC this week and something really cool happened. After Richmond I decided I wasn't going to fret about the whole me not being able to do a pirouette thing anymore and just concentrate on other stuff. Accept that I am not a natural turner... Then in class on Wednesday we had a combination that had pirouettes and I did one single.. and then another.. I was so shocked on the third that I forgot to do the rest of the combination! I am so unreasonably excited! At Richmond, I asked Anne to watch me do pique turns and tell me what I was doing wrong.. She said, "your trying to do everything with your front arm and forgetting the back one".. "It looks like it's throwing you off balance".. And then I changed it..and it's working! So I tried it with the pirouette and it worked too. Who'da thunk it!!

 

 

My dad says that if something happens once, it's a fluke. If it happens again, could be a coincedence, but if it happens a third time.... you must be doing something wrong (or in this case right!)

 

I was so excited I have to tell someone!

 

Casey!!!

[Victoria Leigh]

Congratulations, Casey Sometimes it only takes someone saying one thing slightly differently and something clicks ;) However, I hope you are aware that it's not actually the arms, but the torso itself, especially the upper back muscles, which create the turn. Overuse of the arms can topple it, but, if you use the back muscles correctly the arms work correctly as a result. In your case you need to think more of the left side coming around when you turn to the right, or the right side coming around in a left side turn. Try to feel the back muscles motivate the turn instead of the arms!

[Guest dancerwannabe]

I think I wasn't bringing my shoulder around before.. Before I was really using that leading arm to hoist me around and not concentrating on the movement of the other one...but I think Anne helped me see that... Otherwise I kept falling over.. That seems to be a common theme in my dancing... Hence why I refer to myself in dance as a rhino..

 

Thanks!!!!

[Mel Johnson]

Ah, but Rhinos ought to make excellent ballet dancers! After all, it's in their platform that the first thing they'll do when they come into power is repeal the Law of Gravity! (This is of course, the Rhino Party of Canada);)

[2 Left Feet]

Congrats, Casey. Richmond in June helped clean up my turns as well. It does indeed feel great. Then again, there's always something else to work on -- Yuck. Arnot threw me in Richmond with those turns from second. I never did get them right.

[Boots]

Congratulations! I still get a nice warm fuzzy feeling when I execute a single turn well. I am working on doubles now, but I still work on good clean singles too - there's always something to learn (and I am not a natural turner either ) Just try to capture that feeling of accomplishment now so that you can call it to mind the next time you're having a not so great class - it always helps to remind yourself what you've been able to accomplish on those days when you're bent on making yourself miserable ;)