Comments on: Improve Your Balance http://www.insideballet.com/2009/08/20/improve-your-balance/ Ballet combinations and musings from a former ballerina. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:49:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Small Soubrette http://www.insideballet.com/2009/08/20/improve-your-balance/comment-page-1/#comment-772 Small Soubrette Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:31:55 +0000 http://balletcombinations.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/improve-your-balance#comment-772 I was a professional dancer for 18 yrs in the UK and discovered my balance when rehabing after twisting my ankle. I have often thought most people think too much about their extremities when trying to balance.For me it was all located in the abdomen - in Gyrotonic we called it the golden egg! (essentially somewhere just above the uterus for women). Obviously one needs to be pulled up - I always thought of an opposing pull down the leg into the ground and up through the back, but once I concentrated on this area in my lower abdomen and thought of it as a powerful magnet pulling the muscles towards it I could balance on pointe for ages, even while moving my head and arms.It is much harder to achieve when pique-ing on to pointe than from standing but it transformed Rose Adage for me, and actually locating the centre of balance in this part of the pelvis will eventually allow you to move not just arms but upper body and legs too while maintaining your balance. I was a professional dancer for 18 yrs in the UK and discovered my balance when rehabing after twisting my ankle. I have often thought most people think too much about their extremities when trying to balance.For me it was all located in the abdomen – in Gyrotonic we called it the golden egg! (essentially somewhere just above the uterus for women). Obviously one needs to be pulled up – I always thought of an opposing pull down the leg into the ground and up through the back, but once I concentrated on this area in my lower abdomen and thought of it as a powerful magnet pulling the muscles towards it I could balance on pointe for ages, even while moving my head and arms.It is much harder to achieve when pique-ing on to pointe than from standing but it transformed Rose Adage for me, and actually locating the centre of balance in this part of the pelvis will eventually allow you to move not just arms but upper body and legs too while maintaining your balance.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.insideballet.com/2009/08/20/improve-your-balance/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Anonymous Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:34:49 +0000 http://balletcombinations.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/improve-your-balance#comment-16 Thanks for those, so many teachers out there always just tell you to stay over your supporting leg, and thats it, even though there's a lot more to it. Thanks for those, so many teachers out there always just tell you to stay over your supporting leg, and thats it, even though there's a lot more to it.

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