Caroline Cassell Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I took ballet classes from age 3 - 11 and then for a year aged 24, 40+ years later I started Adult beginner classes. Now 18 months later I go to 6 classes a week and freely admit to being obsessed. As I never took exams as a child I have persuaded my teacher to enter me for an exam. Does anyone know if there's the option in Dance D the character dance to lunge instead of kneel at the end? I am struggling to kneel down in an elegant manner!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I’m not sure, Caroline - but welcome to the forum! Hopefully one of our resident teachers might know the answer to your question. ☺️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Red_Shoes Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Another Vintage Extra Mature dancer here - currently soon to take Grade 7. I find elegant kneeling (worse still - getting up again) about the hardest thing to do in the syllabus, but as far as I know we just have to get on with it! You could ask your teacher to ask the RAD for advice, but from what I understand if marks depend on it you would lose those marks. That said, I passed Grade 6 which included a kneel in the adage and another in the character, neither of which were executed particularly gracefully and I found the fast drop to the knee in character particularly taxing. While getting up again I did a subtle push with my hands on my knee. I did wear a knee support on my weaker knee. Alas, in grade 7 there are several places where I will have to get up from the floor without any little "cheats". It seems that we just have to do the best we can with our physical shortcomings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I know just how you feel Caroline older knees don’t like being knelt on!! Does the kneeling end the dance? It’s often the getting up gracefully which can be difficult eg: not having to use your hand to push you up! This could be okay if right at the end but not so good if carrying on dancing. It’s definitely worth asking ...you may get a point knocked off for not kneeling if you were to do a beautiful lunge instead but worth it for not having to worry about kneeling through the dance piece! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngatheart Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Yes 100% you could lunge Caroline - I have pm'd you. It is absolutely staggering to me that they put so much compulsory kneeling into syllabi commonly taken by adults - the Higher Grades, BOTH dance options at Intermediate Foundation and now Discovering Repertoire which is actually AIMED at adults. Do they really not get it???? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Red_Shoes Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 18 minutes ago, youngatheart said: now Discovering Repertoire which is actually AIMED at adults The Level 3 Princess Florine variation - it ends in a kneel, but one of the development exercises " Posé to arabesque and kneel" consists of repeatedly kneeling and just popping up again into a degagé derrière like it's the easiest thing in the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 I definitely think repeated kneeling is for the under 40’s as a general rule though I only found it a real difficulty by the time hit my 60’s but in yoga first ...started to find my right knee needed a cushion for any exercise on a raised knee. This knee doesn’t give me much of a problem dancing generally just when pressure is put on it as in kneeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngatheart Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 It also depends on how bony your knees are and any previous knee injuries. There are three aspects - actually putting weight on the knee against the hard floor, having enough control to lower onto the knee without the risk of banging it on the floor when you go down, and having the strength and control to rise up again gracefully afterwards. Many older adults would struggle with at least one of these, and some of us with all three....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Cassell Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 My knees are not the problem, it's leg strength that's the problem! Getting up and down is not elegant and in Dance D you have to put the weight on the right leg (my weakest) and slide the left behind and kneel on it. I am nearly 67 and slightly overweight which doesn't help but I am working on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SugarPlum2000 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 I’m not entirely sure if this ides would work but could you possibly practise sliding down into the kneel by holding onto something and repeating the movement but gradually loosening your grip until you are managing to do it without holding onto something? In my head that seems to make complete sense but I’m not sure if someone reading it will be able to make sense of it 🤦♀️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Cassell Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 That's what my teacher has suggested! So I am working on it ,just not confident that I will have sufficient control by 4th March, the date of the exam. I am also doing leg strengthening exercises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 You can use the top of the foot of the kneeling leg to push up if this is strong enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Cassell Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 It's sliding down that's my biggest problem, I can get up again albeit not very prettily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Again I think the top of the foot of the kneeling knee may be able to give some support as you go down .... also depends how good the non kneeling knee is in supporting the movement. I suppose you could go down but not quite all the way onto the knee and make it quite a wide movement but I’m sure you will work something out with your teacher!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverTooOld Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I can't offer an answer to your original question but just wanted to wish you luck with your exam and I hope you enjoy it. I too have re-kindled my love of ballet in my 40s so I would also like to say thank you to all of the teachers out there that support adults and give us the opportunity to do what we love, take exams etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now