An exercise for working the turnout in releve

Recently a reader sent me an email with some questions about how to increase her turnout when she is en releve. This is especially important for pirouettes, because if you are turned in at the top of your thighs when you attempt to turn, your weight is thrown back into your hips and knees and you simply won't turn - or at least not properly.

So here is an exercise I use to help students with sautes. It works well for turnout too.

--Stand facing the barre (or a chair) in first position.
--Take your demi-plie, knees over the toes, then stretch back to standing position, thinking about the muscles in the back of the thighs helping you lift, and the muscles at the top of the inner thighs helping to close.
--Eleve (lift the heels to a rise), maintaining that exact position.
--Do this a few times and then practice going directly from demi-plie to the rise (releve).

The important thing to remember is to work your turnout from the top of the inner legs and imagine, if you can, that the smallest muscles under your derriere are the ones turning your legs out not your quads.

I'll be putting up some new videos soon - hopefully one before Thanksgiving, if I can get my editor in gear!

Happy dancing~

Schedule reminder...

Next week, I will teach my classes as usual on Monday and Tuesday.

There will be only 1 class on Wednesday, the 6:30-7:30P Adv Beginning class that Melissa Waters will teach for me.

Le Studio will be closed on Thursday and Friday to celebrate the holiday.

Normal schedule will resume on Monday, Nov 30. And btw, I will teach all of my adult classes during the studio's Christmas/New Year's break (except for the ones that fall on the actual holidays themselves).

Happy dancing~

Ballet intensive video is done!

Ta-da! It's done! Mo did a fabulous job shooting and editing the video, which includes a look at the school, the piece Melissa and I choreographed for the intensive, and a little note to the students from both of us. It's so cute and is a lot of fun to watch!

Right now, it's on Vimeo and secured with a password to protect the girl's privacy because we don't want random weirdos clicking on it! But I'm happy to share it with any of you reading the blog. If you'd like to see it, just comment here or send me an email and I'll give you the link and password.

Happy dancing~

Thanksgiving schedule

For those of you taking my classes (or any classes at Le Studio) this is to let you know that the studio will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday following. Here is my schedule for that week:

Monday & Tuesday - normal class schedule
Wednesday - Melissa Waters will teach for me
Thursday - closed
Friday - closed unless my adult students want a class at 6:30 in which case Melissa Waters will teach it

So if you are interested in a class on the Friday night after Thanksgiving, let me know in advance so I can arrange things with Melissa. The other option is a Friday morning class at 9AM with Helene Williamson.

Happy dancing~