r3dh3d Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 (or boureee or whatever) How would you do it? DD2 (11) has her first festival solo next week, and the teacher is going over it with her on Saturday morning. There is a little bit of demi pointe couru in the middle that is new to her but the teacher thought she would just 'get' ... and she just hasn't. If she can improve it at all before Saturday, then they can spend the time working on the rest of the dance. So she wants to practice tonight.I'm no expert (at ALL) but it looks to me as if she is having some sort of mental block where she is locking her legs out: she starts by releve in 5th, for which she's had it drummed into her that her knees need to be somewhere up by her hip bones, and then she totters about with knees locked like a robot. My gut feel is that she has this so fixed in her head/muscle memory that telling her to slightly soften the knee won't work - she will have to start from scratch trying to do it in a very slight plie to get a completely different feel, and then straighten gradually from there. But what do I know? Anyone come across this problem before and solved it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBallerina Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 You could try to get her sit down on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her. Ask her to wiggle her knees. If she can manage to do it sitting she is more likely to be able to do it standing up. I have found it to be helpful, so it might be worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flit and float Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Also maybe stand facing barre/chair & releve 5th, do teeny little steps on alternate feet picking up the feet just off the floor, literally just picking the toes up, think scraping something off them - she'll need to bend her knees to do that. Practice slow & build up to faster & faster (essentially she's doing slowed down corous) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3dh3d Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 Thankyou both!Huge improvement in just 10 minutes. For some reason, the exhortation to keep her legs close together had translated to "weld your knees together so your legs can't really move". No clue what goes on in their little heads sometimes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 There's a lovely clip on youtube of a royal ballet dancer demonstrating the step - can't remember how to post a link though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Is it on the Royal Opera House channel under the "Ballet Glossary"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Thankyou both! Huge improvement in just 10 minutes. For some reason, the exhortation to keep her legs close together had translated to "weld your knees together so your legs can't really move". No clue what goes on in their little heads sometimes! My daughter was told to practice with a £5 note between her thighs; the point being to keep the £5 in place using her turnout muscles but keep the knees soft and fluid at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Is it on the Royal Opera House channel under the "Ballet Glossary"? Yes I think so. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r3dh3d Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 If it's the one I'm thinking of, it comes up first hit if you put an even vaguely sensible search string into google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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