Body Alignment

Throughout most of my experience with the ballet technique, I have struggled with body alignment. Not until I came to Ohio State's Department of Dance was I fully explained what body alignment exactly was. As far as I was concerned, to be aligned meant to have your head upright over your shoulders, your shoulders on top of your hips, your hips over your knees, and your knees on top of your ankles. Whether this explanation be right or wrong, or somewhat too vague to determine its validity, I never knew the actual works or mechanics necessary to achieve proper body alignment. For instance, the importance of the pelvis has been drilled into each and every one of our heads these past two years. I am reminded fairly frequently to "lift up" my pelvis. In order to "lift up" my pelvis, or perhaps "hold in my butt" according to my dance instructor from high school, one must engage to lower abdominals, engage the inner thighs. One must also take into consideration the pelvis in relation to the heel, hopefully the pelvis is neither behind or pushing forward in front of the heels. In general, proper body alignment requires attention to and engagement of almost all muscles in the body. Specifically in the ballet technique, proper body alignment means an almost always pulled upright posture to display its regality; all muscles must be engaged and stacked.