Transcript
My name is Maegan Woodin, and I’m a professional dancer, choreographer, teacher and student. I have danced for MTV, Diana Ross, Marc Jacobs and have appeared in many music videos. You can find more information about me and my career, as well as photos and videos, at www.dgtnyc.com. I’m going to be talking to you about ballet.
A tendu is a basic ballet step that we use and it is when your leg is extending out either in front, side or back. And when you’re doing tendu you wanna make sure that your foot is massaging the floor and then coming to a full point. And then when you bring your foot back to a first position or a fifth position or whatever position your tendu is coming from, you wanna make sure that you start the movement with your toes leading back. So when you bring your foot forward, it’s your heel leading forward and then your toes leading back. An important thing to remember about front, side and back is when you’re going to the front, you don’t wanna over cross your tendu. This will give you a very twisted position, it won’t be helpful when you move to the centre. So always make sure that your foot is directly in front of your belly button or little bit out to the side but never crossed over. The same thing in the back, you want to make sure that your leg is directly behind you and not over crossed as it is in the front. When you coming to the side, you want to make sure that your foot in going to your natural turnout line. The lines of your first position is your natural turnout line, so whatever position your feet are in you want to bring your toes following that same line. You never want to go directly back, or far forward cause that’s not where your natural turnout line and that’s not the best way to do tendu. So when you’re going to the side make sure you follow that and extend your foot fully pointed and then squeeze your foot all the way back to first position. So demonstrating tendu front, side and back I’ll show you, can put your arms to the side or in first position depending on what the teacher or yourself prefers. So tendu front, and close to first. Second, close to first. Back, close to first and side, close back to first.
