Today’s in Geoff’s class we began the class with our warm up exercises. As we are a few weeks in now, we just go through them all without Geoff’s guidance. This gives the people who know the exercises the chance to show what they have learned in the few weeks prior to this class. I feel like in Geoff’s class I have improved on my balance and my plié during the beginning exercises. I no longer turn my knees in during a plié in second position, I drop my shoulders and ribs when in a rise in fifth position and I have the confidence to really go for the majority of the exercises without having to rely on the mirror. All of the above made me realise how much you can improve on technique wise in such a short amount of time.
This week Geoff commented on the use of my wrists, in previous classes I have never really put that much thought into the use of my wrists. Nevertheless in two separate classes this week, two technique teachers have commented on the position and distinction of my wrists during exercises or short phrases. Geoff commented on how my “wrists could cut glass" that there was far too much tension in them. For me this was feedback that I could really do something about for the remaining hour. Without thinking too much about it, I loosened my wrists and let them relax, instead of having them in placed positions. This perhaps is an old habit that has crept through from many years of training from a younger age previous to this course. Consequently in future classes I will remind myself to keep my wrists soft and relax opposed to a rigid form.
This was also evident when approaching Geoff's barre exercise, as again I needed to focus on dropping my arm and release my head, however as this exercise primarily focused on the feet the arms felt more released. Geoff demonstrated, how when you push the leg towards the back the knee has to lead as oppose to the foot carrying the majority of the weight. This is also an aspect of ballet technique in which I need to improve on. If the leg is lifted the knee needs to be the highest point. As a personal weakness I need to work on not altering the position of my hips to suit the angle of my leg.
Also in this week’s class Geoff taught us another end phrase. In many of classes, Geoff has referred to our standard and approaches to work with the term ‘You’re third years now’. I think from this Geoff is trying to tell us that we should be prepared to work a lot harder and pick material up in a shorter amount of time. Personally, from saying this it really encourages me to give even more energy and power. I agree with what Geoff has to say as I find it very encouraging. From this we learnt a new phrase and demonstrated it on the right and left. Again Geoff asked us to get with a partner and work through it; I was partnered with Lucy again which I find really useful as we are similar dancers. We both feed off one another and demonstrate the routine with strength and power. Geoff commented on our attempt saying we had ‘good timing’ and that it was a ‘good effort for a first time’. This is also very helpful feedback as I thought for a first attempt we had done particularly well.
Again I left Geoff’s class with a sense of achievement and progression. I always look forward to our next encounter with Geoff as I think out all the techniques we study this perhaps is my strongest. I have recorded myself many times in Geoff class so i can visually see my weaknesses and focus on improving them.
This video is a demonstration of the use of my wrists. As you can see I do tend to hold them in a position in contrast to releasing them. From watching myself back, I can hopefully begin to loosen my wrists and enjoy the sensation of the movement. I also need to focus on not altering my shoulders when circling my arm.
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