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.

On Alignment

In ballet, alignment serves both structural and aesthetic functions.

The structure of the body exists in the skeleton, even without the system of muscles, tendons and ligaments to support it. The bones of the body create the frame upon which all alignment must be trained. Without the muscles and the complex processes that allow movement, our bodies are nothing but cars without driveshafts or boats without rudders. It is therefore essential to consider our physical training of paramount importance to the development of alignment.

In class we train our legs to rotate outward, our feet to support us evenly and our weight to shift over top of our supporting leg.

I find myself inquiring as to whether my knee is tracking between my first two toes and straining to hold the arch in my naturally flat feet. Between combinations I check in with my pelvis to make sure it is in the so-called "neutral" position and whether or not my abdominals are engaged to develop that proper alignment. My neck must stay long above my shoulders which remain dropped toward the back as they help to support my arms and hands in the port de bras.

All these details and more combine to achieve the most physically possible embodiment of the aesthetic norms of ballet on the natural structure of the body.

Alignment is an active process and the development of it is imperative in understanding ballet technique.

-B

"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.

Slide Your Booty Back, Slide Your Booty Forth

For me, placement starts at the pelvis. I have been used to the "tuck your pelvis in" method. However, the problem with that method, I find, is that it activates stuff that you don't necessarily want activated while relaxing what you want working. Something that I found useful though, was a quote that I heard a few months ago. It was centered around this idea of pulling the bones up and forward, as if you put your hands in your pocket and moved them forward. The this does is puts my body in a position that I can keep more efficiently than using my musculature to keep my pelvis tucked. Consequently, with my bones pulled forward, I am given the opportunity to better find my turnout, keep my shoulders over my pelvis over my feet, and smile my pelvis (code phrase for activating the lower and transverse abdominals). Therefore, for me, alignment and placement, in this class in particular, is working through the stagnant place of a behind pelvis by constantly reminding myself to move forward and activate. I am working on gaining a new specific muscle memory.... which is a challenge.

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.

Body Alignment/Placement

I feel like that I can have great alignment and placement at the barr but when I move out to the floor I tend to forget about my placement at times and try to remember the combo instead. I feel like that alignment then becomes a battle between rigid placement of your body parts and the easy breezy movement feeling of the actual dancing. I can remember when I first started dancing ballet I felt more like a robot trying to dance like a graceful dancer. I use to only focus on the alignment and less on the actual dancing. Then I came to realize that the alignment/placement in ballet is not meant to be stagnant it is suppose to be a guideline for all of your movements. Do not let the technique of the dance not let you dance.

Body Alignment

I talked a little bit about alignment in my previous blog regarding "work" in ballet. This makes total sense because finding and maintaining proper body alignment has been a main focus of mine this year in not only ballet class but modern, jazz, and even sitting at my computer typing this post. What one has to do to achieve proper alignment is different for every body and for mine, I have come to discover that my legs, pelvis, back, and neck are in the proper place when I feel as though I am leaning back and tucking my pelvis under me. It's taken me all too long to find this place but now that I have I've discovered that I haven't been working as hard as I could/should be especially in the rotaters.
After our placement workshop the first week of the quarter I have been focusing on many aspects that have been overlooked in previous training. When I feel like I'm in proper alignment it really does make a difference in my turn out (which is no longer coming from my knees), my hips staying dropped, my sternum staying up and forward without swaying in the lower back (which I just love to do), and finding stability and strength on the standing leg.
I have been slowly finding more success with pirouettes which have always been an enemy of mine after being able to better feel a properly aligned pelvis and back/abs...what teachers have told me will help isn't just a myth!! It's encouraging to finally start getting these things right. I will continue making these changes part of my muscle memory. Maybe I'll actually be taller by the end of this quarter...

Alignment

Alignment ( as relates to more Eurocentric dance practices) and I have had a painfully strained relationship throughout my dance training. Not having a great amount of rotation in my hips, having a pelvis that sits comfortably behind my spine most times, and not very much flexibility in my back or hamstrings, trying to make my body work the way it should in ballet class without compensating my alignment is exhausting. I hear voices from dance teachers past about my how my hips are back and I'm not rotated when I'm corrected on alignment. I've gotten better about it by a long shot, but it's and uphill battle and I'm at the point where I still can't see the top of the hill and quite frankly, it would just be easier to sit down and slide back downhill. I've felt the alignment inside of me working properly at very few points in my life, but mostly during ballet class, I fall short of the mark in that department. I think finding what it is suppossed to look like in my body instead of trying to base my interpretation of "the ballet aesthetic" off of extremes (ex. 360 degree turn out) can help me to acheieve my goals in ballet, and in the greater dance world as well.

Focus on Alignment

We all know that without proper alignment, you can’t succeed in ballet. This has become abundantly clear to me since arriving at OSU. I had been taking ballet for years, practicing with bad habits, and never really moving forward as much as I would have liked because I wasn’t properly aligned. Without knowing how to get on your leg during turns, or square off in arebesque, you can’t expect to turn more or balance longer. You can practice all day, but until you are practicing it with proper technique, it’s useless. I can already feel a difference in my dancing. I am much more on top of my legs during adagio, and can move with more ease during petit allegro. My biggest struggle right now is correcting my muscle memory and building up strength in the correct muscles.

Ballet alignment is full opposite spirals. The sternum is going up and out, while the ribs are down, and the lower abs are knitting together and pulling up, while the inner thighs and rotators are fighting to turn out; the shoulders dropped down the back, while the elbows are up etc. It is difficult to connect and really feel this in the body without getting bogged down in thought and turning your focus inward, but focus is also part of proper alignment. Last year, Courtney taught us that using your eyes and head not only looks much better, but is also part of the technic itself and will improve your dancing. After all, ballet originated as a court dance, created by royalty. This was a dance done by people in high places, so the confident, sometimes pompous attitude is inherently necessary to executing the movement itself. Look up and out! Take pride in the hard work you are doing.

Proper Body Alignment

What is something you have to have in ballet in order to be amazing? You guessed it proper body alignment. Without it one the dancer could get injured and two the performance does not look so hot. I believe this is the most difficult concepts of ballet, like there is no way to achieve perfect body alignment. Throughout every combination one has to be thinking about their head, arm placement, being lifted up, rotation, feet, and more. In class I really try to think about at least two of these thing at a time. I mostly worry about my rotation and being lifted up because I know this is what I need to work on the most. Each time I think I got the combo down with pretty good alignment I always seem wrong. There is always something to improve on in alignment. While watching other dancers I can see how they aren't rotating from the top of their leg or holding their arms in the proper placement. I feel like seeing other people's mistakes helps me with correcting mine. I feel like it is even more difficult to work on since we do not have any mirrors to watch ourselves.

Body Alignment

Body alignment in ballet is crucial but very difficult. There is always something new to learn and something to improve upon. feel that I am constantly learning new things on how to pull up out of my hips and have correct pelvis placement without tucking my pelvis. I think that I focus on correct body alignment more during barre than I do during center work. For some reason I think that I have more control over my body at the barre than I do in center. Also, if I focus on my placement during barre hopefully I am aligned and ready to focus more on technique during center work. Though body alignment is so important especially in ballet I think it is also important to relax and shake it out after trying to have correct alignment. I have a hard time with having correct alignment without tensing and gripping my muscles. I am getting better with this struggle, I really try to think about turning out with my hip flexors and not gripping my glutes while growing in my standing leg to make room for my working leg to completely cross in fifth. Body alignment is most important in ballet because if you are not correctly aligned and continue to do the combinations with wrong placement, you often build the wrong muscles and your body gets used to it and it is harder to correct yourself and train your body to have correct body alignment. It has been difficult for me to learn the feeling of correct alignment compared to being able to see what correct alignment looks like. I am a very visual learner so not having a mirror is forcing me to learn how to feel my body alignment which I think is very important because as we know for the next two years we are not going to have mirrors and it prepares you for the future because you never know in what types of spaces that you will be dancing in.

So many things to keep in mind.

What is proper alignment? Well you see, that is actually a very scary question for me. Achieving this so call “proper alignment” is where a simple ballet class can be turned into the most difficult class of your day. It is only the third or fourth week of class (depending on how you count it) and I have already created an entirely new list of things for me to remind myself of at every moment during class. I have way too many bad habits that I am working relentlessly at to correct. For example, my feet like to rotate more then what my actual turn out is. So I have to remember to use my inner thighs to hold what turn out I have been graced with. The most important alignment problem for me is a combination of not leaning too far back where I think is normal and or comfortable but to stay directly over my pelvis by engaging those abdominals to hold that spot, as well as lifting up and out of my pelvis so that I give off that pretty balletic line that all dancers strive for. These are only a few of the items from my list of alignments corrections I force myself to improve upon in each and every class.

Alignment and Body Placement in Ballet

Correct alignment is one the crucial essentials to have when taking a ballet class. It is one of the very first things you learn in your ballet technique class, and it stays with you throughout your ballet experience. Proper body alignment allows the rest of your body to move freely when you dance; which is why ballet is used as a foundation tool when branching out to different styles of dance. Poor body alignment puts excess strain on muscles and joints, while proper alignment helps to strengthen the muscles. It is important to have good body placement and alignment in ballet because it improves your posture, keeps your pelvis tucked under, keeps the neck lengthened, the shoulders square, improves balance, keeps the knees over the toes, helps your hips align with the center of weight, and sitting in the hip socket. All of the previous points mentioned help with the exercises performed at the barre, turns, adagio, petit allegro, combinations across the floor, and many other done in ballet technique classes. Proper body placement and alignment will help refine your skills in ballet class and help to become more advanced in the dance genre.

Balletic Alignment

I feel like the idea of alignment is probably the most important, central, and integral part of ballet technique, while at the same time being one of the most elusive ideas I have ever known. I have to start off by saying that the word scares me. I used to think that having correct alignment in ballet simply meant making my back stand up straight over my hips. As I became more exposed to the dance form, however, the idea snowballed into something which all other things revolve around. I have learned to think about it all the time. It haunts me while I dance, while I walk to class, while I brush my teeth, and while I sleep, and I am constantly evolving the idea into a workable and definable concept for myself. I believe correct alignment begins first with "the core," which, I think, is ironically another very elusive term in the dance world. I believe the core consists of the very deep abdominal muscles below the naval, right around the pelvis, and that those muscles must always be engaged in ballet. They should not be contracted, just engaged. I sense what I would describe as a slight "prickle" in that area when I think I feel it correctly. It should be engaged in a way that lengthens the hip flexors, bringing the pelvis to a "perfect" position, in between being tucked under and tilted forward. This spine should be stacked through the neck, the back lifted and wide, so that it sits over the pelvis, and I think the scapulae should be lowered and relaxed, in order for the rest of the back to be relaxed. Throughout all this work, I think the dancer should somehow breathe. Unfortunately, I believe I have found from experience that this is all much easier said than done, especially when we stop standing and actually start dancing. However, hopefully when all of these ideas are applied and put to work, the rest of the muscles can be used effectively in producing the beautiful dance we strive to make.

Thoughts on Alignment...

The title I chose for this article causes me to laugh... when am i not thinking about alignment? Tuck and pull up, turn-out through rotation, and bring your shoulders over your hips... over and over in Ballet class, this is a constant drone echoing through my head. When I am able to find this place... I dance so much better. This is because when one is in correct alignment there is space in their body to move. Yet and unfortunately, I am sad to report with this constant drone/echo running through my head... I am not always functioning in correct alignment. My body knows where correct alignment is, so at the start of most exercises.. aha!... I am there. However, by the end, it is as if my body has stopped listening to my head and it has a mind of its own (my body that is). Usually, at this point (when I think I am in correct alignment but, sadly, am not) the teacher is walking by and, like magic, my body decides to tuck and pull up, turn out through rotation, and bring my shoulders over my hips.

"Colizoli, Tuck Your Pelvis!"

As you can imagine from the title of this article, I am a proud owner of a swayed back. Sure, I might think that I'm tucking my pelvis and that my booty isn't sticking straight out there for the world to see, but it is. It always is. I never know when enough is enough when it comes to alignment. Sometimes I feel like I'm placed, only to find out that I need to tuck more, turn out more, spiral more, push more, pull more, all over my body. It's the most exhausting part about ballet. At my home studio, we were always told, "turn out, turn out, turn out" in every class. Little did I know that I was turning out much to far past my natural line. I wouldn't have ever even though of my natural line if it wasn't for this class in particular. In light of these things, finding that happy medium is what I'm working for now. I want my line to look pretty without looking cheated. That's my goal for this year, to establish a pretty line in proper placement. I know, that's what every dancer wants, but achieving it is a lot easier said than done.

Body Alignment/Placement

Alignment is definitely something I put a lot of focus on when working in ballet. I believe that once I can find proper alignment in a position or movement, I can then better focus on the artistry of it. The biggest challenge I have with alignment is remembering to constantly correct any improper placement I have made a habit in my body. I can usually find correct placement, but remembering to constantly maintain it is when it becomes more difficult. Personally, I am working on trying to keep my arms and shoulders in correct alignment. I know that my arms sometimes fall out of alignment because I am usually more focused on the rest of my body and sometimes forget to give them the attention they need. I have also recently had more trouble with keeping my shoulders down while simultaneously keeping my abdominal muscles engaged. I have been working on getting this feeling back into my body so it can become more natural again. Overall, I find alignment to be the basis of all movement in ballet and am working on trying to make it feel as comfortable as possible in my body.