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From my first few terms at Shockout Arts, I have improved flexibility, stamina, anatomical knowledge, muscle memory and overall technique. Heading into my new year, I hope to achieve: my right leg split, box split and split leaps as well as other things. I will strive for the best I can possibly be.

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Martha Graham was a practitioner who is significantly recognised throughout the world today for her influence on contemporary dance. 

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Martha Graham was a practitioner who is significantly recognised throughout the world today for her influence on contemporary dance. 

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Reading this journal gave me a bigger insight on Martha Graham's technique and intention.
Graff, E. (2004). When your heart falls: The drama of descent in Martha Graham's technique and theater. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 14(1), pp.107-115.

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Contemporary- This video portrays not only how I incorporate Horton's stylistic qualities into this exercise but Martha Graham's as well.

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Contemporary- This video portrays not only how I incorporate Horton's stylistic qualities into this exercise but Martha Graham's as well.

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10/04/18.

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To improve and strengthen my ankles in order to prevent sickling and enhance my turns - every day for the last 6 months, at least twice a week, I rehearsed just staying on a rise on each leg for as long as I could. In my spare time I also performed rises on the bar for one minute on each leg to strengthen my ankles. As months were passing by, I noticed a big difference and now I am consistent in executing the correct ankle alignment in turns and preperations. (As you can see in the video).

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Sickled ankle in pirouette preparation.

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[BalletHub, 2018]

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When most people hear the word "sickle" they likely think of a useful tool for harvesting grain. While there may be a sickle appearing in a classical ballet or two ( La Fille Mal Gardee, for example), when it comes to a dancer's technique, they should always try to avoid it as it's considered a mistake.

Sickling, as used in ballet and other dance forms, refers to when a dancer's foot is misshaped in such a way that it actually is scooped down with the heel too far back. Of course, that description somewhat depends on the position and how you see it, but after this post you'll have a clear understanding of what it means "to sickle your foot", what a correctly pointed foot looks like, and why it's important not to sickle.

Exercises with a large therapy band where you concentrate on keeping your heel forward as you point your foot are great ways increase the strength in your foot and ankle.

While it has it's own term, it's not a desired quality for a dancer for multiple reasons: it does not enhance your line nor is it functional.

A dancer who always sickles will likely develop incorrect muscles over time and struggle with weakness in the ankles, which as you can imagine can limit an overall ability to perform more advanced steps.

So What Exactly is Sickling?

Let's take a look at a few pictures and you'll see exactly what "sickling your foot" looks like.

Here, in tendu side, we see a sickled foot on the left and a correctly pointed foot on the right. Notice how the toes are well in front of the line that her calf is making, while the correct picture has them slightly behind the inside of her ankle.

Now, demonstrating tendu to the front, notice how the foot is dipped under with the heel close to the ground, while the correct photo on the right shows once again that the toes are behind the inside of her ankle.

Finally, in tendu to the back, the sickled foot practically has its toes pointing straight into the floor with the heel sticking up in the back. On the correct picture, the toes are once again behind the line from the inside of the ankle.

Even though you just saw three different positions, try to look at how the shape of the foot actually doesn't change, the only difference is where the leg is. A foot can be sickled at any time, in any position when it's pointed, not just in tendu.

How to Correctly Point Your Feet

As mentioned and demonstrated several times above, the basic idea of pointing your foot is actually not perfectly straight, but with the heel slightly forward and the toes slightly behind the inside of your ankle bone.

Go ahead and try it out sitting down.

First, point your foot so it looks like a straight line out from your calf.

Now shift your foot to the outside just half an inch.

Your big toe should now be just inside of an imaginary line from your ankle bone, just about a toe width pointing out.

If you feel you lose too much of your point by moving your foot slightly out, then just be sure your foot is still straight out from your calf. Exercises with a large therapy band where you concentrate on keeping your heel forward as you point your foot are great ways increase the strength in your foot and ankle.

Less Sickle, Better Line with More Function

One of the main reasons a dancer would not want to sickle their foot is because it is breaking her or his line. Look at how a correctly pointed foot continues the rounded shape more beautifully and looks more strong than a sickled foot. Another major reason is that a properly pointed foot allows the dancer to have more functional technique. Think about which might be stronger to balance on... It's definitely not a sickled foot.

After years of training correctly, the muscles in your foot will also adapt and become stronger, making many more advanced steps quite a bit easier because you can transfer your strength from your legs and feet into the floor with more power and stability.

Especially for females, sickling can lead to many potential problems if wanting to eventually dance on pointe. A sickled foot in a pointe shoe has a very high chance of rolling over and causing injury when going up on pointe.

You May Not Realize It!

Sickling is sometimes tricky to self correct. In beginners, it most commonly happens because, well, you're a beginner and there's already so many things to think about! After a while it can become easier, but always try to remind yourself about the shape of your foot.

For professional dancers, a sickled foot can sometimes be seen when they are trying to point their foot "harder." Since most feet are more naturally flexible going inwards, the foot starts to veer inwards and sickles. Even at professional levels, a dancer will often still be thinking of the line of their feet in order to avoid sickling.

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Sickling in Ballet: What, Why and How to Avoid It - BalletHub

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When most people hear the word "sickle" they likely think of a useful tool for harvesting grain. While there may be a sickle appearing in a classical ballet or two (La Fille Mal Gardee, for example), when it comes to a dancer's technique, they should always try to avoid it as it's considered a mistake....

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Jazz- sickled ankles being the reason for poor turns? 

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Jazz- sickled ankles being the reason for poor turns? 

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After watching back the video of my jazz pirouette exercise, I noticed I was sickling my ankle in the preparations before my turns. I read online ways to improve not sickling and the correct way in which my ankle alignment should be in specific tendu exercises: therefore I could rehearse this every day for a few weeks and notate my progress. I also read in a popular journal that "alignment is not a stable concept, but is variable depending on one’s starting position and one’s intent" [Wilmerding and Krasnow, 2011] which allowed me to also work on my jazz fourth position and spotting.

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"some researchers suggest that PNF is more efficient than the static or ballistic methods" (Immediate Effect of Static and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Stretching on Hip Adductor Flexibility in Female Ballet Dancers, 2018)

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My knowledge of practitioners throughout the core techniques studied at Shockout Arts has improved massively, as now I can incorporate stylistic qualities into technical training by the consideration of key practitioners and their influences.

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My knowledge of practitioners throughout the core techniques studied at Shockout Arts has improved massively, as now I can incorporate stylistic qualities into technical training by the consideration of key practitioners and their influences.

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A key practitioner we study within our lessons, with Julius, is Lester Horton as we use flat back stretches and lateral stretches - key Horton technique. In the image to the right, I am demonstrating a flat back in order to strengthen and stretch my lower back, stomach, and hamstrings. My body is creating a complete straight line from my head to the bottom of the spine. Also, the video to the right shows a small group performing a lateral stretch exercise to elongate the torso, hamstrings, lower back and upper back (I am the end of stage right upstage). "The technique emphasizes a whole body, anatomical approach to dance that includes flexibility, strength, coordination and body and spatial awareness to enable unrestricted, dramatic freedom of expression." [World Heritage Encyclopedia, 2018]

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Since I last filmed this section of the balance exercise in contemporary, I have been doing core strengthening exercises such as 30 crunches and 15 pulses four times a week for two months to develop my balance: as a strong core plays a key role in engaging the muscles to help find stability.

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One of my weaknesses in contemporary is balance. I struggle to maintain balance especially during this part of our balance/off balance exercise as you can see in the video below.

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Moving forward into my second year of Shockout Arts I would love to develop my turnout, which will enhance the aesthetics of my performances in Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary.

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Moving forward into my second year of Shockout Arts I would love to develop my turnout, which will enhance the aesthetics of my performances in Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary.

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Having a better turnout will also help me to maximise my flexibility in ballet as "turnout is an

essential part of ballet training" [Quanbeck et al., 2016].

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Doing barre exercises in ballet has helped me with the control of the Petit Allegro steps in ballet and jazz

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Doing barre exercises in ballet has helped me with the control of the Petit Allegro steps in ballet and jazz

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Here is a video of me doing part of my jazz Petit Allegro assessment exercise. As you can see I have gained more knowledge in maintaining control and precision in my steps. 11/04/18

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This video really helped me in breaking down the intention of a Battement Frappé and now I can work on slowly improving in the studios by rehearsing the movement and qualities. 

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This video really helped me in breaking down the intention of a Battement Frappé and now I can work on slowly improving in the studios by rehearsing the movement and qualities. 

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[Kimberley Berkin, 2017].

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Battement Frappé Ballet Lesson Part 1 | Tips On Ballet Technique Ballet Class Exercises

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Battement Frappé is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses. I really struggle to strike the ball of the foot down into the floor (as you can see on this video) and stretch the leg out as far as it will go before returning the foot back to just above the ankle.

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By rehearsing specific barre and tendu exercises such as the tendu exercise in this video (each day four times a week), I can see a clear development in my Grande Allegro steps.

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By rehearsing specific barre and tendu exercises such as the tendu exercise in this video (each day four times a week), I can see a clear development in my Grande Allegro steps.

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From watching this video back I have realised I don't use my feet through the floor enough to propel me efficiently into jumps- which is why I don't achieve a lot of height.
03/11/17

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To prevent this from happening again, I asked my Ballet teacher to go through the aspects of movement with me.

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To prevent this from happening again, I asked my Ballet teacher to go through the aspects of movement with me.

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She told me to look at three things:
1) Posture
2) Alignment
3) Placement
I tried to find necessary space in the front of my hips and adapted my posture by lifting up from the front of the stomach, which allowed me to pass through first position a lot more adequately. After months of systematic repetition, working the feet en dehors and en dedans, I can now see a huge improvement.

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Ballet- Rond de Jambe exercise. 15/01/18

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Ballet- Rond de Jambe exercise. 15/01/18

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Throughout this exercise I always aim to travel the leg all the way to the back in order to create a capital D shape. (The correct applied technique). However, in this video I realised I was not going through first position as my heel was touching the back of my opposite foot.

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Rehearsing and executing my arm alignment and precision in jazz has even benefited me during commercial classes: now I train with more dynamic quality.

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"The technique’s strong ballet foundation, tricky isolations and difficult-to-coordinate arm and leg movements make it easy for students to tense up, rather than appear relaxed". [Rizzuto, 2016].
I focused on this quote whilst rehearsing the Jazz port de bras to allow my body to flow into each movement more - giving more dynamic quality.

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However from videoing my progress I also found that during our jazz lessons, with Eric Carpenter, (specialising in the Matt Mattox style) I don't execute and finish each arm isolation accurately. This video demonstrates this which makes the port de bras very simple rather than rhythmically challenging- key in Matt Mattox's style. Therefore for the next month, I will stay twice every week in the studio to break down each isolation.

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As you can now see, my arm alignment during turns is controlled and placed accurately.

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As you can now see, my arm alignment during turns is controlled and placed accurately.

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This is my second week on using systematic repetition of the turning exercise. I can now execute jazz first consistently.

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This is me performing the pirouette exercise, in my first week, showing a slight improvement in my arm alignment.

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To work on this correction, every day for two weeks I will complete a pirouette exercise to improve my muscle memory of keeping my arms in jazz first.

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October- Jazz- Maintaining first position, within my arm alignment, during jazz pirouettes. 

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October- Jazz- Maintaining first position, within my arm alignment, during jazz pirouettes. 

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(I am centre of the trio wearing black sports bra).
As you can clearly hear on the video, my teacher Eric repeatedly tells me "shoulder height" as during my turns I allow my arms to fall to rib height which is incorrect alignment.

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I am so proud of my flexibility progression and never thought I would manage a to achieve a flat left leg split, but with determination and patience I did it.

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Using this website for guidance, I have used various static stretches once every day, for three months now. It has been gradually helping me achieve a deeper split therefore I will carry on this process until I achieve a full split.

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dance-teacher.com. 2016. Bob Boross: How I Teach Matt Mattox Freestyle Jazz. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dance-teacher.com/custom-team-apparel-2558748682.html. [Accessed 15 November 2017].

livestrong.com. 2017. Exercises for Contracted Muscles Behind the Knee. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.livestrong.com/article/155933-dynamic-stretches-hamstring/. [Accessed 2 January 2018].

Youtube. 2017. Battement Frappé Ballet Lesson Part 1 | Tips On Ballet Technique Ballet Class Exercises. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwuJwangzKQ. [Accessed 15 March 2018].

Quanbeck, A., Russell, J., Handley, S. and Quanbeck, D. (2016). Kinematic analysis of hip and knee rotation and other contributors to ballet turnout. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(4), pp.331-338. [Accessed 03. April 2018].

Anon, (2018). Lester Horton. World Heritage Encyclopedia. [Accessed 04 April 2018].

BalletHub. (2018). Sickling in Ballet: What, Why and How to Avoid It - BalletHub. [online] Available at: https://ballethub.com/sickling-ballet-what-why-how-to-avoid-it/ [Accessed 04 Apr. 2018].

Wilmerding and Krasnow, M. (2011). Dance pedagogy: Myth versus reality. p.285. [Accessed 05 April 2018].

Immediate Effect of Static and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Stretching on Hip Adductor Flexibility in Female Ballet Dancers. (2018). Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, p.177. [Accessed 06 April 2018].

Graff, E. (2004). When your heart falls: The drama of descent in Martha Graham's technique and theater. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 14(1), pp.107-115. [Accessed 06 April 2018].

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https://www.livestrong.com/article/193431-exercises-for-contracted-muscles-behind-the-knee/
[Welch, 2017].

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My left leg split has improved by using static stretching, when my body is warm, and increasing the split deeper every day. It is difficult as a dancer in training to maintain flexibility whilst trying to improve muscular strength, which is something I must consider in my process due to the fact my childhood training was focused on muscle building and training: rather than stretch and tone.

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As you can see my left leg split is quite embarrassing.
I have always struggled to straighten my back leg whenever attempting to progress my splits further- due to tension in my hamstring and also restriction in my neural and fascial structures.

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Throughout this diary, I will be presenting and explaining how I have progressed as a professional dancer through core techniques such as Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary from the start of the year up until now: as a first year student at Shockout Arts.

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Throughout this diary, I will be presenting and explaining how I have progressed as a professional dancer through core techniques such as Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary from the start of the year up until now: as a first year student at Shockout Arts.

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Student ID: 1700987
Date of submission: Monday 16th April 2018.