Amanda (was Aziyade)
Well-known member
I also don't teach shimmies early on. They are the last thing I teach baby beginners, because they require the person to already have some isolation ability.
Can you elaborate on this? I'm quite curious about why shimmies are taught so late. I was taught them on the first day of class, and pretty much every beginning class I have attended or observed taught them right away, so I'm just curious about the rationale.
I'm also curious about what you describe as isolation ability.
I do believe there are a lot of ballet teachers out there who do not teach safe technique and/or favor certain aesthetics that aren't "good" for the dancer, for example hyperextension of the legs.
Hyperextension of the knee throws the line of the leg off. I don't know of any time in recent ballet history that this look was desired -- unlike other unsafe but visually appealing trends like overarching en pointe and the "winged" foot. But I have been out of the scene since 99, so...
There is also often a culture of dancing through pain and dancing on injuries. So, naturally, they do end their careers earlier and sometimes that does happen due to injuries.
THIS. Even on the regional level, the competition is crazy, but it's infinitely worse for major companies. You dance on minor injuries because if you don't, someone else will. Those minor injuries never heal and grow into major injuries.
Proper ballet technique is not unhealthy for the body at all. Proper ballet classes are not unhealthy for the body. But what IS unhealthy is a tired dancer, a hungry or sugar-starved dancer, dicking with your shoes to get one more performance out of them, etc.
It IS the performance culture that causes injury. What I saw the most was that fear of losing a role, and also a sleep- or rest-deprived dancer whose exhaustion led to a slip in vigilance and tired, sloppy technique that didn't correct a misaligned ankle or an improper balance.
Still, there are many ballet dancers who simply retire because they are far beyond their prime, but live long, healthy lives far from the stage. My ballet teacher is about 60 and has no knee problems whatsoever.
I'm healthy. The director of the studio where I teach is healthy. Neither of us has knee or hip or back issues. I quit not because of injury but because I got tired of the internal politics and bs, and I wanted to go back to school.
We get to perform into our sixties and seventies because we don't necessarily have to do anything that is super-athletic and/or risky,
And -- because the vast majority of us perform for free, or at events for other dancers, where there isn't the competition for jobs that there is in other dance forms.