The One Change to Make your Jumps Better, Stronger, Faster, Higher

There are several kinds of jumps in dance. Some are small, others are large. They can be quick and repeated or slow and sustained. We can all agree, no matter what jump you are doing, you do not want your legs to feel heavy. This is why landing from your jumps is so important. The landing is how we get the feeling of being light on our feet. It comes from energy. 

For years dancers have been told to land toe-ball-heel. But is the best way? Are you wasting valuable time and energy by forcing your heel to the ground? 

First let’s think about how we land... softly!  
No one wants to sound like an elephant when they land from a jump, so we often hear the correction- “lift up”. We think about being a marionette doll with a string pulling us up to the ceiling from our ponytail/bun. It is important to land knees over toes in a plie while our shoulders and head is lifting up. Landing quietly is why we started think you must land “toe-ball-heel”.

With small, quick, repeated jumps we are not focused on the height of our legs and distance we travel. For these jumps your heel should NOT touch the ground. If you force your heel to the ground between every jump your legs will feel 100x heavier, your landings will be loud, and it will be harder to push off for the next jump because you’re wasting energy. 

We have all landed from a jump where we feel the shock wave through our spine! No one wants to ever feel that again. That is why during grande allegro/big jumps having the heel touch down is very important! These jumps take a lot of energy to get off the ground, move your legs into a split and land again. To absorb the HUGE amount of energy from this jump you need to roll through our entire foot, melt into a plie, and lift through our shoulders. This will prevent the shock wave through your body and the elephant landing “thud”. 

Performance Tips:

1. Land fast, repeated jumps without too much focus on heel down

2. Continue toe-ball-heel landing for all large jumps

3. Light, quiet landings always!