The Day My Broken Jete-Overs and Pirouettes Feel Better!

I never thought that I'd see the day when I felt confident about any of my jumps or pirouettes. Last semester, I felt as if I had this huge bowl of gruel before me and was told to eat all of it. I felt like a failure when I couldn't even make the spoon hit my mouth and I was chewing air. I kept repeating the action, feeling more desperate as more gruel fell into my lap. Poor analogy aside, I was frustrated and I didn't understand why my body felt so disconnected from my head.

To be honest, I've felt like Franklin is a big hippie. Phrases like 'Visualize your tension leaving' or 'most likely you feel more free in your pelvis after that exercise' were particularly convincing for me about his hippie-ness. I recognized that kinesthetic awareness and alignment are the key to healthy joints, but I maintained my resistance. Did he have to word things this way?

Earlier this morning, in dance physiology, one particular phrase hopped from the page of the Franklin text to strike me in the face. In the section about dynamic alignment, "Balance is created by countering the forces at their place of origin, not by countering an imbalance with an increased level of tension" (Franklin, 84). In other words, think about the source of movement rather than the result of it. We followed it in class with an exercise about hip alignment. In class, I didn't feel a STUPENDOUS change. Later on, in ballet, I concentrated on visualizing the hip as rotating within the acetebulum, forgetting most of the other details of technique that need work. Cue STUPENDOUS change! This visualization felt much better than the turning of the heel that I've been doing.

*Visual to be inserted here

Tendus feel more aligned. I attribute this to feeling better in my broken down jete-overs and pirouettes. They may still be broken, but I feel as if I've successfully eaten a brownie with extra chocolate chips still gooey with warmth.