Pirouettes in the hot seat!

[Anjuli_Bai]

Pirouettes and Hormones, and other physical changes....

 

Pirouettes are a precisely balanced phenomenon and can be skewed if the body's delicate chemical balance experiences a change.  This change can be the result of illness (either present or oncoming), tiredness, as well as monthly hormonal changes experienced by female dancers.

 

One of the first things I would do upon taking up my position at the barre for daily class as a part of my pre-class warm-up, was to try to ascertain where my body was "on balance" that particular day and the most succinct and accurate "test" was to do a pirouette - just a single pirouette - first thing.  If I experienced a definite problem with the balance in a single slow pirouette, it was an excellent indicator that something had changed in my body.  Sometimes it heralded the onset of a cold that had as yet caused no other symptom.  Over the years, I learned to trust this pirouette test.

 

However, a check of the calendar was in order, too.  I naturally prefer to turn to the left (though I am right handed).  Therefore, if I found that my pirouette to the left was not smooth, or totally "off," and suddenly turning to the right felt comfortable, this was a sign that the calendar date was of significance rather than the onset of a cold.  This information is very individual, I know, but if you observe this pirouette "test" consistently, it might become an accurate indicator for you, too.

 

I found that the calendar profoundly affected my balance in other areas of dance, too.  A day or two "before" I would be so "on balance" that it seemed I could stay up on pointe in arabesque forever and literally had to pull myself off to get on with the rest of the dance.  Then there would be that sudden switch from being more comfortable to the right than my usual comfort going left - that would last for a day or two.  Then everything would settle down - back to my usual balance of preference for the left in turns.  And, my overall balance would settle to its usual ability (I was fortunate to have good balance generally).  All of this could be plotted on the calendar.

 

The advantage to having this knowledge is that it gives you a clue as to what is happening to your body.  It keeps you from wondering: "Why are my pirouettes all messed up?"   It takes care of "panic" over pirouettes - needless frustration and the self flagellation that dancers all too often inflict upon themselves.

 

If the "problem" is the calendar, there is not much you can do to alleviate that, but it does help to know that it is an explainable situation that will in a couple of days straighten out.  If it's a cold coming on, well, that too gives you the opportunity to calibrate your expenditure of energy and care.  Forewarned is forearmed.  Cuts down on mental anxiety  - which is a good thing!

[LinMM]

Well I don't really have the major female hormone probs any more(thank goodness) but I think I do believe in general biorhythms.....that the body does tend to go in cycles(intellectual/emotional/physical etc. sometimes when these all come together I suspect you would have a good pirouette day! And if they're all out of alignment then you have an awful pirouette day.....most of the time one is between these extremes! I can understand the cold issue as this could affect the ears....intricately involved in any balancing procedure but have never tested with a pirouette yet!! Thanks food for thought again Anjuli

[LinMM]

Just like to add that I'm sure Ballet has some specific biorhythms all of its own....on top of all the others!!!

[drdance]

What do you make to this then?!(yes I know it's not ballet, and she has a tap shoe on....!) 

[Fiz]

Pointless! I should imagine the tap on the shoe made it much easier for her to turn as it is slick.

[Anjuli_Bai]

Well, I don't see it as dance.

 

When she gets toward the end you can see her body is being turned by the snapping of the head - the spot.

 

If all else is balanced, and the head snaps around - the body must follow.

[drdance]

It does certainly demonstrate that if everything is balanced and held securely, it is the head action that creates the multiple turn. 

[LinMM]

Still an amazing feat! Demonstrates a good push off as well.

[Michelle_Richer]

Lin: I can certainly identify with biorhythms or something similar affecting balance. I do two body balance classes a week, every week, which is a combination of Yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi, a lot of what we do is very relevant to ballet, especially balance. Some weeks I’m rock solid, others I’m all wobbles trying to get stability but it just eludes me. This to some degree is true of my teacher too. But there is nothing I can put my finger on.

 

Picking up a point from a earlier post by Anjuli about the condition of the floor (Slippyness) . I guess I almost subconsciously calibrate the effect of the floors mostly as I walk into a studio, I step into a single turn  en dedans pirouette with minimal effort. Surfaces are widely different. Lincoln, Wisbech and my own studio is similar, I suspect we have the same Harlequin vinyl surface, Kings Lynn and Peterborough are quite slippy, Stamford is a wooden ballroom floor (looks as if its polished) is extremely slippy, Whilst ENB has a very noisy floor that is not particularly slippy and also has lots of black skid marks which I guess is caused by excess friction.

 

I think stepping into pirouettes is almost habit forming, I’ve tried in bare feet in the gym for my body balance class, there is just too much friction and it just not going to go. I’ve also gone through many pair of regular tights doing the same this on my lounge carpet as its relatively slippy. particularly if music is playing, the kitchen floor vinyl tiles are brilliant for slippyness. However I did nearly did have a nasty accident, I was down my brother-in -laws and we were talking about ballet, he mentioned something that sounded like pirouettes, so I said you mean “pirouettes”, slipped my shoes off and proceeded to do one. The carpet was nothing like mine, the friction was enormous, my standing leg on releve was not going to turn and the pain hit me in the knee as it twisted, it did turn but not as anticipated. That was a painful lesson learnt about surface calibration.

[Anjuli_Bai]

Would be interesting to connect your "on balance" and "off balance" days to a calendar and see if a pattern emerges.

[Michelle_Richer]

Would be interesting to connect your "on balance" and "off balance" days to a calendar and see if a pattern emerges.

 

Yes I'm all for measuring things to understand and enhance performance, thank you that's a brilliant idea Anjuli.

[Anjuli_Bai]

Breathing Life into Pirouettes

 

 

One of the best teachers I ever had – and I only took from him for a short time - was the late Robert Rodham, principal dancer NYCB.  He stressed the breath in dance and it became the breath and breadth of dance for me.

 

Your breath literally becomes part of the counts – the pulse of the music. For instance in a preparation for pirouette and then the pirouette itself, it would be something like this: Start in 5^th position right foot in front, en face to the mirror.  As you tendu to seconde – inhale; close to 4^th position derriére – exhale; pirouette – inhale; finish pirouette – exhale.  Notice that the inhalation occurs during the pirouette which helps to sustain you.  Obeying all the other rules –like turnout, spotting, etc. – you will find that this synchronization of breath adds life to the pirouette.

 

Nijinsky said that he inhaled at the height of his grand jetés.  This matching of breath to the pulse of the music is also very helpful in adage.  It becomes infused and also suffuses the dance that you are presenting.  Try it first in the simple pirouette combination I illustrated above.  Takes some practice – and then it just becomes a part of you.

 

It just feels “right” - it gives your dance life.

[LinMM]

Well I'm not sure if I'm always breathing that well when dancing generally.....so much to concentrate on! But when teachers have said "well now lets do that again and this time everybody breathe please!!" I have definitely found that it helps especially for me in adage work...then the breathing can hold it all together. I will make a special effort to breathe in pirouettes this next week. Tonight in class I did pull off two quite good ones and I noticed that the difference today might have been that the very top of back seem to be in better alignment and shoulders pulled down more and have been using your idea of the knee out as a sail....getting the knee to the side more really helps but the shoulders being really pulled down into the back made a big difference tonight at any rate.

[Anjuli_Bai]

Pirouettes: Right and Left

 

Every ballet student knows that pirouettes are more comfortable when done to one side than the other.  This is true of just about everything we do.  Most of us favor one hand over another for particular tasks.  We tend to chew more on one side than the other.  We use one eye more than the other; consistently step up on a curb with one foot before the other; put on clothes using the same foot before the other and even smile and perhaps talk more to one side of the mouth than the other. 

 

Each of these things can be tested:  curl your lip and snarl.  It will feel much more comfortable on one side of the mouth than the other side.  Look through a telescope and you will probably automatically use the eye that your brain prefers.  Favoring the right in one area does not mean that you will favor it in all the other areas.  Being right handed doesn't mean you will favor the right side in other things.

 

This is also true of movement in general.  As you pull your car out of a perpendicular parking space and you can go either to the right or left - which way do you prefer to turn the car? 

 

So, it comes as no surprise that pirouettes, in fact all turns, are much more comfortable to one side than the other.  Of course dancers need to train both sides.  When dancing in the corps de ballet, or with other dancers, one must be able to do as the choreography instructs.  But when dancing as a soloist, or choreographing for oneself, it is helpful to know which side is favored. 

 

Most dancers tend to be right-handed turners and from my personal observation those dancers who do favor the left tend to be male.  There are some very famous male dancers who prefer to turn to the left.  It is much less common for females to prefer the left - I am one of them.  This gave me problems when dancing with a group of women since, of course, I had to accommodate to them and turn to the right. 

 

When turning to one's less favored side technique becomes even more important.  When turning to the left, I found I could just "do it."  But, when turning to the right, it took more energy, more thought and a great deal of concentration and adherence to the rules.

 

It might be helpful to remember that this right/left business doesn't just apply to pirouettes, but to all movement that circles to either side and even linear movement such as tour jetés.

 

The more a dancer knows about her/his body the more success (and the less frustration)  the dancer will enjoy.

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Anjuli

I read you post with interest, I wonder what you make of my observations, firstly with Pirouettes I favour the right as the standing or pivoting leg, the reason for that, it is the one with the best balance, however its also the weakest. Both with developpe and grand battement I don’t have the same strength for the extension in my right as I do in my left and my right tires more easily.

 

However I do favour the left as the pivoting foot with Posé turns, I think that’s just down to that was the side I learnt first with a series of single turns across the room on the diagonal with an abrupt but correct stop on each turn, that position was also the preparation for the next turn. I think it because that was drilled into us and where we developed the muscle memory first before we were allowed to do a continuous series of turns.

[Anjuli_Bai]

I found that there were no hard and fast rules with the right/left preference.  I just naturally prefer to turn left supported by my right foot.  However, when it comes to fouettés, I prefer to turn right supported on my left foot.  Go figure.  Then the whole thing would flip for about 2 days in the month.

 

So, I am not surprised that you find variations on the theme too. 

[Anna C]

Anjuli, on the theme of turning, can you give any tips for spotting at speed? My dd was having to do some fast posé turns across the studio the other day and seemed to have a little trouble finding her focus when travelling fast. I know thre's nothing wrong with her eyes so can only think she's not practised enough at spotting at high(ish) speed and getting her eyes to focus quickly each time. Does that make sense?

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Spannerandpony

 

I don’t know if this helps, but if you have the music track for timing or something a little faster, then you might get her to try the exercise in this video. Especially if she is spotting two or three points in this exercise, she will need to refocus.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_ahTicm9n2s

[Anna C]

Thank you Michelle! :-)

[PetrovaFossil]

In ice skating, everyone jumps AND spins either anticlockwise (the majority) OR clockwise. Interestingly, assuming most people are right footed (wikipedia quotes about 80%), this means most skaters are jumping off and spinning on their non dominant leg. Although preference for turning direction in skating does not correspond to dominant hand/foot.

 

Having done quite a bit of ballet and yoga I find this "one sidedness" quite strange. I wonder if more people would do at least some spins and jumps both ways or find a mixture of preferences in the way you describe if everyone learnt both ways initially. My coach is really not keen to teach me both ways (she says it is too confusing) but I practice both ways a little bit.

 

Thanks for these articles, I'm really trying to sort out my pirouettes currently so v timely. The falling backwards thing was quite a relevation - why didn't I notice that before??

[Anjuli_Bai]

Anjuli, on the theme of turning, can you give any tips for spotting at speed? My dd was having to do some fast posé turns across the studio the other day and seemed to have a little trouble finding her focus when travelling fast. I know thre's nothing wrong with her eyes so can only think she's not practised enough at spotting at high(ish) speed and getting her eyes to focus quickly each time. Does that make sense?

Have her practice with a friend standing where her spot would be and do the holding up different numbers of fingers as described in the article about spotting which is above..  Going down the diagonal in posé turns - they are an excellent turn to use to practice because they aren't really a complete turn- but a 3/4 turn.  Let her call out the number of fingers the friend holds up.  It takes a bit of practice but it comes fairly readily.

 

As for learning to turn both to the right and left - absotutely - a dancer must learn to turn to both sides.  But knowing one's preferences is good information. 

[Anna C]

Great, thank you Anjuli. :-)

[LinMM]

I've noticed a preference for turning to the right no matter what supporting leg which if I hadn't been observing I would have thought the turn on the strongest supporting leg would be favoured!

To clarify when turning en dedans definitely prefer the right.....and this would also,be the right leg supporting.

However when turning en dehors I also feel more comfortable to the right(though less marked than when en dedans) and that's then actually the left supporting leg!! And it's very difficult to describe this "more comfortable" feeling but it's definitely there.

In Pose turns I am markedly better when turning to the right and on right supporting leg......always more likely to go off course to the left!

But I think it would be a good practise for spotting at least to have to continue on round in a circle(as is often choreographed in ballets in fact) rather than just keep to the diagonal as it would force you to keep re- focussing your spotting point so to speak.

I must try going on round in a circle to the left could be interesting...............

[Anjuli_Bai]

It is a very good excercise to do posé/piqué turns in a circle.  You spot it like it was a square and it will look to others watching like a circle.  You plan it out - tell yourself you will do 4 or 6 or 8  (pick a number) in a straight line and switch spot on number (pick a number) for the next side of the square.  You have to plan ahead.

 

Doing these turns in a figure 8 is a real lesson in spot control.  You take two chairs and place them a distance apart and your figure 8 has to go around the outside of your chairs.  This keeps the figure 8 from collapsing inward. This is a real test when done to your less favored side.  At one point as you are rounding one end of the figure 8 you are literally turning against yourself. 

 

I used to love to do these on pointe.  You can try this will many different kinds of moving turns.

[Michelle_Richer]

I know this is slightly off the main theme.

 

I came across that Squeaky floor at English National Ballet last night. As I was not sure if it was just me, I got my teacher to do a pirouette, as we don’t do them in that class. She got the same effect and gave a big ooooow and surprised look on her face, but didn’t offer an explanation. It must be the worst floor I have encountered with so much traction. It’s littered with lots of black skid marks that must say something.

 

Another strange phenomena, my own dance surface, a vinyl by Harlequin dance floor, when it gets hot in the sunshine (as my studio is a large conservatory), it appears more shiny and definitely a lot more slippy, as it cools the slippyness diminishes.

[Anjuli_Bai]

I don't think this is off theme - floors are a major component of turns.  They are part of the equipment.

 

The surface of a floor is not only different in composition (wood, tile, etc.) but also changes with the weather - which includes both moisture as well as temperature), cleanliness, use/wear and what products it has been treated with. 

 

As I am sure you know, too much friction is just as dangerous as too slippery.  When I took my students around to dance in various venues in the community such as nursing homes, elder care places, day care, schools, etc., I noticed how shiny the tile floors were while at the same time not slippery at all.  Places like hospsitals, schools, stores want attractive looking floors but certainly don't want them to be slippery.  So, there are products out there to meet both needs.

 

Squeakiness while turning usually does indicate a dirty sticky floor.  Not a good idea - puts stress/torque on the knee and ankle.  It's also hazardous for steps other than turns.  I remember stepping onto pointe in arabesque on such a floor, and my pointe shoe platform literally became stuck to the floor - so my body kept going ready to do the next step while my foot stayed glued to the floor.  Not good!  Fortunately, it was a rehearsal not a performance!

 

So, as you and I described in previous posts - that first turn of the day before class starts  - is an important assessment not only of where the body/balance is for that day, but also what the floor is like.