Saturday, December 20, 2014

Busy before the holidays

Class today wasn't as big as last week, but it was still crowded. I have this odd tightness in my shins, under the knee and medial to the tibia, that's been annoying me when I walk up stairs or plié. I ended up sitting out one of the more complex center exercises and the warm-up jumps. Otherwise it was a pretty good class.

A few classes ago we were introduced to fouetté turns. Not the tombé-battement-twist jump I've done since the 1980s, but the proper turn similar to a pirouette. Développé avant to demi-plié, rotate the leg en dehor to seconde, then pull it in to retiré relevé and rotate. At first it felt very awkward. As the instructor says, it requires no force, only coordination; I have plenty of force but the coordination is somewhat lacking on this one. But we keep at it.

Today we ended class with a relatively short combo: from fifth, tendu to second then fourth with a demi-plié. Pirouette en dehor ending in a demi-plié avant, straight into the fouetté. Fall into a balancé to the side, other side, front, back, then coupé, tombé, pas de bourrée, pirouette en dehor to fourth, and again to fifth. Repeat back and fourth a total of four times.

With so many of us in one room we broke into three groups, and I went with the second group. I seriously botched the first attempts at the fouetté. The second time through I was feeling better about it, and when the instructor invited anyone who wanted to try it again to go after the third group finished their second attempt, I jumped onto the floor. I guess third time is a charm, because I actually managed the whole sequence, fouetté and all. Score!

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