Quickly improve your arabesque!

nearly cried when i saw this! I was looking for stretches on the internet because its all I really wanted to do and found angelfire.com (what a coincidence eh? its fate).

Here is the arabesque part:

"1. Find a table or something sturdy that stands about three feet from the ground.

2. Stand with your back to the object, and place your stretched leg ontop, keeping good turnout in your supporting leg and in your working leg. Pull up through your tummy and keep your back well supported with your hips square. Make sure you're doing everything correctly for your arabesque. (It is okay to hold on to something for ballence.)

3. Slowly and carefully lift your leg off the object, keeping everything well placed. When that leg refuses to work any longer, switch sides.

4. When it starts to get easy at that hight, start using a higher object! (How exciting!) If you are having trouble holding your back up, you need to strengthen your back muscles. Refer to arabesque strengthener."

I will do this everyday! To check out other sytrerches go to http://www.angelfire.com/me4/tutus_n_toes/Stretches.html

most of the stuff here is the usual and I do them a lot.

My schedule on top of college

*I am not complaining. I love dance and I would have my schedule even busier if I could. I just want to show people how much work is put into our training. These dance classes are put on top of a 4day a week 9 to 5 very physical performing arts college course. I never get any breaks from my family who presume I'm lazy because I'm tired at home so I'd just like to show people its not what they believe. Dancers are the most hard working and unappreciated people in the world.

Monday:
Jazz 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Tuesday:
Ballet 8:00pm - 9:30pm

Wednesday:
none yet

Thursday:
Interning in Macushla Dance Group 11:00am - 12:00pm
Contemporary 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Friday:
none yet

Saturday:
none yet

Sunday:
Contemporary 11:00am - 12:15pm

Sway

So i recently made a new friend who too is a dancer, so we talk all day about dance and have the greatest laugh. I mentioned yesterday, because we are both considering applying to a college in the south of Ireland which has a lot of heavy ballet, that I have a swayed back, to which he replied "Your joking right? Oh my god this is crazy so do I". We have a lot in common, both contemporary dancers and both got injured and out of dance for a while.

But this blog is about sway backs. Dictionary.com defines a "swayed back" as a "Veterinary Pathology" and the noun means "an excessive downward curvature of the spinal column in the dorsal region, esp. of horses."

My friend was proud of his sway, demanding that it made our fifths tighter and I didn't disagree. But then I got thinking "sway backs are not desirable", which they aren't, they kill pirouettes and ballet teachers will do everything short of beating it out of you? For him he has embraced it and looked on the bright side, maybe its his contemporary and jazz history. However for me I have been constantly aware of it, due to ballet, so much to the extent that I perfect my posture so much contemporary teachers mistake me for a ballet dancer so i have to loosen up. Personally I don't know which method is best! Ballet being my second style I would lean towards eliminating the problem, but having a stiff back in contemporary is no good.

However, from my experience if you ever talk to a dancer who ha a sway back, they will tell you that you can never get rid of it and only control it. C'est la vie! At least we get a tighter fifth!

Billy Bell, SYTYCD 6 has a sway back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0w_TKMtZFI and I belive Victor Smally did too