A Friday pirouette tip - spotting

Having trouble spotting on your pirouette? It happens.  We lose our focus, we get distracted during the turn.  Sometimes it's hard to actually see something and hold our focus, especially for multiple turns.

There are teachers who don't believe in spotting! Sounds crazy to those of us raised on it but it's true.  For these teachers, it's the back that turns. They ask their students to turn with a broad back - an awesome suggestion but not the best way to do multiple turns, in my opinion.

But if you're having trouble holding a gaze and the "back turning" doesn't work for you, consider turning your bun or the back of your head.  The ultimate goal of any turn is to have a sharp head lead the rest of the body.  If you can somehow isolate the head and keep a loose neck, your body will follow.

So, assuming you have a bun that's at the back of your head and not on top, try to aim it at the mirror. Hold no tension in your neck and shoulders and let your torso and hips follow along. You may find this gets your head moving faster, rather than trying to glue your eyes on something in the mirror.

Happy dancing~

Rest, Recuperate and Readjust: stretching and injuries

An injury is the body's message that you need to rest and recuperate. Most people know the common acronym: RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation). To which I add an -A (Advil or Aleve for inflammation reduction). Others add a P- for prevention.

Prevention to me relates to the third R of my R&R: Readjust.

First of all, let's make sure you have rested properly and are ready to get back into dance slowly after an injury.  This is an opportunity to work properly, beginning with the barre:

--Close your eyes and feel your weight on both feet. Prepare with 2 hands facing the barre rather than one hand at a time, if it's too difficult to stand with just one.
--Breathe deeply, be aware of when you are inhaling and exhaling on movement (e.g. exhale as you degage or battement away from you, inhale as you recover from a plie).
--Focus on turnout happening from the top of your legs, knees going over the second toe of your foot.
--Pull your arches up when you stand on both feet. Pull your knees up on both legs always.
--Feel the breath opening your back. Your back is a T formed by the spine and the arms. Energy goes through the entire T.
--Hips are lifted, glutes are loose not clenched. Remember you must relax before you can contract.

Whenever I have an injury (whether it's an ongoing -itis like tendonitis in my knee or ankle or acute like a fall or sprain from a turn or jump) I take extra time to warm up slowly, to stretch properly, and to focus on my alignment first and foremost.  Only once I am properly aligned do I approach movement off the barre.

I love this article with some tips on stretching exercises for ballet dancers. I also love this article from OSU about 14 common dance injuries and what to do for them. Injuries can be opportunities for improvement. Take the time to fix what's wrong and then you will be able to prevent injuries in the future and be a lot happier in the present.

Happy safe dancing~

Pasadena Dance Festival is here!

The month of April has seen a lot of amazing dance come to Los Angeles, from the classical LA Ballet to the modern Alvin Ailey.  But there is a tremendous number of homegrown choreographers, dancers and teachers who live and work in the Pasadena area, a small pocket of dance lovers just north of LA.

This week marks the 6th annual Pasadena Dance Festival.  It kicked off on Sunday with a showcase of contemporary dance and continues throughout this week with more performances, including the Emerging Choreographers Showcase on Thursday and the Student Choreographer Showcase and Final Concert on Saturday.  There is also an opportunity to take a Master Class with Mark Morris and a full day of classes with various teachers, such as hip hop, Bollywood, Swing, lyrical, krumping - and ballet!

A full day of classes on Saturday4/27 costs $55 (a half day costs $35) and that allows you to attend ALL of these amazing teachers' classes.  Believe me, if I didn't have to teach my own classes in the morning and early afternoon, I would be at these classes myself!  I would love to learn about Bollywood!  lol...

Anyway, if you are interested, take a look at the schedule at the festival site: http://www.lineagedance.org/festival/. My very basic ballet class for adults is from 4:15 -5:05.  All dance classes are at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

New "Ask me a question" feature! Possibly involving zombies...

Every day it seems I get a new subscriber to the YouTube channel where I have my short videos about ballet (thank you!).  Often I will get questions from people about more specific issues they are having. I try to answer them on the channel but then only the questioner gets the feedback.  Sometimes it's a response that could be helpful to others. 

But a few weeks ago, I got a laptop that has a webcam so now I am thinking about adding a new feature to the channel and to my blog here, 

Ask a ballet question! I'm considering calling it "Ask a Zombie Ballerina" but we'll see...

So start sending in your questions about ballet to my email: LeighBalletLA@gmail.com. They can be about technique or classes or stretches or anything you have problems with: turns, allegro, adagio, performance, pointe, etc. I have limited knowledge about injuries (not a doctor!) but sometimes I can offer a suggestion that will help with alignment.

Happy dancing~

10 Tips for Adult Newbies Who Aren't New to Ballet by Kathy Lu

Kathy Lu has a wonderful guest post at Dance Advantage which is one of my very favorite dance blogs. She discusses returning to ballet as an adult and having to absorb some harsh realities which she shares with other adults in a very amusing and honest way.

So many of my students are in this category. It can be a challenge as a teacher when someone comes back after years away and expects to be as good as they used to be. You know your body has changed in some measureable ways but there are some things you forget about when you're not dancing consistently (like using your inner thighs and pulling up your arches).

I think Kathy's list is tremendously valuable for teachers and for students themselves. If you are walking into my class after being gone for a while, I hope you will find some wisdom and encouragement in this list. If you're a teacher of adult students, it's a great reminder list of what is going through someone's head when they put their bodies and souls in our hands.

Thank you, Kathy, and thank you Nichelle, for letting me share this link with my students and friends.

Beginning Again in Ballet

Happy dancing~