How to Get the Leg Higher for développé a la seconde

[brett]

I just tried this and my leg was immediately 2-3 inches higher than normal!! Incredible! I learned the first steps when I was younger about the hip and initiation but not about keeping the lower leg pointing to the ground- what a world of a difference! Thank you!

[barretheballerinaway]

So helpful and as always I am so inspired by you!

[Recontramojado]

Yeah, the idea of going from retire instead of from passe is just brilliant... immediate improvement...

[fbmbassist]

And remember, if you don’t have the flexibility to be in a near split position, you won’t be able to straighten your leg, even if you have the strength. So hamstring flexibility is very important too.

[MelissaMartinez-kqdk]

So nicely explained! I love the way you break down these movements that seem simple but are a bit more complex

[YingChenDK]

One of the best teacher. I love your 小红书posting as well.

[brendadufaur]

His 90 degree a la second is beautiful. This is a good, solid instruction and a gracious and likeable ballet instructor and obviously a ballet dancer.
But I see his hips are completely square like New York City Ballet does it and that I guess you could say is traditional and done maybe by most ballet trainers and ballet teachers and schools of ballet.
We had to do it the full square hips way in my ballet school of long ago too. And we always thought it was a sin to raise the hip! It was like the easy way out. We thought of it as cheating.
I would see fellow students get their a la second very high and I would think well, I could get my a la second that high too if I cheated and put my hip up that high! And it was also much harder to do it the so-called right way, the square hips way.
But I have crossed over! I prefer the slightly raised hip of the Vagonova method. Vagonova has the hip up a little and not totally square - as Maria Khoreva describes in her own a la second video. She says the leg looks prettier with the hip up a little - not alot - but just enough to make the leg look more beautiful and elongated and I agree.
It taught me a lesson that being a purist or a hard core purist is not always a good thing. Raising the hip slightly up for a more beautiful looking elongation of the leg is well worth so-called cheating a little....
For me now, when I see the completely correct square hips in a la second, the leg looks truncated to me, less elongated, less aesthetic, less beautiful.
The completely square hips way may be considered 100% the correct perfect way to do a la second but the so called imperfection of the hip slightly up allows the leg its most full and maybe its most natural extension and not to be at all truncated.
In my era they didn't have the extravagantly high a la second developes of today and that is good and bad but that discussion is for another day!

[sheigingerdollyette]

What excellent master, thank you so much i think that you explain the perfection of ballet

[carinaearl]

I wish one of my myriad of dance teachers told me this! Seems so obvious now

[lianamendes]

Yes, Mr Du, this is a lot helpfull! Thank you to care about.

[billiequaltrough]

Thank you for this insight. It makes a big difference.

[johneconomou]

On the other hand, the passé position helps the thigh to move even more to the side and be in line with the opposite hip!

[kxs]

Very useful, thank you. Makes so much sense to consider the physics of the move!

[daniellebraasch]

Happy Mother's Day to your wife! Hope you have a great day!

[yuetmengkhoo]

Thank you for the tip to stretching leg like on anti gravity basis..and it works 😅😊

[TheWorldsFavoriteCub]

Wow…just did this and not only did I get a higher reach, but it was more stable and comfortable 😮

[mimipriest]

Thank you so much. I teach my intermediate advanced students to developpe this way but what about the younger students, not beginners but not yet intermediate, I call them elementary.? These students are 10-12 years old and I have been keeping the developpe to 90 unless they can hold the turnout. Should I start them at the elementary level doing developpe by bringing the knee up or will they have a problem lifting their hip. What you said about gravity makes so much sense. I have not thought of that and so I have younger students only concentrating on the turnout from retire with only a slight lifting of the knee.

Thank you for your inspirational weekly videos.

[kerryenders]

One Question: Are you saying that the girls holding their leg underneath is a good or a bad habit? Thank you for breaking this down! This is something I knew but had forgotten about.

[hindtaybi]

Hi. Thanks a lot for your efforts. I just would like to know whether i can learn ballet dance at home since there is no ballet school for adults in my city. And how much time i need to learn the basics and to get so flexible. I have enough courage and motivation to start 😊

[esraa]

If my leg can't go up diagonally because of a flexibility issue, is the whole developpe wrong?