Battement Tendu

Well, if you look up it in the ballet terminology books it translates as beaten stretch but if you study ballet you know it is oh so much more than that. I was teaching class one morning this week and it occurred to me that many adult dancers don't take the time to really articulate the movement of the toes separately from the foot and ankle. I see this on a daily basis and though I correct it and speak of it often I still wish to see more of my dancers perform a battement tendu correctly. When I begin to teach a class with brand new adult dancers I break down the movement just as I would for children. At this point adults and children are essentially the same because if it is the first time that you are learning to do the movement it must be broken down. Teaching this movement has proven harder than I would have expected but that is one of the reasons that I love teaching ballet so. It is a constant challenge to present the information to new students and old who might have forgotten the basics. So say that you are standing in first position and you are going to execute tendu to a la seconde. . . first you must think of pulling the torso up out of the legs as well as pushing down through the working leg. The heel of the working leg stays on the floor as long as possible til it must raise so that the ankle is able to stretch. Throughout this movement the toes should be comfortably stretching along the floor with NO tension. As the ankle points, the toes are still stretched along the floor until the last moment when the toes continue the stretch to the full point! Closing into first position correctly reverses the process. It is so very important to correctly articulate the foot during these early barre exercises so the foot becomes warm and pliable but also gains strength from the work of the movement. A few extra tendus every day even if you are unable to make it to class can NEVER hurt. Just make sure to do some demi-plies also so that the calves get a stretch. Good luck!

Adult Ballet Students

So I've been thinking a lot about my adult ballet students and what it is that keeps an adult ballet student coming back to class week after week. I've found that my older (40+)  population of adult dancers are much more committed than the twenty-something's and I am looking for a way to change that. One of the reasons that I feel the older student continues religiously is that if one takes time off it is so hard to come back to as one gets older. Younger dancers don't seem to have the longevity in accepting that studying ballet can be a life long joy not a quick fix. Another thing that seems to impede the younger adult student is the idea that one must have a perfect body to participate in a ballet class or to feel good about themselves in a ballet class. It has always been my goal as a teacher of adult ballet classes to help all my students find joy in moving their bodies in this art form. I have students of all shapes and sizes and that just makes it a much more real experience. We all know that professional ballet dancers are some of the most beautifully shaped bodies in the world but why do adult dancers need to try to attain that aesthetic to enjoy the wonder of ballet for themselves. So it seems to me that older dance students have come to terms with the body they live in and enjoy it more than the younger students. I wish for all of the adult ballet students in the world to find peace with their body, their instrument for dance.