I have always found second position arms and legs difficult.  Without looking down, it’s so hard to get the heels spaced and aligned.  But look up, and in to the mirror, and I remember that my shoulders are raised and my elbows are falling (”wet chicken wings,” says Bob).  All the while, my standing leg is slowly creeping back to parallel.  So I fix the arm, but then the leg is a mess.  Fix the leg, then the other leg, both arms, wrists! Second position, quelle disastre.

Lately however, it dawned on me that the elbows are staying up, turned and forward without much concentration.  And movement in second position is staying more aligned, not passing through five versions of “second.”  This isn’t to say it’s easy.  My shoulders still burn and my hip cracks with every grand battement a la second.  But dare I say, this treacherous feat of focus is slowly becoming memorized.

In Twyla Tharp’s excellent book, “The Creative Habit,” she refers to this phenomenon when explaining the importance of consistent practice:

Muscle memory is one of the more valuable forms of memory…It’s the notion that after diligent practice and repetition of certain physical movements, your body will remember those moves years, even decades after you cease doing them. What’s amazing is how long dancers’ bodies retain the information.  Let’s say I ask Rose Marie Wright, a dancer with whom I worked thirty years ago, to teach dances she performed for many years…If she demonstrates the dance without thinking about it, she will re-create each step and gesture perfectly on the spot, the first time…That’s muscle memory.  Automatic.  Precise.  A little scary.

The always-interesting neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer stretches this concept more broadly:

An expert athlete largely performs on auto-pilot. Manny Ramirez doesn’t think about the mechanics of his swing and Kobe Bryant isn’t contemplating his jump-shot when he pulls up behind the arc in the 4th quarter. They are performers and they’re performing. They might think about these details during batting practice, or during warm-ups, but the best athletes cultivate a kind of mindlessness during the game itself.

I think this also explains why the best free throw shooters tend to have the most elaborate free throw rituals. They’ll lick their hand, grab their shorts, spin the ball, dribble it three times, etc. (Tennis players go through a similar routine before serving.) The purpose of these rituals should now be obvious: they help keep those self-conscious thoughts away, and allow players to segue into a more automated state of mind.

My muscles have not memorized second position entirely, that’s for sure.  Still, on some days, some of the time, I’m noticing a more reflexive ease in which they come together.  In a recent class, one teacher remarked, “these arms are holding shape for so much longer!”  But, lest I thought I had the muscle memory of a Kobe free throw or a Federer down-the-line, forehand return, she followed with, “Now make it look like you aren’t thinking about your legs.”  The practicing continues!

This entry was posted Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Choreography, Class Notes, Observed, Practice, Reading, Technique. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.