Post from Katie Hinch

Alignment & Lines

Because I have taken ballet since a very young age, alignment and body lines have always been a very central focus of my dancing. It was actually harder for me to "lose" my alignment, or not constantly worry about it, when I started my modern classes here at Ohio State. My personal struggles with alignment typically stem from my pelvis maintaining its "neutral alignment." I find this especially hard while doing exercises like tendues, degages, and arabesques to the back. It takes extra thought for me to make sure that my leg goes directly to the back rather than to the corner. Recently, I have discovered that I lock back into my hyperextended knees rather than engaging my hamstring and using the maximum turnout of my legs. This is a correction that I had never heard before this quarter, but I have found that it makes me more stable during center work. I think that my strength in my alignment and lines lies in my upper body and in the use of my arms. I find it much easier to imitate and maintain the strength and position of my arms than the lower portion of my body! It is my goal by the end of this quarter to have the two aspects work cohesively to achieve proper alignment more consistently.