LEGACY STARS TECHNIQUE EXPECATIONS

TECHNIQUE! Technique is the basis of all fundamentals of dance, from holding your body correctly while performing, to executing skills properly in a routine. Strong technique extends across all areas of dance, regardless of the style of your routine. No matter the style of dance, there is always an element of technique that can be improved upon.

BODY ALIGNMENT

Sometimes dancers get caught up in the choreography and forget to hold themselves correctly when dancing. Whether your dancers are beginners or more advanced, it never hurts to go back over the basics of body alignment. Have them stand with their feet together, hands by their sides, and go from the top down of how they should be holding their bodies:

• Lifted chin, elongated neck, eyes off the floor
• Shoulders pressed naturally down and back
• Rib cage closed, as if there was a safety pin holding it together
• Stomach muscles engaged
• Hips held even and level
• Knees relaxed, not locked
• Feet parallel or turned out (remind them that their turnout comes from their hips, with their knees in a line over their toes)

FLEXIBILITY:

Splits on both sides, or close to both. Straddle Split. Dancer must be committed to working on flexibility every day.

TURNS:

CHAINE TURNS – CLEAN SPOT, ARMS LIFTED IN STRONG FIRST POSITION AND STAIGHT KNEES

PIQUE TURNS – CORRECT PASSE POSITION, STRAIGHT KNEE WHEN STEPPING INTO TURN, CLEAN SPOT

DOUBLE PIROUETTES PARALLEL, LANDED WITH CONTROL, CLEAN SPOT

SINGLE BALLET TURNED OUT TURN, LANDED WITH CONTROL, CLEAN SPOT

GRAND BATTEMENTS – FRONT, SIDE AND BACK – DEMONSTRATING STRAIGHT KNEES, POINTED TOES, HIPS DOWN AND LEGS SHOULDER LEVEL

LEAPS:

1. Grand Jete—large throwing step. It is a jump from one foot to the other in which the working leg is brushed into the air and appears to be thrown. In a grand jete, the legs are thrown to 90 degrees with a corresponding high jump. Legs must be stretched, feet pointed, shoulders down, and arms placed correctly.
2. Side/Straddle Leap—large leap with legs in second position. It is a jump from one foot to the other in which the working leg is developed (bringing leg through passé) into the air to a second/side position. The leg is thrown to a position of 90 degrees or higher and is immediately followed by the other leg, which is brushed to a second position, meeting the height of the first leg. Landing consists of the working leg landing on the ground first, and the second leg breaking through passé to land behind it. Legs must be stretched, feet pointed, shoulders down, and arms placed correctly.
3. Front Stag/Calypso – Prepare your body by adequately stretching to aid in the deterrence of injuries

Initiate a calypso leap by starting in first position

Tendu the right leg (brush the foot along the floor with the leg straight without lifting the toe. This is done to warm up and stretch the muscles of the foot as a preparation for larger leg movements)

AND

Fondu the left leg (gradually bend the knee of this supporting leg. It is the same as a plie, but fondu means you do the plie on only one leg)

Tombe (fall from one leg to the other, landing with all the weight on the foot that has just moved, while flexing the knee) into a nice parallel chaine turn (a two-step turn where the body rotates 180 degrees on each step) in releve followed by a second chaine turn in deep plie. Weight should be in your left foot when you end the turn because that is what will give you the lift to come up off the floor.

All at once your…

Right leg kicks up, fanning up and around to extend out to the side with your toes pointed.

Left leg comes up arching back into an attitude (knee bent at an angle of 90 degrees and well turned out so that the knee is higher than the foot).

Cambre (body is bent from the waist and stretching backward or sideways with the head following the movement of the upper body and arms). Keep body square to the audience with your chest open while suspended in the air.

The arm on the side of the raised leg is held over the head in a curved position while the other arm is extended to the side.

Legs must be stretched, feet pointed, shoulders down, and arms placed correctly.