Spring Cleaning

With the new smell of freshly cut grass and sight of butterflies fluttering by, many feel a new sense of refreshment during spring. The end of winter and the sun peaking back out evokes a new beginning within all of us. For this reason, cleaning during this time of year can add to the feeling of refreshment. For dancers, one of the things that always gets dirty for us is our dance bags. Depending on the type of dance you do, the contents of the bag will differ, so I will be discussing a ballet bag. With a hectic schedule, it can be so easy to get disorganized which will lead to unpreparedness. The essential articles of clothing in your ballet bag should include an extra pair of pink tights, a leotard, and jazz shorts. There are the basics that will ensure you are prepared for whatever kind of day you will encounter at dance. In addition to these, I would recommend having a little coin purse that easily snaps open for your bobby pins, hair ties, and hair nets, as we all know how easy it is to lose these quickly. Furthermore, if you wear pointe shoes, purchasing glue to harden the box of the the pointe shoes to make them last longer is an extremely useful tool. By throwing this in your dance bag, you can instantly revive dying pointe shoes during long rehearsals and save the blisters on your feet too! Lastly, if you are en pointe, you probably have blisters or at least get blisters from time to time. On some occasions, they appear out of nowhere and give you no warning time. Thus, placing blister tape and bandages in a little coin purse in your dance bag can keep these organized and accessible. When cleaning your dance bag, make sure everything is organized in different pouches, so the bobby pins do not get mixed up with the bandages, and only keep essentials in the bag. Superflous materials will only make it worse as the bag gets messier. I hope this tip helped and everyone feels rejuvinated with a fresh dance bag!
Here is what is inside my ballet bag (there are some things I did not mention as well):

Dancing with your hair down

The topic of this blog post may seem strange at first, but trust me, it happens and it is best to be prepared when you're faced with the feat of dancing with your hair down. this is mainly a feat if you have medium to long hair because short hair is less likely to throw you off. I have very long hair, so when I was told that in one of my hardest dances I would have to wear my hair down, I did not know how I would be able to manage it. After rehearsing my dance a couple times, I realized that it was manageable, although I would have to develop some techniques to help me dance with my hair down. My hair was often flying in my face and since that particular dance was very hard, it would stick to my face a little bit due to the perspiration on my skin. The first thing I realized was that I could use the parts where I was running across stage to my advantage. During these parts, (if there are any in your dance) I suggest you give your head a little shake, just enough so that the hair goes out of your face and you feel ready for the next move. I also find this tip useful if you are leaping in the air or doing a jump in which you have enough time to angle your head so that it catches some wind and blows back your hair. Also, it's important to get your hair out of the way before you go into a very slow part in the dance or have to stand still for count or two. This does not mean you should ever move your hair away from your face with your hands, but like I stated before, a little head shake might help. Another important tip to keep in mind is to use turns to get your hair out of your face. It's very easy to get thrown off balance during a turn if you are dancing with your hair down, but if you make sure you spot in one place, it shouldn't throw you off that much. If you are doing multiple turns, sometimes the last turn in which you spot in, you can use to whip your head around and whip your hair out of your face. It takes many rehearsals of the same dance to figure out at which point you can you use to your advantage to get your hair out of your face. I would suggest going over each move individually without music to see which ones are going to get the hair in your face and what steps you were going to take to be able to get your hair out of your face so that it doesn't mess you up in your next steps. I hope these tips have been helpful!

Commentary Blog

Today, I came across this fascinating article that described ballerina's brain activity while learning new routine. The conclusion of the experiment performed was that brain activity when learning a new dance takes an inverted U shape when graphed. This means brain activity started out low before beginning to learn the routine and as the routine is being taught to the dancer, his/her brain activity levels jump up during that process. At the end of the learning process, the dancer's brain activity levels go back down to where they were before the learned the dance. As a dancer, the conclusion of this experiment makes sense seeing as learning new dances not only requires ability to memorize the moves in your head, but also the muscle memory that is built to make your body recreate the sequence of steps and allow your brain to focus on your technique. It is incredible the process our minds go through in harmony with our body to be able to produce fluid movements in a certain order. The study also showed that at the end of the 34 weeks, the brain activity had decreased, but not as much as before they began learning the dance, so I wonder that if a dancer practices a dance enough and builds muscle memory, their brain activity will slowly decrease because they no longer have to think so much as to what move comes next. I believe that once we do not have to think of the routine itself while we dance, it means muscle memory has taken over, which is a beautiful feeling to have.

Huge Break Through of 2015

http://files.dancemedia.com/pointe/June14_copeland.jpg

It was a momentous occasion in the ballet community when Misty Copeland made history by being named the first African American Female Principal of the prestigious American Ballet Theater in 2015. Not only was this an amazing achievement for Misty as a minority in the ballet community, but this achievement was grand since Misty started dancing at the late age of 13 living in a shabby motel room. As a true prodigy, she was dancing en pointe after only three months of formal ballet training. Ballet is an expensive sport that requires time, money, and support from parents which were all things Misty lacked in her life. However, this did not stop her talent from shinning and allowing her to achieve such major success for both herself and other young aspiring ballerinas. Aside from overcoming personal obstacles, she broke through a glass ceiling for the rest of minority ballerinas by being the first female African American Principal dancer of ABT. Being of European roots, ballet is not as welcoming towards African Americans and Latinos as it would be for those with fair skin. Now that Misty Copeland has proven race and color should not affect any ballerinas position within a dance company, minority ballerinas will feel inspired and will feel that they are allowed to dream of being a principal dancer for a company rather than feeling as if the will never be able to achieve that due to their race or appearance. This break through is a success for the whole world of ballet, not just Misty Copeland.

How to Be a Good Partner

In more advanced levels of ballet, it is customary to partner with another boy of the same level. On top of your own technique, in partnering, you have to focus on the technique and chemistry between you and your partner. At first, it can be awkward, but once you get to know the feel of your partner and begin to trust them, there comes a point of understanding that allows a partnership to reach a new level.

 

The first step to achieving a good partnership is to have good musicality. Both dancers must be counting the music to perform each step simultaneously and leave the audience in awe. Ideally, both should also reach the height of their extensions and jumps at the same time, but that is not always possible as shown in the picture above. Time and practice with the same partner will help.

Another important aspect is distribution of weight. There is a lot of "push-pull" involved in partnering and knowing the force of your partner is essential. In the picture above, I had to gage how much force to use to throw my body towards the audience, yet still be caught by my partner while making it seem like he had actually caught me. Pulling away from your partner gives a dramatic effect if the dance calls for it, so know your partners strength and judge the force of your push accordingly.

For lifts, it takes just as much strength from the girl as the boy to achieve the lift. It all starts in the grip the boy has on the girl and the plie of the girl. The girl iniciates the lift with the power of her jump and from there the strength of the boy launches the girl higher in the air. For the boy, it is important to remember to squat as he lifts so as not to hurt his back and maintain the same amount of strength putting the girl down as he used for the lift.  As for the girl, core strength is necessary for her to maintain the position she is in and plie upon landing to prevent a knee injury.

Finally, trust your partner! All lifts are potentially dangerous, but with mutual trust, even seemingly impossible lifts can be done. Try to stay with the same partner if you can to allow a relationship to builld and to have a physical connection with your partner. This also helps with the acting aspect of performing dances. When you are friends with the person you dance with, the emotion onstage is genuine and the audience feels like the story is real.
I hope these tips have been helpful! Good luck!

Spotting Tips

In the dance world, spotting refers to turning one's head in a turn to minimize the dizzying effect on the dancer. This is done by focusing one's eyes on a fixed spot in the room and maintaining that eye contact throughout nearly the entire turn. Spotting, in ballet, is used for all turns and is especially useful for consecutive turns. Not only does it make the dancer less dizzy, but it helps with balance and positioning to ensure clean turns. Most dance studios are lined with mirrors so it is easy to spot one's own head, but on stage the environment is very different. It is hard to find a good place to use as a spot with the harsh stage lights that make it impossible to see anything from the stage. In this situation, I find it helpful to spot somewhere above the audience like towards the sound and light booth. Sometimes there are stray lights or lighting fixtures that stick out of the booth that stand out enough to make useful spots. It is important to remember that your spot is not too high or not to low, but at approximately eye level, because the tilt of a dancer's head has a huge impact on their balance in the turn. Even the weight and placement of a ballerinas bun can affect their balance in turns, so dancers with heavy hair should keep that in mind. I hope this post on spotting tips has been helpful and informative!

Finding your balance

Every dancer, especially ballerinas, have struggled with being able to balance on their toes . The ability to balance can be useful in plain balances on demi-pointe or to increase the amount of turns one can do. The key to balancing well is to find your 'center'. Your center is where your body is able to balance for many counts without shaking or falling. When practicing balances at the barre it is important to figure out the adjustments you need to make to be on your center so that when you turn, your muscles immediately remember the position that is your center.

(Please forgive my strained facial expression. Us dancers all have that one face we make when trying really hard to hold a position.)

To get on your center, your weight must be on the 'ball' of your foot meaning your ankles should be pulled up and it should not look like you are falling back on your ankles.
Next, depending on which position you are in, lean your body slightly forward or backward as a counterweight if your leg is lifted. However, if you are in arabesque or in a position where your leg is extended behind you, do not lean so far forward that you look like an ironing board.
Be sure your arms are solid, no wet noodle arms as my teacher tells us. If you are at the barre, some say it helps them a lot to slightly extend the arm closest to the barre a little farther out than their other arm if their arms are in first. Personally, this seems to help me more with the psychological aspect of balancing rather than the physical part of it.
One of my personal tips is to focus on something that is still and to eliminate the moving things from your periphery vision because that can throw you off your center s well. I also find it helpful to squeeze my butt and tighten my core because it makes me less wobbly.
I hope that these tips were helpful!