How do i perfect my ponches?

Question

I have very good flexibility in my back and everywhere else. I just can't seem to perfect my ponches

Answer 1

Penchées are a very difficult thing to do.  Here are some tips I can give you:

RELEASE THE BACK MUSCLES.

Tension in the back causes a lot of sore muscles and can impair your balance.  When you wake up in the morning and you've been doing a lot of tight-backed penchées, you will feel very, very sore.

DON'T THINK ABOUT EXTENSION JUST YET.

Think more about keeping your body level and keeping the muscles relaxed.  If you try to get your leg too high, you might hurt yourself, not to mention tense your muscles and lose things like turnout and clean technique.

KEEP TURNED OUT.

The worst thing you can do is build a bad habit like turning in.  I know it's painful at first with penchées, but you have to keep turned out or else when you try to turn out after everything else is perfect, it will be very difficult because turnout affects EVERYTHING in your technique.  This is very important to remember.

BALANCE WITH THE STOMACH.

The only thing you're allowed to tense with penchées is your stomach.  You've heard it a million times -- when balancing, it helps to tense your stomach muscles.  The same principles apply to penchées.  Your abs are balanced on both sides of you and if done correctly, can help you come up very controlled from your penchée.

KEEP BREATHING.

If you don't breathe, your muscles will tense.  In addition, your body will compensate by taking oxygen from your muscles that needed to be restored by your breathing anyway.  Your body will begin to tense up and reduce blood flow, which can stint the flexibility and the balance.

DON'T LOOK TOO LOW.

A bad habit of many of my students is that they bring their head and arm too low for their leg.  Make sure your leg, back, head, and arm make a perfect line at the bottom of your penchée.  When they do pas de deux en pointe and their partner holds their waist while they do penchée, the guy sometimes has to catch them from falling over toward their heads because their weight is distributed unevenly because they're looking too low.  Your penchée can be impeccable but look horrible if you look too low.

START AT THE BARRE.

Always start with penchées at the barre; get yourself placed and aligned correctly without worrying about balancing.  That way, you can automatically be aligned en centre and worry mainly about balance and relaxing.

DON'T TENSE YOUR MUSCLES.

Don't, don't, don't tense your muscles!  This is about the worst thing you can do.  When your muscles are tense, they are actually tenser and contract all their weight into a smaller space.  This means that the muscles are weighing down unevenly than they normally would on your body, throwing off the balance.  In addition, tensing the muscles can harm them and make your sore in the morning.  This is probably the worst thing you can do for yourself when you do your penchée.

DANCE.

To look elegant, always imagine you look beautiful.  Don't overdo it, but imaging there's an awesome and cute guy holding your hips and that you look beautiful in the stage lights, and everyone is speechless because your penchée is impeccable.  I know it sounds clichéd, but it's true; beauty whilst dancin is a mind-over-matter ordeal.

HAVE SOMEONE HOLD YOU.

Remember that penchée was originally developed for a pas de deux.  Meaning, they are largely used with a partner and rarely used alone.  I tell my students to have someone hold their hips because not only will it give the illusion of balance and control, but you're probably going to have to get used to that anyway in pas de deux when a guy is holding your hips and you're doing a penchée.

USE A DOORFRAME.

This will help you get your form correctly and give you flexibility.  Move into the doorframe and put your foot up on the frame.  Turn out and square your hips.  You should be able to square your hips and still fit in the doorframe.  If not, you need to work on your square splits and get a little more flexible.

KEEP YOUR SHOULDERS DOWN.

Bringing up the shoulders is not only unattractive and aesthetically displeasing, the dancer cannot balance correctly with tension in the scapulae (shoulder blades) and upper arms.

KEEP ONE LINE THAT DOESN'T FALTER.

Don't ever let your leg get higher than the line, or let the head and back get lower than the leg is high.  In other words, you should create one line that simply tips over rather than changes.  The line should never change; just tip.

KEEP YOUR LEG WHERE IT IS WHEN YOU COME UP.

When coming up from the penchée, always keep the leg as close to the peak of your penchée as possible.  In other words, always strive to have an arabesque that is in the same place as your penchée.

Hopefully I have satisfactorily answered your question.  Feel free to contact me if you have further questions or need more details.♥