Common corrections: Grade 3

I always encourage my students to practice at home. However, it can be hard to practice if you don't know what to work on. Below I have listed my common corrections for each exercise in Grade 1.

For all exercises:

-remember to smile

-keep your body straight (think of stacking yourself like a Jenga tower)

-keep your chin slightly lifted

-tuck your thumbs away and keep your fingers together

-turn out your feet as much as possible

-point your feet as hard as you can when necessary

1.Plies

-start with both arms off the barre

-arms should be away from the body

-when the arm comes up it should be smooth and controlled

-keep your knees straight when you rise

-keep your heels on the ground when you do your Demi plie

-when doing a grand plie, the hips should not come lower then your knees

2.Battement tendus and battement glisses

-when doing your tendus and glisses, your toes should push into the floor until the last moment

-your glisses should come maybe 1 inch off the ground, no more

3.Battement fondus and développés devant

-when doing your fondus and the passes for your developpee , your knee should be straight to the side

-the supporting leg needs to stay straight and the inside of the heel faces the ceiling when you do your developpee

4.Grands battements devant

-both legs stay straight when doing your grand battements

-keep your body stable when doing your releves

-snatch both feet in together for your releves

5.Port de bras

-hold your turn out as you bend and transfer your weight

-the arms should be smooth and controlled, don't let your arms be too bent when above the head

-when doing your balances, your foot comes to the back of the ankle

6.Ronds de jambe a terre

-when transferring from one leg to the other, be sure to bend the supporting leg and straighten the working leg

-when doing the ronds de jambe, make sure the foot comes through first position with the heel brushing the ground

7.Transfer of weight

-teacher choreographed, not applicable

8.Adage

-in first arabesque poses, step onto a straight leg

-keep your body straight up or if you have an issue with leaning forward, try practicing and thinking about leaning back a little bit

-the arms should come straight out to arabesque, resist the urge to bring the hands down then up in a swimming motion

-when stepping over and bring the back foot up, make sure not to bring it past your ankle

9.Sautes and changements

-make sure not to over rotate when jumping to the back

-practice the second section slowly and then slowly speed it up, this part is tricky

10.Glissades sissonnes and assembles

-make sure to show a clear difference between the glissades and the sissonnes

11.Poses and temps leves

-teacher choreographed, not applicable

12.Turns

-practice spotting before doing this exercise at home

-practice the turning section on its own slowly

13.Grand allegro

-for the grand jetes, don't developpee the leg- make sure it is a battement

14.Dance C

15.Dance D

-there are two big things that students struggle with for both the dances

-the first is remembering the steps. The only advice I can give for that is to practice them as much as possible

-the second is the ability to use their performance skills (facial expression) to tell the story of the dance or to express the emotion or energy of the dance (sad, happy, angry etc.)

16.Reverence

-teacher choreographed, not applicable