Pet hates-the ballet version.

[drdance]

Am I understanding correctly that you like only the toe to be in contact with the floor in a chassé?  - rather than the toe sliding along the floor until the entire foot is in contact with the floor?  

 

It's still a chasse, in that ultimately the dancer transfers their weight onto the leading leg, its just that we're saying we prefer it to start with a pointed foot that slides along until the whole foot makes contact with the floor - this would coincide with the transference of weight from the back foot to the front foot into a lunge in 4th. As demonstrated by both dancers here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-XZCi9skQ

[Thecatsmother]

Can I add courus or for that matter any movement that clearly shows the dancer is turning out from the feet but not holding the turnout correctly. When the knees are not aligned with the toes it is a sure sign that turnout muscles are not being activated and the strain on hips, knees and ankles can lead to injury. Getting young students to understand, activate the correct muscle groups and maintain turnout correctly can take a long time. This is not purely about degree of natural turnout but in learning to use muscle groups to maximise potential and prevent muscle bulk in the wrong places.

[Anjuli_Bai]

It's still a chasse, in that ultimately the dancer transfers their weight onto the leading leg, its just that we're saying we prefer it to start with a pointed foot that slides along until the whole foot makes contact with the floor - this would coincide with the transference of weight from the back foot to the front foot into a lunge in 4th. As demonstrated by both dancers here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-XZCi9skQ

 

Ah yes - I agree completely - a chassé which comes out of a position such as cou de pied - begins with the toe having first contact with the floor.

 

As opposed to a  chassé which begins in 5th position.

[Dance*is*life]

Yehhhhh!  We agree    

[LinMM]

That seems like the Russian way of doing a chasse......where the toe starts it and you sort of move through the foot as you chasse before transferring the weight. I prefer this way it looks more elegant and feels nicer to do......but I do get into trouble in BBO classes for doing it this way where I have to remember the other way where you seem to slide the whole foot along.

[Michelle_Richer]

I was reminded of my pet peeve tonight, the first night of learning our enchainement for our Christmas show. And that’s standing in the wings ready to go on stage in no form of proper preparation pose. I remembered that from our summer show, where we formed a double line of dancers ready to go on stage, only two of us stood in a standard preparation pose, the rest were in a sloppy 6^th position if as if they were waiting for a bus with arms just dangling. I know the audience could not see them,, but it just looked sloppy and very unprofessional. I would not have minded if we all stood uniformly with feet in 5^th and arms at bra bas, as long as we were all the same. This was also true of rehearsal in the studio with the teacher present, but it didn’t seem to matter.

[LinMM]

I think it would depend how long you were waiting to go on. If you had say a 10 min wait it would seem pointless to me to be standing in 5th in the wings when you can't be seen......a bit of a waste of energy. You should be able to relax a bit in the wings but not taking your eye off the ball of course.

If you mean you are about to run on the stage then it's okay to get ready and be prepared in the couple of mins before your entrance

[Michelle_Richer]

I agree, but when you know the previous dancers are about to go off, then I would expect you to assemble in a professional manner for performance. In any case during rehearsal the only thing you are waiting for is the music.

 

There is no wonder I get reprimanded for telling dancers off in that class, I may be a newcomer, but I expect a bit of professionalism too. Someone has to set the standard and this gals got fire in her belly to do it.

 

Lin "Running on stage", doesn't sound very elegant, are you sure you haven't been practicing with this lot?.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Michelle_Richer

[LinMM]

They'll be casting you as Carabosse before long Michelle

[Michelle_Richer]

Black Swan Me.

[Thecatsmother]

That brings me to another pet hate which is learning how to run across or around stage properly as this can be hard to get right in younger students who can tend to limp especially in pointe shoes. Sometimes the simplest of steps are the hardest to get right but I guess these in turn form the foundations of strong technique.

 

There are an infinite number of different ways that runs and walks can be performed to be in keeping with the character, the music or even your mood in class.

[Anjuli_Bai]

That brings me to another pet hate which is learning how to run across or around stage properly as this can be hard to get right in younger students who can tend to limp especially in pointe shoes. Sometimes the simplest of steps are the hardest to get right but I guess these in turn form the foundations of strong technique.

 

There are an infinite number of different ways that runs and walks can be performed to be in keeping with the character, the music or even your mood in class.

 

 

I was always told - and found to be true - that walking, running and standing are the most difficult to perform.

 

Margot Fonteyn - in her auto-biography - talked about this quite a bit.  She had seen Ulanova - as Juliet -  in that famous run when she leaves her bedroom and runs to the priest.  When Fonteyn was studying for the role of Juliet she watched on film that run by Ulanova as she tried to discern what made it so speccial.  She watched the film dozens of times until she finally realized that it was not simply a run across a stage (as beautifully as Ulanova did it) it was a run with a goal - a run TO something - a run toward hope.  

 

If you look at that run - it is not the feet which are carrying Ulanova - but her chest.  

 

So, I found if I gave my students a goal - a reason why they were standing, running, walking - it helped immensely.  They began to see that even if they were standing still - they were dancing.

[LinMM]

I didn't know that about Fonteyn but in fact she must have absorbed something because I loved her run in R and J too including the run down the stairs from the balcony it just had that extra something for me.

 

On Saturday after class heard an interesting little story from an ex dancer doing the class. He used to dance with ENB when it was Festival Ballet and Beryl Grey was Artistic Director.

 

We were talking about stage presence and of course Nureyev who had buckets of it came up.

 

This dancer demonstrated how everyone in a very "English" manner used to take their walk and step into position onto the stage a rather small "here I am". Then when Nureyev danced with the company for a while.....he proceeded to do a wonderful demo of just how Nureyev walked on and took a very deep demi plié to take position like a "tiger" and a very definite " HERE I AM"

So after that some dancers decided to take a leaf out of Nureyev's book and be much more definite in their presentation.

Edited November 5, 2013 by LinMM