I hope you enjoyed yesterday's exercise for keeping the shoulders down.

Ready to continue with the 10-Day Dance Like You're In Class With Mercedes Home Challenge?

Day 3

Mantener el mismo plié,

Mercedes says this a lot in class.

Maintain the same plié.

Or, as I like to say, don’t bounce.

In flamenco dance we must remain grounded. The upper body projects upward while the lower body connects with the floor.

Dancing in a slight plié is a big part of what keeps us grounded in flamenco. We may straighten our legs and come up for certain movements but we come back to, as Mercedes would say, the same plié.

This can be tricky to do because it feels unnatural at first. This means we need to give it a lot of attention and practice.

So, let's do it!

This skill is better to practice with a series of movements. So, if you’ve been working with one short movement, add something else to make it longer for today. This is also an important one to do in front of a mirror.

An Activity for Staying in Plié As You Move

  1. Choose a (longer) combination to work with.

  2. Position your body for your first move making sure your knees are slightly bent.

  3. Dance your combination very slowly without arm movements focusing on maintaining your plié. (You can check this by monitoring yourself in the mirror. If you see your head bobbing up and down, you're probably bending and straightening your knees too much.)

  4. Dance it again, this time with the arms, continuing to focus on and monitor your plié.

  5. Dance it again, a bit faster, remaining focused on your plié.

  6. Repeat the exercise even faster if you wish.

(In this article, Renae from Flamenco Bites addresses the plié and further explores grounding in flamenco.)

¿Qué tal?

How did it go for you? Did you notice your body wanting to abandon its plié? Were there certain movements that were harder to execute in plié? Does it feel different to dance your combination with this focus? Let me know in the comments below.

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