Ballet Positions

When you, especially if you are an adult beginner, learn ballet, there is a lot of information to absorb about basic positions. You might be dreaming about doing split leaps and beautiful elegant ballet arm positions. Learn the ballet basics slowly and carefully. You will progress faster with classical technique and movements by seeing, and reading about ballet.

Adult dance beginners are a pretty devoted bunch. The attention to finer detail that it takes to learn ballet is not attractive to everyone.

First tip - how to learn balletic technique using the correct spinal posture is crucial to achieving correct ballet positions. This includes a neutral pelvic position. Discovering that you have been building tension in certain muscles in your every day standing and sitting, and that you have the need to stretch, adjust, and correct your posture, brings you a life long benefit.

If you do not have the time or money to take more than one class a week, you can still learn more!

Once you have discovered an area you need to stretch, make a routine of relaxing and stretching your muscles. You can use a pinkie ball (a small rubber sports ball) to help relax muscles.

Second tip - learn the real deal about turnout. How much you have, how to hold turnout securely, and how to strengthen turnout muscles.

Third tip, learn to develop your foot muscles with daily exercises. This will strengthen your barre exercises, your jumps (allegro) and your releves (quick movements from a demi plie up to your highest arched demi pointe position). Foot exercises are also exercises to prepare for pointe work - if that is a particular goal of yours.

TRY - TUNE UP YOUR TURNOUT.

TRY - THE BALLET BIBLE.

(just for starters!)

Ballet is an art form that increases the magical and imaginative dimension of life. Understanding how to learn ballet increases your enthusiasm and brings you real physical results. It's your journey, it's your dance. Enjoy!

I've had many questions this week about higher leg extensions - so I decided to list some articles discussing the topic:

Get A Higher Developpe

Strength For Long and Lean Ballet Muscles

The Ultimate Ballet Line - Arabesque

You'll understand that the quads do lift the legs to the front and side, and the hamstring lifts the leg to the back (a gross simplification). And you'll understand how to strengthen the psoas muscle to lift the legs above ninety degrees, and gradually you'll stop straining the quads.

Get a whole lot more out of your pointe shoe exercise. These tips are also good for men in ballet who work hard to refine their professional footwork.

In your first ballet class you will learn how to stand in parallel, which will help explain the correct basic ballet position of first position. Here it will most likely be mentioned that your foot muscles do not clench in any way.

You use the tripod weight distribution, which is, weight distributed evenly between the center of the heel, the spot at the little toe joint on the outside edge of your foot, and the spot just above the ball of your foot, at the big toe joint.

If your feet pronate (ankles/arches dropping inwards) or supinate (rolling outwards) hopefully your teacher will notice and address your posture - spine/hips/knees/ankles, and locate the source of the pronation. Weak muscles will strengthen, and eventually you can remedy improper foot placement on the floor.

A neutral leg is: knee above the ankle bone, pelvis above the knees. A line drawn down through a photo of you from the side, standing, should be straight from the center of the skull, neck, spine (through your natural curves), pelvis, through the knees and front of your ankles.

This posture is a basic ballet position from which you build the foot positions of first, second, third, fourth open, fourth crossed, and fifth.

Here is an article about flat feet that will help put all of the above in a broader perspective.

Improve your basic ballet positions with this easy to learn information.

Get a ballet DVD about ballet stretches for arabesque. You will find the true professional and anatomically correct tips about about arabesque.

Basic ballet barre exercises - this article talks about the value of basic barre exercises and basic ballet positions. Want to get into pointe shoes faster? Use every barre exercise to the max.

Tune Up Your Turnout by Deborah Vogel is a great start to improving your basic ballet positions!

For "Tune Up Your Turnout", "Analysing Arabesque" and more!

Go get the best MUSCLE STRETCHING EXERCISES.

The first exercise at the ballet barre, demi and grand plie, your posture, the placement of your weight and the strength of your turnout, is the foundation of your ballet positions and ballet movements. Your split leaps, and even fancier allegro depends on it.

A demi plie take off in a basic jump in first position .....
An effective brush of the foot on the floor,practiced hundreds of times in battement tendu......
Being able to change from the upright back to a proper arabesque position.......
Brushing up into the devant position, releve, arms reaching their position at the same moment..........

Read the full article and more about all basic ballet positions.

Click here to buy posters!

This looks like my longest post ever - but it's not, it's just the most lines. This is all USA. I'll need another week to get into links to some other countries....

Hey folks! Support your local ballet! Give Nutcracker tickets as presents, take your family or your Girl Scouts!

Here's a list of regional/smaller ballet companies and schools doing Nutcracker this year, in case you don't live near a major company.....

Tucson Regional Ballet

Virginia Regional Ballet

Utah Regional Ballet

Contra Costa Ballet, Walnut Creek, CA

Pennsylvania Regional Ballet

Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet

Ashland Regional Ballet

Nutcrackers In Ohio

Allen Civic Ballet (TX)

Arts Ballet Theater of Florida

Ballet Chicago

Ballet Concerto Fort Worth TX NOT THE NUTCRACKER, but take a look at their Holiday concert

Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with ABT guests

Ballet Theatre of New Mexico

Ballet Yuma, AZ

Ballethnic Dance Company Atlanta, GA

Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre

Bossov Ballet Theatre Pittsfield Maine

Brandywine Ballet West Chester PA

California Ballet San Diego CA

Canyon Concert Ballet Fort Collins CO

Cape Cod Ballet

Carnegie Performing Arts Center , PA

Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet

November Nutcracker with Chamberlain Ballet in Plano TX

The Childrens Ballet Theatre of Michigan

Company of Dance Arts Redbank NJ

Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania

Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique


Greater York Dance York, PA

Greensboro Ballet NC

Gwinnett Ballet Snellville, GA

Harford Ballet Edgewater, MD

Indiana Ballet Theatre

Irine Fokine School of Ballet

Ithica Ballet

Lake Arrowhead Classical Ballet Company

Madison Ballet

Media City Ballet Glendale CA

Mid Atlantic Ballet De

Midland Festival Ballet, TX

Mobile Ballet with Joffrey and New York City ballet guests - Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty

Mohawk Ballet

Mystic Ballet

Neglia Ballet Buffalo NY

New England Ballet CT

Nouveau Chamber Ballet Fullerton CA (with orchestra)

Nutmeg Conservatory For the Arts


Peninsula Youth Ballet San Mateo CA

Peoria Ballet

Placer Theatre Ballet They require a log in to view the site which I think is a big mistake...

Fort Wayne Ballet

Red River Dance LA

Rhode Island Ballet presents Nutcracker excerpts and Alice In Wonderland

Rochester City Ballet

Salt Creek Ballet, IL

San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet

San Pedro City Ballet CA

Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet

Sierra Vista Ballet, AZ

South Bay Ballet Torrence CA

South Dayton Dance Theatre

Southern New Hampshire Dance Theatre

Southwest Virginia Ballet

Saint Louis Ballet

The Toledo Ballet

The Tupelo Ballet

Virginia Ballet Company & School

Westchester Ballet Company NY

Westside Ballet Santa Monica CA

Wichita Falls Ballet Theatre

Woodlands Civic Ballet TX