From the Hip

I got there early and watched the two ballet divas, and they deserve the right title, go through their routine. Scrutiny revealed things I had forgotten, and spinning with the thighs squeezed together like there’s a piece of paper between makes so much sense.

My students arrived before the ballet class finished, and we talked in respectful hushed tones about how the ballerinas could dance without music.

They exited and we entered, and I had my work cut out for me. I had anticipated something entirely different from what I encountered. This was no intermediate level course, but basic beginning level.

They needed a lesson in bodily grace: shoulders back, let the sun shine on you! And when you kick, please, point your toe. Walk with strength, you are a regal dancer and a proud woman, not a bag of laundry!

They needed a speech about not succumbing to gravity, they needed help with the planes of their physical selves.

Some things I cannot tackle in just the span of an hour. Control, posture, strength, balance. Breathe, breathe, breathe.

But we smiled and laughed and I broke it down carefully, with their genuine smiling and lightbulb-over-the-head-clicking-"on" appreciation. We took it a step back, here’s the technical element for each isolation.

Gain control over just this hip, move only the hip, tuck it up to the ribs, slide it out to the side, drop it down below neutral, bring it back up. Draw a circle. Don't drop your pelvis. Don't twist.

They loved the workout, and we did sweat, we shook it like an earthquake, we did a whole lot of moving. They followed with enthusiastic shyness, still uncertain, unprepared, but loving what they learn, and that’s the most important part.