04.10.2011 - Hello and welcome Shaun

This year we have been introduced to our new ballet teacher Shaun who has moved from New York, London and is now living in Newcastle and teaching various classes at Dance City. I always feel a sense of anxiety with new teachers as I know that I am aiming to improve and excel on my technique from last year. However as Shaun has never taught any of us, the first few weeks she spends with us are a clean slate and she will begin to recognise our strengths and weaknesses in our technique as individuals but also our attitudes towards Ballet as a technique. In our first class with Shaun, she asked us to talk about why we had chose to study at Northumbria University, why we like Newcastle as a city and finally what ballet experience we had prior to this year. It was nice to sit and share our experiences with the girls and with Shaun, as we have such a great relationship with each other, it hopefully allowed Shaun to have an insight to how we work as a group and recognise our fantastic group rapport.


For my first post about ballet technique, I have been focusing on keeping my body strong and my hips square, I am also trying to looking at hiding my ribs when my arms are raised in fifth position and also in second. The hour Shaun uses to focus on barre work, I find really helpful to improve my ballet technique in order to build on my upper and lower body strength. Shaun talked to us about the purpose of Barre work being very important in ballet classes for some of the following reasons:

• They help warm up the muscles,
• They increase speed and precision of footwork,
• They help the body prepare for jumps and turns,
• They increase flexibility and strength in the spine,
• They improve Balance. http://dance.about.com/od/typesofdance/f/Ballet_Barre.htm (accessed on 04.10.2011)



Retiré devant on a rise with arms raised in Fifth position

When focusing on keeping my pelvis square I try and avoid altering the position of my hips when demonstrating rond, and rond de jambe en dedans. (See video) When applying this to my technique, I have found that I shift my hips demonstrating half circle foot motion on the floor yet also trying to concentrate on returning my foot through first position. If I concentrate on my core and holding my body upright the feeling of pushing my foot through first position without shifting my weight or pelvis should begin to feel natural, as oppose to forcing my foot round. This also applies to work in Retiré devant on a rise. Again I have to focus on tucking the pelvis underneath me and holding my centre.
I believe I am gradually improving with my balance as I can hold my position a little bit longer every time. But I am still focusing on making it even stronger. de jambe en dehors

Again, like in other technique classes I am trying to improve on my footwork and placement of the foot during work in the centre. When preparing sequences in the centre, I begin really focused on pointing the foot all the way through to the toes then bringing it back through the instep to first or fifth position. However I lose this focus when applying it in preparation for pirouettes. I would like to try and maintain this focus throughout ballet and not just work at the barre.

After Ballet classes with Shaun, I gain a sense of achievement from the lesson. As Ballet is not my forte technique, I believe after every lesson I am improving and proving to myself that I am a quick learner and can adapt well to different Dance Techniques. Although I struggle with certain aspects I do leave the class knowing I have learnt something new about my body and find something I can work on for the following class.


A video demonstrating my rond de jambe. My  focus needs to be on improving my technique on my standing leg but also on bringing my foot through first position every time.