There’s Always Room to Grow!

What never ceases to amaze me about dance is that there is always more to learn.

I have been dancing since I was 3 years old. Though I think we can all agree that a tiny child in a tutu with her butt hanging out isn’t really committed to dance, I’d say from age 7 or 8, my training has been pretty rigorous. To calculate the number of hours I have dedicated to practice in the studio would be too much to handle. The point is, after 25 years of daily practice in my body, I am still amazed by how much more there is to discover. Or more specifically, by how many muscles, bones, and flows of energy I have yet to master or fully connect.

Something I have always struggled with is the placement of my rib cage on my spine. I have a tendency to splay my ribs open in the front rather than connecting them down to my center. There have been many times over the years when I have made a major connection and (seemingly) course corrected this tendency toward imbalance. However, day one back in the studio this season and I am getting corrections from Margi about softening my sternum. Really? Yes. Still something that requires focus.

All the boo-hooing aside, I think I might have figured something out! Imagine my arms in fifth position above my head. By shifting my arms forward more toward my brow line rather than being directly above my head, the entire position of my chest shifts downward. Really, Maggie? Duh. But it has taken me all this time to realize that it is ok to move my arms out of this above-the-head zone where I perceived a need for my arms to be to achieve classical ballet accuracy and into a space where I can be connected through the vertical center of my skeleton.

And by shifting my arms forward, I’m actually experiencing a new sensation at the bottom of my rib cage. This may not be the most inspiring example, and I would never use this when teaching, but I am feeling as if a limbo bar is pressing across the bottom of my ribs. That’s the image I get when I feel connected. It’s an activation of the muscles and a connectedness in my bones.

Just a little something I’m working on these days in class. Now, to be able to achieve that alignment and maintain that awareness while moving through all the planes, balancing on one leg, upside down, through the air, leg above ninety degrees, while my spine snakes…oh, dance. Never a dull moment.

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Submitted by TDC Dancer Maggie Koller on Sunday, September 30, 2012