October 25th
Last week during an over enthusiastic assemblé I managed to slip, flip into the air, and fall on my back. My doctor said I bruised a bone; my sacroiliac joint. It has been nearly 2 weeks, and I have been resting it. However, it still hurts to développé do the left side, left passe, and [...]
October 16th
Someone recommended I e-mail you, because we have been unable to get answers from doctors and physical therapists who know enough about ballet. My daughter, stepped on a pencil a year ago. She is 14 and loves ballet. The pencil graphite lodged deep in the bottom of her foot. She was operated on by a [...]
October 13th
I recently re-read your archived article from January 2006 on “sinking arches.” One of our students has high arches and is experiencing some pain in her instep, to the end that she has been crying, and one of her other teachers thinks it may be “falling” arches. Are “sinking” arches and “falling” arches the same [...]
August 3rd
I have been trying to dance ballet and I am so exasperated. What the heck does it mean to close the rib cage and how can i acheive this sensation? Should my abdominals feel hard or soft when I move? How can I possibly get the right alignment? I feel as though I am hopeless. [...]
June 12th
The goal for conditioning is to prepare our bodies to do the unusual and unique movements that separates dance from pedestrian movement. There are three principles that need to be addressed in strength training for dancers in order to maximize your efforts. The three principles are overload, specificity and reversibility. We’ll start with the principle [...]
May 20th
Today’s blog entry is in podcast form. Here’s the question and then you can click on the highlighted link to hear my verbal response. Hi! I have always have struggled with my turnout due to my bone structure. I have a few questions regarding my turnout and would LOVE to hear your advice. First, I [...]
May 12th
I’ve embedded a brief video on analyzing an excellent and effective turnout exercise. It looks deceptively simple, but isn’t. I encourage all of you to try it yourself and with your students! After you click the link below it will need a moment or two to load – if you click play before it is [...]
May 4th
click here to view a quick clip on demi pliés. Start to train your eye to see assymetries! I’ve got a few spaces left for the workshop in June – only 20 total participants. Come join me!
April 22nd
Announcement: Anneliese Burns Wilson has a great offer of a free download for a modern lesson. Check it out at http://www.abcfordance.com/product-p/imd.htm. She also has a free download to a ballet lesson. Anneliese is my co-author for the Functional Anatomy for Dancers series and is a fantastic resource for us all! Secondly – I have a [...]
April 21st
A dancer has asked me for help with her pointe shoes. One foot is much smaller than the other and she had been stuffing extra padding into the bigger shoe, but this caused her a lot of pain and lots of problems on pointe. She has found out that one foot is actually 1/2 size [...]