Secrets of Russian Ballet Blog- Shocking Misinformation

[pgodfrey90027]

Once again I am reminded to give thanks for the good training I had from day one. It was stressed that it was all about proper placement and that from there, while holding it, you learned to move. I had a full career mostly injury free. (Stubbing my toe while running down stairs backstage doesn't really count in this discussion.) My question is; when and where did this insanity of not holding your rump start up? I've just recently heard it. (And nearly came unglued.)

[Seekballet]

I have finally had a chance to start watching your DVD (video 1) and I was wondering: when you have the young lady doing the first exercise on the floor and she is lying on her back and you have her press her lower back into the floor, is there any glute activation in the pressing of the back into the floor?

[AmericanCinemaBallet]

@Seekballet Yes the glutes should be activated as well, but the first priority is to press the lower back to the floor by positioning the abs as shown. Great Question!

[mjacobsen2010]

Another great blog. Thank you for the great information.

[AmericanCinemaBallet]

@marypflieger What determines whether or not it is safe to put students of any age or years of training on pointe, is the condition of their placement. If placement, primarily turn-out, is correct and strengthened then pointe work can be safely and effectively developed. If placement is not correct then it is dangerous for a dancer to dance on pointe regardless of their age or number of years of training. The fact that organizations like IADMS doesn't understand placement is shocking to me

[gamgeegirl87]

Talking about injury prevention- I have flexible knees that are always giving me trouble with injuries, if I don't engage my thighs and gluts, my knees tear apart. I can't believe ANYONE would think its a good idea not to use our outward rotator muscles to rotate out legs.

[AmericanCinemaBallet]

At some point I'm sure I will end up in the IADMS' crosshairs which will be entertaining at least. I have always had the idea of organizing a debate whereby I alone will debate an entire group of folks from the various "big name" organizations about classical ballet pedagogy. an Einstein quote comes to mind, "One must shy away from questionable undertakings, even when they bear a high-sounding name."

[AmericanCinemaBallet]

What was it that they're advising about pointe work? I would definitely double check really any source of information, including Russian, personally I feel that my obligation as a pedagogue includes proving the validity of everything that I teach via demonstration which is why I am presenting this Q&A Blog, the DVD series etc. I've heard from another pedagogue in the UK that when he presented an argument that contradicted one of IADMS' statements about pedagogy they responded in

[triskit82]

Amen to everything you said, how could anyone who understands basic anatomy and kinesology ever say that these muscles should not be used to hold turnout?

It makes no sense at all.

[tutus4life]

if we didn't hold our turnout with those muscles, we would all jiggle and not have jobs. Plain and simple.

Eric, have you ever had a student with scoliosis or some other type of skeletal problem before? What did you tell them?

[AmericanCinemaBallet]

@tutus4life Yes it seems like common sense to me as well. I have scoliosis myself and have taught a few students with various issues. The way that I deal with that as a teacher is to focus intensely on placement (as with every student) . Believe it or not my scoliosis was virtually cured after completing my training in Russia as the result of having my placement corrected. Do you have a specific question that I can answer for you?