Building Ballet Technique II: A Self-Improvement Guide for Dancers

This is a uniquely specific volume that lists both the reasons and solutions for many of the technique difficulties that plague dancers in their quest for self-improvement. It will take you "beyond the classroom" to find out how to better your flexibility, turn-out, pirouettes, jumps, arms, balances, and more, and how to work on problems such as sickling ("curling" the foot), poor jump preparations (or landings), rigid (or "droopy") arms, wobbly pirouettes, or weak extensions. Detailed descriptions and exercises for each area of difficulty are illustrated with color photos of dancers. Finally-here is a book with some real and pro-active suggestions that will give results-geared towards dancers of every level. Using appropriate ballet terminology, it enables dancers and dance students to understand, evaluate, and perform more effectively each time they return to the studio for class, rehearsal, or performance. Dance teachers will also find it invaluable as a source for targeted corrections and practical exercises to give to students struggling with particular technique difficulties. It begins with a Dancer's Quiz that anyone can use to pinpoint the personal technique areas they want to address, then follows each question/problem with a chapter giving reasons (causes), possible solutions, and positive ways to improve. The book is enhanced with many color photographs illustrating the chapters, with correct and incorrect poses included. This is a book that belongs on every dancer's (or dance student's) bookshelf. Written by a former professional ballet dancer with an extensive national and international performing and teaching background, this is the second volume in a series, following Vol. 1, "Building Ballet Technique, A Practical Guide for Teaching All Levels."