Knees, Please: Why A Dancer Should Walk Like A Man

Pronating the feet can lead to problems in the hips, spine, and knees

Lauren of Art Intercepts follows our chat with Dr. Craig Westin with some pointers for dancers who are concerned about knee pain and/or injury prevention in this important, yet often fragile joint.

Help With Second Position Of The Arms

A sketch of a dancer with arms in second position

What to do and think for an improved second position de bras (of the arms), and the importance of proper alignment for creating the pictures we make with our bodies in dance.

How Low Can You Go?

There are a number of codified floor barre techniques that are taught throughout the world. Most of the most well-known methods were developed during the mid-20th Century. Discover resources for adding floor barre to your repertoire.

Defining and Dissecting a Piqué Turn

What is a Piqué Turn? Generally when a dancer is asked to perform a piqué turn in class, he/she understands that it is likely they are being asked to perform a traveling turn that begins with a step onto a straight leg, as demonstrated at the start of this combination (note: this video is an [...]

A Jeté That’s Truly Grand

A Grand Jeté is… a type of of leap. The term comes from classical ballet. However, many dance forms utilize or have adapted this movement. The grand jeté is just one of an entire family of movements in which the working leg is “thrown.” In grand jeté the initiating leg is thrown to 90º and [...]

Talking Technique

There are several posts here at Dance Advantage that offer understanding and tips on certain technical elements of dance. So far, I’ve offered a smattering of the basics. More recent posts have received quite a few hits but some older posts have gotten buried along the way. Because I think all of these posts could [...]

Vertically Challenged: Improving Your Jumps

clappingcircle

The secret to jumping is not so secret, it is the same hard work that goes into most everything in dance: proper alignment, solid technique, and practice, practice, practice! These thorough, step-by-step pointers, however, will help you as you practice vertical jumping and can even be applied to traveling jumps or leaps.

Sickling and Rolling In

anklealign

The terms sickling and rolling in are often used in dance classes to define issues with ankle alignment. However, I have found that many students do not have a clear understanding of the actions of the ankle and foot and, therefore, do not know how to correct these issues when asked. I hope this post [...]

Improving Pirouettes

I was recently asked about some tips on how to improve at multiple pirouettes. I know that lots of students are wanting to know the same thing, so here is my answer: 1. Engaging your abdominal/core muscles is necessary for maintaining good alignment during the turn. 2. Every turn is a balance, so work on [...]

Plié

I’ve heard somewhere that the beginning is a very good place to start. So let’s start with the alpha and omega of all dance movements – the plié. Plié means “Bent, bending. A bending of the knee or knees.” Here is the full definition of plié found at the ABT (American Ballet Theatre) ballet dictionary. [...]