Hints by Howard

Hyperextension seems to be a problem on most dancer's mind. It is a pretty look but sometimes difficult to work with. These are some points that will help you along the way.

1 - Face the mirror, turn sideways in parallel position and see the extent of your hyperextension.

2 - Turn and face the mirror in parallel position to see if you are dealing with knock knees, bow legs or tibial tortion.

3 - Be very careful when you are working with your turnout that you do not over rotate the feet.

4 - Make sure that your balance is always forward and not leaning back in your torso.

5 - See that the upper back feels very wide and you are not pinching your shoulder blades together.

6 - There are two theories of how to stand in first position.
a. To stand with a small space between your feet which I think allows you to pull back even more into your hyperextension

b. The one I recommend is to stand with the knees slightly released and the heels together which will create a very different feeling in the back of your knees, remembering that hyperextension is a overly straight knee.

7 - Please remember that the energy goes down through the back of the legs to the floor with a feeling of stretching up vertically in the opposite direction. The calf is what we call the pushing muscle against the floor. That's its duty...it's not a pulling muscle from the floor. Hence the word to pull up is the right look with the totally wrong feeling.

...more next time.