Learning first arabesque

Arabesque is unarguably one of the most beautiful positions in ballet. Advanced ballet dancers make it look effortless, but in my experience, it is one of the most difficult positions to learn. There are so many things to consider when working on arabesque, as I am doing here. My mind is a blizzard of thought as I concentrate on controlling my body and bringing it into the correct position.

From the start, I focus on whether my legs turned out. As I extend my leg to the back, I try to balance and maintain my posture with an upright back. At the same time, I am thinking about whether my shoulders are back and down and whether my chin is parallel to my arms. The arms are a whole different world of thought. I straighten my arms from the third position so that one is to the front and the other to the side.

My front hand is at eye level and there is a gradual slope from the front hand to the side hand. I aim to line up my chin so that it is parallel to the front arm. If that isn’t enough to think about, I still have to remember my fingers. My fingers should be relaxed, not pointy as mine are here. Yes, your body is screaming at you to relax, but no one must know that! My shoulders should be down and back, to make the position look nicer. To refine the movement, I add some epaulement or shouldering. In this case, I twist my torso slightly towards the side arm, and lift my chest upward and forward keeping my side shoulder down to make a lovely sloping line from hand to hand,

So I believe I’m on the right track to creating a beautiful arabesque. I know what is required, but it is not easy to do. I have a feeling that there is no such thing as a perfect arabesque, only a better one! Improvement is just a matter of time and practice