It slowly rolls in place and then at a diagonal up and toward the spine, stopping at the bottom of the ribs. Have students lie face down on the floor and picture a ball inside their tummies, just below the navel. Anuschka Roes of Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto uses these strength-building exercises to help young students learn to engage their cores and backs. Working on the floor helps dancers concentrate and reduces the tendency to lean, arch and twist. “Ballet technique is so complex,” says Gunther, who gives short barre exercises because she finds that when work continues after students tire, they’ll often lose their placement, reinforcing bad alignment. Teaching alignment to children requires gradual progression and constant reinforcement. Slow relevés and tendus in parallel facing the barre can help them concentrate on keeping their backs straight and tummies in. It takes a lot of effort for young dancers to organize their growing bodies, so Gunther simplifies port de bras by having students put their hands on their hips or fingers on their shoulders throughout some of barre and center, especially during active movements like chassés and gallops.īurke often teaches exercises in parallel, so students can learn how the body should stack, hips over the feet, without having to worry about turnout. She often has students push lightly at their own belly buttons to see if their cores are activated. Another strategy is to have them adjust themselves. Photo courtesy of Kelly BurkeĪ finger under the chin or a light touch on the back or tummy is enough to remind them of the alignment corrections they’ve learned, says Gunther. Kelly Burke of Westchester Dance Academy. “I put them into place, especially the younger dancers.” That way, their muscle memory understands the effort it takes to align the spine. “I’m very hands-on,” says Kelly Burke, artistic director of Westchester Dance Academy in Mount Kisco, New York. ![]() It’s sometimes necessary to use physical manipulation while teaching children alignment, because they haven’t yet experienced what the positions should look and feel like. ![]() If she finds dancers twisting, she has them picture the torso as a rectangle, with shoulders and hips for corners, stacked and even, to keep everything on an even plane. To access the subtler lower abdominals, Gunther asks students to think of what it feels like to zip up a tight pair of jeans. Gunther says simple port de bras helps youngsters concentrate. Immediately, she sees their backs lengthen and abdominals pull toward their spines. To engage the core and straighten the back, she has dancers imagine a marionette string pulling them up through their spines and pretend their belly buttons are push buttons. Gretchen Gunther, who teaches at The School at Steps in New York City, says that using imagery can help them activate their bodies, while making repetitive work playful. Young dancers aren’t yet able to understand how the bones, joints and muscles work to engage proper alignment. Below, experts share three key strategies to help young dancers understand placement. ![]() Bad habits like slumped shoulders, buckled bottoms and arched backs with protruding tummies can inhibit technical development or lead to injury. Learning correct placement of the spine early gives children a solid foundation for their future training. When they graduate from pre-ballet, though, proper alignment will become a top priority. With little round tummies, shoulders up to their ears and limbs akimbo, young dancers are adorable twirling around in their first tutus and ballet slippers.
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