Assemble en dedans

[Jaana Heino]

I hope I got the en dedans / en dehors the right way around here. ;)

 

Anyway, my problem is the assemblé in which the front foot sweeps to side and ends back. That is, the supporting leg is the one that is initially back.

 

I don't know exactly what my problem is, but I tend to a) be late going into the jump and to lose my balance backwards and/or towards the supporting leg coming out of it.

 

My teacher said to check that my weight is on both feet before going into the jump and not on the one that is supposed to sweep next (the combination we had it in would leave it there if I didn't move it), and that helped some, but it didn't quite solve the problem.

 

Assemblés sweeping on the back leg are not a problem. Or not as much a problem - I don't pretend that I always finish with a clean fifth there either.

 

Any suggestions?

 

(I've been taking classes for a year now, 2 or 3 times a week.)

[Victoria Leigh]

Sounds like you are not assembling the legs into a 5th in the air and landing on both of them at the same time with the weight equally distributed. The assemblé you describe is an assemblé dessous, or under

[Jaana Heino]

Ms. Leigh,

 

yes, this could be what happens, as part of the problem is that I seem to be too slow going into the jump - maybe I then don't have the time to get up and down properly.

 

The problem is that the beginning of the jump feels so awkward that I cannot do it any faster even though I try. It feels as if my leg was somehow stuck on the floor. Funnily, I don't have this problem the other way.

 

(Terminology, aargh. )

[Victoria Leigh]

Jaana, be sure that your weight remains forward, even though the step is under, or backwards. When you brush out the front leg you are probably allowing your weight to move backwards, and it can't do that!

[Jaana Heino]

Ha! Thanks. That's it. Now that I think of the step I seem to have a tendency to push my weight just slightly "away" from the working leg to "give it room" to move... This has not manifested as a serious problem when the "away" is "forwards" anyway, but not that it is to the back it's throwing me to all kinds of funny directions.

 

Thanks. I'll try correcting this at class.

[Victoria Leigh]

By the way, an assemblé en dedans would be one which turns, as in assemblé en tournant ;)

[Xena]

Also, an assemblé travels, which may help you, but only if you weren't travelling before Many people make the mistake of trying to stay in the same place and have problems with them. As soon as you say travel forwards or backwards or sideways, suddenly they can do them.

 

Jeanette

[Guest piccolo]

Wait. I know assemble travels in a grand allegro combination, but what about smaller allegro combos? Say, glissade (traveling to the right), assemble. Does that assemble travel? Doesn't that one stay in place?

[Victoria Leigh]

An assemblé may stay in one place or travel (assemblé porté). There are a lot of different assemblés!

[Xena]

I knew I should have spread my options and said they "may" travel ......;).

[Mel Johnson]

And to make matters even more complex, assemblés en tournant are conceivably both en dehors and en dedans and dessous or dessus in either. Granted, I've only encountered en dedans/dessus, but the others are possible.:eek:

[Jaana Heino]

Ms. Leigh,

 

the point about making sure that my weight remains forward seemed to do the trick for the assemble. We finally had this combination again today.

 

(Now I only was totally lost about the rhythm of the combination... but I think my teacher got that sorted out, too.)