How a hook punch will help your pirouettes
Boxing, ballet, and learning to use your power.
When I took a break from ballet after I stopped dancing professionally, I got into boxing. I still wanted to keep myself in some kind of shape. Boxing required me to learn how to move my body very differently.
I’m going to share with you how to punch. Especially a hook punch.
This technique connects to your pirouettes!
No, but really. Get ready to uncover a totally new way to get power for your pirouettes.
When doing pirouettes, oftentimes we tend to focus on our feet and try to get the energy or speed from how our feet connect to the floor. When I was growing up, I was using 100% of my feet to get more turns in.
As I got older I was getting injured because I started to include the twist of my upper body to gain more power for my pirouettes.
Actually, this way of doing pirouettes is pretty common.
Imagine twisting your shoulders as far as you can twist them, and having your hip all twisted to the opposite side. And then adding force to that fully twisted spine from the bottom of your body.
No wonder I had back pain all the time.
Nowadays you hear dancers trying to teach pirouettes by using buzz words like “counter rotation,” and I firmly believe those ideas will set you up for inconsistency and injuries. I found and used a smarter way.
I didn’t know better then, but I did re-learn how to do my pirouettes later in my career. What I learned was based on the logic of physics, and didn’t rely on me having to twist my whole body to get power. With this new way, I was doing multiple pirouettes more consistently in performances. And without the chronic back pain.
Now I can share with you how to create power for pirouettes. And the way I’m about to tell you has equal if not more power.
The secret is in boxing
Not a jab or straight punch, but a hook is what you need to know.
We are going to connect doing a hook punch to the side arms for a pirouette.
Of course, the technique for the hook depends on the individual so I cannot point to one general correct way to do a hook, and who am I kidding, I’m not the boxer. Don’t take my advice for your future boxing classes.
A hook punch goes like this:
Elbow is soft and bent
Elbow comes up as you prepare for the swing
Elbow is higher than the hand
Palm of your hand turns towards you like giving a thumbs up
Your punch leads from your knuckles, not palm or thumb (very important connection to pirouette)
When you hit the target you feel the “hit” as feedback
Bonus: Shoulder ball and socket joint is relaxed (free to move)
I see the same thing for pirouettes, and it should be the same. We are aiming to get power. Boxers seek power to knock out, dancers seek power to turn.
Here is the primary power source for pirouettes
Most of the time we focus on our legs or feet, and how to feel the ground to get the power for pirouettes from the ground. Or even what kind of position our feet need to be in before, during, and after the turn. We also work on our arms for coordination and how to look properly during turns. While that’s all correct, our arms can and should be the primary power source for the turns.
Why use arms as a primary power source for turns?
The main benefit is that once you understand and get used to using your arms, it will give you more power with less effort. And more importantly, when you use your arms for power (must do it correctly), it will put your upper body into the correct position, and you will have better control of it. Relying too much on legs can be hit or miss depending on the floor. Imagine a slippery floor.
So here is how to do it. First practice this with a quarter turn:
In your preparation, one arm is in front of the center of the body, the other arm is on the side (elbow of the side arm must be in front of the shoulder).
You must keep your elbows soft, and bend them slightly on purpose at all times (even in allonge)! This part seems to get a lot of resistance from dancers, but this is probably the most important tip for port de bras.
The pointy part of your elbows shall never point to the ground.
Move your arm that is in the second (side) position slightly before the front arm.
When that side arm comes in, if your palms are facing down, you turn your palm towards you like giving a thumbs up
And side arm comes in with your knuckle first not palm or thumbs (which is the most important tip)
Your front arm will come into position with your elbow first. Going directly in a straight line (not around) behind the shoulder. Which means you have to bend your elbow to begin the movement otherwise your arm will go around and not in a straight line.
Similar to feeling the “hit” of a punch, you must feel the “hit” of the position.
Most important tip
As your side arm comes in to first position, lead your arm from the knuckle of your hand. Like a boxer will punch from the knuckle, you want to go knuckle-first into position. This means that you must be able to move the joints in your fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder in that order to come to first position. Only once you can do this will you be able to do the next step—which is to get power for the turn.
You don’t want to go from your palm (like a slap) because it will create too much swing, which will throw you off of your center line. You also don’t want to go from your thumb (slash) for it will often times lead to dropping of the elbow during the turn. Both of these also don’t give you any power for the turn. Boxers don’t slap or slash because it’s not effective for a knock out.
Fun fact: They only do that to disrespect the opponent to provoke and anger.
So how do you get power to turn?
When a boxer hits the target there is a definite feedback for power. If you hit the target light, the feedback is light. If you hit it hard, the feedback is heavy. If you have never felt this feedback, please carefully throw a hook punch lightly into a pillow or something that will not hurt you or other people.
That feedback of the hit is the feedback you are aiming for when your side arm hits the position. “Hit the position” suddenly has different meaning than just shaping to hit the correct position. That hit of the position turns into power for your pirouette.
The front arm is a little difficult to teach. You start the movement slightly after the side arm. Your arm should not open to the side…I know, whaaaaat? It should start by going allonge forward, and as you move the front arm, your elbow leads the movement. Your forearms shall not open and swing to the side. Meaning you want to hit the target directly behind your shoulder with the elbow. So from your preparation, your elbow goes directly back as if you are elbowing someone right behind you. But because you are turning, it will “hit” the first position.
It’s not about going around then hit, but in a straight line back to hit. You should get the feeling of the “hit the position” with your elbow.
Now I understand that this may be a huge block based on your training and whether or not you think it’s correct to open your front arm to a la second for a pirouette. What I’m describing may appear to be a “Balanchine-style” pirouette. But I’m not saying which technique is better or worse. I’m just talking from the physics point of view that this way of moving arms makes more sense on a flat floor. Raked (slanted) floor is different, and you actually want to open your front arm on a raked floor.
Avoid this common mistake
When I teach this, I often encounter one very common misuse of shoulders in connection with arms. When you think about the pointy part of your elbow never pointing to the ground, you must rotate your humerus bone inwards. And when rotating inwards, the mistake I see is that people rotate it by rotating the whole shoulder rather than only the humerus. First, that’s not correct technique for ballet. Second, your shoulder is going to hurt. Third, you cannot generate power that way.
Fixing this shoulder mistake is tricky, and that’s what’s coming next, so make sure to check it out.
We dancers don’t need to knock people out, but our arms can be more than just pretty shapes. Port de bras and epaulement can and should have power.
If you got value from this email, punch the “like” button and share it with your friends. This helps me reach more people to share what I can offer to like-minded ballet lovers.