Hi guys!
I was wondering if/how any of you guys teach the leap/fall at 0:26 of this video:
www.youtube.com . . .

I saw a post about this kind of leap/fall, but can't find anything more about how to execute it. So, I apologize if this topic has come up before. How do you land it without killing your knee or top of the foot?? I'm so afraid I'll break something! I see people get so much height in this kind of leap, but can't figure out how to land it properly. Is there something I am missing? Any advice would be great!

Dang it, we were just talking about that at lyrical on Monday. I wish I could remember what my instructor said. :/

I was actually going to ask the same thing. I think this is the jump they were doing on Dance Moms this week. I could not figure it out.

The best that I can do is refer to the pics of the landing.

When you land you have to essentially start with the top of your foot and roll down the calf to the knee. It always goes so fast that it looks like they land the whole thing on the full calf. The knee should not take the brunt of the landing. It's the last part of the leg to make contact with the floor. I don't know if there is a technical term for this, but I call it "rolling down the leg."

Can you see in the first shot where the top of her foot is about to make initial contact with the floor? The second shot is where the roll down begins.

Practice ON A MAT. Try it first with no leap. Put your hands on the mat, stand on one leg and jump down and roll down the leg. Just get used to dropping properly. Gradually take your hands off the mat and add a jump. If you learn how to land it properly, you can increase your jump height when you feel more confident and then turn it into a leap.

Hope that helps.

I'd love to throw these in choreography but unless I get a kid who can already do it....I can't really teach it....I'd love any tips or tricks too...I finally got the one where you just ...drop....:) but only from a turn, haven't figured out how those people do pique arabesque and then just go over the leg

i_am_me wrote:

The best that I can do is refer to the pics of the landing.

When you land you have to essentially start with the top of your foot and roll down the calf to the knee. It always goes so fast that it looks like they land the whole thing on the full calf. The knee should not take the brunt of the landing. It's the last part of the leg to make contact with the floor. I don't know if there is a technical term for this, but I call it "rolling down the leg."

Can you see in the first shot where the top of her foot is about to make initial contact with the floor? The second shot is where the roll down begins.

Practice ON A MAT. Try it first with no leap. Put your hands on the mat, stand on one leg and jump down and roll down the leg. Just get used to dropping properly. Gradually take your hands off the mat and add a jump. If you learn how to land it properly, you can increase your jump height when you feel more confident and then turn it into a leap.

Hope that helps.

Okay, So it's like those thingies where you are standing and roll over the top of your foot (no idea if there is a proper name). But it's just one foot and there will be a bit more force behind it because of the jump. I always do those roll over the top of the foot things slow (I guess I am a bit scared to do it fast).

majere wrote:

Okay, So it's like those thingies where you are standing and roll over the top of your foot (no idea if there is a proper name). But it's just one foot and there will be a bit more force behind it because of the jump. I always do those roll over the top of the foot things slow (I guess I am a bit scared to do it fast).

Yes, but when you roll over the top from standing, your foot doesn't disengage and come from mid air like this does. Definitely makes it more difficult and scarier (and more dangerous if you don't land it well.) MATS! USE MATS!

i_am_me wrote:



Yes, but when you roll over the top from standing, your foot doesn't disengage and come from mid air like this does. Definitely makes it more difficult and scarier (and more dangerous if you don't land it well.) MATS! USE MATS!

I'll have to try this out next time I get to the studio early. I will definitely use a mat

i_am_me wrote:

The best that I can do is refer to the pics of the landing.

When you land you have to essentially start with the top of your foot and roll down the calf to the knee. It always goes so fast that it looks like they land the whole thing on the full calf. The knee should not take the brunt of the landing. It's the last part of the leg to make contact with the floor. I don't know if there is a technical term for this, but I call it "rolling down the leg."

Can you see in the first shot where the top of her foot is about to make initial contact with the floor? The second shot is where the roll down begins.

Practice ON A MAT. Try it first with no leap. Put your hands on the mat, stand on one leg and jump down and roll down the leg. Just get used to dropping properly. Gradually take your hands off the mat and add a jump. If you learn how to land it properly, you can increase your jump height when you feel more confident and then turn it into a leap.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! So, when you roll down the leg, you are not landing on the ball of your foot and then rolling over onto the top of the foot, correct? or do you? Or does it just land right on the top of the foot and roll down the leg? I think I'm just concerned about possibly breaking the tarsal/metatarsal if the landing is not right...Cause that would hurt like heck!!

DancerGirl05 wrote:

So, when you roll down the leg, you are not landing on the ball of your foot and then rolling over onto the top of the foot, correct? or do you? Or does it just land right on the top of the foot and roll down the leg?

Do NOT land it on the ball of the foot! Keep the foot fully pointed. Think of the initial contact being up by the top of the pointed foot and rolling down through the ankle, the calf and finally the knee.

You have to have a strong, consistent stretch in your foot. If you tend to not use your feet well when you are dancing, I would not attempt it. You have to have good muscle memory so that your foot always points when extending. A weak foot could get you hurt trying to do this.

Weak ankles would also make me nervous.

Ah, I see. Thank you so much for the tips, I_am_me! That really helps. Was trying them last night with landing my hands first, then landing top of the fool rolling down, so perhaps I'll have them completely off the ground one of these days!

I've been wanting to know how to do these for ages! Have spent hours on youtube trying to find tutorials but nothing. I'm going to try them next time I'm at the studio early, they'd be great in my contemporary routines!

Hello!

When I went to a teachers conference this past summer in one of the contemporary classes our instructor showed and taught us how to do these from standing, after a pirouette, ponche, a jump etc.

He explained that you do not want to land on your knee and would prefer that you avoid as much contact with the floor and the knee as possible. As the above posters mentioned you roll down the leg from the top of the foot, however; you are rolling on a diagonale so that you are almost aiming to end on the side of your bum instead of your knee. He also mentioned that it was super important to feel the first connection to the floor with the top of your foot and apply some pressure so that you have the ability to control the rolling down of the leg.

We first practiced on the floor in a double stag...kneeling up and practing the roll bringing the back leg to the front again to sitting. This was a GREAT exercise to understand the use of the leg!! I did this with my students too. We then practiced from a pirouette....I prefered to practice with a double to feel a liitle bit of the momentum I might feel in a jump.

I will add that after approaching it this way with my students and using mats we have successfully added some jumps with this drop into our choreography this year and it looks great....and even better it was safe practice with no injuries!

Cheers

Goldfingers_Girl wrote:

avoid as much contact with the floor and the knee as possible.

Bone on wood is never a good combo. Dancers attempting it should understand that the muscles make contact, not the bones.

Muscles good. Bones bad.