Kinesiology is amazing.

You've probably heard of it called "muscle memory" or "motor memory" or something. Basically, the Cerebellum section of your brain controls balance, kinesiology, and coordination.



My teacher used to tell me "Every time you do something wrong, you have to do it right four times to make up for it." This was because the brain stores the motion and you end up doing it that same way every time. This may or may not be a good thing.

Kinesiology is fun to study. It's also fun to watch in yourself. I recently got back into Pilates, and I found some music on my computer with some old variations. Already after just doing things a few times, my body is remembering things the rest of me doesn't.

So what's the point of this post?

Galina Panova yelled at me once while I was dancing The Dying Swan (Mikail Fokine). She said "Do it right or don't do it at all!"

And it makes sense, yes? Do it right so you can learn it right. If you do it wrong, you're better off not doing it.

Strive for perfection in every plie, degage, and arabesque. Strive and know you will never achieve it, but strive anyway.

At Your Request by Josu Gallastegui



I danced to Gallastegui's piano music in ballet class for many years. His music is delicate and accentuates the art and beauty of ballet. You can hear the lines and the accents, see the head movements and the sharp pointed feet in his recordings. Hearing his music is inspiring and makes me want to dance. He is my favorite musician for ballet class.

His music is ideal for all levels, but especially intermediate through advanced. Some of his recordings have two speeds (this specific recording only has one song in which there is double speed) and each song repeats with a decent pause in between.

At Your Request is one of the only Gallastegui CDs that isn't available on Amazon, but you can find the rest of his music there. This album is available on CD Baby, and directly from his website.

Why are dancers so afraid of turning? Every little girl's favorite pastime is putting on a "twirly skirt" and spinning until she falls down (oh c'mon, don't tell me you didn't). And what's more fun that grabbing your best friend and spinning them around to see which of you falls first? Turning is an amazing phenomenon. When done properly, a dancer should look like her body is turning and her head is not moving. A ballerina doing 32 fouettés makes everyone excited, even audience members who don't know the significance behind them. Why are they so hard, and why do they scare us?




Well, almost everything done on two inches of satin is scary. But still, turns don't have to be hard. Some people are natural turners, some people have to learn to overcome fear when they turn. Turning is very psychological—I have bad turns on the right and good turns on the left. But when I don't think about it and I just turn, my turns on the right are fine. It's when I psych myself out that I can't turn. Doesn't everyone have a "bad side?"

Over the years I've learned a lot of tips about turns. Different people teach turns different ways: I have found that as long as you figure out what works best for you, it's correct.
I love auditioning for The Rock School, because every time I take the audition class I learn something new. The first time, I learned the key to turns: "The only difference between one pirouette and six pirouettes is how many times you spot your head." The "simple" idea of turns is this: push down from your hips, lift up in your ribs, turn out, and spot. That's it.

As far as the preparation, when turning from 4th position, there are three ways to start: straight legs, bent legs, and front leg bent with back leg straight. Both knees bent enables you to find your center and get your hips square. Both legs straight keeps your energy up, so you're not sitting in a plié and putting your energy into the floor, One leg bent and one leg straight gives you more turnout and a higher relevé. I turn best when I do the last one. But some people turn best with a different preparation. Experiment and find what works best for you.

Here's another simple tip: if you're turning and you fall a certain direction, it probably means your center of balance isn't right. If you're on your right leg and you fall to the left, your hip is probably raised higher than it should be. If you fall forward, you're probably dipping your head too much or have your arms too high. Remember: a pirouette is nothing more than a balance and a spot.
Here's a video by Anaheim Ballet on some tips to get you started turning. I've tried their advice and it's wonderful!

I love this story because it's not very well known and it's interesting and unique. The Little Humpbacked Horse is an old Russian folk tale and the ballet is based off a poem. This version was re-written by Haley Mathiot, based off the version in Balanchine's Complete Stories of the Great Ballets. Click Here to read the original version of the poem.



Music by Cesare Pugni
 

Act 1, Scene 1- a hut

Once upon a time, there was a peasant who had three sons: Danila, a clever lad, Gravrila, not so bright, and Ivan, a fool. Ivan is lonely, as his brothers play with friends. Alone, he plays on his pipe. His brothers ridicule him. The father tells the older boys to keep watch for the thief who is stealing their corn.

Act 1, Scene.2- a field at night.

Watching for the thief, the brothers drink and pass out. In the lovely lonely night, Ivan enters and finds his brothers. He throws away the bottle and covers them up while they sleep. Then he looks up at the stars. As the night draws on, a whirlwind is heard over the field and with it the neighing of a horse. A white horse with a red mane leaps across the sky. Ivan grabs her waving tail and leaps onto her back. She implores him to let her go free. Ivan agrees and in gratitude she gives him two gold-manned horses and a little one, barely 6 inches high, with two humps on its back and ears down to the ground. She tells Ivan that he can sell the two large horses but must never part with the little humpbacked horse, who will be his friend forever. Suddenly, a firebird flies across the sky; one of them drops a feather which the little horse warns Ivan not to touch because of the trouble it will bring. But Ivan ignores the warning and chases it. The two older brothers then wake up and steel the two golden-manned horses and take them to market. Ivan returns, upset. The little humpbacked horse is sympathetic, and it gathers Ivan up and takes him off into the sky.

Act 1, Scene.3- market

Ivan’s brothers attempt to sell the horses to the Tsar, the king. But the horses only behave well when Ivan holds them. Ivan shows up and the brothers give up trying to control the horses. Ivan sells the horses to the Tsar, and the Tsar makes Ivan chief of the stables. The former chief of the stables vows to avenge himself on Ivan.
 

Act 2, Scene. 1- the Tsar’s bedchamber

The ex-chief of the stables wants to figure out why Ivan is the only one who can control the golden-manned horses. So he goes to the stables and looks through Ivan’s belongings. He finds the firebird feather, and goes to the Tsar and tells him that Ivan was hiding it from him. The Tsar takes the feather and touches a painting of sea gulls and they come alive and fly away. He then touches a painting of a beautiful maiden, and she came alive.   But only long enough for the Tsar to fall in love with her. Then she disappears. The Tsar demands that Ivan bring her back. The little humpbacked horse tells Ivan he will help him find the beautiful girl.
 

Act two, Scene two- a silver mountain by the seashore

The little humpbacked horse takes Ivan to the silver mountain where, at night the maiden appears in a silver boat. She dances a long, quiet dance. At last the little horse helps Ivan capture her in the midst of her dance. Ivan is astonished at her beauty, and he plays his pipe for the girl. But his little humpbacked horse keeps Ivan from falling in love with the girl. Ivan lulls the girl to sleep, and sets off back to the palace.
 

Act 2,Scene 3- the palace

The Tsar sits on a high throne, and Ivan and the beautiful girl arrive. The Tsar begs the girl to marry him, but she says she won’t unless Ivan finds a ring in three days that she lost in the ocean when she was born. Ivan is ordered to find it.
 

Act 3, Scene 1- the underwater kingdom

The little humpbacked horse leads Ivan to the underwater kingdom. Ivan offers a special silver shell to the empress of the water sprites. She accepts and goes to look for the seahorse that has the ring. While Ivan waits for the empress to return, the water creatures dance for him. Finally, the seahorse arrives with the ring and Ivan and The little humpbacked horse go home.
 

Act 3 Scene 2-  the proposal

the Tsar is preparing the wedding, and the maiden is anxiously waiting for Ivan and his little humpbacked horse. When they arrive, Ivan gives the ring to the girl. But then she tells the Tsar she will not marry him unless he becomes young and hansom. The Tsar is angry, and begins to threaten Ivan, but the maiden says that he can be young and hansom if he jumps in a pot of boiling milk. The Tsar demanded Ivan goes first. The little humpbacked horse tells Ivan he has nothing to fear, so Ivan jumps in. when he emerges, he is more hansom than ever. The Tsar jumps in, but does not come out. He has been boiled alive.
 

Act 3, Scene.3 – the wedding

Ivan and the beautiful maiden are wed, and the little humpbacked horse appears with flowers for the new happy couple. Ivan, the maiden, and the little humpbacked horse live happily ever after.

And when I say brief, I mean BRIEF. I wrote this as a school assignment in 2006.

Around 1400 A.D. court ballet was invented in Italy to be preformed in the royal courts for kings, queens, and nobles to enjoy. Court Ballet united the arts, representing painting, poetry, music, and sometimes food. For instance, the play and story, “The Golden Fleece”, was once done as a two act ballet, and the food given during the intermission was roast lamb. Ballet further developed in France around 1580, though it usually had a minimum plot and focused on music, costumes, scenery and entertainment more than a story. In 1643-1715, Comdie Ballet was common and consisted of dance alternated with spoken scenes.

During Early Professional Ballet, all dancers were men. Because women did not start dancing until later, men in masks played women’s roles. Costumes consisted of masks, headdresses, wigs and heeled shoes, and a skirt called a tonnelet, a knee length hoopskirt. In 1681 when women started dancing, they wore hoopskirts with material draped as full as possible. However, there were some rebels who chose different costumes. Marie Camargo shortened her skirts and adopted slippers with shorter heels to show off her footwork. Marie Salle used Greek robes for her own ballet. Anne Heinel performed the first double pirouette.

Another big thing that was different was their toe dancing, or pointe work. Dancers would darn the toe of their satin slippers with strong tough thread, because block toed shoes had not been invented yet. However, dancers only stood on pointe for a moment or two.

Women dominated the Romantic Period. In fact, men were so scarce that male roles, like in Coppelia, were often done by women in masks. Costumes changed too. Tutus were made for La Sylphide, which was created for Marie Taglioni by her father. The same style tutus were eventually used in the ballet’s successor, Giselle.

During the 20th century ballet period, Anna Pavlova  formed her own company and toured internationally. Also, modern dance began to develop in 1920. Modern styles consist of tap, jazz, hip-hop, disco, and other styles consisting of whole body movement.