"Time to Fix Those Bad Habits"

When beginning ballet at a young age, a dancer's body develops many bad habits that are impossible to fix very quickly later in life. It can take years for muscle memory to create the perfect body alignment that is seen in ballet. I was not aware of the mistakes that I had developed throughout my dance training. These passed few weeks have finally been teaching me exactly what my body should be doing in all positions and during all ballet sequences. The most important body part I know I need to focus on is MY PELVIS. I have always been so focused on learning each ballet sequence so precisely, that I forget to think about what I thought were "the little things." It wasn't until this year that I realized how important and how much of a HUGE deal my alignment is. In my opinion it is the most important and the most challenging part of ballet. To have beautiful lines and beautiful presence in ballet, alignment is key. It is easy to touch your leg to your face if you are flexible, but to keep beautifully shaped alignment while doing so, creates the challenge.

I have always been told, "chest up, long neck, shoulders down, etc," but no one has ever mentioned "pelvis" or just how to center the lower part of my torso (probably why my physical therapist is telling me I now have a slight lordosis and weak hamstrings..great). But I have been noticing the different feeling I get when I engage the correct muscles now in my ballet classes and when looking in the mirror, see exactly how my body placement should have been from the start. Ballet alignment is elegant and makes ballet dancers' movement look effortless. It is the toughest part of ballet and dance in general, and probably what most of us in the dance department have struggled with and are continuing to alter and fix.