Chaines & Pique Turns!
I had a fun breakthrough with my chaines & pique turns on pointe lastnight! (Chaines are pronounced sha-nay in class, by the way, if you're confused on my spelling/terminology)
I've struggled a little bit in the past to put together my chaines & pique turns-- chaines especially are surprisingly difficult on pointe, nailing the proper amount of rotation to stay in a straight line, keeping the arms and torso doing the right thing, being relaxed through the shoulders. It's always been a wee bit awkard feeling (well, and looking) for me and not very natural. We'll have both chaines and pique turns in our recital piece so we've been focusing on them more than usual.
Lastnight my chaines turns were spot on. Not particularly fast, but that's OK. I managed to pull it all together and execute them correctly, without my arms falling behind or flailing or getting stiff. That was really exhilarating! That moment where it all just *clicks* into place can be so magical.
Pique turns are a little worse off than my chaines. The actual execution isn't bad, but I need to be more comfortable with where I need to come down from the turn. I can pique up and through one rotation without issues of balance or anything, but I find myself either ending the turn too soon or too late, and the prep for the next turn in the sequence goes to a corner instead of a straight line. I'm like, zig-zagging across the floor!
After class I took a few minutes to practice the pique turns a little more, and I decided to pique, turn, and hold instead of coming down immediately, and it was like floating. Very strange feeling, my instructor said it was perfect! So that's neat.
In other news, my Russian Pointe Almaz pair are dying a slow death. They are going to wheeze out their last breath soon and I'm freaking out a little about it. I haven't really mentioned my shoes since I purchased them-- they are the best fit by far out of all 7 pairs I've purchased, though I do have some toenail bruising in the corners of my big toes. I made the mistake of leaving my shoes in the car overnight when it was below zero, and now when I bend the shank you can hear that the glue is cracking and brittle inside. Sigh.
I have another new pair waiting in the wings, the Grishko 2007 Pro that I bought the same time as the RP Almaz. They are a nice fit, and are comfortable like my original 2007's, but these have a really hard shank and I'm dreading the break in process. I prefer my shoes to feel almost new, so I don't do a whole lot of alterations to my shoes when I get them other than help shape the shank to my arch & demi. These things are hard as rocks and I don't know how it's going to work out.
Finally, I've decided that my one wish in life is to learn to dance a pas de deux. I don't think it will ever happen, sadly. I'm 6'1 and there are no men in my studio. I'd just love to learn that skill though.. it's a dream of mine.
Ok, time to go ice my knee, I'm really sore today. Happy Dancing!
RB
I've struggled a little bit in the past to put together my chaines & pique turns-- chaines especially are surprisingly difficult on pointe, nailing the proper amount of rotation to stay in a straight line, keeping the arms and torso doing the right thing, being relaxed through the shoulders. It's always been a wee bit awkard feeling (well, and looking) for me and not very natural. We'll have both chaines and pique turns in our recital piece so we've been focusing on them more than usual.
Lastnight my chaines turns were spot on. Not particularly fast, but that's OK. I managed to pull it all together and execute them correctly, without my arms falling behind or flailing or getting stiff. That was really exhilarating! That moment where it all just *clicks* into place can be so magical.
Pique turns are a little worse off than my chaines. The actual execution isn't bad, but I need to be more comfortable with where I need to come down from the turn. I can pique up and through one rotation without issues of balance or anything, but I find myself either ending the turn too soon or too late, and the prep for the next turn in the sequence goes to a corner instead of a straight line. I'm like, zig-zagging across the floor!
After class I took a few minutes to practice the pique turns a little more, and I decided to pique, turn, and hold instead of coming down immediately, and it was like floating. Very strange feeling, my instructor said it was perfect! So that's neat.
In other news, my Russian Pointe Almaz pair are dying a slow death. They are going to wheeze out their last breath soon and I'm freaking out a little about it. I haven't really mentioned my shoes since I purchased them-- they are the best fit by far out of all 7 pairs I've purchased, though I do have some toenail bruising in the corners of my big toes. I made the mistake of leaving my shoes in the car overnight when it was below zero, and now when I bend the shank you can hear that the glue is cracking and brittle inside. Sigh.
I have another new pair waiting in the wings, the Grishko 2007 Pro that I bought the same time as the RP Almaz. They are a nice fit, and are comfortable like my original 2007's, but these have a really hard shank and I'm dreading the break in process. I prefer my shoes to feel almost new, so I don't do a whole lot of alterations to my shoes when I get them other than help shape the shank to my arch & demi. These things are hard as rocks and I don't know how it's going to work out.
Finally, I've decided that my one wish in life is to learn to dance a pas de deux. I don't think it will ever happen, sadly. I'm 6'1 and there are no men in my studio. I'd just love to learn that skill though.. it's a dream of mine.
Ok, time to go ice my knee, I'm really sore today. Happy Dancing!
RB
My teacher makes us do chaines in half rotations at turtle speed. It's possibly the most un-fun exercise and a battle of core strength and positioning, but I can really see the difference when I start to get some speed. My pointe shoes are dying a slow death at the moment too, but luckily I love the fit and will probably buy the same again. Although I am dreading the break in process.
ReplyDeleteHaha I enjoy the chaines! They are so weird at first, especially keeping the legs straight it feels like turning around on stilts. :)
ReplyDeleteWe are all at varying levels in my little class, and when we do things like chaines and pique turns (none of us have either perfected) our instructor allows us to pick the tempo we feel best about for practice. It's a relief, lol!
I also have found that while I have some fear about pirouettes on pointe and springing onto one foot, I have no issues when I pique up and into turns. It's my safe zone.... still trying to get over those other fears!