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.
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Sickling and Rolling In
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 […]
Battement
I’m sure that students reading this blog have used or heard the term battement before. If grand battement immediately comes to mind, I’m not surprised, as the word battement is commonly dropped from the name of other familiar terms. A mother, father, brothers, grandparents, uncles, all share a family name. In a similar way battement […]
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 […]
What Is My Core or Center?
I have discovered there are several terms used to talk about this mysterious ‘centre’. Amongst them are: ‘the core’, ‘centre of gravity’ and ‘centre of weight’. When teachers talk about ‘the core’ or ‘the centre’ it has been my finding that they are after an engagement of the abdominal muscles in their students; a muscular […]
