The Core of Everyting! And, Fountain Head

I really like ballet in the summer. We have the June warm summer rains and my muscles aren't chilly. There are visitors and teenagers in class on their vacations.

And, I have hereby corrected my dissonance on my theory of arm technique (see my post from Tuesday). Tuesday Miss Aya told me my arms were too far back. Today they were forward and I was using Mia Morisette's posture visualizations and gosh darn if I wasn't on balance better than ever! Ok, so, here are some things. Arms should always be spoking energy out. Always lifting up from elbows. ALWAYS LIFTING ELBOWS ALWAYS AND ALWAYS FORWARD. And from the upper back. Even when en attitude derriere. Even when opening arms from high 5th into a V. Ok but the catch is, you can't lift your arms forward, your arms need to be separate from the body as far as the red thread of balance, otherwise it'll throw you off. So the arms are rooted in the back, float and giving forward and up and outward (esp tricky when floating down), and they are not affecting your balance. AND the arms are giving forward and not locking into your back and you are not drawing your upper back back to do things like get a higher arabesque. No no no. Arms and entire thread of core must be lifting and fountaining the ENTIRE time. Fountainhead. Not just when you are trying to do difficult things like balance one leg or with your leg raised or spinning. All the time! This sounds so stupidly simple and obvious but it's really hard work. Mentally and physically. I was tending to work really hard during things like plie but then let things slide a little during things like rond de jamb or tombe pas de bouree and then I would try to set myself during the pirouette but duh of course I wasn't THERE because I wasn't working hard enough to be long and tall and I wasn't lifting my elbows enough from my back.

Also, when balancing, remember that you are contained in a tiny box about the size of you. You must not put your energy and awareness out into the field. You must not allow your body to see that being outside of your box is a possibility! Try it. works so well for me.

Also really helpful for extensions: Grip with the toes of the standing leg. All that "push down" business doesn't help me as much as gripping with the toes!

I had saved this for myself to help me teach awhile ago. But I think the cyclone core with the red thread, the pelvic floor, the tubules stretching down the front of hips that you can slide up and down on, the roof of mouth, the tip of head fountain, is my favorite visualization eve
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Stand holding a wall or a barre while doing the standard ballet first position. The posture is “built' from deep inside the lower core, which is always lightly drawn in-and-up so that the “outer body' (shoulders, legs, arms) can be free to move with fluidity and ease.
Hold the arm that is not holding the bar in porte de bras position—slightly curved, shoulder down, kind of like leaving a little bit of air in your armpit. Your weight should be distributed evenly across the feet with an awareness that the big toe mound, the pinky toe mound, and the heel equally contact the floor.
Tucking your tailbone slightly, and keeping your chin lifted, bend your legs only at the knees into a plié, and then lift onto the balls of your feet into a relevé while straightening your knees. The crown of the head should actively ascend in conjunction with—and as a reflection of—the work of the core. Feeling a gentle lift up the backs of the ears is helpful for aligning the head.
Repeat, moving your arms through the five positions of ballet, and then change sides. The position of the pelvis is crucial to facilitating posture and the work of the core. Tailbone should be neutral, releasing gently down between the heels (neither arching back nor tucked forward). The fronts of the hip bones should feel like they are wide and moving apart from one another. This will make space for the lower core to lightly draw in and up.