Day 8 focuses on balancing body weights such as the head, on top of the thorax, which is on top of the pelvis. Especially for dancers, the plumb line is important in keeping balance. We thought the snowman was a good visual for representing balance and its plumb line.
Cone head and tail
ReplyDeleteThe function of this exercise is to feel the postural alignment with dynamic pulls towards gravity and towards verticality. This exercise has been used in many of my ballet classes this quarter. The imagination and application put forward for this exercise helps execute my body movements with postural alignment. It helps with the facilitation of a “neutral” spine; without any foreign curvatures of the spine caused by bad posture.
Identifying landmarks for alignment
The function of this exercise is to find the plumb line of my body, while standing. This exercise has also been previously used by a ballet instructor I’ve once had- Courtney, from Cornish. As a first year ballet student, this technique for successfully identifying landmarks had been of immense help to proper alignment.
Being able to locate the greater trochanter of my femur has been one HUGE revelation. It has been a fine reference to go back to whenever I have trouble in technique classes. The terms “neutral” pelvis and “tucking” has made much more sense now, as I know the bony landmarks and function of the pelvis.
Balancing the body weights
Being able to balance the different body weights we have on our body, truly helps with balance as a dancer. Part of this success is due to the imagery we place and use on our bodies. Ballet dancers will find this ability valuable, as it is a fantastic tool to help with balance, posture, alignment, and PIROUETTES!!
When completing pirouettes, I am successful when I can balance the three different body weights. I WILL tip over, when I am not able to place the body weights equally on top of one another (like the snowman photo).
THAO
Cone Head and Tail
ReplyDeleteThe two forces that pull us, gravity and verticality are pulls in opposition. These pulls create our plumb line that we work with in dance classes for a lengthened posture. In tapping the top of our head and feeling the energy radiating from the top of our heads to the feet on the ground, we can feel a sense of being grounded and weighted into the earth. Then, in finding the verticality you can touch the top of your head and think of head strings as we do in class that reach out of your head. The imagination of getting taller helps one find this verticality. These visuals help one find their plumb line and their head/tail alignment.
Identifying Landmarks from Alignment
This exercise is a walk down the body to find boney landmarks that are important for alignment. First in nodding my head yes, I found the soft spot at the base of my skull where the spine connects. Then, I traveled to my ribs and found on the sides where the ribs stick out. This is the place that is the axis of the ribs. I also moved my ribcage forward and back to make sure this was the axis. Then, I traced the sides of my hips and found the greater trochanter on each side. Continuing down the leg, I felt the boney landmarks of the knees and thought about all of the pressure, strain and weight each knee takes. Onto the ankles I found the outer malleoli and thought about how much weight bearing the ankles go though as well. This is a reason why as a runner and a dancer I somehow seem to get ankle or knee pain from time to time. Also, all of the ligaments that attach in each are very fragile. One must keep the muscles around the knees and ankles strong to protect their ligaments and tendons within each joint. Then, I found my second toe and traces from there up my legs. With a lift of the ribcage and a lift of the head strings, it was easy to find alignment after this exercise. The sensations of touch on the boney landmarks of my body brought more awareness to each of them for me.
Balancing the Body Weights
This exercising is exciting because you can observe your relaxed way of standing in the mirror, and notice where each body weight falls and how your overall alignment is. One must be aware of skull, thorax and pelvis being the three weights of the body that are being balanced on top of each other. These three structures of the body can be out of alignment, and some dance moves cause us to adjust this alignment diagonally or in a curved shape. But after peaking at my relaxed posture state, I realized that this state is a closed position. I find myself in this position when I am tired or sometimes when I am on the computer typing. I did not have my shoulders rotated in that much, but my head was relaxed forward because of the weight of my head. It feels extra heavy today for some reason. Closing in during a relaxed state is common for many people today due to computer work, but neck and back problems are the outcomes for postures like this when working on the computer and in everyday life as well.
KATIE