The Knee-Joint seen by Dr. Backhouse

[Katharine Kanter]

Some readers may have attended the Société Auguste Vestris seminars on Turn-out, or on The Five Positions

http://www.augustevestris.fr/IMG/pdf/Brochure_4f%C3%A9vrier12_site.pdf

http://www.augustevestris.fr/IMG/pdf/Brochure_24nov12_site.pdf

Not everyone in attendance was a happy camper, and these master-classes touched off something of a stir.

But "Vestris" is not completely mad. Cf. the full text of the essay excerpted below, by Dr. Kenneth Backhouse OBE.

The excerpts deal with
- the problem of the grand plié (i.e., is it actually useful, apart from à la seconde and in open fourth?)
- the VAST majority of dancers who take a fifth position by first doing a little plié, and then God Forbid, straightening up
- the notorious flat turnout
- what is wrong with the now-universal, 'Russian' approach to turnout


From the website of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
by Dr. Kenneth Backhouse, OBE

http://www.istd.org/courses-and-training/resources/the-knee-for-dance-or-disaster/

" In grand plié the quadriceps (A) pull the patella around the end of the femur under the full weight of the body, inducing enormous shear stresses on the cartilage (B). If the cartilage is not in good health and the joint well lubricated (effectively warmed-up), irreparable damage can occur.

"Forced Flat Turn-Out

"Is probably the cause of the highest proportion of knee disabilities, both early and long term in classical ballet dancers. Turn-out was never designed to position the feet but to allow freedom to maintain dance en face and to free the range of the legs to the side (à la seconde). The movement should arise purely from the hip joint for this purpose but the obvious focus on the feet has come to demand a flat turn-out. The Russians demand this, regardless of the damage to so many of their, often considered expendable, dancers. The Russian ethos, with their ballets and dancers, has spread abroad with equally dangerous results. Some years ago I was asked by a visiting company to explain why virtually all their Russian trained men had knee injuries. They had excellent flat turn-out but with knee-caps pointing forwards: much of the twist outwards was from the knee, the cause of their disability.

"Britain has also suffered with professional schools demanding flat turn-out; even importing Russian teachers, with a considerable loss of potential talent and physical well-being of many young students. And the injuries are not limited to the knee as the efforts also induce rolling in of the feet as well as affecting pelvic tilt. Many dancers, fighting to achieve a better visual turn-out, are not only liable to suffer injuries but also fail to achieve, through concentration on a physical effort, their full artistic potential. As an example: a well-known English dancer with relatively poor turn-out was, in her earlier years, good but suffered far too many injuries. After leaving the company for a while she returned but decided not to fight for her turn-out but dance: she then became the supreme artist on which her reputation stands.

"In extension the ligaments of the knee are taut and no active rotation should be possible. The rotation in extension is developed by rotating outwards in flexion and then, with the foot fixed on the ground straightening the leg, so gradually stretching and loosening the ligaments. The stability of this vulnerable joint is thus reduced."