February & March Corrections

Alright, life got the best of me, and my window of time to get February Corrections filmed went by like *that*. Life has been crazy as we discussed a couple weeks ago, so I'm combining two month's worth in this second installment of monthly(-ish) corrections :)

G L I S S A D E  A S S E M B L E

Instead of thinking about the glissade being "up", think about it moving sideways and bring the second foot in quicker. Then when you get to the assemblé, it can be the "up" movement (don't travel the assemblé). So: sideways, then up.

D E V E L O P P E  E C A R T E

In an adagio combo we did plié fifth into développé écarté in relevé, which is such a pretty & fun step to do! It naturally makes you want to feel super tall from the second you bring your leg up, but our tip was to think about growing taller at the top of the position before you come down. You want to think tall from the beginning, but that last bit of "growth" if done at the end can elongate the line and help you hold the position longer! Two thumbs up for that :)

G R A N D E  S I S S O N N E  O U V E R T E

This is the big sissonne where you land on one leg and the other stays raised - we usually do it in arabesque. I was making this sissonne pretty much stay in place, but was told to really move forward with the movement, as it's mean to be a big jump! I still have some work to do to really use my plié beforehand, but it's a much more fun step when you make it travel!

A R M S  I N  F I F T H

My arms in general have been droopy lately, but it was pointed out when doing grand battements at the barre one day that my hand of the arm in fifth was kind of breaking at the wrist making the line look broken instead of rounded. To fix it, I need to keep the hand facing in a bit more and of course think about my elbow staying "lifted" so it doesn't droop back. Another correction regarding the arm in fifth was during tombé pas de bourrée - if bringing the downstage arm to fifth in the tombé, make sure it stays over your head instead of pulling behind as it kind of feels natural to do.

T O M B E  C O U P E  J E T E

This is a similar correction from January, where this jump prep needs to really stay low to the ground with a forward movement to create momentum. Think about the tombé stepping way out - probably to the point where it feels like overkill at first - because if you keep it underneath you it's going to be much harder to get the front leg to start the jeté and the rest of your body to get height in the jump.

C O U P E  A S S E M B L E

In petite allegro a lot of times we'll do a coupé front or back before an assemblé. I was not really bringing the coupé foot fully back into fifth and on the ground before brushing into the assemblé. So make sure your working foot is fully articulating back into fifth so you can fully push the ground away going into the assemblé.

E C H A P P E  P A S  D E  B O U R R E E

Going into a pas de bourrée from an échappé, I was turning the échappé into a tombé, essentially. Make sure the échappé is seen with the landing in plié second with the weight even between your feet before starting the pas de bourrée. Otherwise if you favor the leg in the direction of the pas de bourrée, it can look like a sloppy tombé/fourth position type of thing!

F O U E T T E  T U R N S

I was convinced I was never going to figure these out!! My progress has been SO minimal and I've just felt like there's something I'm missing to make these easier than I'm doing them. I was told to keep my weight on my supporting leg side because I was leaning too much toward the working leg. Then after watching video of me working on them, it was discovered I also wasn't whipping my leg back in second enough. And the coordination of my arms and the working leg staying together is another component I am struggling to master! I'm determined to get this!!


Here is the video version of the corrections that might be a bit more helpful! Let me know if you relate to any of these corrections or if there are any questions about any of them! - Jana