I read a great article awhile back (I may have linked to it before, pdf), entitled "Functional Anatomy in Dance Training: An Efficient Warm Up Emphasizing the Role of the Psoas". In it is this picture, which has stuck in my mind since reading it:
I've been working on this while doing ballet lately. I was pretty much convinced that a) my hips and legs just don't work like that or b) the only way I would ever be able to understand how to get my hips and legs like that would be one-on-one instruction from a professional.
Then I read a post (on one of the ballet forums) about floor barre. Apparently, the term "Floor Barre" is a registered trademarked technique that you may be able to find classes for, though they don't seem to be common in smaller cities. But- you should know me by now!- I'm not going to worry about flying or driving to some other city to learn Floor Barre. I'm going to teach myself! (So we'll say I'm just borrowing the term, uncapitalized, to describe what I am doing, and it should not be taken to mean that I have ever had any class on the trademarked technique of "Floor Barre".)
A couple of nights ago, I decided to give my own version of floor barre a shot. I wanted to work on those things in the photo above. And what do you know? When I lie on my back I am able to bring my leg forwards and sideways without moving my hips! (It's so much easier to work on when all that pesky gravity isn't making extensions so difficult to do!) So now I know that my hips will allow my legs to raise properly; it can be done. My goal is to work on this while on the floor and hopefully gain muscle memory so I can perform the actions correctly while standing. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing differently, but with practice, I hope to understand (and be able to DO!).
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| Développé à la seconde. Incorrect placement of hip in left photo. Hip is raised. Corrected in the middle photo. Incorrect use of glutes in the third. |
Then I read a post (on one of the ballet forums) about floor barre. Apparently, the term "Floor Barre" is a registered trademarked technique that you may be able to find classes for, though they don't seem to be common in smaller cities. But- you should know me by now!- I'm not going to worry about flying or driving to some other city to learn Floor Barre. I'm going to teach myself! (So we'll say I'm just borrowing the term, uncapitalized, to describe what I am doing, and it should not be taken to mean that I have ever had any class on the trademarked technique of "Floor Barre".)
A couple of nights ago, I decided to give my own version of floor barre a shot. I wanted to work on those things in the photo above. And what do you know? When I lie on my back I am able to bring my leg forwards and sideways without moving my hips! (It's so much easier to work on when all that pesky gravity isn't making extensions so difficult to do!) So now I know that my hips will allow my legs to raise properly; it can be done. My goal is to work on this while on the floor and hopefully gain muscle memory so I can perform the actions correctly while standing. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing differently, but with practice, I hope to understand (and be able to DO!).
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