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Celebrity Dance Coaching With Louis Van Amstel - Emmy Nominated Choreographer
From The Hit TV Show Dancing With The Stars! - Amazing - Lose Weight,
Increase Romance, Dance!
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Author: Dianne M. Buxton
Article:
The grand battement supports posture, grand jete en tournant and
in the splits, and grand allegro such as sissone. In sissone,
both legs do a grand battement, the body travels, and the
posture must be maintained. The daily routines of grand
battement is a full body workout of the feet, legs, torso
muscles, with exacting and strong arm movements.
Every grand battement begins with a strong brush into the floor.
This challenges the hip placement, the posture, and the feeling
of lifting the leg from underneath. The leg does not lift from
underneath, that is just a mental trick of elongating the leg,
keeping the working hip placed, and lifting the leg (from the
top muscles) but without shortening and bunching the thigh
muscles.
Every battement tendu and degage you have done determines the
strength of your grand battement.
Your grand battement determines the strength and elegance of
your grand allegro.
Even if you can sit in perfect splits, your grand jete will not
achieve a split position if your legs cannot arrive at the peak
of the movement at the same time, with your postural position as
well. It's like everything freezes in position for a second, and
with soft and elegant arms.
Grand jete en tournant requires the same strength - the first
leg does a grand battement as you jump - you fouette in the air
and battement the second leg at the top of the jump, not on the
way down. The legs have to have a powerful and perfectly timed
action.
Putting grand battement into center exercises is an effective
challenge.
Having a classmate check your posture and placement will assure
you that you are building strength correctly. Your weight should
not get pulled off your supporting side. If it does, that is
what will destabilize the take off into a jump. Parts of the
body moving out of alignment above the pressure of the brushing
foot and the heel into the floor in your demi plie, weaken the
push off. I know I just said that twice, it is important.
Basic technique creates the right movement patterns for
classical choreography. Grand battement builds strength for
that. It is indeed a full body workout in your ballet exercises.
About the author:
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