Hey Guys! Welcome back, if you read my first blog you would know it was about the basic platform and starting with a good base for dance. Today I will be talking about body placement and alignment in basic beginner type moves in jazz versus ballet. Body Placement and Alignment are both key factors in dance because they help you do everything correctly and keep you safe with little to no injuries.
The move I will be talking about is a Jazz passé. A good jazz passé is needed for moves like a pirouette (jazz pirouette) or to non-dancers its known as the turn, or spin. Since it is Jazz technique and a Jazz passé that means it is parallel versus where ballet is turned out.
Body Placement: You should be standing straight up and down, with which ever leg you chose in passé. Passé should be flat 90-degree angle as you could place a plate on your thigh and it wouldn’t fall off. Your hips should be parallel facing forward and down no hip should be up. In the book Copeland says, “There were piques and leaps and pirouettes with the girls’ knees facing forward like jazz choreography” (Copeland 31). So basically she is saying what I explain how jazz technique everything is very parallel and facing forward. Also in the passé your ankle and foot should be touching the knee of the opposite leg, and make sure your foot is always pointed.
Alignment: Your body should be straight and tall not hunching over. Shoulders must back and directly in line with your hips so your whole body is in a straight line as if you were to stand directly against a wall. 
Now for the ballet passé. There isn’t that big of a difference
Body placement: Like the jazz passé you are standing straight up and down. This time when you go to passé you are in a turned out position. So your hips are facing out but they’re still pressing down because you don’t want to lift your hips in passé because this gives you bad muscle memory and you don’t want to remember that when you turn. Your foot is once again touching your knee on the opposite leg but this time your ankle is not touching and don’t forget to make sure your foot is pointed.
Alignment: Your body should be straight and tall just like the jazz passé with your shoulders back and over your hips.
Now my question for all of you is would you rather take a jazz class or a ballet class? Comment Below your thoughts
Kierra, it's very interesting to compare a move between two styles where they are so technically similar. Though the similarities are plentiful, the few differences there are make a large difference in the final position. I think I would rather take a Ballet class than a Jazz class, but only because of the structure of a Ballet class, there is a lot more stationary work like at barre. Though, maybe that's because I'm better at Ballet than Jazz. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteVery nice to hear Emilio! I totally agree they have same technical structures but the final outcome is completely different. I would have to say i would definitely chose Jazz rather than ballet because for me i don't like the music in ballet and ballet classes are just kinda slow and boring. I like the diversity in Jazz and the upbeat and loud different types of music. Thank you for you comment!
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