Updated October 16, 2020
My back ached and nothing seemed to help. I tried to recall everything that had worked to ease back tension in the past. Then it came to me. I remembered Finis Jhung and his kitchen sink stretch.
A few years ago, we produced a video about the renowned ballet teacher, who was then 77, for our “Living!” series. Finis Jhung inspired me in the same way that he has inspired thousands of others who have taken his classes and watched his videos. I began to do the stretch and it felt great. My back eventually eased up and parts of me moved more fluidly. Thinking about Finis made me smile and I got in touch to find out how he was doing.
At 83, he’s retooled his teaching and, because of the pandemic, designed classes for people to do at home through Zoom. He said, “Since the shut-in, we’ve been doing online classes and now we are in our 30th week of Zoom classes five days a week. I actually enjoy Zooming because I can see so many students from all over the U.S. as well as Hong Kong, Canada, the UK and Portugal. I have 2 TEAM FINIS demonstrators who lead the class so I can watch and correct.”
Finis had been teaching regularly at the Ailey School and that’s where we shot his classes and interviewed students. But now he can come to you directly through his regularly scheduled Zoom sessions as well as through the videos that he has produced.
When you watch our video, you’ll find that Finis treats his students like professionals and helps them get the most out of their bodies and their time with him.
At the time he explained, “Working with adult beginners at the Ailey School has been wonderful for me because you are dealing with adults who for the most part have never danced. They don’t have ballet bodies, they don’t have ballet minds. But they are people who love ballet.
“They have always wanted to learn and they work so hard. And they start to change,” he told us. Finis thinks many of us, especially as we age, need to pay more attention to our posture and how we move.
He said, “If people could have some kind of awareness about posture, so that they balance their body properly, they are then able to walk more smoothly. Many of us get caught up in moving around without considering how we hurl ourselves through life.
“I can look out my window and I watch people walking on the street, and a lot of people are just kind of constantly in the state of falling forward and trudging,” he continued.
Looking at our devices as we walk, sit on a bus or subway or in front of our computers often causes our heads to droop and puts pressure on our necks and shoulders. That affects the way we walk when we stand up.
Finis offers this tip: “If I had one tip to give you about posture, it has to do with your head, because you must remember that your brain is in your head, so it is very important. Yet with most people the head is falling. What I teach my beginners is: Lace your fingers and put your fingers on the back of your head.”
Continue →and Watch Finis Demonstrate.
You can also find Finis Jhung and his classes at finisjhung.com/events
And on Facebook and Instagram where they post several times a day.
You may also want to watch more in our Living! series: artist Pierre Clerk.
