Improvements Week Two - Ballet Music

             This week, one of my weaknesses is keeping in time with piano based music. I am used to dancing to music with an obvious beat so it's easy to say in time but I normally hardly ever dance to just a piano. This is having an impact on my ballet because I'm unable to focus on performing the choreography with the correct technique due to concentrating on keeping in time with the music.
             To improve this I am going to listen to more piano based music during the week so I will hopefully develop an understanding for the timings naturally. I will listen to Tchaikovsky's music for the Nutcracker as although it's ballet music it isn't solely piano based, I will gradually ease myself into it until I can dance freely to piano based music. I will also listen to a few of Ludovico Einaudi's piano pieces, primarily Primavera as I was already aware of that great piece.  
 

Improvements Week 2 - Ballet Posture

          The correct posture in ballet is very important as it improves the aesthetic component of the movements and reduces the stress put on the body, reducing the chance of injury. To find my perfect posture I decided it would be most beneficial to investigate common mistakes, to help me avoid them, and research some simple methods of finding the correct posture *evidence on this is in my portfolio p10-11*. After this research I realised it was still fairly difficult to achieve, so I decided to follow an online tutorial to improving it ballet posture.

 
       
          I found this wooden spoon technique very useful. This is because even when you spend ages following the steps to the correct posture, the only reassurance you have that it is correct is your reflection in the mirror, which can be deceiving. However with a wooden spoon placed down you vertebral column you can feel when your posture is off. This not only helps find the correct posture but really helps keep it when dancing. Maintaining the correct posture whilst dancing is very difficult because there is some much to think about, and although you want the moves to look controlled and ridged you still want to look freely flowing with an appropriate amount of restriction.
          Instead of following specific postural exercises between classes I think it will be more useful for me to simply practice the class pieces with and without the wooden spoon. I also think it would be helpful to speak to Miss Jackman in my next class and ask her if there are any areas of posture that she thinks could be improved.

Improvements Week 1: Achilles Tendon & Soleus Stretching Exercises

          The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel bone (calcaneus), it's both the thickest and strongest tendon in the body. However it lacks a protective covering leaving it very vulnerable to inflammation and injury. Therefore you must be very careful when doing stretching/strengthening exercises, it's commonly injured and often needs surgical treatment due to its lack of protective covering.
           Improving flexibility of the calf is just like improving any other muscle, it takes time and patience as you must gradually increase the degree to which you stretch the muscle. I have decided to stretch the tendon as well as the muscle because of the limited time for improvements, this will hopefully increase the rate at which my flexibility improves and aid how low my demi-plies get without lifting my heels off the floor.  


From research into stretching the Achilles tendon I have found Achilles tendonitis treatment exercises very useful, this is because the exercises stretch and strengthen the areas that I wish to improve. I watched this clip as a form of research into the possible exercises I could complete, I will then decide if they are suitable and likely to helping me achieve my targets.



From this and other research I have decided the calf/Achilles tendon wall stretch and a form of the soleus drop will be the most beneficial exercises for improving my demi-plie. Strength in general is very important in ballet as all moves must be performed with elegance and control.