Kathi Martuza has legs to die for. On pointe in an impossibly high développé, her standing leg is so extended that it bows slightly backwards. The Oregon Ballet Theatre principal admits that she enjoys the advantages of hyperextended knees. “My legs always look straight," she says, “and it creates a really nice line."
But Martuza has found that she can't allow herself to give into her hyperextension, letting her legs sink backwards. Not only can it strain the backs of her knees, this “lazy" placement also renders multiple turns nearly impossible. She is always in search of her “straight" standing leg. “You have to find it over time by strengthening the right muscles, but you also have to find it daily," she says. For Martuza, this process starts anew every morning at the barre with a simple rule: While standing in first position, the heels must touch.
Whether you're hyperextended is just a roll of the genetic dice—you've either got it, or you don't. Although most dancers covet the long lines that hyperextension creates, it's a double-edged sword. Jennifer Green, a physical therapist and founder of PhysioArts in New York City, says that dancers with hyperlaxity in their knees tend to be more flexible in the rest of their body as well—which means they have a host of strength issues to work on and potential injuries to avoid.
What Not To Do
According to Green, dancers who consistently allow their standing legs to bow backwards into full hyperextension can loosen the knee joints to a dangerous degree. “It's not just flexible muscles, you have overstretched ligaments as well—and ligaments don't tighten up again," she says. “You've lost that security in the joints that the ligaments used to provide."
In addition to damaging the joint, you're opening yourself up to a host of other problems. Green likens it to children's blocks: If you have your blocks stacked up straight, you have a strong structure; if one block is off to the side, something else will have to compensate for it or the whole thing will fall. “There becomes a chain reaction," she says. “A counterbalance will come in the form of gripping in the muscles, or swaying your lower back and pushing your hips forward." While Green often sees knee pain in hyperextended dancers, she is more troubled by the core instability that sinking back into hyperextension can cause.
“That standing leg has to be straight at the back of the knee and up through the hips into the core," says Kathleen Mitchell, a teacher at Boston Ballet School. However, since the working leg is not bearing any weight, “it can go ahead and just stretch into hyperextension for that beautiful line."
Discover “Straight"
Finding the correct position to stand in can be difficult because your leg won't feel like it's straight—you actually have to bend the knee slightly. To discover a true vertical line, Mitchell says to sit on the floor with your legs extended in parallel in front of you. Straighten your knees without allowing your heels to come up off the floor. This will fire your quad and glute muscles and emulate what you should feel in a strong supporting leg. Try this exercise with flexed, then pointed, feet, and practice it often to learn the muscle memory of what “straight" legs actually feel like.
Strengthen To Straighten
You should also actively work to strengthen the muscles needed to keep your legs straight. “Even just strengthening your calf and hamstring muscles helps," says Green, “but I like to do it dynamically, and in a way that you will use the legs while you're dancing."
Start by standing sideways to a mirror. Tie a Thera-Band in a loop around your legs and the leg of a barre. Stand in parallel, facing away from the barre with the Thera-Band just below your knees. Step forward until you feel the Thera-Band pull your legs back, but be careful not to let your knees give in to your hyperextension. Looking in the mirror, resist the backwards pull until your legs have reached a truly straight line. Maintaining this leg position, relevé a few times in parallel, then try the exercise on one leg at a time. (See demo on previous page.)
If You Don't Have It
Although dancers without hyperextension may feel like they got the short end of the genetic stick, there's good news. “In general, tight dancers have more longevity," says Green. They also tend to have more strength and be better jumpers, she adds.
Doing anything that forces your knees backward in hopes of gaining hyperextension is dangerous and can cause a myriad of serious injuries, including overstretched ligaments. Stretching your hamstrings the right way is the safest path to straighter legs. According to Green, this means stretching with an engaged quad muscle. “Using your quads naturally relaxes the hamstrings," she says. “When you pull up your quads, you're actively straightening your knee and stretching your hamstring at the same time. If you do that in a stretch, you're going to get to that last bit of hamstring tightness that's behind the knee."
One of the biggest mistakes dancers make is lying on their backs and développéing the leg all the way up to the top of their range of motion to stretch it. Instead, you should work up to that height with a straight leg (as in a slow battement), slowly stretching through each point of your range of motion while engaging the quad muscle.
Martuza admits that, while she is thankful to be frequently complimented on her hyperextension, it's more meaningful to be praised for her musicality or épaulement, rather than an aspect of her physicality she was born with. It isn't what you've been given, but what you do with what you have that will ultimately make you an impressive dancer. “Everybody has strengths and weaknesses," she says. “Play up your strengths and show them off. Then work on your weaknesses."
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Jan 20, 2021
Courtesy ABC
Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Alicia Mae Holloway Talks About Her Time on ABC's “The Bachelor”
Bunheads tuning in to the season premiere of ABC's "The Bachelor" on January 4 may have recognized a familiar face: Dance Theatre of Harlem's Alicia Mae Holloway, literally bourréeing out of a limousine to greet bachelor Matt James. While Holloway unfortunately didn't get a rose that night, she did thoroughly enjoy being the long-running reality franchise's first professional-ballerina contestant, as she told Pointe in a recent Zoom call.
<p><strong>Have you always been a fan of "The Bachelor"?</strong></p><p>My friends would watch it back when I was a student at the School of American Ballet. I watched one episode and was like, "What is this?! Why would people do this?!" A few years later, I started Colton Underwood's season because I was feeling really left out in my group chats. I binged the whole season and became obsessed.</p><p><strong>How did you get cast?</strong></p><p>One of my best friends (Jacqueline Bologna, of New York City Ballet) told me to apply. I wasn't sure but filled out the online application anyway—and promptly forgot about it. One day, I got a random call from L.A. The voicemail said, "Hey Alicia, this is so-and-so from ABC's 'The Bachelor,' and we're really interested in you." It all happened from there!<strong></strong></p><p><strong>During the audition process, did you emphasize your career and identity as a ballerina?</strong></p><p>Absolutely.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUwNTU5Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjU0ODMwMX0.jGySkrMM7mC3vymgfM1-SXTLNRvk0bLJmJHgxipF9wQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="ffb7d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="876f53f09fda81a19d53494f719a0279" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="In New York's Times Square, an African American ballerina in a black long-sleeved shirt and white tutu performs a large jet\u00e9 with her left leg bent and nearly kicking her head." data-width="3276" data-height="3767" />
Alicia Mae Holloway
Renee Choi, Courtesy Holloway
<p><strong>Did you have any misgivings about going on the show, like whether the ballet world would view you differently?</strong></p><p>That was at the forefront of my mind throughout this whole process. I'd read articles about people who lost their jobs and couldn't find another one after coming off the show. That was my main concern, because my career has always been first and is always going to be first. But I felt in my heart that this was something I really wanted to do. I decided that if people don't want to work with me because I did something I wanted to do, that's on them and they're missing out on me.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Were you concerned about taking time off from Dance Theatre of Harlem?</strong></p><p>At DTH we tour 16 to 18 weeks out of the year. Obviously, we can't do that now due to COVID-19, so we've been doing virtual classes and workshops. The company got to go to Kaatsbaan in the fall, which looked amazing—I obviously was not there. Basically, I realized that now was the time to go on "The Bachelor" if I was ever going to do it. We just got back to work in the studio last week, so I think the timing all happened perfectly.</p>
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<p><strong>Did you feel any kind of pressure to represent ballerinas—and ballerinas of color—on national television?</strong></p><p>Arthur Mitchell, who founded DTH, said something once that stuck with me: "Cinderella doesn't walk into the ball. She arrives." What that says to me is, you have to present yourself in the best way possible all the time. You always have to be the best version of yourself and present yourself with the most class and integrity. I do want to be a role model and uphold my reputation, because I never had a professional ballerina who looked like me to look up to when I was young.</p><p><strong>How did you plan to keep up your technique and stamina while on the show?</strong></p><p>Before I left, I made a promise to myself and to my boss that I'd give myself daily ballet class. I wrote down at-home workouts and my favorite pointe exercises, and I brought two pairs of pointe shoes: one newer and a more dead pair for building my strength with.</p>
<p><strong>You got a lot of screen time in the premiere episode (watch it <a href="https://abc.com/shows/the-bachelor/episode-guide/season-25/01-week-1" target="_blank">here</a>), prepping your pointe shoes and dancing around the resort.</strong></p><p>Yeah, I was shocked by how much they ended up showing! I just wanted to showcase my real daily life as a dancer.</p><p><strong>Did you pre-choreograph that (amazing) exit from the limo?</strong></p><p>It literally came to me in the moment. At first I thought I might do a grand jeté, but immediately realized the dress was not made for it!</p><p><strong>How did the other women react when they learned you're a ballet dancer?</strong></p><p>Honestly, they were so kind. Everybody went, "Oh, my gosh, I've never met a real-life ballerina!" There weren't any ignorant or awkward questions. It was validating to get such a positive response.</p>
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<p><strong>Understandably, there were a few tears in your interview after the rose ceremony. What was going through your mind when you realized your "Bachelor" journey was over?</strong></p><p>There were a lot of emotions. To viewers, the night seems short, but it is <em>long</em>—and I'm an emotional person. What got me through was reminding myself that everything happens for a reason. I was very upset that I didn't get to speak to Matt because we have things in common. He went to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, I went to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. He lives in New York, I live in New York. He has a white mom and a Black dad, I have a white mom and a Black dad. I was obviously sad when I left, but I do feel like Mrs. James could be in that amazing, intelligent, badass group of women. I left feeling that Matt was in good hands.</p><p><strong>Has the show changed your life at all?</strong></p><p>My Instagram following went up, and I've gotten more offers to do photo shoots and stuff like that. I shot my first music video in December. The reaction from the dance world has honestly been nothing but great. I really thought people would throw shade, but everybody has been so supportive. I've gotten a lot of messages from people who were mad I was voted off. <em>[Laughs]</em></p><p><strong>What have you been up to since the show?</strong></p><p>Life has been great overall, though I didn't get to work with DTH from the end of September until January 4. I was a little bored at first, in part because I couldn't go on social media in case people figured out I got eliminated. So I kept myself busy and created routines, because I thrive when I have a set schedule. I taught at SAB for a week back in the fall, and I taught a lot in Pennsylvania and in West Virginia, where I'm from. I'm now back in New York and ready to return to the studio with DTH.</p><p><strong>What advice do you have for other ballet dancers who are presented with an opportunity like this?</strong></p><p>If your gut is telling you to do it, go for it. Life is short! If you can make it work while keeping your dance career your number-one priority, then I would highly recommend going for an unconventional, once-in-a-lifetime chance.</p>
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Jan 21, 2021
#TBT: Carla Fracci and Stephen Jefferies in "La Esmeralda" (1987)
Carla Fracci, a former principal dancer of La Scala Ballet in Milan, is among the rare class of ballerinas who continued to perform into her 50s and beyond. Romantic ballets were her calling card throughout her career. In 1987, when Fracci was 51, she was featured in a television special, dancing reconstructed 19th-century ballets in the style of historical ballerinas. In this clip of La Esmeralda from the program, Fracci and her partner Robert Jefferies, a former principal at The Royal Ballet, deliver an extraordinary performance, capturing the verve and spirit of their characters.
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<p>The set is magnificently detailed with a soaring backdrop of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral. There is also—somewhat comically—a live goat onstage, as there were in many early performances of <em>La Esmeralda. </em>In Esmeralda's variation, the choreography differs from the version often seen in competitions today and is based on Marius Petipa's revival of the ballet for the Russian ballerina <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathilde_Kschessinska" target="_blank">Mathilde Kschessinska</a>. Fracci emphasizes its intricate footwork and musicality; her mastery is evident in the gorgeous control and precise accents of her ballonés en pointe (0:40). Jefferies, as Phoebus, dances with a confident, relaxed air in brilliant petit allégro. In the final diagonal of his variation and in the coda, he demonstrates incredible dynamism in his pirouettes, with slow, suspended turns, as well as tight, fast ones. In the more lyrical sections, the pair dance fluidly in unison, and Fracci's delicate tambourine work makes the prop seem like an extension of her body. Happy #ThrowbackThursday!</p>
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Jan 20, 2021
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Ask Amy: How Can I Make the Most of Performance Opportunities in a Pandemic?
My school is connected to a professional company that operates on a show-to-show basis. Students can audition for company performances when they're 15. My 15th birthday is in February, and I think that our directors are choosing people to participate in virtual performances based off of whether they have performed with the company before. This was supposed to be my big first year with the company, but COVID-19 has changed that. How do I make it known that I want to participate? Do you think I should wait until things are more normal? —Lila
<p>There's no question that the coronavirus pandemic has forced companies to make adjustments to their seasons and rosters. But even if your local company is only working with dancers who've performed with them before for their upcoming show, there's no harm in letting them know that you'd love to be considered. You'll be within the age requirements, plus you attend the affiliated school and have a history with the organization. Why not see if it's a possibility?</p><p>Since you are still a student, I would first speak with your teachers. Remind them that you'll be turning 15 and eligible for the company's spring performance. They can best direct you on how to convey your interest to the artistic staff, since they understand the culture and structure of the organization. For instance, they may prefer to speak to artistic staff on your behalf, or they might suggest that you email the company manager (the person who typically filters audition applications for the director). Or, they may tell you to contact a member of the company's artistic staff. An email is probably best if you don't work with the director or ballet masters frequently, but this is a better question for your teachers.</p>
<p>Once you have established what the proper channels are, think about what you want to say. Keep it honest and professional: that you've grown up dancing at the school and watching the company and would love to audition for the spring virtual performance. If you know anything about the choreographer or the work that is being performed, say what you admire about it. Acknowledge that spots might be limited because of COVID-19, and that you would be willing to be an understudy. (Understudying is an important stepping-stone: You can learn so much from being in rehearsals with the company, even virtually, and being prepared to go in for someone will make a strong impression.) You may also want to include a video link of your dancing if the director isn't familiar with it. They may or may not offer you a position, but they'll at least know how you feel and that you're serious enough to make it known.</p>
<p>And if it doesn't work out this year? Take heart—you are still young, and there will be more opportunities once the pandemic passes. If you have ambitions to dance professionally, this will be good practice for preparing cover letters for company auditions in the future.</p><p><em></em><em>Have a question? Send it to </em>Pointe<em> editor and former dancer Amy Brandt at <a href="mailto:askamy@dancemedia.com" target="_blank">askamy@dancemedia.com</a>.</em></p>
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