It is not always easy to get young dancers to understand how to place their bodies so that they will be seen in a flattering light. We train them from a young age in Ballet to learn the different positions such as croise and ouverte but I find that very often they have difficulty in grasping the idea that they need to imagine themselves in the center of a small square box in order to find the correct angles to face. They tend to look at the room and face the corner that they see and of course they run into a problem if the room is not square! I started working with my dancers who are 8-10 by actually getting them to step into a small box that has the top and bottom cut off. They can then hold it with their hands and see clearly where they should be facing on the diagonal. I then have them drop it to the floor and step out of it and then try to find their corner without the box. Sometimes just using that prop can help them to understand what I am telling them to do as so often dancers over cross and put themselves in a position too much to the side which does not give the body the best line. I like to get all my dancers from a fairly young age to start to become aware of which angles suit their bodies the best. After all, dance is a visual art.
Once the dancers become older if they have already had this awareness of angles drummed into them they will find it so much easier to find the lines that best suit them. This can also depend on the individual body type but correctly placed you can make every body type look better. I am in no way advocating that any of this self awareness becomes an obsession it is simply to help your dancers always put their best foot forward. Applied correctly it can really help in building confidence in any dancer.
Sometimes I will spend an entire rehearsal working on a piece just going through it step by step to help each dancer to understand exactly what I am talking about and so that they can see for themselves how the different angles that they place their bodies in can enhance any performance. If they do work on this aspect of their dancing it will help them to reach new heights.
Demonstrating the use of turnout is sometimes an issue even with good dancers and can very often be fixed quite easily with a slight change of angle. Sometimes taking a video of the dancers in class can really help them to see for themselves where they need to make adjustments. I like to use video in this way because dancers of today are just so accustomed to looking at a screen that I think sometimes it really drives the point across to them in a more effective way. It can be something as simple as changing the position of a foot or the entire body a tiny bit that can make a huge impact as to the way the audience views you. Of course it takes some patience to make the dancers realize that this is an important aspect of their dance training but if they can digest it and start to look at themselves more with the eye of the audience they can definitely improve the way their dancing is received. I don't believe there is ever a class when it is not necessary to fix at least one dancer's angles but as they get older and more advanced in their training their ability to work better with angles will definitely give them an edge over other dancers who may not be aware of this component.
Feet can also benefit from the awareness of angles. Many dance students are not aware of the fact that it is possible to greatly improve the line of the foot by using some good angles. By shaping and angling the foot in a way that is complimentary to the dancer it is possible to camouflage some weaknesses. Using good angles of the head will also help to improve the overall appearance of any dancer. So often the line of the head is ignored or not used effectively to really help the dancer look their best. Following the line of the port de bras is generally a good idea and achieving a beautiful line of the head and neck will enhance any performance.
Not every student is going to be a brilliant dancer but we can help them to look fantastic despite any limitations they may have so that they can really get the most out of their dance training. It is also very helpful to any choreographer especially when working on group numbers if the dancers have a good awareness of the different angles as it will make it easier to get the dancers to work in unison. With competitions and recitals and concerts either in progress or imminent it is helpful if we can use every tool available to us to get our dancers on stage feeling their best and understanding how to make themselves look terrific.
