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.

The proper positioning or state of adjustment....

Alignment: the act of aligning or state of being aligned; especially: the proper positioning or state of adjustment of parts (as of a mechanical or electronic device) in relation to each other.

This is what I found when I looked on the Merriam-Webster website for the definition of alignment. It is the general idea of what being aligned in Ballet class or any dance class for that matter is for me, in one since of the word. I feel that it is the entirety of my body being within direct relation with all of its parts. The head is over the shoulders which over the rib cage (which are not open), which is over the pelvis (not over tucked and not completely released) which goes over the knees, ankles and feet. You must always be thinking of this idea, along with how your weight is distributed in your feet, and where your rotation is coming from not from the knees but from the hamstrings and hips. This idea must adjust for different positions in class especially when doing any action to the derrière. The placement of the hips and weight shift over the standing leg, and the performing leg must not open to far or lift. Another important part of alignment is proper muscle engagement. I ask myself, are my lower abdominals and side obliques actively lifting my body up and out of my hips? Alignment is not something that you have on auto pilot. Each day when you come into class you must take account of your body and find your own alignment. And not everyone has the body of a Russian ballerina, each body has its unique in both muscular and bone structure so no ones alignment is the same. The two things that I struggle with the most is finding the balance between the release and the engagement of my pelvic placement and knowing when my abdominals are not active enough. I will probably be pursuing these two things for the rest of my life!

Alignment

Alignment is the single most frustrating thing about ballet. I have spent years trying to find the correct placement, and every time I think I have finally corrected something, I find something new I must work on. For example, when I was younger, I used to keep all of my weight back in my heels, to which my teachers told me that my weight should be in the ball of my foot. After being corrected at least a hundred times, I finally found my new placement, with my weight distributed across the ball of my foot, only to find out that now my weight is too far forward. The same thing happened with the placement of my back and shoulders-- i used to be arched all the time, and in an effort to correct this, I over-corrected, now with my shoulders hunched slightly forward and in front of my hips. Trying to find the balance and not over-correcting has always been a struggle for me.

Another thing that I am struggling with this year is not having mirrors. In many ways, I think that dancing with out mirrors can be beneficial. I think it helps with the performance quality, musicality, and artistry when I am not constantly staring in the mirror. However, when it comes to alignment, I miss the mirrors terribly. When trying to find the correct placement, I still have trouble feeling it-- I need to see it. I need to be looking in the mirror through out barre work, checking to make sure that my abs are pulled up, by rib cage is closed, my shoulders are over my hips etc. I know that I should be able to feel if I am in correct alignment or not, but I am still really struggling with this.

Pelvis, Standing Leg , Ribcage, and So much more

Alignment and Placement are obviously one of the most important foundations of ballet. Without striving to have correct alignment is like building on sand better yet...quick sand. You can get all of the embellishments and artistry of the house(aka ballet) but without a solid foundation your sinking ...quickly.

Aiming for better Alignment is a constant work in progress and requires what I used to think of as an "impossible" awareness of your body( my view on that has changed:)). I find it very valuable to have classes like this that really challenge me to be aligned through exercises that seem like " Omg! I know how to flippin plie!" (just being real). However, classes like this help retrain the body from bad habits that we have developed because we didn't take the time to WORK and truly think about placement through the slow ,and sometimes tedious exercises. I'll be honest I've done many a class filled with exciting and ostentatious combinations slouched in my hips, with a displaced pelvis and my own definition of rotation(not pretty). That says so much about the need to master alignment because without it when we get to the other stuff... well you get the picture.Also, without the proper placement we just make it harder on ourselves to accomplish the task . Therefore, with those thoughts in mind I encourage you guys and myself to keep on fighting to keep that pelvis right and tight(not literally) , even when you feel like your failing at life ,and pretty soon we will be able to dance as big, and awesome as we always dreamed.

Alignment and Placement

Alignment and placement has to be one of the most frustrating things in a ballet class, yet one of the most fundamental things. It seems that one minute it's there and the next time you attempt the same movement it's gone. Throughout my ballet training placement is one of the main things I have to actively focus on because everything originates from proper placement. Although, it also happens to be one of the most rewarding feelings when you successfully find the placement and can support movement properly.

Every day I enter a ballet class I discover many successes and also many failures. However, I view these failures as a learning experience. If I pique into an arabesque and fall backwards I have learned my placement is not far enough forward. I keep testing this and pushing farther and farther out until I find the exact spot to sustain my pique. The only tricky thing with alignment and placement is that it is hardly ever consistent in a persons body, like Kelly's blog mentioned. Every day you have to adjust to your body's needs. Learning your own body's needs takes alot of time and practice. My goal each and every day in ballet class is to have less failures and more successes then the class before. Its a slow and tedious process, sometimes even aggrevating, but I gain knowledge about my muscular structure and it keeps me open to the advice from others. This holds true especially when it comes to quicker movement. While you may discover the alignment while doing more adagio based movement once it picks up you have to engage a whole new type of bodily awareness to keep the proper placement, which is my personal struggle.

Placement, although it seems like an easy concept, takes years to learn and even longer to perfect. You can't fully understand how your placement works until you can understand the anatomy of the body and physically feel the support in your body.

This, That, and the other Thing

Alignment and placement are vital for the success of a ballet dancer and yet are the most difficult components of ballet to achieve. A dancer can work and explore their alignment and placement for their entire career and still be searching for it and tweaking it long after their careers are finished. It is essential to ballet, it is the like the skeleton of the body. It is the main infrastructure, and without it, you fall; you cease to exist. I realize that this metaphor is a bit over dramatic for describing alignment and placement, but I am simply trying to say that these basic fundamentals of ballet are quite a feat to discover.

The main lesson I have learned about my placement and alignment is that it is ever changing. This may seem like a strange idea considering their is obviously a proper placement and correct alignment, but part of being human means that each day we come to ballet class we will be finding new successes and failures in our bodies' alignment and placement. It is about adjustment and patience. Yes we are constantly reaching for the ideal, but we must realize that your rotation may not always be 180 degrees, you may not always feel like you're right on your leg. Our bodies are ever changing, and therefore, so is the process of finding true alignment and placement.

I have been taught, rehearsed, and scolded on proper alignment. I know that you must have a long neck, space in the torso without splaying the ribs, a neutral pelvis with no under tucking or sitting back, and rotation from the top of the leg ( not from the feet.) The challenge comes from translating this "ideal placement" into our own unique, individual bodies. Let's face it we don't all have perfect rotation, some of us have tilted pelvises or weak cores. We have to be able to adjust, be flexible with what it means to be in placement in our bodies. In my own personal exploration I found myself searching for the "ideal" rotation. While over rotating in my feet, I've ruined my long spine, neutral pelvis and began to sit back in order to over compensate. My body was not made to be perfectly rotated. It is a truth I must accept. I have the extreme challenge of forgetting the "ideal" and finding my own personal, healthy ideal. To make ME as my own unique, original dancer the very best, and aligned that I can be. If this means I have to use less rotation and find the engagement of the hamstrings in a smaller first, then so be it.

Body placement and alignment are the key to good technique. Whether it's at the bar or across the floor, our success in exercises is often determined by our body alignment. Correct alignment and placement allow our bodies to do things we never thought we'd be able to. They're also something we have to constantly think about and find in our body. We have to continually remember; the head should be lifted and the neck long. The ribs pulled together and lifted up. The hips under the ribs and the legs working turnout from the top. When we get to the feet we have to find not only the balance of working our turnout without over rotating but also putting our weight in the right place. Although it's a lot to think about, it's better on our bodies, makes our dancing beautiful, and helps us achieve whatever we're working on.

Personally, I struggle with proper alignment and placement everywhere in my body but especially in my shoulders, turnout, and feet. My shoulder blades stick out giving the appearance that I'm always slouching. This means that I must work to stand extra straight and fight to keep my shoulders low while working with my arms. Along with standing extra straight I have to make sure that means lifting in my rib cage and pulling my ribs together rather and poking them out. I once had a ballet teacher tell me to feel like someone had sown my ribs together, this was very helpful and a teaching I try to remember. In my turnout I tend to clench my buttocks rather than working with the deep rotators so I have to work to relax my those muscles, and work the rotators. One of the things I struggle with the most is not letting my weight fall back. I used to have a teacher that after an exercise would go around and push you; although I didn't love this it always made me realize where my weight was and where it should have been. Now when I feel myself rocking back on my heels I think about her pushing me and try to get my weight centered.

Ultimately, body alignment and placement is just one of the many aspects of work in ballet. It requires great attention, determination, and perseverance, but if you keep working eventually your body does what you want. For me, this is one of my favorite parts of ballet, when I finally master my body and have that great sense of accomplishment from doing something right. This success is something we constantly have to fight for, even after we've achieved it, but when it comes it makes it worth all the work.

Demi Plie With Arms to 5th!

When I was younger my mom always told me to stand up straight and to not hunch my shoulders. Thankfully ever since I started dance, those comments have dramatically decreased. Body alignment is crucial to being able to progress in ballet. Without it you won't ever be able to reach that 180 degree develope or be able to turn for years. Over the years I have been dancing I have learned more and more about what that "Correct Body Alignment" is. Ballet alignment is all about keeping your natural "plum line" and using the correct muscles to hold up your skeletal structure in order to allow the freedom you body needs to fluidly and safely perform ballet. The basic alignment concepts are almost "pedestrian" in the fact that it is naturally how people hold themselves. These include keeping your shoulders back and relaxed, making sure your pelvis is engaged and not released backwards, keeping a long neck, and on a basic level elongating your rib-cage. After that point though everything becomes a million times more subtle and that much more important. Examples of these would be lacing your rib-cage shut and not letting it splay open, making sure that your rotaters are engaged and not the global muscles surrounding them, making sure your weight is in the middle of both feet and not slightly to the toes or heels, etc. These crucial alignment standards are the basis for being able to move in ballet. Easier done standing still rather than moving, being able to keep correct alignment while dancing and not just during barre exercises is truly a remarkable feat. Correct Ballet Placement on the other hand can't even happen unless your alignment is in check. For example how would one be able to balance, on flat, on one leg unless their weight was in the middle of their foot and the opposing side of the working leg was lifting up? Answer is, simply it wouldn't happen. Ballet Placement also differs from alignment in the fact that while alignment is about keeping the inside of your body stable, Placement is where the outside of the body should be in order to convey ballet positions and "pictures". Even though these two concepts work hand in hand and the terms could be haphazardly interchanged, they are still very distinct and different.

Body Alignment and Placement

Whether I am sitting down watching my favorite television show or doing exercises in ballet class, I am constantly reminded of my body alignment and placement. I even find myself noticing how other people around me (pedestrians or dancers) hold themselves in everyday situations.

I am told by dance teachers each year that it takes years and years to find correct alignment. After dancing for sixteen years, I still am no where near perfect alignment. However, I feel that at Ohio State teachers have guided me to internalize the idea of alignment in a way that I have achieved it at one point (even for a split second) as a member of the dance department. I know what is right and what is wrong not only visually but also physically. I am also aware of the effects correct body placement has on holding positions or reaching a point of balance.

What really got my mind on track to becoming more aware of correct body placement is discovering my hyper extension in my knees. Courtney Harris was the first to ever explain to me that my knees were not built like everyone else. As soon as I discovered the issue it took me the rest of the quarter to find a way to counteract that hyper extension. I had to lift out of my pelvis and rotate my inner thigh in order to not buckle my knees.

I feel that the idea finally clicked in my mind. I had to use my rotate muscles, my pelvis lift, and my inner thighs all at once to work the way I am supposed to. Now that I am aware of this, I find myself being able to concentrate in ballet class on these alignment realizations. I need to mentally prepare myself in every exercise or I will resort to old habits. The idea of "holding on" is one that resonates with me. As soon as I disengage my mind and body, all hope is lost.

I am excited that I know how to work properly to an extent! I want to work on reinforcing these new positive habits of body alignment in ballet from now on!

Aimee Heslop

F=ma

In the works.

Dirty work.

All in a day's work.

Working out.

Working hard or hardly working?

All work and no play...

Getting worked up.

Working through it.

Work.

What is it about those four letters that allow them to retain such elusive importance in our lives?

Getting up in the morning may be work for one person whereas another might be able to coast through days and weeks without ever having to commit to working even once.

Work is a mental and physical state of reaction and adaptation to challenges that arise in one's life.

I feel like I am stepping into my workplace when I enter the dance studio prior to ballet class.

Every fiber of my being becomes drawn into the work of processing the variables of ballet technique.

I examine the architecture of my skeleton, using the musculature to adjust the axial and appendicular sections of my frame according to the information I am receiving from the exercises.

Everything in a constant state of renewal and reassessment.

The work entailed in ballet class is not simply the type of quantifiable work dealt with in physics equations where force equals mass multiplied by acceleration.

The true nature and beast of ballet requires that you constantly are working on even the most simple of exercises because once those are no longer work for you, you're either, A: Doing it perfectly, or B: not getting any better.

Considering what we know of ballet it is probably the latter and therefore, work in ballet class is the constant challenge of appreciating every exercises' subtly complex demands and being attentive enough to know how to respond.

-B