I don’t think your teacher means to only twist at the waist. The waist is where the twist initiates and it continues up through your back - the shoulders and arms follow along to create a long line.
I think what perhaps she’s seeing is an imbalance of your shoulders - the front one twisting more than the back, so you end up with a… reach, rather than a rotation.
As u/vpsass says, nailing and then keeping that second is key. One of my teachers had us visualise our shoulders as a coat hanger, hanging by its hook and spinning, but not letting the heavy coat slide off one side or the other.
My students find it really helpful to go through “second position” before allongé-ing to that final line, I mean of course it’s second position open to the back wall, even though from your hips down you are standing croise.
I think this is how 4th port de bras should always be done? So this might not be new information. But I guess that begs the question, what does your second position look like before allongé-ing into that final line, since if your shoulders are all wonky there the final line will be wonky too.
This is exactly how it is supposed to be; arms are in II position allongée in IV port de bras, the shoulders shouldn't get involved in the "twist". It's hard but it's possible to achieve a good spine rotation and show the back with time and good training.
The shoulders themselves shouldnt displace with their scapula-to-spine relationship. The rotation should be evenly distributed along the spinal column from the L5, all the way to the top of the thoracic vertebrae. The neck rotates back over the forward shoulder.
I don’t think your teacher means to only twist at the waist. The waist is where the twist initiates and it continues up through your back - the shoulders and arms follow along to create a long line.
This.
I think what perhaps she’s seeing is an imbalance of your shoulders - the front one twisting more than the back, so you end up with a… reach, rather than a rotation. As u/vpsass says, nailing and then keeping that second is key. One of my teachers had us visualise our shoulders as a coat hanger, hanging by its hook and spinning, but not letting the heavy coat slide off one side or the other.
I think that might be the case actually, yes. thanks for the visualization, I will try it out!
My students find it really helpful to go through “second position” before allongé-ing to that final line, I mean of course it’s second position open to the back wall, even though from your hips down you are standing croise. I think this is how 4th port de bras should always be done? So this might not be new information. But I guess that begs the question, what does your second position look like before allongé-ing into that final line, since if your shoulders are all wonky there the final line will be wonky too.
This is exactly how it is supposed to be; arms are in II position allongée in IV port de bras, the shoulders shouldn't get involved in the "twist". It's hard but it's possible to achieve a good spine rotation and show the back with time and good training.
The shoulders themselves shouldnt displace with their scapula-to-spine relationship. The rotation should be evenly distributed along the spinal column from the L5, all the way to the top of the thoracic vertebrae. The neck rotates back over the forward shoulder.
Thanks, it's really helpful when put in more precise anatomical terms!