Expert: Jennifer - 11/21/2003

Question
I am a ballet instructor myself and I am looking for feedback to assist an adult ballet student that I am currently working with.  This student has clean, yet basic ballet technique.  However, she is a marathon runner and her body type is unique.  Her calves are very large and quads extremly large.  I notice her turnout and rotation are both above the average adult.  However, I have trouble getting her to stand in first position without smashing her calves together.  Her heels can only meet if her legs are "smooshed".  When standing at the barre, she rocks back into her heels.  Her weight is almost always to far back.  Can you please advise on your thoughts for correction?

Answer
Hello, Carole.

Since this is an adult, it may be inappropriate to bring up, but you may start off with giving her some muscle lengthening/stretching exercises/techniques... which may reduce some of the bulk of her muscles without compromising strength. Obviously the goal here is not to turn her into a lithe ballerina-body, but just to make sure she's using her muscles correctly for ballet (which is not like running!). Working the muscles in ballet requires a different type of muscle use... so just make sure she's not gripping her thighs too much to keep her legs straight, or gripping any other muscles, for that matter.

As for the immediate problem... I would say that you should allow her to stand in first with her heels apart... just enough so she can stand with straight, pulled up legs. Using the legs correctly is much more important than forcing the feet into the right position. It is a similar idea as forcing a perfect fifth position when the body doesnt allow it... its giving the ideal picture while ignoring the correct function and placement of the body. I have, in fact, known several professional dancers with either big calves or very hyperextended legs who never stood in a "heel-to-heel" first position. Perhaps as your student continues with ballet, her muscles will lengthen and you can improve her first position!

There can be many reasons for sending the weight back onto the heels... In my own personal experience, I had a problem with this because i was tipping my pelvis back, so my hips were behind my toes and my torso... it was kind of like standing with good posture only swaying the back a bit and sticking out your butt. Make sure she is standing with the front of her hips as flat as possible.
You should also make sure that she is not leaning back as a whole... A lot of students end up doing this while working without even realizing it, and you can see it in the way they *grip* the barre... you can perhaps correct this by choreographing "balance checks" into barre-work... this has helped me a lot. For a simple example, in tendus from first, you might give 3 tendus (accent in) and on the 4th beat have the students take their barre-arm off the bar to see how "on their legs" they are. It may not be as noticible in such a simple combination, but when balance-checks are added into more complex combinations, you'll likely see students falling off balance everywhere!
One more "experiment" you can do (you shouldnt teach this as correct technique all the time) is to give a short, simple tendu or jete combination and ask your students to keep their heels just a tiny bit off the floor the whole combination... just enough to slide a piece of paper under the heel (ive actually had a teacher run around with a piece of paper to check us). Though this shouldnt be done with all combinations, it can be a good way to show them how different feels to be completely off their heels.
Lastly, a good test is checking to see if there is any weight on the working foot in a tendu a la second position. You may even make them freeze in that position (during or at the end of a combination) and see if they can lift the working foot from the floor... and see if they have to make an adjustment to do it without falling sideways!

I hope this will help you and your student... if anything needs clarification (it can be difficult to explain these things online sometime) feel free to email me right back and I'll try to explain it differently.

Good luck!