The En Dedans Blues

Yup, my en dedans pirouettes to the right are definitely broken. I tried one before class today and sort-of wobbled through it, but later it didn't work right at all. *sigh* On the other hand, my en dehors are still clean, so it's not a catastrophe.

One of the things I like about this instructor is she now includes piqué turns practice. The first time I tried this a week or two, I found myself way off balance. I had them on my list of things to fix the next time I get a private lesson, but I tried fixing them myself today.

One of my instructors had suggested to another student that she bring her shoulders forward by "reducing the space between your ribs" (more properly, sternum) and your pubic bone. Thinking to myself that I always found myself falling backward when I attempted a tour en l'air (literally, a "turn in the air" — a jump straight up combined with a full turn), and that my fix for pirouettes had involved a similar shift forward, I decided to apply this to my piqué turns. 

This seems to have worked! I don't think I've ever done a long series of piqué turns as cleanly, and certainly not as fast (this class is nominally "Advanced Beginner"). I also had more luck with my spotting, and felt less dizzy afterward.

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One of the rather fun aspects of taking classes at a school with a robust pre-professional track is when one of these "kids" drops into the adult classes. Today, one of this year's graduates joined our class. While I was feeling rather proud of a fairly clean single pirouette en dehor, this young woman standing next to me was doing gorgeous triples. This summer she was hired into a ballet company and soon will be starting her professional dance career in Atlanta. My best wishes to her!