-rule #1 in learning to dance as a group, or "corps": Look to your right. If you can see anyone past the person right next to you, you are out of line
-choreographic rond-de-jambe preparation
-Kip said "butt" in class today! Heehee! In other news, buttside seating available due to overrotation
-as Ballet Week approaches, the Santa pants emerge

Serious tips:

(a) in temps-lie:
-let working (coupe'd) leg lead you into plie
-legs should draw together immediately
-step at an angle when moving from en face to croise other side

-a function of the arms is to frame the torso (ie: the body) & the face
-in particular, the ecarte devant with high arm creates a profile cameo of the dancer's face
-profile cameos were a huge hit during your great-grandmother's time; for the rest of us, there is something inherently pleasing about the profiled face gazing slightly upward, the neck elongated, and the resulting curvature enhanced by the oval frame...especially when that face is alive and breathing

-the body as architecture (masterpiece or no)

-movement through space culminates in projected images; hold these static poses ever so slightly longer; As a warning, every small movement and gaze resonates into the audience, so choose with care which images you project to the audience.

Also of note: the instrument featured in this evening's beautiful temps-lie music was an oboe. The double-reed is like a bow to a string.

Monday evening (which is evening, and morning is morning) 9/27:

(a) purpose of degages: accuracy of inside movement (timing, hitting of 5th)
(b) foundation for movement lies in pelvic girdle and rectus abdominis
(c) ballet is an organizational tool for human movement characterized by its ceaseless efforts to pull up, reflective of the philosophy of its times (roughly 6-7 hundred years ago); these days, it's not so cool to strive for heaven. Instead, ballet has gone Gaga.

-rotation-focused barre work

-a minor tousle with the white curtains
-a rainbow sighting (anyone else catch that? It was shimmering all over Kip's shirt and face as he was cleaning a CD)
-an assemble combination that earned an audible expression of disgust (tips for less disgusting assembles to come!)

A fouette-heavy class. Must scoop energy into hips.

flic-flac:

-is not French, nor was it intro'd by Vaganova
-is a study of movement, not of position
-is a study of how to turn by sending energy from floor to hips

On another note, I love the way Kip says "adagio". It fills me with anticipation. Then I get to watch him do amazing things with his perfectly shaped foot in the air way above his head. Tonight's adagio did not disappoint. It included a panche, and then a deeper panche in which the hand must reach not only more downward but also more outward.

Observation: when gazing into the palm (ie: in an introverted pose), we must imagine that the distance between the hand and the face is great

-pas de bourree en dehors/en dedans

-inclination of head away from epaulement arm to effect notion of distance
-flat foot in rond-de-jambe
-temps-lie elance-- think about thighs rather than feet: where are they going? squeeze them together
-source of movement in modern (solar plexus/spine) vs. ballet (head)
-Gelsey Kirkland and a discussion of the source of turn-out. It turns out that turn-out comes from the heart. Forget frog stretch. Must work on valve stretch.
-book club

And with regards to the commencement of the absolute beginner class this evening: They saw Mt. Kilimanjaro, caught rays of sunlight in their palm, and each one was kissed by a very tall man. Moreover, it was quickly established that each one was exactly the age she should be to start studying ballet at Symmetry. If I could spend every evening watching Kip Martin teaching ballet, that would be ideal. In fact, this is what I do.

Quiz #1

Where does turn-out come from?

(a) the rotators
(b) the acetabulum
(c) the heart
(d) the solar plexus chakra

If you said (a), you are a realist.
If you said (b), you don't know your face from your bum.
If you said (c), you really mean the mind. And by mind, you really mean the will.
If you said (d),...go find a yoga class. Or a ballet class in NYC.

-coupe front/coup de pied front (wrapped) vs. conditional coupe (front)
-when starting at efface devant, the first ecarte position you hit will be ecarte derriere
-the limit of f(x), where f(x) = turn-out, does not exist. Do not think for a second that your leg is ever turned out enough.*

*caveat: however, in focusing on turn-out, do not forsake pull-up

"Why are we here?...I will tell you the answer:

1st: to establish balance and equilibrium on either one or both legs. For instance*, what does it feel like to stand in 5th? It's a position you never find yourself in until you walk into a ballet class.

2nd: to establish a wide turn-out. For instance*, the rond-de-jambe en dehors must be led by the heel (by the toe for the rond-de-jambe en dedans)."

The answers to life's burning existentialist questions become strangely straightforward when you're standing at a barre. Another reason why I continue to go to Symmetry.

On another note, standing at the window barre today, I noted the following:

-a scar on Kip's left elbow
-a watch on his left wrist
-a ring on his left hand
-a tattered leg warmer on his left leg

The asymmetry was striking. I wondered why his right leg never got cold.

*the following "instance" has been paraphrased

"The older I get, the more cambre I like." (Where I=Kip)

Translation: There is a direct correlation between age and one's predilection for deeper cambres. This relation may be stated mathematically as:

D=4.7pi*a, where a = the dancer's age & D=depth of cambre preferred.

Whether this relation arises out of necessity or free will remains an elusive yet hotly debated question among a tiny circle of Tolstoyan zealots living in a commune on the outskirts of Siberia.

What is certain is that extreme flexibility like deep cambres (a backbend) is enforced and expressly commanded in young dancers, while in older, more mature dancers, it is assumed that the depth will arise naturally as a mode of expressivity.

This evening's class was marked by:

(a) detailed, reiterative instruction in using our hands and head to acknowledge movement
(b) use of rubato, and in general, instruction in how to fit the dance to the music be it legato or militaristic
(c) chakra, chakra, chakra, 3rd eye

...

(c) was hilarious beyond words.