Shaun’s Ballet Class

Today was my first ballet class of the semester. A lovely lady called Shaun is teaching the class. She seems to be very experienced within the world of dance which is very inspiring.

It feels good to be back dancing ballet. I do not find  Ballet  my easiest technique however I love doing it. It pushes me and makes me work hard. I felt enthusiastic and keen about today’s class. However my muscles were a bit tight and sore so I felt like I could not dance as well as usual!

Today I was particularly seeking to make progress on my ront de jambes. Shaun gave the class a ront de jambe exercise on the barre. I was predominantly focusing on maintaining contact with floor remembering to move my leg freely and smoothly whilst retaining my turn out.  Rory Foster, in Ballet Pedagogy, states that dancers do not use their "full articulation of their feet" and "the use of the floor". Foster (2010) My feet do have a good range of articulation and I need to stress how important 'going through' my full range of movement is.  

I also was focussing on dynamically quality of movement when performing travelling sequences. To help me do this, I tried to stay relaxed and not over think the movements, otherwise I would have become tensed and this would be shown in the movement.

Shaun spent sometime with us on the performance side of ballet today. She showed us how to use our heads more and our upper bodies to enhance to movement. When I applied this aspect to my performance it improved it by far! It also helped with the extensions of my legs and balance which I was very happy with!

I can appreciate that everyone is anatomically different. This reflects in the way that people move. For this reason I should not compare my turn out to others. Some people can have a great turn out to nearly 180º angle! I need to work to my own turn out and not push it too far as I will end up with an injury. Which I do not want! Furthermore I want to deepen my plie. A"plie is the most essential movement in dance; it is not a static position" (Foster 2010) Deepening my plie will increase the strengthen in my legs and will allow an ease of transitions between movements. "The plie is what a dancer moves through in order to get into the next step or directional change" (Foster 2010)

From today’s class I can say to myself I worked my hardest and will continue to do so.

(Foster. R (2010) Ballet Pedagogy: The Art of Teaching)