While something as 'simple' as a Tendu gets taught very early on in most ballet schools, and is one of the core movements of all ballet steps, it is one of the things that is often poorly understood. This article breaks down all of the components that makes up the perfect tendu.
Hello Lisa!
I have so enjoyed your email updates about dance and anatomy that I am finally reaching out with a question of my own.
First, though, I want to say a little about how useful your books have been to me. I am a very adult, very beginner-- the first dance class I ever took was two years ago, after my first year of law school, just pushed to look for something with a different kind of focus and different kind of reward. It was so wonderful, and I've been in love with dance since then-- but as an adult beginner, it is so mysterious to me, like a language I am trying to catch a word here and there.
I took tons and tons of classes last year, and found myself with all different kinds of body problems. Ankles, knees, lower back. It's been a blessing in a way, because otherwise I would not have really accepted that all these moves are so subtle, and so easy to continue doing wrong, and that this will be a long - and fun - process of understanding... “Wow, what is really going on in this moment? This motion?”
As an adult with so much new to me, often the teachers explanations really don't sink in without more explanation and simplicity, and so your books have been so helpful. I am also a yoga teacher and have a basic understanding of anatomy, so to have some of that broken down so clearly has been just invaluable.
This brings me to my question. While I've asked teachers before, I feel like you have such an ability to explain that it's worth it to ask here too. What, REALLY, is going on anatomically in a Tendu? I hear so many images that I'm not sure what they are getting at. "Move from the heel" when moving out; "start at the toes" when moving back in...
I ask also because I encounter troubles that I haven't yet understood how to work on. I have loose ligaments in my knees - I hyperextend, and am prone to torquing my knees, and I think that there's some dislocation of the tibia and femur with overly tight shin and calf muscles locking it in place.
When I do a Tendu, especially in the center, I feel a torque and twisting in my standing knee. It's feels like it's particularly from the change in standing still to pushing out- like there is some momentum and rebound that my standing leg takes in the knee.
I'm thinking that long term, I need to just build up slowly and do more work on the floor- tendus against the wall- but I feel a little confused about what SHOULD be going on in a tendu. What does happen, or should happen, to keep stability in the standing leg? How can there not be a backward force in that leg if you are moving from weight in two legs to weight in only one?
I realize this may be an overcomplicated question, and it may be something that will only make sense in more time - quite alright! But if it by chance triggers any thoughts or advice in you, maybe something to share with me and others! :)
PS – I also wanted to say, your books are in some ways geared towards young dancers, but the exercises in perfect pointe just seem excellent for someone like me, new to ballet and not seeking pointe work at all, but just more stability and safety in regular classes. Really excellent stuff, so maybe something to think about! :)
All the best!
- Lisa
Hi Lisa, and thanks so much for all of your wonderful positive feedback! I do have a lot of adult students who enjoy the work and love the way that we break down everything in an easy to understand way. You are right that the whole program in The Perfect Pointe Book is excellent for any dancer, and I have had several other people suggest a rebranding as it is definitely not just for those wishing to get en pointe!
The truth is, that A LOT of dancers do not understand the intricacies of the basic movements in ballet. This is certainly not just isolated to adult beginners.
Often when students start dancing very early on, they learn the basics at the level that they are capable of learning at five years old. Obviously the ‘building block’ steps such as a Plié ad a Tendu often get taught in a very simplified way. This is fine for a five year old, but over the next few years of a dancers training it is so important that these ‘basics’ are relearned with more and more specificity. If these steps are not revisited again and again, to really master them, the student will often struggle to progress once the steps get harder.
Getting these basics right is absolutely essential as dancers get more serious about dancing and move into the higher grades, and especially as hours of dancing are increased. Any faults in basic technique often result in all of the niggly foot knee hip and back issues that you experienced when you began your classes.
On the brighter side, in my experience, I have actually seen students who have come to ballet later in life (whether this is at 12 years old, 21 or 35 who actually master these basic fundamentals that are the key to injury prevention better than many students who have been dancing since they were three! This seems to be due to the fact that they are focused on “getting it right” to “catch up” with their peers. If you are a yoga teacher, have a good grounding in anatomy, and as you are obviously seeking out all of the right information, you have a great chance of getting it right!
So, in answer to your question – Yes, there are many parts to the perfect execution of a Tendu, and I will explain them as best as I can here. If you can grasp all of these minor details, this will set you up for just about everything else in your dancing. All of the points that you have been observing, with the torquing in the knees and losing control in the center are very common, but thankfully are easily fixed with focus on the right things. I don’t want to confuse you by getting too complicated, but if you can get all of these components right, they will be effortless!
The Core Ingredients in Performing a Perfect Tendu Are:
1. Mastery of subtle, dynamic core control
2. Awareness and endurance of your standing leg turnout muscles
3. Control of the position of the supporting knee
4. Articulation of the ankle and mid foot
6. The ability to maintain length in the toes while fully working the ball of the foot
Add a beautiful port des bra to all of that and you have the perfect tendu!
The following points outline what to, and what not to do in all of these. I hope this helps!
1. Mastery of subtle, dynamic core control:
The tendu, in my opinion, actually starts from deep in the core. The deep stability of the pelvis and spine is essential to being able to maintain stability on the standing leg. Without a stable base, you will have no base to work your turnout from (think of a crane trying to operate off a base of jelly!) which will result in the loss of your turnout and twisting in the knee of the standing leg.
Now this core stability is not the kind that you get from doing sit-ups and crunches or plank type exercises. These common abdominal exercises train all of the outer ‘global’ muscles (which are important in their own right) however they are not the ones you need for a Tendu. The core stability that is needed is a subtle, dynamic stability which is able to be maintained for a long period of time. This is described in many ways by dance teachers, such as “pulling up” or “hollowing” the tummy, or as “feeling your center” but many people overdo it and start to look stiff and wooden.
Anatomically, it is a very subtle activation of your pelvic floor, deep abdominals (Transverses Abdominis) and the deepest back muscles (including Multifidus and Rotatores). We have a whole Core Stability for Dancers program that explains how to find all of these muscles, and bring them into class.
The key to knowing that you are using the right muscles is whether you can breathe at the same time. Many dancers grip so tightly with all of their global abdominals (that attach to the bottom of the ribs” that they cannot breathe. Therefore, the contraction only lasts a few moments, and cannot be maintained during movement, and especially in higher level exercises. There is a video we have made called “How to Hold your Tummy and Not Your Breath” that you can watch HERE.
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2. Awareness and endurance of your standing leg turnout muscles:
Once you have mastered the core control you now have a base to work your turnout from. Most dancers have heard about the six deep external rotators that are our true turnout muscles, however when I ask students to point them out on a muscle chart or demonstrate any specific exercises for them, they struggle...
It is essential to know the difference between your standing leg turnout muscles, and the turnout muscles that are used for controlling the leg en fondu and en lair (This is covered in detail in our Training Turnout Course). Quadratus Femoris (QF) is the muscle that is best placed to turn out the femur in a standing position. We work a lot on isolating rotation of the femur using QF without contraction of the outer gluteals in order to ‘wake up’ these muscles.
Once you have found these turnout muscles, you must learn to use these muscles when standing and working in class. One of the best progressions is exactly what you have mentioned, floor barre tendus. This is a great way you practice endurance of the core and standing leg turnout, as you focus on the articulation of the foot and ankle. Make sure that the feet are kept about 10cm off the floor to challenge your core control, while still keeping the legs in the correct alignment.
3. Control of the position of the knee:
Many people with hypermobile, hyper-extended knees find it difficult to control the position of the knees when moving from 5th position into a tendu. It is sometimes tricky to find the mid-point between feeling ‘bent’ and over straight. The aim is to get a lengthened feeling in the leg, as though you are actually trying to create space in the knee joint. It is important not to “pull back” into the knees, and even the traditional instruction of “pulling up” can often create too much tension and build up of the quadriceps. The quadriceps are definitely active, just not bunching.
Many dancers with hyper extended knees tend to sit with their weight back on the heel, and then shift the hips out to “get the weight over the supporting leg”. This makes it very difficult to work in and out of 5th position.
The cue that I find works best is if the supporting foot is kept in the “Tripod Foot” position (as in The Perfect Pointe Book) with the feeling of going into a very small rise. Imagine that you are lifting the heel bone off the floor, but the skin is still touching! This means that you will be automatically lifted out of the leg, and this position, combined with good turnout and core control allows much more room for the working leg to move in and out of position. This should also remove the feeling of twisting that you are getting in the knee.
4. Articulation of the ankle and mid foot:
Finally we move onto the foot and ankle! It is important to be working through the foot correctly to gain all of the benefits of the exercise, and prepare the foot for later in the class. Exercises like “Pointe through the Demi pointe” are excellent mastering the action of plantarflexion at the ankle before pointing the ball of the foot (metatarsophalangeal joints) .
Practice your Tendus in parallel in the beginning to ensure that you can control core and the position of the standing leg while working the working foot through its movement. You should be focussing on getting full plantarflexion of the ankle before you start adding on the toes. Glide the foot forward, with a feeling of stability in your center and lengthening the leg from the back of the hip to the ball of the foot. Make sure that the both knees stays lengthened throughout, and the movement is smooth.
When working on your Tendus in turnout, cues such as “lead with the heel” are designed to encourage and maintain turnout of the working leg, but do make sure that the hips to not twist towards the working leg when practising this. You should have an awareness of working the turnout evenly on both legs throughout both phases of the movement.
When drawing the foot back to 5th position, cueing to pull the little toe back helps maintain turnout of the working leg, but take care not to twist the foot. If you are elevated on the supporting leg, there should be enough space to draw the foot in to close cleanly (No wiggling of the hips or bending of the knees!)
The ability to maintain length in the toes while fully working the ball of the foot:
As you will know from having many of my resources, the control of the muscles in the ball of the foot is one of the most important factors in preventing foot and ankle injuries, and Tendus are a great way to practice this. The secret is to incorporate the “Doming” exercise from The Perfect Pointe Book into every tendu you do in class. Check out the following video on “How to Correctly Perform A Tendu”.
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Take special care not to let the toes curl under when fully pointed. This is especially important for the big toe, as this can cause many problems if overused. This video explains why!
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After working on all of that, the actual effort that is put into a Tendu should be very minimal. It is in the subtle activation, isolation and endurance of all of the components mentioned above that will really transform your dancing. My rule of thumb in this kind of work is to use the least amount of effort required to effectively perform the movement. As you practise over time, this effort will become less and less!
I hope that this all makes sense, and helps you master your Tendus!
Keep up all of your exploration – it is certainly a beautiful journey!
Kindest Regards,
Lisa
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