I. BALLET AND PHYSIQUE

Chapter 2. Variations in Proportions

There can be little question that the purely classical dancer has the gift of a beautifully proportioned body. Apart from her technique and artistry, it is that which gives such aesthetic pleasure to the audience.  Fortunately there are other roles in the field of character and demi-caratere dancing where those who are not so perfectly endowed can shine with equal brilliance. We will now consider the pros and cons of the two types most usually seen which cannot be considered as perfect from the classical point of view, but yet can be accepted for training. These fall roughly into two categories,

1. Long back with correspondingly short legs.
2. Short back with correspondingly long legs.

Both have certain difficulties from the structural point of view.

The spine, it will be remembered, is composed of a series of small bones, known as vertebrae, separated by cushions of relatively soft material call the intervertebral discs. The vertebrae are connected to each other by tough fibrous bands called ligaments. The vertebrae vary according to the region of the spine in which they occur, those in the neck being small and thin, those in the chest region somewhat larger and those in the lower back, adapted for carrying the weight of the trunk, are altogether heavier and more solid in shape,   (figures 3 and 4.)

It is obvious that the longer the back, the greater the weight that has to be borne and it will be found therefore that in the long-backed type of physique (figure 6), the lower vertebrae are big, and as a safeguard the ligaments and muscles joining them will be tight and strong, limiting the movement in order to secure strength. The actual difference in flexibility may be slight considered from the standpoint of everyday life, but it is sufficient to become a real obstacle in the training of the dancer. Such backs are not designed for the extreme flexibility that is required for the perfect arabesque or attitude for example, and in trying to cultivate it there is undue strain on muscles and ligaments, and pressure on the discs in the lumbar region. Not a few of the complaints of low back pain have come to the notice of the author in students of this type. Alternatively one sees such dancers avoiding the difficulty by twisting the hips in movement such as grands battements derriere and destroying the line of the arabesque by taking it vitually a la seconde. (figure 5.)

		a. b. c.
Figure 4. Normal Curves of the Spine		Figure 3. a. Cervical or Neck Vertebra b. Thoracic or Chest Vertebra c. Lumbar or Lower Back Vertebra

Figure 5. By twisting the hips the line of the arabesque is destroyed (From a drawing by Patrick Furse)

It is fortunate that a very marked figure of this type is seen more often in boys than in girls, where it is more manageable. The prospect for either is character dancing rather than classical and the student would be well advised to accept certain limitations in movement without straining after the impossible.

The short torso may be combined with narrow hips, in which case once can state categorically that there will never be sufficient strength in back

Figure 6.
The Long-Backed Type Of Physique

and hips to meet the demands of more than elementary work, and this is one type of physique that the examiner may reject without too much indecision. (figure 7.) Nobody knows better than the ballet dancer how much strength is required in the hip muscles to perform even the simplest adage. When the back is short the legs are of course in proportion, and correspondingly more effort is therefore needed to lift them and hold them in various balletic positions. Narrow, small hips are badly equipped for this purpose especially as at the same time there is invariably lacking a natural turn-out. One finds very little improvement as regards strength and turn-out in the short-torsoed narrow-hipped child even after two or three years of training.

On the other hand one also sees a type with short back but full hips (figure 8.) Here the question becomes nearer the aesthetic, since there is

Figure 7.
Short Torso With Narrow Hips

likely to be strength enough but a lack of beauty in line, due to heavy hips and thighs in later growth. In addition, in this type the back is usually very flexible and tends to sink in the mid-region too readily in movements derrière, the ribs protruding and creating an ugly prominence in front. This may already be notice­able at ten years old, so that if such a child is accepted, care will be needed to ensure that the condition does not increase and in so doing weaken the spine. It is definitely a case for careful consider­ation and the weighing in the balance of talent versus physique.

Between these two major types there will naturally be many others. The proportions in length may be satisfactory, in girth less determinate. It is difficult at this early age to foresee what will happen in the round, as it were, but fat is less of an enemy to the potential trainee than overdeveloped muscles. Fat will absorb and is not a reliable indication of

Figure 8.
Short Torso With Full Hips

future type. Many plump ten-year-olds grow tall and lanky in their teens and vice versa. The muscular child, however, will always be muscular, of that one can be assured. If the examiner is concentrating on girls of the svelte, stream-lined type of the present vogue, she will reject the candidate who at ten already shows athletic bulges of muscles in thighs and legs, for they will be equally noticeable at any age, whatever her proportions. In boys it is naturally of less importance, but it should be understood that bulk of muscles is not synonymous with strength. It is elasticity which gives the muscles both endurance and strength and renders them less prone to accidents. Many ballerinas have steel-like strength in muscles which are practically invisible.