Wednesday night dance marathon: ballet and tango from 6:30pm-midnight!
This evening was pointe night. What makes pointe difficult in the beginning is that there is an added dimension: to the usual flat and demi-pointe positions of the foot is added a third possible position called 'pointe', which we must now take into consideration in the combinations. In the old world of ballet, we hopped from plie to pointe. In the modern world, we draw in, or roll through to pointe. From plie to soutenu, the trick is to slightly lift the tendu foot, hit it against the floor, and drag the floor, which draws your body into sus-sous. This motion of the tendu foot ensures that you are not hoisting yourself up solely from your supporting leg, rendering your working leg lifeless. It also ensures correct alignment and pull-up. In general, draw-- or better yet, skim feet lightly and smoothly over the floor rather than hopping from point to discontinuous point.
From ballet, I walked through the beautiful night air, and down into the underground, where the train took me to Fishtown for tango. I am drawn to tango by the core group that attends the practica every Wednesday night. Very strong (in character) and beautiful Russian ladies, and my sister and her man. As fun as some of the guys are to dance with (and others, horrendous!), my favorite part of the night was being led by my sister on the dance floor. When twins dance tango, it's called "twango".
This evening was pointe night. What makes pointe difficult in the beginning is that there is an added dimension: to the usual flat and demi-pointe positions of the foot is added a third possible position called 'pointe', which we must now take into consideration in the combinations. In the old world of ballet, we hopped from plie to pointe. In the modern world, we draw in, or roll through to pointe. From plie to soutenu, the trick is to slightly lift the tendu foot, hit it against the floor, and drag the floor, which draws your body into sus-sous. This motion of the tendu foot ensures that you are not hoisting yourself up solely from your supporting leg, rendering your working leg lifeless. It also ensures correct alignment and pull-up. In general, draw-- or better yet, skim feet lightly and smoothly over the floor rather than hopping from point to discontinuous point.
From ballet, I walked through the beautiful night air, and down into the underground, where the train took me to Fishtown for tango. I am drawn to tango by the core group that attends the practica every Wednesday night. Very strong (in character) and beautiful Russian ladies, and my sister and her man. As fun as some of the guys are to dance with (and others, horrendous!), my favorite part of the night was being led by my sister on the dance floor. When twins dance tango, it's called "twango".
No comments:
Post a Comment