Technique Tuesday! Placement Of The Leg In Tendu Side. Plus, A Simple Scarf Trick!

Technique Tuesday!

I have a short tutorial about the placement of the leg for tendu side in a turned out position.

Once you find your turned-out ballet first position picture yourself in your own personal rectangle. Rather than stretching your leg and pointing your foot directly side, think of pointing the foot to the corresponding front corner (right foot, right front corner). In this way you can better maintain proper alignment of the pelvis over the standing leg without causing torque in the joints and causing the working hip to lift up.

Using a scarf or dish towel as an aide, you can practice finding the proper placement for balance and proper use of the muscle groups of the legs, hips and pelvis.

Thanks for watching!

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin

Thinking About Getting Some Zumba Wear? Use My Affiliate Code, Save 10%!

Over the last couple of days I've have a lot of questions about where I get my pants that I wear frequently when I teach Zumba. They are the kind with little strings that act as tassels. Booty-Tassels, I like to call them.


  

I've got all three of these styles. And I love them!

I finally put my affiliate code on some promo postcards. It's so easy to order!

1). Go to Zumba.com. On the top menu click on SHOP.

2). Look around. See what's new, what's on sale. Read the reviews! You can get some great input on how a particular piece of clothing or footwear will work for you. Many reviewers put their age and size. I never buy anything without reading the reviews.

3). At checkout use my code: mserinzfit


Check out these new tassels!

 


Stellar Samba Cargos! Those tassels are just begging to get twirled!

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin

Technique Tuesday; More On "The Pinned Butterfly". {Placement For the Hips and Shoulders In Tendu Front.}

Last Tuesday I posted about the concept of pinning the hips and shoulders to an imaginary mat, like a butterfly on display.

Today I have a short video to show it action.

 

I use a tendu front as an example move, but it applies to leg movements of any height that require stabilization of the hips and shoulders.

Hope this is useful!


Thanks for hanging and watching.

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin

Don't Wait...Feel The Joy Now!

I have found this to be so true. So many times I have heard stories from people, who having spent so many times watching from the outside, afraid to come in, finally just stepped. Once they did they realized there was nothing to worry about! The steps will come! But what you get right away is the joy!

Other amazing things I have heard from Zeoples (Zumba people);

" Doing Zumba has helped me get through a really stressful and uncertain time in my life."

"I have finally learned to move the area of my body between my shoulders and knees. All the places my mom told me not to move. And it feels so good!"

"I look forward to exercising now. I actually get excited about going to the gym!"

I have heard these and more, and they make my heart soar every time I hear them!

So don't wait! Get on the other side of that glass and start feeling the joy!

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin

Wobble!

"Wobble" by V.I.C. is a song I've been using for awhile in my Zumba class. It's my Friday morning song!

There is one sequence of movement that came into question a few months ago. It seems that I was free styling a bit and changing things around at whim. So I buckled down and set those steps right.

Tomorrow we WOBBLE!

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin

Technique Tuesday; The Pinned Butterfly.

A visual that I rely on quite often when teaching classical technique is the "butterfly pinned to the mat".

 

How can this apply? And why do I gotta pin a poor butterfly?

First we must become the butterfly (or bug of choice). Just for pretend. Don't worry, nobody is getting pinned in a display case.

Imagine that you are standing in first position


image credit

Now imagine that a pin is running through the front of each shoulder, where the arm connects to the torso, through to a mat or imaginary wall.
Now do the same for the front of each hip, where the leg attaches up into the pelvis.

Because the arms and legs are not "pinned", but rather where the connect to the center of the body, the limbs are mobile. The limbs are mobile but the torso is not.

The concept of the "pinned butterfly" is to illustrate how the core, including the ribcage and collarbone, can be stabilized through movements.

Try it! Imagine you are pinned to a mat in the spots mentioned above. Now try bringing your arms to a position where you would hold an imaginary beach ball, while keeping those shoulders "pinned".
You can try the same for the legs. You don't need to do anything crazy. Just pin those hips and allow some movement in the leg without letting "the hip go".

Next week I will give a videoed tutorial of this concept in action.

Thanks for hanging out and reading.

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin.

Technique Tuesday; Pelvic Alignment In Second Position Plie.

A few weeks ago I posted a Technique Tuesday about pelvic alignment for plies in first position. You can review it here.


This Tuesday's tutorial is super short. Everything from the first position plies apply.

Pull the belly button towards the spine
Feel the glutes "wrap around" and gently squeeze

As the knees bend, imagine the back of the pelvis is sliding up and down an imaginary wall.

Knees stay opened out over the tops of the feet.

As you straighten the knees, feel those glutes do that wrap and squeeze.

 

Because second position puts you in a wider stance, it gives a great opportunity to feel those thighs stretch out to the side, making sure to keep those knees over the feet.

 

In the video I start off by showing the pelvis out of proper alignment for plies, by showing the hips go behind the feet. When doing a squat you want the hips to go behind the heels, but not in a turned out plié.

Doing properly aligned plies in second is, of course, a necessity for classical ballet technique, but it is also a great move to add to any fitness regiment where you do squats. I'm a big fan of the squat. I do them all the time and I have my young dancers do them as well. Knowing how to properly align the pelvis for various moves can only make you stronger and more agile.

Thanks for hanging out and reading.

Enjoy the dance that is life!

~Erin