Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:47:16.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A New Model for Teaching Saut de Basque

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Extract

In the last decade a new body of dance-oriented biomechanical literature has begun to develop. Much of this biomechanical research indicates that in some ways traditional dance pedagogical methods are in conflict with the physical realities of moving bodies in space and the scientific laws that govern the behavior of moving bodies in space, i.e., the laws of physics. A number of traditionally accepted instructional dance precepts are being revealed as inaccurate or impossible. For example, according to traditional dance pedagogical methods, the supinated or “sickled” foot is a strictly forbidden action. However, in her study of grand allegro steps, Ryman found that in turning leaps, the push-off foot “sickled” during the take-off phase. Indeed the laws of science dictate that such twisting is essential for providing the torque necessary in any turning motion. Ryman's documentation of the “sickled” foot is an example of the limitations in the traditional dance teaching methods that currently are being exposed by dance-oriented biomechanical research.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1. Ryman, Rhonda, “A Kinematic Analysis of Selected Grand Allegro Jumps”, Dance Research Annual IX (1978): 231–42Google Scholar; and Laws, Kenneth L., “Physics and Ballet — A New Pas de Deux”, Dickinson Alumnus (February 1979): 1011Google Scholar.

2. Ryman, p. 239.

3. Hinson, Marilyn and Lawton, Terry, “Motion Photography: A Tool for the Analysis of Movement Patterns in the Creative Arts”, in Creative Arts for the Severely Handicapped, Sherrill, Claude, ed., (Fort Worth: Perko Printing, 1977)Google Scholar; and Hinson, Marilyn, Buckman, Susan, Tate, Judith, and Sherrill, Claudine, “The Grand Jeté en Tournant Entŕelacé (Tour Jeté)”, Dance Research Journal 10/1 19771978: 913CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Hinson, Marilyn, Kinesiology (Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown, 1978)Google Scholar.

5. Ryman, pp. 231-42; and Ryman, Rhonda S. and Ranney, Donald A., “A Preliminary Investigation of the Grand Battement Devant”, Dance Research Journal 11/1 & 2 (19781979)Google Scholar.

6. Laws, Kenneth L., “An Analysis of Turns in Dance”, Dance Research Journal 11/1 & 2 (19781979): 1219CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Laws, Kenneth L., “Physics and Ballet — A New Pas de Deux”, in New Directions in Dance, Taplin, D.T., ed., (Waterloo: University of Waterloo, 1979)Google Scholar; and Laws, Kenneth, “Precious Aurora — And Example of Physics in Partnering”, Kinesiology for Dance! 12 (August 1980): 13Google Scholar.

7. Vaganova, Agrippina, Basic Principles of Ballet, 4th ed. (New York: Dover, 1969) p. 63Google Scholar.

8. Hay, James G., The Biomechanics of Sports Techniques, 2nd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978) p. 412Google Scholar.

9. Noverre, Jean-Georges, Letters on Dancing and Ballet, 2nd (rev.) ed., Beaumont, Cyril W., trans. (New York: Dance Horizons, 1966), p. 127Google Scholar; and Blasis, Carlo, An Elementary Treatise upon the Theory and Practice of the Art of Dancing 3rd ed., Evans, Mary Stewart, trans. (New York: Dover, 1968), p. 14Google Scholar

10. Noverre, p. 123; Karsavina, Tamara, Ballet Technique (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1976), p. 13Google Scholar; and Hammond, Sandra Noll, Ballet Basics (PaloAlto: Mayfield, 1974), p. 84Google Scholar.

11. Glasstone, Richard, Better Ballet (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1977), p. 61Google Scholar; and Karsavina, p. 13.

12. Ryman, 1978, p. 237.

13. Laws, 1978-79, p. 13.

14. Glasstone, p. 62; Vaganova, p. 69; and Lawson, Joan, The Principles of Classical Dance (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), p. 57Google Scholar.

15. Frohlich, Cliff, “The Physics of Somersaulting and Twisting”, Scientific American. 242/3 (March 1980): 158Google Scholar.

16. Vaganova, p. 91.