Tips for your 'attitude'

     Hello everyone, my name is Paloma Velasquez and I would like to welcome you to my blog! On this blog I will be posting tips, how to's, and other information having to do with ballet.  Some of this can be applied to other types of dance and other sports that involve flexibility and coordination.  Today I will be posting some tips for a dancer's attitude; in this case it is a position in dance, not an outlook on something.
   To begin with, all dancers know an attitude is a difficult and sometimes, awkward position to hold.  I have received many helpful tips on this position from various dance teachers so I will begin at the basics. 

  The proper shape of an attitude begins in coupe. The picture above shows the position of a proper coupe which should maintain its shape when it arrives in attitude.  To start making the muscle memory so you can achieve the perfect shaped attitude coming from any position, slowly rise your leg from coupe upwards until it reaches attitude height, keeping the same shape the whole time.

     Once your legs has reached proper height, you can begin adjusting some of the smaller details of the attitude.  Your foot should be at a slight upwards angle, or slightly 'winged'.  Also, it is important to keep your torso upright with your chest open, not hunching forward.  One of my ballet teachers who was a professional dancer advised my ballet class to hold our attitudes with out butts, not our backs.  By this, she meant we should start engaging more of the muscles in our butts and reduce the strain on our backs.  I found this to be extremely helpful, especially since my back tends to hurt a lot.
  I hope these tips were helpful!