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Ballet Technique, Ballet Positions, Ballet Movements
THE BALLET BIBLE (official!)covers dance history, French words for ballet, shows how to do ballet better. Recommended for a ballerina in training. Gain an extra advantage over your ballet competition.
Get the Official Ballet Bible and Gain An Extra Advantage
Ballet technique, Ballet Positions, Ballet Movements
The Care Of Shin Splints - Or Prevent Shin Splints By Building Strong Foot Muscles
Understanding shin splints requires knowing how to use your foot muscles properly. This affects all your ballet positions and movements.
Even more basic, is understanding where your weight should be on your standing foot/feet. If not drawn back too much on the heel, the calf muscles and tibial (shin) muscles do not have to strain even before you've made a move. To avoid shin splints altogether, check how you're standing in parallel, and how your feet are positioned on the floor.
Ideally, you have arches that don't flatten on the floor when you are standing, and also don't hold an arch shape with a rigid locked position. The front of your ankle is relaxed because your weight is on the middle of the heel, the outside of the foot at the little toe metatarsal joint, and the inside of the foot at the big toe metatarsal joint.
The rest of your body is stacked upward from ankle to knee (if your knees are hyper-extended you have been shown how to hold them in a straight position) to hip through the natural spinal curves to your head. Imagery-wise, your head floats above all of this. Realistically, you work with your rib cage held but not clenched down, so your neck does not have to compensate with a chin pulling up and forward, eliminating the natural curve.
And all of that has to do with how your feet rest on the floor.
If your feet are flat and soft, standing correctly, turning out correctly and getting the weight distributed on the foot (picture a triangle or tripod) is going to activate the sole of the foot muscles but NOT activate tibial (shin) and/or calf muscles that will strain if your weight has sunk inwards. Dancers call it rolling ankles.
Having the weight a tad forward (isn't that nice and scientific) feeling ready to move into a tendu and take the weight on the standing leg, is an activated but not tense or clenched feeling in your legs and core muscle area.
So even though shin splints are usually associated with jumping on hard floors, or overworking through long rehearsal days, shin splints can start with a lack of understanding just how to stand on your feet - and also not understanding what type of feet you are standing on.
It doesn't MATTER what kind of feet you have. It matters that you know how to use them and improve them, way before you get into pointe shoes.
A foot that is arched but rigid in the mid section can be loosened up with massage, warm foot baths, and regular ballet strengthening exercises.
A soft flat foot can be strengthened and activated properly on the floor.
A hyper-mobile highly arched foot can be strengthened and controlled by the intrinsic (sole of the foot) muscles.
A less flexible ankle can be stretched properly, starting with relaxing the shin muscles.......that may be strained by weight drawing back on the heel, as mentioned above.
Ideally you prevent shin splints. If you are past that, you practice good care of shin splints with massage, ice, perhaps rest, and applying all of the above. Swelling and inflammation of the tibial muscles can get extremely painful, and severe pain should be addressed by a ballet/sports/fitness physiotherapist or chiropractor. There may be a stress fracture present, so it's good to know exactly what you are healing.
Take a look at your parallel bare feet position in the mirror and get your weight placed properly. And, men in ballet included, learn how to build your foot muscles for pointe shoes.
Ideally, you have arches that don't flatten on the floor when you are standing, and also don't hold an arch shape with a rigid locked position. The front of your ankle is relaxed because your weight is on the middle of the heel, the outside of the foot at the little toe metatarsal joint, and the inside of the foot at the big toe metatarsal joint.
The rest of your body is stacked upward from ankle to knee (if your knees are hyper-extended you have been shown how to hold them in a straight position) to hip through the natural spinal curves to your head. Imagery-wise, your head floats above all of this. Realistically, you work with your rib cage held but not clenched down, so your neck does not have to compensate with a chin pulling up and forward, eliminating the natural curve.
And all of that has to do with how your feet rest on the floor.
If your feet are flat and soft, standing correctly, turning out correctly and getting the weight distributed on the foot (picture a triangle or tripod) is going to activate the sole of the foot muscles but NOT activate tibial (shin) and/or calf muscles that will strain if your weight has sunk inwards. Dancers call it rolling ankles.
Having the weight a tad forward (isn't that nice and scientific) feeling ready to move into a tendu and take the weight on the standing leg, is an activated but not tense or clenched feeling in your legs and core muscle area.
So even though shin splints are usually associated with jumping on hard floors, or overworking through long rehearsal days, shin splints can start with a lack of understanding just how to stand on your feet - and also not understanding what type of feet you are standing on.
It doesn't MATTER what kind of feet you have. It matters that you know how to use them and improve them, way before you get into pointe shoes.
A foot that is arched but rigid in the mid section can be loosened up with massage, warm foot baths, and regular ballet strengthening exercises.
A soft flat foot can be strengthened and activated properly on the floor.
A hyper-mobile highly arched foot can be strengthened and controlled by the intrinsic (sole of the foot) muscles.
A less flexible ankle can be stretched properly, starting with relaxing the shin muscles.......that may be strained by weight drawing back on the heel, as mentioned above.
Ideally you prevent shin splints. If you are past that, you practice good care of shin splints with massage, ice, perhaps rest, and applying all of the above. Swelling and inflammation of the tibial muscles can get extremely painful, and severe pain should be addressed by a ballet/sports/fitness physiotherapist or chiropractor. There may be a stress fracture present, so it's good to know exactly what you are healing.
Take a look at your parallel bare feet position in the mirror and get your weight placed properly. And, men in ballet included, learn how to build your foot muscles for pointe shoes.
Zen and the Art of Dancing For Artistic Fulfillment
Most of the dancers I hear from are recreational dancers or adult dancers or adult beginners who are just getting started. The professional students have most of their problems solved by their environment. For the non-professionals, dance is also a soul expression, a creative outlet, resulting in the daily life becoming more artful. For what dancer does not do something everyday relating to their dance experience?
Zen and the art of ...... living! The mindfulness practiced in meditation, flower arranging, a tea ceremony, a ballet class, performing kata, is a commitment. It is a commitment to be there at the exclusion of all else.
There only is where you are, when you are, doing what you're doing. There is nothing else. Any reflection on something else, somewhere else, some-when else is all in your mind!
And you might say that dance is all in your mind too! Dance certainly starts in the mind, and maybe I don't want to take that topic any further.
In a ballet class, maybe you do not have quite the ideal ballet body. Maybe you are totally on the wrong side of the ballet body barrier. What every dancer, regardless of body type, has in her/his favor, is the ability to concentrate.
Concentration is zen-like. It excludes everything except what is being done in the moment. I am not a zen master or any kind of meditation guru, but I can say with certainty that this definitely works for ballet. I have seen four year olds concentrate on their demi plies, battments tendus from first position, and slow rises in parallel position with utterly non-distracted attention. It continues to astound me.
Learning ballet benefits the most from this type of concentration. I think the value is in the doing, not the results. The results in ballet are largely dictated by the body type. The doing remains unmarred by conventional values. Ballet technique, strength and flexibility can all be gained by focused practice. And whichever side of the ballet body barrier you are on, the soul expression, the rewards of the creative outlet can be equally fulfilling.
So, especially if you are on the difficult physical side of progressing in ballet, don't let yourself get distracted by the ideal form of the body that you do not have. Or if you're an adult beginner, or adult re-starter, enjoy and relish the focus you get in class from the long slow climb to intermediate and advance levels of ballet.
Imagine applying the concentration you give to a demi and grand plie exercise, where you set your tone and level of involvement for the entire ballet class, to clearing the dinner table, doing your homework, or preparing a business proposal. It's all life.
If you have this approach, you cannot be worrying, comparing yourself to the next dancer, to your favorite ballerina, or any other nervous thought. You have brought all of you to the plies, the tendus and the rest of the dance routines.
The interesting thing is it is this kind of focus that draws attention to a dancer. The one you cannot take your eyes off. It's the zen, the soul expression of really being there that captivates the audience. You can be that any time, all the time.
Get your own copy of The Ballet Bible and gain even more enjoyment from dancing ballet.
Zen and the art of ...... living! The mindfulness practiced in meditation, flower arranging, a tea ceremony, a ballet class, performing kata, is a commitment. It is a commitment to be there at the exclusion of all else.
There only is where you are, when you are, doing what you're doing. There is nothing else. Any reflection on something else, somewhere else, some-when else is all in your mind!
And you might say that dance is all in your mind too! Dance certainly starts in the mind, and maybe I don't want to take that topic any further.
In a ballet class, maybe you do not have quite the ideal ballet body. Maybe you are totally on the wrong side of the ballet body barrier. What every dancer, regardless of body type, has in her/his favor, is the ability to concentrate.
Concentration is zen-like. It excludes everything except what is being done in the moment. I am not a zen master or any kind of meditation guru, but I can say with certainty that this definitely works for ballet. I have seen four year olds concentrate on their demi plies, battments tendus from first position, and slow rises in parallel position with utterly non-distracted attention. It continues to astound me.
Learning ballet benefits the most from this type of concentration. I think the value is in the doing, not the results. The results in ballet are largely dictated by the body type. The doing remains unmarred by conventional values. Ballet technique, strength and flexibility can all be gained by focused practice. And whichever side of the ballet body barrier you are on, the soul expression, the rewards of the creative outlet can be equally fulfilling.
So, especially if you are on the difficult physical side of progressing in ballet, don't let yourself get distracted by the ideal form of the body that you do not have. Or if you're an adult beginner, or adult re-starter, enjoy and relish the focus you get in class from the long slow climb to intermediate and advance levels of ballet.
Imagine applying the concentration you give to a demi and grand plie exercise, where you set your tone and level of involvement for the entire ballet class, to clearing the dinner table, doing your homework, or preparing a business proposal. It's all life.
If you have this approach, you cannot be worrying, comparing yourself to the next dancer, to your favorite ballerina, or any other nervous thought. You have brought all of you to the plies, the tendus and the rest of the dance routines.
The interesting thing is it is this kind of focus that draws attention to a dancer. The one you cannot take your eyes off. It's the zen, the soul expression of really being there that captivates the audience. You can be that any time, all the time.
Get your own copy of The Ballet Bible and gain even more enjoyment from dancing ballet.
How to Lose Some Weight and Keep it Off For Your Dance Recital Or Ballet Exams
Writing this in mid-April, I'm thinking back to the tension that begins leading up to the end of the term ballet recital and ballet exams. And after that comes the summer swimsuit.
Do you look long and lean enough? Dancers never think so.
Sugar is a great tranquilizer. When tension starts to build over the coming ballet recital or ballet exams, the human brain knows what to do. However if you don't eat your cookies before a long rehearsal or dance class, you will wear them for a while.
So as stress kicks in, planning realistic goals to maintain your weight, or lose a little, is what will help you succeed. For example, if you think you might want to lose four to five pounds, count the weeks between now and your performance.Calculate how many parts of a pound you want to lose per week. A quarter or third of a pound a week is easy to lose by this simple strategy:
*** don't eat any bread, crackers, buns, muffins, chips, pasta or potatoes
*** make sure you DO have some healthy snacks with you at all times
*** use a protein calculator to make sure you eat enough every day
*** if you have to eat on the run, choose a wrap or lettuce-wrap instead of a bun
*** keep a fork in your dance bag or purse in case you can't get a lettuce wrap, then you can eat out of the bun and discard it
*** choose water, never a sugary sports drink
*** in a juice bar, get vegetable juice with apple juice, but skip the frozen yogurt (unsweetened berries are okay to add)
Healthy snacks could be walnuts (two or three big ones are quite filling), an inch cube of cheese with celery, jerky (try to get the no-nitrate and no coloring added brands) or fresh fruit.
Make sure you sleep well. Most health food stores sell powdered calcium/magnesium which relaxes your tense muscles and also usually results in a deep sleep. (If you have any kind of medical condition check with your doctor about this.)
Here is a protein calculator link.
Healthy fresh foods also give you the brain power to think rather than worry. "Train Your Brain" by Deborah Vogel will help you stay living smart and dancing smart.
Just remember, you always look more long and lean than you think you do. With realistic goals you can lose some weight, keep it off, and stay healthy.
For more about ballet and weight loss here's some more articles.
Sugar is a great tranquilizer. When tension starts to build over the coming ballet recital or ballet exams, the human brain knows what to do. However if you don't eat your cookies before a long rehearsal or dance class, you will wear them for a while.
So as stress kicks in, planning realistic goals to maintain your weight, or lose a little, is what will help you succeed. For example, if you think you might want to lose four to five pounds, count the weeks between now and your performance.Calculate how many parts of a pound you want to lose per week. A quarter or third of a pound a week is easy to lose by this simple strategy:
*** don't eat any bread, crackers, buns, muffins, chips, pasta or potatoes
*** make sure you DO have some healthy snacks with you at all times
*** use a protein calculator to make sure you eat enough every day
*** if you have to eat on the run, choose a wrap or lettuce-wrap instead of a bun
*** keep a fork in your dance bag or purse in case you can't get a lettuce wrap, then you can eat out of the bun and discard it
*** choose water, never a sugary sports drink
*** in a juice bar, get vegetable juice with apple juice, but skip the frozen yogurt (unsweetened berries are okay to add)
Healthy snacks could be walnuts (two or three big ones are quite filling), an inch cube of cheese with celery, jerky (try to get the no-nitrate and no coloring added brands) or fresh fruit.
Make sure you sleep well. Most health food stores sell powdered calcium/magnesium which relaxes your tense muscles and also usually results in a deep sleep. (If you have any kind of medical condition check with your doctor about this.)
Here is a protein calculator link.
Healthy fresh foods also give you the brain power to think rather than worry. "Train Your Brain" by Deborah Vogel will help you stay living smart and dancing smart.
Just remember, you always look more long and lean than you think you do. With realistic goals you can lose some weight, keep it off, and stay healthy.
For more about ballet and weight loss here's some more articles.
Get More Flexible With Safe Stretching and All Natural Nutrition
An Article About How To Get More Flexible With Nutrition
So Many Pointe Shoes, Only Two Feet
Being able to dance ballet in pointe shoes is the result of years of careful practice. Young dance students in their first ballet class have visions of tutus and pink satin pointe shoes as they struggle with their first battment tendus, or ballet foot exercises.
While every ballet exercise is a workout involving posture, balance and turnout, every single pointing of the foot contributes to that day when the students go to the ballet store to seek exactly the right fit in pointe shoes. And when you get to the ballet store, so many pointe shoes!
Years before you get to the dance wear store to find the right pointe shoes, have you missed any opportunities to prepare?
Every ballet class is a pre-pointe class, if you want to look at it that way. Every battment tendu, battment degage, every releve, every jump, is a pre-pointe exercise.
It's all about your use of your feet. In a dance class, and between dance classes. From the way you stand on them, to the way you point them, to the way you support your foot muscles with posture, turnout and balance, involving your whole body.
It's also about the nutritional support you give them. And the rest and relaxation, perhaps using a pinkie ball or a foot roller to get rid of the residual tension after classes.
It's about your between-class-shoes, maybe not wearing the cute floppy type sandals, but wearing something more supportive. Glue some bling on your sneakers!
Okay, back to the ballet store to fit pointe shoes. Here you are with your two feet. Do you know your foot type?
Have you stood on a piece of paper and outlined the right and the left foot? It helps. Even a professional pointe shoe fitter will appreciate that.
Hopefully, you will find a good fit, the right brand, right style, etc., in your first few pairs. But ultimately, it's the strength of the foot muscles and the accuracy of your technique that will get you dancing in pointe shoes, as opposed to struggling with the exercises.
Whenever that is, do not be in a hurry. It's what you do BEFORE you wear pointe shoes that matters.
The Ballet Bible gives you a detailed look at a ballet technique, ballet movement and ballet positions, with photos and video included.
While every ballet exercise is a workout involving posture, balance and turnout, every single pointing of the foot contributes to that day when the students go to the ballet store to seek exactly the right fit in pointe shoes. And when you get to the ballet store, so many pointe shoes!
Years before you get to the dance wear store to find the right pointe shoes, have you missed any opportunities to prepare?
Every ballet class is a pre-pointe class, if you want to look at it that way. Every battment tendu, battment degage, every releve, every jump, is a pre-pointe exercise.
It's all about your use of your feet. In a dance class, and between dance classes. From the way you stand on them, to the way you point them, to the way you support your foot muscles with posture, turnout and balance, involving your whole body.
It's also about the nutritional support you give them. And the rest and relaxation, perhaps using a pinkie ball or a foot roller to get rid of the residual tension after classes.
It's about your between-class-shoes, maybe not wearing the cute floppy type sandals, but wearing something more supportive. Glue some bling on your sneakers!
Okay, back to the ballet store to fit pointe shoes. Here you are with your two feet. Do you know your foot type?
Have you stood on a piece of paper and outlined the right and the left foot? It helps. Even a professional pointe shoe fitter will appreciate that.
Hopefully, you will find a good fit, the right brand, right style, etc., in your first few pairs. But ultimately, it's the strength of the foot muscles and the accuracy of your technique that will get you dancing in pointe shoes, as opposed to struggling with the exercises.
Whenever that is, do not be in a hurry. It's what you do BEFORE you wear pointe shoes that matters.
The Ballet Bible gives you a detailed look at a ballet technique, ballet movement and ballet positions, with photos and video included.
What Ballet Dancers Need to Understand About Weight Loss and Calories
To gain weight is still the nightmare of serious dance students, even as they work out hard a few days a week. It doesn't make sense, except in the light of what has become the staple industrialized-nation diet. Too many fats, nutrition-free carbohydrates, and factory made cheeses dominate the fast food landscape. Sugar (if you're lucky) or high fructose corn syrup in every mayonnaise, tomato sauce or BBQ sauce on those sandwiches or hamburgers. Even in salad dressings.
Your body doesn't count calories the way you do. It sorts them out in order to provide you with the energy you need, and to manage your blood sugar levels efficiently. This can seem a little complicated, but just know that when you eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats, your body has a sorting system, not a counting system. Regardless of the number of calories you eat in any given meal, your body behaves in a certain way.
Whether you get a 300 calorie burger or a 1200 calorie burger, the sorting, energy burning and fat storing process is the same.
For example, if you grab a sandwich or burger for lunch, or after school on your way to ballet or some other dance class:
** insulin messages your body (liver, muscles and fat cells) to absorb those carbohydrate calories (a bun, crackers, or slice of bread),as glucose.
** and also messages your body to store any excess as fat.
** and worst of all if you do not want to gain weight, to then stop using fat as an energy source. And to store it instead.
Insulin is like a computerized track switch in a train yard. It routes the carbohydrates, and fats to specific places. You train it to do what it does, by repeatedly eating in a certain way.
The fats consumed in the same meal, healthy or otherwise, will get stored, not used as energy.
Calories from protein foods (meats, fish, eggs, dairy) send a different message to your body. Those calories tell your body "everything is okay". Why? Because your body, which cannot manufacture proteins, can manufacture many things it needs from proteins. Now your body will SWITCH TRACKS.
The BURN FAT button gets pushed! Your body starts running on the protein stores you are giving it and to be more efficient, your body starts getting rid of fat.
Growing children and young adults usually do not need to worry about any of this. But, if they are dancers, I know that they do.
If you're grabbing fast food any day, grab a burger wrapped in lettuce. It's a little messy to eat, and it's way high in sodium. But the proteins and vitamins and minerals and fats will get the front seat for energy burning. Even though the sauces will probably have some high fructose corn syrup in them.... not so much as a bun, and carbs from the fries.
You will digest the proteins, fats, and tiny amount of salad/vegetable better without any carbs. Because it is two different sets of digestion processes anyway.
Thinking outside the bun does not mean add a flour or corn based wrap. Just lose it!
Bringing chopped vegetables and a couple of cubes of real cheese or a handful of walnuts with you from the house.....okay, dream on. But you could.
If you're a dancer and want to know more about dance technique or French words for ballet, get The Ballet Bible.
Your body doesn't count calories the way you do. It sorts them out in order to provide you with the energy you need, and to manage your blood sugar levels efficiently. This can seem a little complicated, but just know that when you eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats, your body has a sorting system, not a counting system. Regardless of the number of calories you eat in any given meal, your body behaves in a certain way.
Whether you get a 300 calorie burger or a 1200 calorie burger, the sorting, energy burning and fat storing process is the same.
For example, if you grab a sandwich or burger for lunch, or after school on your way to ballet or some other dance class:
** insulin messages your body (liver, muscles and fat cells) to absorb those carbohydrate calories (a bun, crackers, or slice of bread),as glucose.
** and also messages your body to store any excess as fat.
** and worst of all if you do not want to gain weight, to then stop using fat as an energy source. And to store it instead.
Insulin is like a computerized track switch in a train yard. It routes the carbohydrates, and fats to specific places. You train it to do what it does, by repeatedly eating in a certain way.
The fats consumed in the same meal, healthy or otherwise, will get stored, not used as energy.
Calories from protein foods (meats, fish, eggs, dairy) send a different message to your body. Those calories tell your body "everything is okay". Why? Because your body, which cannot manufacture proteins, can manufacture many things it needs from proteins. Now your body will SWITCH TRACKS.
The BURN FAT button gets pushed! Your body starts running on the protein stores you are giving it and to be more efficient, your body starts getting rid of fat.
Growing children and young adults usually do not need to worry about any of this. But, if they are dancers, I know that they do.
If you're grabbing fast food any day, grab a burger wrapped in lettuce. It's a little messy to eat, and it's way high in sodium. But the proteins and vitamins and minerals and fats will get the front seat for energy burning. Even though the sauces will probably have some high fructose corn syrup in them.... not so much as a bun, and carbs from the fries.
You will digest the proteins, fats, and tiny amount of salad/vegetable better without any carbs. Because it is two different sets of digestion processes anyway.
Thinking outside the bun does not mean add a flour or corn based wrap. Just lose it!
Bringing chopped vegetables and a couple of cubes of real cheese or a handful of walnuts with you from the house.....okay, dream on. But you could.
If you're a dancer and want to know more about dance technique or French words for ballet, get The Ballet Bible.
How to Start Stretching For Adult Beginner Ballet Classes
If you're planning to enroll for adult beginner ballet classes, there are two very safe stretches that you can do before you learn anything about ballet. You can do these every day and continue them once you start ballet lessons.
Even if you never carry through with dance classes, learn these anyway as they will help to avoid back pain. And if you dance, you'll be able to prevent dance injuries!
Why is back pain so common among adults? Even among adults with no history of injury or back strain, low back pain especially can become a chronic problem, mild or severe.
As you age, your flexibility decreases. Your long muscles that allow a certain range of motion, get shorter. Your joints begin to lose their range of motion, and the ligaments that hold bone to bone begin to lose their strength. Similar to an elastic band aging and getting less elastic. However, your ligaments and muscles will not just fall apart one day like an old elastic band.
However, you will start to feel pain as you continue to try and move and do all the things you are used to doing. You depend on the muscles at the front of your body, the muscles across your chest and shoulders, and the muscles at the front of your spine and hips, for a lot of every day motions. You particularly lose flexibility in these muscles from sitting at a desk, typing and staring at a computer monitor, or similar sedentary inactivity.
Loosening up these muscles is all you need to do. Ligaments do not need to be stretched - in fact, joint stability depends on their integrity.
So here are two easy stretches that will help you avoid back pain.
Done correctly, you may find some aches and pains that you already have will disappear. Healthy muscles are relaxed, and can stretch when you need them to, for daily activities.
My chiropractor calls this 'the doorway stretch'. Standing in a doorway, place the palm of your hand against the doorjamb, above shoulder level, so that your arm is bent at a 90-degree angle, and your armpit is right against the doorjamb. Press your hand and arm into it. Slowly press forward increasing the stretch, not to a point of any pain, just a stretchy feeling. Hold for about a ten count. Repeat with the other arm.
You are stretching muscles that routinely tense, especially if you are not sitting with your hips against the back of your chair, your spine upright in its natural curve, head held straight, neck relaxed. And of course your monitor, keyboard, mouse, arm rests are all ergonomically placed perfectly. I know! Who sits like that?
Allowing these muscles to retain more and more tension without relief, will pull on your neck muscles, upper back muscles and lead to headaches and neck and shoulder pain. Now you can reverse that trend.
For your low back and hip area: stand with feet together, and take a long step forward. Keep your hips and low back upright, and place your hands on your hips so you can feel it if your posture changes.
Bend your back leg slowly, lowering into a runner's lunge, not uncomfortably deep. You will feel the stretch at the front of your hips. The posture muscles at the front of your spine will get this stretch as well, and also the front of your back thigh. Hold for a 10 count, and switch legs.
You will be more able to stretch after a hot bath or shower. If you do any kind of exercise class, do after class while you're warm.
In a dance studio, before a class, you will see dancers sitting on the floor in stretch positions, or maybe with their legs on the barre in a stretched ballet position. They are not really stretching, they are just checking their positions and loosening up a little. So don't copy what ballet dancers do before class. You'll see them really go at it after a 45 minute barre, or at the end of a class.
For those who have had an injury or who are experiencing any sharp or burning back muscle pains, see your health care practitioner before trying these exercises.
If you try ballet as an adult beginner and later opt for another style of workout, keep up these two very healthy exercises.
If you would like a wide overview of a ballet class, with photos, videos, and a glossary of French words for ballet, get The Ballet Bible.
Why is back pain so common among adults? Even among adults with no history of injury or back strain, low back pain especially can become a chronic problem, mild or severe.
As you age, your flexibility decreases. Your long muscles that allow a certain range of motion, get shorter. Your joints begin to lose their range of motion, and the ligaments that hold bone to bone begin to lose their strength. Similar to an elastic band aging and getting less elastic. However, your ligaments and muscles will not just fall apart one day like an old elastic band.
However, you will start to feel pain as you continue to try and move and do all the things you are used to doing. You depend on the muscles at the front of your body, the muscles across your chest and shoulders, and the muscles at the front of your spine and hips, for a lot of every day motions. You particularly lose flexibility in these muscles from sitting at a desk, typing and staring at a computer monitor, or similar sedentary inactivity.
Loosening up these muscles is all you need to do. Ligaments do not need to be stretched - in fact, joint stability depends on their integrity.
So here are two easy stretches that will help you avoid back pain.
Done correctly, you may find some aches and pains that you already have will disappear. Healthy muscles are relaxed, and can stretch when you need them to, for daily activities.
My chiropractor calls this 'the doorway stretch'. Standing in a doorway, place the palm of your hand against the doorjamb, above shoulder level, so that your arm is bent at a 90-degree angle, and your armpit is right against the doorjamb. Press your hand and arm into it. Slowly press forward increasing the stretch, not to a point of any pain, just a stretchy feeling. Hold for about a ten count. Repeat with the other arm.
You are stretching muscles that routinely tense, especially if you are not sitting with your hips against the back of your chair, your spine upright in its natural curve, head held straight, neck relaxed. And of course your monitor, keyboard, mouse, arm rests are all ergonomically placed perfectly. I know! Who sits like that?
Allowing these muscles to retain more and more tension without relief, will pull on your neck muscles, upper back muscles and lead to headaches and neck and shoulder pain. Now you can reverse that trend.
For your low back and hip area: stand with feet together, and take a long step forward. Keep your hips and low back upright, and place your hands on your hips so you can feel it if your posture changes.
Bend your back leg slowly, lowering into a runner's lunge, not uncomfortably deep. You will feel the stretch at the front of your hips. The posture muscles at the front of your spine will get this stretch as well, and also the front of your back thigh. Hold for a 10 count, and switch legs.
You will be more able to stretch after a hot bath or shower. If you do any kind of exercise class, do after class while you're warm.
In a dance studio, before a class, you will see dancers sitting on the floor in stretch positions, or maybe with their legs on the barre in a stretched ballet position. They are not really stretching, they are just checking their positions and loosening up a little. So don't copy what ballet dancers do before class. You'll see them really go at it after a 45 minute barre, or at the end of a class.
For those who have had an injury or who are experiencing any sharp or burning back muscle pains, see your health care practitioner before trying these exercises.
If you try ballet as an adult beginner and later opt for another style of workout, keep up these two very healthy exercises.
If you would like a wide overview of a ballet class, with photos, videos, and a glossary of French words for ballet, get The Ballet Bible.
How to Prepare For Pointe Shoes and Prevent Dance Injuries
Prepare, prepare, prepare, for dancing ballet in pointe shoes. Learn how to prevent dance injuries like a sprained ankle or a ballet knee injury years before you, or your child is looking for exactly the right fit in pointe shoes.
Even recreational dancers who may leave ballet classes for hip hop, jazz, salsa, cheer leading or any other style of dance, benefit from learning how to do basic classical ballet technique correctly.
The basic ballet movements and ballet positions can be executed correctly by almost any dance student. Students who do not have the physical attributes of turnout, flexibility, long legs/short body, long arms and long necks, can still learn to do ballet correctly enough to advance.
In some ballet schools, teachers actually believe that a student will never be able to do certain ballet movements because they lack "X" physical attribute. Unfortunately some students absorb this negativity whether the teacher voices it or not. It's a shame.
If you feel like you are not progressing and you do not get the coaching you need in ballet class, read, read, read. There is detailed information available about ballet technique and also there is plenty of help in the area of anatomy and anatomical correctness in ballet movement. The all too common sprained ankles and knee injuries of ballet/sports/fitness can be avoided, for you.
The trick is how to get YOUR body to do THAT. If you are a few degrees too many from the ballet ideal, your teacher may not be able or may not be willing to help you. However, you can learn what you need to do to develop the correct application of for instance, a demi plie, onto a correctly postured releve with a correctly stretched arch and ankle.
If you aspire to become a performer in another dance style such as jazz or hip hop, your longevity in dance will depend on the correct use of your body. If you aspire to dance ballet in pointe shoes, you need to be sure that your time and effort and the thousands of plies, degages and battment tendus are not being practiced with errors that will lead to injury.
Your basic dance movements imitate the advanced and sometimes intricate classical choreography. Modern ballet and modern dance choreography often cannot be imitated by basic ballet movements, but you are more prepared for that if you know how to move and prevent injury.
Take advantage of the wealth of information available, get The Ballet Bible for details about a ballet class. You can gain an extra advantage to prepare to dance in pointe shoes and prevent ballet injuries.
The basic ballet movements and ballet positions can be executed correctly by almost any dance student. Students who do not have the physical attributes of turnout, flexibility, long legs/short body, long arms and long necks, can still learn to do ballet correctly enough to advance.
In some ballet schools, teachers actually believe that a student will never be able to do certain ballet movements because they lack "X" physical attribute. Unfortunately some students absorb this negativity whether the teacher voices it or not. It's a shame.
If you feel like you are not progressing and you do not get the coaching you need in ballet class, read, read, read. There is detailed information available about ballet technique and also there is plenty of help in the area of anatomy and anatomical correctness in ballet movement. The all too common sprained ankles and knee injuries of ballet/sports/fitness can be avoided, for you.
The trick is how to get YOUR body to do THAT. If you are a few degrees too many from the ballet ideal, your teacher may not be able or may not be willing to help you. However, you can learn what you need to do to develop the correct application of for instance, a demi plie, onto a correctly postured releve with a correctly stretched arch and ankle.
If you aspire to become a performer in another dance style such as jazz or hip hop, your longevity in dance will depend on the correct use of your body. If you aspire to dance ballet in pointe shoes, you need to be sure that your time and effort and the thousands of plies, degages and battment tendus are not being practiced with errors that will lead to injury.
Your basic dance movements imitate the advanced and sometimes intricate classical choreography. Modern ballet and modern dance choreography often cannot be imitated by basic ballet movements, but you are more prepared for that if you know how to move and prevent injury.
Take advantage of the wealth of information available, get The Ballet Bible for details about a ballet class. You can gain an extra advantage to prepare to dance in pointe shoes and prevent ballet injuries.
Some Highly Effective Tips For Ballet Summer Intensives Auditions - And The Nerves
Many ballet summer intensives require auditions. Some will accept a DVD or VHS tape of you dancing, and they will specify what they want to see, to determine the level and accuracy of your ballet technique and ballet positions.
If you search on the internet for summer intensives, there are pages and pages of results to view.Some schools tour with audition classes. Another outreach is, for example, The Princeton University summer intensive can be auditioned for in Toronto, Canada, at the National Ballet School.
Look for details on every web site. Some summer intensives offer housing in dorms or "host family" homes. Many do not offer any housing. Parents, I'm sure, are concerned about the kind of environment where the summer intensive they choose is located.
Many parents and ballet students want an out-in-nature environment where a school may offer more than ballet classes.
And many serious ballet students know that, in order to be able to audition for the college dance department of their choice later, they need to focus on ballet and other dance styles now, to the exclusion of all else.
Spending a couple of summers away from home can be helpful for ballet students. Some may discover that they do not agree with the ballet lifestyle after all, even though they love dancing. The intensity, the competition, the sub-culture aspect of dance, is not a life that is meant for everyone.
If this is true for you, or if your real talent will come out best in some other performance venue such as acting, modern dance, singing, or in another field entirely, the sooner you discover this, the better.
There are many ballet summer intensives to choose from. Some will require auditions, and at the least, DVD or VHS auditions. Be prepared to pay an audition fee, and bring a photo of you dancing, and perhaps a head shot, to leave at the audition, if requested. Audition nerves can be a challenge, but you can train your brain out of those if you know how to.
Also bear in mind that smaller more local schools may offer better classes, even though they do not bear a famous ballet school name or have famous guest faculty. Depending on your age and level of training, it may be better to stay close to home, and continue to benefit from smaller classes and the familiarity that has nurtured you so far. You will know when you are ready for a bigger and strange environment. Even if you feel the audition nerves, you will want to go for a bigger challenge.
If you feel like the audition nerves are going to be overwhelming, take a look at "Train Your Brain" by dance medicine specialist Deborah Vogel. It is not written just for ballet dancers, but for all young people, to help understand how you can replace negative thoughts, and from there, better any situation that you choose to change.
Whatever summer ballet intensive you find, once you are accepted and registered, you have a grand adventure to look forward to!
Injuring the Hamstring and Patience With Rehabilitation in Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
Patience with rehabilitation is not easy for ballet dancers. Muscle pulls are rarely serious, but without proper treatment and rehabilitation, they can become a chronic situation.
With the hamstring muscle, which is involved in every ballet position and ballet movement in the lower body, special care is needed to keep it relaxed and stretched properly after ballet class.
The hamstring muscle, at the back of the thigh, must be strengthened to ensure that it is not out-powered by the quadriceps at the front of the thigh, causing imbalance in the body structure. If the quadriceps muscle is much stronger that the hamstrings, which is the usual case, it can pull on the hamstring muscle and cause injuries.
Other imbalances such as the misalignment of the pelvis can also lead to extra tension in the hamstrings. Chiropractic care is a necessary routine for would-be ballerinas and men in ballet.
Patience to warm up before class, and then afterward, to cool down with relaxed stretching, (meaning not in a rush, not when your mind is already focusing on something else), is extremely important for the hamstring. It is a large muscle with a plentiful blood supply that is capable of creating substantial inflammation and scar tissue once the muscle is pulled.
Growth spurts can cause imbalances as well, resulting in temporary loss of balance, flexibility and strength.
Without understanding these factors, well-trained and serious ballet students will struggle to work harder, endure a little more pain, and may become very frustrated when the expected optimum results don't show up. They might feel that they should be adding some cross training or more ballet classes. However, this will only irritate the hamstring injury.
Once a hamstring is pulled, and on the mend, stretching to do the splits should only be done after use of the pinky ball (as described in Ballwork:Releasing Muscular Tension) on the hamstrings, quads, gluts and even calves (why not while you're at it). And of course after a full class when you are at your warmest. Then stretch to feel a stretch, not to feel pain.
It's often a month or two after a hamstring pull, that the muscle will feel well again, with the best of care. With no special treatment, the muscle will be unwell, with the condition possibly lingering for months.
Work your best in ballet class to avoid injuring the hamstring muscle. Don't stretch with partners. Exercise patience with rehabilitation, and see a chiropractor or physio therapist for help. Strengthening and stretching properly will get you the best ballet positions, as well as years of in dancing smart.
The hamstring muscle, at the back of the thigh, must be strengthened to ensure that it is not out-powered by the quadriceps at the front of the thigh, causing imbalance in the body structure. If the quadriceps muscle is much stronger that the hamstrings, which is the usual case, it can pull on the hamstring muscle and cause injuries.
Other imbalances such as the misalignment of the pelvis can also lead to extra tension in the hamstrings. Chiropractic care is a necessary routine for would-be ballerinas and men in ballet.
Patience to warm up before class, and then afterward, to cool down with relaxed stretching, (meaning not in a rush, not when your mind is already focusing on something else), is extremely important for the hamstring. It is a large muscle with a plentiful blood supply that is capable of creating substantial inflammation and scar tissue once the muscle is pulled.
Growth spurts can cause imbalances as well, resulting in temporary loss of balance, flexibility and strength.
Without understanding these factors, well-trained and serious ballet students will struggle to work harder, endure a little more pain, and may become very frustrated when the expected optimum results don't show up. They might feel that they should be adding some cross training or more ballet classes. However, this will only irritate the hamstring injury.
Once a hamstring is pulled, and on the mend, stretching to do the splits should only be done after use of the pinky ball (as described in Ballwork:Releasing Muscular Tension) on the hamstrings, quads, gluts and even calves (why not while you're at it). And of course after a full class when you are at your warmest. Then stretch to feel a stretch, not to feel pain.
It's often a month or two after a hamstring pull, that the muscle will feel well again, with the best of care. With no special treatment, the muscle will be unwell, with the condition possibly lingering for months.
Work your best in ballet class to avoid injuring the hamstring muscle. Don't stretch with partners. Exercise patience with rehabilitation, and see a chiropractor or physio therapist for help. Strengthening and stretching properly will get you the best ballet positions, as well as years of in dancing smart.
Adult Ballet Brings the Ethereal and the Grounded Together With Ballet Exercises
A common response to why adults seek ballet as an exercise to reduce stress, anxiety, or feeling spaced out, is "to get a sense of my body". Ballet is ethereal, yet taking adult ballet classes is a great way to get grounded.
If you take the big step and find a dance studio that provides adult ballet classes, how do you prepare yourself?
First, go and visit the ballet school, and observe the dance instruction in the adult ballet section. Before you buy any ballet wear, you can find out the dress code, and the the type of ballet leotards and tights most frequently worn. Check out the ballet shoes that are either required, or free for you to choose. Black or pink, black or white for men in ballet, and so on.
Whether you have a huge performing arts school, or a small neighborhood ballet studio, visit, watch a couple of classes and get a feel for the place. Ballet wear includes your hairstyle, clothes you might want to wear over your leotards and tights, if allowed. Even if you want to hide a less than wraith-like figure under a sweater, filmy skirt, or dance pants, always wear a leotard and pink tights, for women.
This classic ballet wear allows the ballet teacher to see what your muscles are doing, if she/he wants. This is only to your benefit, since especially in the beginner adult ballet classes, you want to know that you are learning correct ballet technique and getting into correct ballet positions.
Some adult ballet classes use Pilates to help warm up. This is excellent for developing the core muscles. Feeling your core muscles gives a good sense of the body. It is grounding. Feeling the core muscles and having correct posture in the low back/pelvic area will help you develop your turnout muscles without needless tension.
Feeling the soles of the feet flat on the floor, not slanting in (pronation) or out (supination) is essential. That in itself is a grounding effort. If you have been advised to exercise for stress or anxiety control, I think ballet is excellent. Ballet gives you control over something which you can indeed control. Your own body.
You cannot be spacey in ballet class. The music, the sound of the teacher's voice, and the sense of your body working, enhances your presence. You cannot be somewhere else. While getting grounded, you are learning an elegant and ethereal style of dancing. The best of both ideas.
By the way, presence is IT. If you ever wonder why professional ballet dancers work so hard for little money and lots of aches and pains, for so long, maybe because it creates more of their own presence so often. Because presence is Presence. You know what I mean.
So if you have always wanted to take adult ballet classes, go. Get the best teacher you can, and benefit from all the wonderful ballet manuals available now that will tell you all the finer details of ballet technique. That extra understanding will get you even more grounded in adult ballet technique.
The Ballet Bible provides a ballet glossary, ballet history, and text, photos and video on ballet technique, ballet positions, and ballet movements.
If you take the big step and find a dance studio that provides adult ballet classes, how do you prepare yourself?
First, go and visit the ballet school, and observe the dance instruction in the adult ballet section. Before you buy any ballet wear, you can find out the dress code, and the the type of ballet leotards and tights most frequently worn. Check out the ballet shoes that are either required, or free for you to choose. Black or pink, black or white for men in ballet, and so on.
Whether you have a huge performing arts school, or a small neighborhood ballet studio, visit, watch a couple of classes and get a feel for the place. Ballet wear includes your hairstyle, clothes you might want to wear over your leotards and tights, if allowed. Even if you want to hide a less than wraith-like figure under a sweater, filmy skirt, or dance pants, always wear a leotard and pink tights, for women.
This classic ballet wear allows the ballet teacher to see what your muscles are doing, if she/he wants. This is only to your benefit, since especially in the beginner adult ballet classes, you want to know that you are learning correct ballet technique and getting into correct ballet positions.
Some adult ballet classes use Pilates to help warm up. This is excellent for developing the core muscles. Feeling your core muscles gives a good sense of the body. It is grounding. Feeling the core muscles and having correct posture in the low back/pelvic area will help you develop your turnout muscles without needless tension.
Feeling the soles of the feet flat on the floor, not slanting in (pronation) or out (supination) is essential. That in itself is a grounding effort. If you have been advised to exercise for stress or anxiety control, I think ballet is excellent. Ballet gives you control over something which you can indeed control. Your own body.
You cannot be spacey in ballet class. The music, the sound of the teacher's voice, and the sense of your body working, enhances your presence. You cannot be somewhere else. While getting grounded, you are learning an elegant and ethereal style of dancing. The best of both ideas.
By the way, presence is IT. If you ever wonder why professional ballet dancers work so hard for little money and lots of aches and pains, for so long, maybe because it creates more of their own presence so often. Because presence is Presence. You know what I mean.
So if you have always wanted to take adult ballet classes, go. Get the best teacher you can, and benefit from all the wonderful ballet manuals available now that will tell you all the finer details of ballet technique. That extra understanding will get you even more grounded in adult ballet technique.
The Ballet Bible provides a ballet glossary, ballet history, and text, photos and video on ballet technique, ballet positions, and ballet movements.
Joint Pain and Pointe Shoe Pain Solutions in Nutcracker Season
Ballet dancing pains like joint pain and pain from dancing in pointe shoes can seem worse in cold weather.
If you are doing lots of rehearsals for the Nutcracker or some other holiday season dance concert, you need to take special care of your joints, muscles, and feet. Wool legwarmers, snug sweaters and water-proof snow boots all contribute to a better holiday season if you are a ballet dancer.
Rehearsing classical ballet concerts takes a lot of organization. Most ballet dancers get good at this in their young years. If they haven't caught on to the need for methodical self-preservation in the long process of rehearsing and staging a show, the experience may be uncomfortable to say the least.
Starting with extra ballet wear, packing some sweats to wear in long rehearsal days is a must. Sweaters, shawls and scarves, help a lot to keep cool drafts off neck and shoulder muscles.
Leg warmers save the day to help warm up and to stay warm while waiting for your turn on stage.
In long technical rehearsals, the wait can be exasperating while lighting cues are tested. Fatigue can be challenging when repeated run throughs are needed for the stage crew and stage manager, or for dancers who are thrown into the dance at the last minute because of another's injury, or winter sickness.
Anything can happen! If your mother puts some vitamin pills at your plate, take them! Stay healthy and be smart!
Long hot baths with Epsom Salts followed by icing sore spots will help a lot. Even ice the not-so sore spots, the tired muscles and joints. Give them a holiday present.
Drink enough water - sip all day. Don't fill up with those frankenstein neon so-called sports waters, or sodas. Green juices and real fruit drinks are so much better, but water is best. Fruits for a snack are great. And one of the best snacks is celery. Celery is full of the mineral salts that you lose in perspiration. Losing those mineral salts decreases your muscle strength and your thinking power! Just the opposite of what you need to dance your best all day long.
You must take care of minor aches and pains, to make sure that they remain minor. Nerves and adrenaline get you through a lot, but be careful not to get drained. Your muscles and nervous system need real fresh foods to be replenished with.
The repetitive motion of rehearsing can lead to joint pain, raw pointe shoe blisters and deep aches in your muscles. Don't let these conditions dull the thrill of your Nutcracker ballet performances.
Go to this online ballet store for last minute ballet wear and dance accessories.
Rehearsing classical ballet concerts takes a lot of organization. Most ballet dancers get good at this in their young years. If they haven't caught on to the need for methodical self-preservation in the long process of rehearsing and staging a show, the experience may be uncomfortable to say the least.
Starting with extra ballet wear, packing some sweats to wear in long rehearsal days is a must. Sweaters, shawls and scarves, help a lot to keep cool drafts off neck and shoulder muscles.
Leg warmers save the day to help warm up and to stay warm while waiting for your turn on stage.
In long technical rehearsals, the wait can be exasperating while lighting cues are tested. Fatigue can be challenging when repeated run throughs are needed for the stage crew and stage manager, or for dancers who are thrown into the dance at the last minute because of another's injury, or winter sickness.
Anything can happen! If your mother puts some vitamin pills at your plate, take them! Stay healthy and be smart!
Long hot baths with Epsom Salts followed by icing sore spots will help a lot. Even ice the not-so sore spots, the tired muscles and joints. Give them a holiday present.
Drink enough water - sip all day. Don't fill up with those frankenstein neon so-called sports waters, or sodas. Green juices and real fruit drinks are so much better, but water is best. Fruits for a snack are great. And one of the best snacks is celery. Celery is full of the mineral salts that you lose in perspiration. Losing those mineral salts decreases your muscle strength and your thinking power! Just the opposite of what you need to dance your best all day long.
You must take care of minor aches and pains, to make sure that they remain minor. Nerves and adrenaline get you through a lot, but be careful not to get drained. Your muscles and nervous system need real fresh foods to be replenished with.
The repetitive motion of rehearsing can lead to joint pain, raw pointe shoe blisters and deep aches in your muscles. Don't let these conditions dull the thrill of your Nutcracker ballet performances.
Go to this online ballet store for last minute ballet wear and dance accessories.
Think You Are Too Old to Start Ballet - Don't Underestimate Yourself
The discussion about when you're too old to start ballet is ongoing. If you want to do ballet, don't underestimate yourself. If you have no dire medical condition, and are under 75, I say go for it. Many things in life are about finding the appropriate challenge. If you can find the right ballet classes, dance and enjoy!
I hear the same concerns from 14 year olds and 30 year olds. "Am I too old to start ballet?"
Properly taught, ballet is precise, and not dangerous in any way. Many dance studios have adult ballet classes or classes for older teen/adult beginners. Most adult ballet classes include some floor work with ab crunches and other core muscle exercises. Many teachers include them hoping that their students will practice them at home, so the classes can concentrate on ballet. Other teachers may just recommend core muscle exercises, Pilates work-at-home DVDs, or anything that will help adults or older teens to do ballet with more strength.
If you really love ballet and want to progress to more advanced classes there are ways to do that. The internet provides download ebooks with illustrations, photos and videos of correct ballet positions, ballet technique, and ballet movements. These sources of information can give you the opportunity to see and hear details over and over again, which you just do not get out of a ballet class.
For example, if you feel you need to gain an extra advantage so that you can get ahead, you could focus on strengthening your foot muscles. This will result in less muscle cramps, and better ballet positions and movements. Eventually, if you progress to an intermediate level, and acquire an accurate technique, you may dance ballet in pointe shoes. The muscles in the sole of the foot play a major role in pointe work.
DVDs are also available for increasing your flexibility. Yoga is excellent for stretching and avoiding injuries. "Classical Stretch" DVDs show you ways to stretch in a balletic way, and can be found here. The Classical Stretch exercises are a well-illustrated series of strengthening and stretching routines.
If you seek a deeper understanding of the mechanics involved in ballet technique, The Body Series publications and DVDs by Deborah Vogel are an excellent source of information. The different ballet techniques (R.A.D., Cecchetti and Vaganova, for example) approach some ballet movements differently. I recommend that the one closest to anatomically correct be chosen. Ballet, however, is not anatomically correct!
Even though the opportunity to be a professional ballerina may have passed you by, learning ballet for the sake of elegance and grace is made accessible by those ballet studios which offer adult dance classes. So don't underestimate yourself, and don't assume you're too old to start ballet.
I hear the same concerns from 14 year olds and 30 year olds. "Am I too old to start ballet?"
Properly taught, ballet is precise, and not dangerous in any way. Many dance studios have adult ballet classes or classes for older teen/adult beginners. Most adult ballet classes include some floor work with ab crunches and other core muscle exercises. Many teachers include them hoping that their students will practice them at home, so the classes can concentrate on ballet. Other teachers may just recommend core muscle exercises, Pilates work-at-home DVDs, or anything that will help adults or older teens to do ballet with more strength.
If you really love ballet and want to progress to more advanced classes there are ways to do that. The internet provides download ebooks with illustrations, photos and videos of correct ballet positions, ballet technique, and ballet movements. These sources of information can give you the opportunity to see and hear details over and over again, which you just do not get out of a ballet class.
For example, if you feel you need to gain an extra advantage so that you can get ahead, you could focus on strengthening your foot muscles. This will result in less muscle cramps, and better ballet positions and movements. Eventually, if you progress to an intermediate level, and acquire an accurate technique, you may dance ballet in pointe shoes. The muscles in the sole of the foot play a major role in pointe work.
DVDs are also available for increasing your flexibility. Yoga is excellent for stretching and avoiding injuries. "Classical Stretch" DVDs show you ways to stretch in a balletic way, and can be found here. The Classical Stretch exercises are a well-illustrated series of strengthening and stretching routines.
If you seek a deeper understanding of the mechanics involved in ballet technique, The Body Series publications and DVDs by Deborah Vogel are an excellent source of information. The different ballet techniques (R.A.D., Cecchetti and Vaganova, for example) approach some ballet movements differently. I recommend that the one closest to anatomically correct be chosen. Ballet, however, is not anatomically correct!
Even though the opportunity to be a professional ballerina may have passed you by, learning ballet for the sake of elegance and grace is made accessible by those ballet studios which offer adult dance classes. So don't underestimate yourself, and don't assume you're too old to start ballet.
Ballet San Jose Resurrects "The Toreador"
Dance never dies!
Dance history is tracked with the story of this production. From The Silicon Valley's Mercury News:
"What's most gratifying about "The Toreador" is that the ballet provides a living link to Bournonville's refined, almost reserved style, which itself is a direct link back to the legendary French dancer Auguste Vestris. While dance in Paris evolved rapidly through the 19th century, Copenhagen's isolation meant that the Bournonville style remained largely unchanged. And when Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes swept modernist music and design into European ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet stood outside the powerful current.
"That was a kind of a cocoon for that special French style that was left in Denmark," says Vivi Flindt. "With the Depression and then World War II, we were Isolated, and the whole knowledge of the Danish tradition wasn't discovered until the 1950s. That's why the Bournonville tradition has stayed so intact. No one really knew about it. That's why you can say in Bournonville you have the purist of the French romantic dancing."
The entire fascinating story is here.
"What's most gratifying about "The Toreador" is that the ballet provides a living link to Bournonville's refined, almost reserved style, which itself is a direct link back to the legendary French dancer Auguste Vestris. While dance in Paris evolved rapidly through the 19th century, Copenhagen's isolation meant that the Bournonville style remained largely unchanged. And when Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes swept modernist music and design into European ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet stood outside the powerful current.
"That was a kind of a cocoon for that special French style that was left in Denmark," says Vivi Flindt. "With the Depression and then World War II, we were Isolated, and the whole knowledge of the Danish tradition wasn't discovered until the 1950s. That's why the Bournonville tradition has stayed so intact. No one really knew about it. That's why you can say in Bournonville you have the purist of the French romantic dancing."
The entire fascinating story is here.
Use of the Theraband For Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
There are many uses for the therabands, so I'll discuss a few here, focusing on the feet, toes and ankles.
If you are already doing pointe work, these exercises will enhance your precision of technique, save your calf muscles from over-work, and increase your gracefulness in pointe shoes. Most ballet stores carry some brand of stretchy bands, and they can be ordered on line as well.
If you are in a pre-pointe class, or organizing your own pre-pointe practice, you can learn four basic exercises to strengthen the sole of the foot muscles, and then do them with a stretchy band. Feet and ankles must be strong enough before starting pointe work, for slow releves through the metatarsal area, and slow controlled lowering, without any sickle in or out of the ankle joint.
"Toe swapping" is done starting with the feet flat on the floor. Simply lift the big toes up, leaving the foot and the other toes flat. Do not lean the foot toward the big toes, the sole of the foot should rest on the floor with no twisting. Place the big toes down, and lift the other four toes. You may cramp, in which case stop and roll your foot over a tennis ball or pinkie ball, to relax the muscles.
Do this 10 times, a total of twenty lifts. Initially, you may find that your brain can't even find the muscles to do this precisely - but your brain-to-foot communication will improve. When your movements are precise, you can add the stretchy band. Sitting down with your legs straight in front of you, flex the feet and place the stretchy band behind the toes.
"Playing the piano" with the toes is just like it sounds - lift all toes to start, and place the big toe, the next toe, the next and so forth. Do the reverse, lifting the little toe, the next, and so forth. Relieve cramping if necessary, and do both movements 10 times each.
Once your movement is well-defined, add the stretchy band, sitting, feet and toes flexed, with the band behind the toes. Your toes will keep contact with the band, with more resistance when pressing against it. If you use the band before your movement is exact, it will not do much good. Try it and you'll see why, nothing really happens.
For ankles, if you are wobbly going up and down in slow releves, in soft shoes, you are not strong enough to be in pointe shoes. You must check your overall posture, use of the core muscles, turnout and how your feet rest on the floor when flat. Wobbling can be for many reasons. But, back to the ankles,
If you get corrections for sickling in where your weight goes towards the outside of your foot: sitting, legs straight, loop the band around your right foot, at the metatarsal area. Hold the band ends with your left hand. Pull the foot outward, and you will feel the muscles on the outside of the foot/ankle area working. Pull and hold for 10 seconds 10 times. Repeat other side.
If you go up onto demi pointe or pointe and your weight leans onto your big toe, you would loop the band and pull your foot inward, working the muscles on the inside of the foot/ankle area.
Another strengthening exercise is (sitting, legs straight out in front) to slowly stretch the feet, splaying the toes apart and stretching them long.
If you are a late starter or adult beginner in ballet, start these exercises now. Doing them 5-6 days a week will diminish the gap between your understanding of ballet technique, and the strength needed to do it.
In your slow releves onto pointe, and back down, your ankle should not lean or change angle in any way. If your big toe is much longer, you can use toe levelers in your pointe shoes. If your second toe is longer, you need to fit the shoes so that it can straighten, using padding for your other toes.
Do your best to get exactly the right fit in pointe shoes at your ballet store. Study ballet technique to erase any confusions. There is tons of information available to all.
If you are in a pre-pointe class, or organizing your own pre-pointe practice, you can learn four basic exercises to strengthen the sole of the foot muscles, and then do them with a stretchy band. Feet and ankles must be strong enough before starting pointe work, for slow releves through the metatarsal area, and slow controlled lowering, without any sickle in or out of the ankle joint.
"Toe swapping" is done starting with the feet flat on the floor. Simply lift the big toes up, leaving the foot and the other toes flat. Do not lean the foot toward the big toes, the sole of the foot should rest on the floor with no twisting. Place the big toes down, and lift the other four toes. You may cramp, in which case stop and roll your foot over a tennis ball or pinkie ball, to relax the muscles.
Do this 10 times, a total of twenty lifts. Initially, you may find that your brain can't even find the muscles to do this precisely - but your brain-to-foot communication will improve. When your movements are precise, you can add the stretchy band. Sitting down with your legs straight in front of you, flex the feet and place the stretchy band behind the toes.
"Playing the piano" with the toes is just like it sounds - lift all toes to start, and place the big toe, the next toe, the next and so forth. Do the reverse, lifting the little toe, the next, and so forth. Relieve cramping if necessary, and do both movements 10 times each.
Once your movement is well-defined, add the stretchy band, sitting, feet and toes flexed, with the band behind the toes. Your toes will keep contact with the band, with more resistance when pressing against it. If you use the band before your movement is exact, it will not do much good. Try it and you'll see why, nothing really happens.
For ankles, if you are wobbly going up and down in slow releves, in soft shoes, you are not strong enough to be in pointe shoes. You must check your overall posture, use of the core muscles, turnout and how your feet rest on the floor when flat. Wobbling can be for many reasons. But, back to the ankles,
If you get corrections for sickling in where your weight goes towards the outside of your foot: sitting, legs straight, loop the band around your right foot, at the metatarsal area. Hold the band ends with your left hand. Pull the foot outward, and you will feel the muscles on the outside of the foot/ankle area working. Pull and hold for 10 seconds 10 times. Repeat other side.
If you go up onto demi pointe or pointe and your weight leans onto your big toe, you would loop the band and pull your foot inward, working the muscles on the inside of the foot/ankle area.
Another strengthening exercise is (sitting, legs straight out in front) to slowly stretch the feet, splaying the toes apart and stretching them long.
If you are a late starter or adult beginner in ballet, start these exercises now. Doing them 5-6 days a week will diminish the gap between your understanding of ballet technique, and the strength needed to do it.
In your slow releves onto pointe, and back down, your ankle should not lean or change angle in any way. If your big toe is much longer, you can use toe levelers in your pointe shoes. If your second toe is longer, you need to fit the shoes so that it can straighten, using padding for your other toes.
Do your best to get exactly the right fit in pointe shoes at your ballet store. Study ballet technique to erase any confusions. There is tons of information available to all.
How to Create More Flexibility in the Ankle Joint For Ballet and Pointe Shoes
For the less flexible ankle joint, safe stretching can be done daily to get you closer to the perfect look in pointe shoes . Avoid pain and muscle strain by ignoring some of the drastic measures you will see dancers do. Do not put your toes under the piano, for example, and pull your knees straighter. You are heading for foot injuries.
Many years ago a friend, a non-dancer, Vone Deporter and I would do yoga together a couple of times a week in the National Ballet School, in the evenings. We would play some relaxing music and do our own routines.
Over the weeks, I felt more flexible, slightly, and got good results, experiencing less aches and pains, and overall tension.
I used yoga to stretch the ballet way - forcing every position and deep breathing to distract myself from the pain. I thought I was getting into much better positions.
Vone, however, did yoga the gentle yoga way. She picked a few yoga positions and stretched comfortably with a stretchy feeling, but no pain. A few weeks later her positions were drastically more flexible than mine. She had no workout routines, no warm up routines, she'd just show up and do it.
That does not seem fair. I thought I was working much harder. But that was the way I was trained. Take it to the limit.
In recent years I've read much that has been written by dancer/dance medicine specialists who have a very different view on how dancers should treat their bodies. How to stretch the foot and ankle joints to improve the curve that is part of ballet fashion, is important.
Another moment I remember is watching Swan lake with Vone and her husband. Karen Kain was performing. Vone, an artist and student of human anatomy, leaned over and whispered "What's wrong with her feet?" Huh? What ballet student would not like to have feet like that?
It's a matter of perspective. So what is safe stretching for the top of the arch curve?
Author Deborah Vogel describes how to relax and knead out muscle tension down the front of the calves to the ankle area, using a Pinky ball. This is a small,dense, high bounce sports ball. If you sit down on your feet, you can roll the ball under the top of your calf muscle, below the knee joint. You will feel some very tender spots where the muscle is especially tense. If you lean into the ball on those spots, you will feel some release there. Do not push too hard, because you can do this every day, and gradually condition the muscle.
Working your way down the leg, you can knead and massage tension out of the muscles.
Now, you can do a stretch recommended by Lisa Howell, another dancer/dance medicine specialist who has written much about care of the feet for ballet dancers. Staying in this position (or stretching out for a few minutes if your feet are going to sleep) you can now slide your hand under one knee, and gently raise the lower leg up. Make sure your ankle is in a straight line, not sickled in or out. You will feel a stretch along the arch curve. Hold the stretch, relax and repeat 10 times, each side, every day.
This is a gentle stretch that produces results. You can also put the Pinky ball just higher than the tops of the metatarsal joints, and gently lean into it for an extra stretch.
None of this should produce pain. Look at an x-ray of the human foot and the many tiny foot bones. These bones and the soft tissues supporting them need to be treated gently in between your ballet classes. They are tough, but as you push them as far as they can go every day in the ballet studio, they deserve rest and care.
With these two exercises you can increase flexibility, avoid muscle sprain and foot injuries, and improve your look in pointe shoes.
Many years ago a friend, a non-dancer, Vone Deporter and I would do yoga together a couple of times a week in the National Ballet School, in the evenings. We would play some relaxing music and do our own routines.
Over the weeks, I felt more flexible, slightly, and got good results, experiencing less aches and pains, and overall tension.
I used yoga to stretch the ballet way - forcing every position and deep breathing to distract myself from the pain. I thought I was getting into much better positions.
Vone, however, did yoga the gentle yoga way. She picked a few yoga positions and stretched comfortably with a stretchy feeling, but no pain. A few weeks later her positions were drastically more flexible than mine. She had no workout routines, no warm up routines, she'd just show up and do it.
That does not seem fair. I thought I was working much harder. But that was the way I was trained. Take it to the limit.
In recent years I've read much that has been written by dancer/dance medicine specialists who have a very different view on how dancers should treat their bodies. How to stretch the foot and ankle joints to improve the curve that is part of ballet fashion, is important.
Another moment I remember is watching Swan lake with Vone and her husband. Karen Kain was performing. Vone, an artist and student of human anatomy, leaned over and whispered "What's wrong with her feet?" Huh? What ballet student would not like to have feet like that?
It's a matter of perspective. So what is safe stretching for the top of the arch curve?
Author Deborah Vogel describes how to relax and knead out muscle tension down the front of the calves to the ankle area, using a Pinky ball. This is a small,dense, high bounce sports ball. If you sit down on your feet, you can roll the ball under the top of your calf muscle, below the knee joint. You will feel some very tender spots where the muscle is especially tense. If you lean into the ball on those spots, you will feel some release there. Do not push too hard, because you can do this every day, and gradually condition the muscle.
Working your way down the leg, you can knead and massage tension out of the muscles.
Now, you can do a stretch recommended by Lisa Howell, another dancer/dance medicine specialist who has written much about care of the feet for ballet dancers. Staying in this position (or stretching out for a few minutes if your feet are going to sleep) you can now slide your hand under one knee, and gently raise the lower leg up. Make sure your ankle is in a straight line, not sickled in or out. You will feel a stretch along the arch curve. Hold the stretch, relax and repeat 10 times, each side, every day.
This is a gentle stretch that produces results. You can also put the Pinky ball just higher than the tops of the metatarsal joints, and gently lean into it for an extra stretch.
None of this should produce pain. Look at an x-ray of the human foot and the many tiny foot bones. These bones and the soft tissues supporting them need to be treated gently in between your ballet classes. They are tough, but as you push them as far as they can go every day in the ballet studio, they deserve rest and care.
With these two exercises you can increase flexibility, avoid muscle sprain and foot injuries, and improve your look in pointe shoes.
Better Self Care in Ballet Training
The virtue of patience sounds like one of the many spiritual gifts we may have, or an element of character education, or just one of those things our parents and teachers like to bother us about. If the quest for art drives you toward toward seeking perfection, being the best, or unreasonable weight loss, I hope the following body image tips and self-education tips help you improve and modify your self care in your ballet training.
All of this applies to young athletes as well. The individual's achievement orientation of athletics in high school, or ballet schools is supplemented by the dance team competitions, and the competition to get on a team, cast in a ballet performance or included in an exam class. This is an exciting, positive thing. It will, however, inevitably complicate your life,
Body image, diet, time planning, sounds like you need a staff of ten. But your self care is all up to you.
Avoiding or overcoming depression, or striving for weight loss is also a positive thing. The healthier dancer will communicate with parents, get medical advice if needed, and also do their own research.
For instance, it may seem that a growing teen dancer has a sugar addiction. This is not uncommon in our culture, but also can show up as a temporary condition if a growth spurt coincides with extra classes, rehearsals, and final exams. More lean protein, omega 3 fats, vitamins and minerals are needed, every day, to accommodate growth.
Sugar addiction can also result from an attempt at overcoming depression - sugar is a drug and changes the way we feel. All too temporarily. It leads to adrenal exhaustion which leads to more sugar or carbohydrate craving, and goes round and round until a different behavior interrupts the process.
Also, factor in the respect needed for your own process of growing up. Your body will continue to change and develop shape and bone mass according to how you feed it, rest it, and work it. Your growth stage will not always fulfill your body image ideas, but have faith, it will change and it will be okay.
Fast food will deprive you in so many ways it would take a book to describe it, and many have been written already.
"Fast life", like fast food, will also deprive you of growth and health. While attending to your ambition at ballet school, or in sports training, create simplicity. The aspects of our culture that govern viewpoints on social standing, sexiness, body image, being cool, having the best toys, car, clothes, are not created for your benefit.
So who DO these social pressures benefit? Think about that.
Think about the time you put into it.
It may be a struggle to deal with the whole issue, but in standing a little detached from all those issues for a few minutes every morning, could be a great survival strategy for you. Give to your priorities as much as you can, without neglecting family or other obligations.
This might sound like a crash course in becoming an immediate social outcast, but my experience is that teens that practice some detachment from following the crowd and pursuing reasonable self care often end up being followed themselves. Ironic, life is.
Being independent this way may bring you more support and respect for your ambitions. Again, it may not, but hopefully there are some smart and loving people in your life.
Save your stress for things that matter. Decide what matters. Decide what the best self care is for you, in your ballet training, art training and sports training. Or academic training, any training. The virtue of courageous patience will grow with you, regardless of what you call it.
All of this applies to young athletes as well. The individual's achievement orientation of athletics in high school, or ballet schools is supplemented by the dance team competitions, and the competition to get on a team, cast in a ballet performance or included in an exam class. This is an exciting, positive thing. It will, however, inevitably complicate your life,
Body image, diet, time planning, sounds like you need a staff of ten. But your self care is all up to you.
Avoiding or overcoming depression, or striving for weight loss is also a positive thing. The healthier dancer will communicate with parents, get medical advice if needed, and also do their own research.
For instance, it may seem that a growing teen dancer has a sugar addiction. This is not uncommon in our culture, but also can show up as a temporary condition if a growth spurt coincides with extra classes, rehearsals, and final exams. More lean protein, omega 3 fats, vitamins and minerals are needed, every day, to accommodate growth.
Sugar addiction can also result from an attempt at overcoming depression - sugar is a drug and changes the way we feel. All too temporarily. It leads to adrenal exhaustion which leads to more sugar or carbohydrate craving, and goes round and round until a different behavior interrupts the process.
Also, factor in the respect needed for your own process of growing up. Your body will continue to change and develop shape and bone mass according to how you feed it, rest it, and work it. Your growth stage will not always fulfill your body image ideas, but have faith, it will change and it will be okay.
Fast food will deprive you in so many ways it would take a book to describe it, and many have been written already.
"Fast life", like fast food, will also deprive you of growth and health. While attending to your ambition at ballet school, or in sports training, create simplicity. The aspects of our culture that govern viewpoints on social standing, sexiness, body image, being cool, having the best toys, car, clothes, are not created for your benefit.
So who DO these social pressures benefit? Think about that.
Think about the time you put into it.
It may be a struggle to deal with the whole issue, but in standing a little detached from all those issues for a few minutes every morning, could be a great survival strategy for you. Give to your priorities as much as you can, without neglecting family or other obligations.
This might sound like a crash course in becoming an immediate social outcast, but my experience is that teens that practice some detachment from following the crowd and pursuing reasonable self care often end up being followed themselves. Ironic, life is.
Being independent this way may bring you more support and respect for your ambitions. Again, it may not, but hopefully there are some smart and loving people in your life.
Save your stress for things that matter. Decide what matters. Decide what the best self care is for you, in your ballet training, art training and sports training. Or academic training, any training. The virtue of courageous patience will grow with you, regardless of what you call it.
Train Your Brain and Activate the Body Mind Connection by Watching the Best Ballet Movies
**
When schedules are tight, dvd movies can offer a wonderful form of entertainment and escape. Whether you're in the mood for action adventure, romance, comedy, drama or the grueling technical moves and ballet positions, the world of ballet movies provides all.
Knowing that you can watch a movie in the spare time you choose for that, can give you something to look forward to. Even if, like many ballet students, you use the same time frame to sit on the floor and stretch, ice sore muscles or sew your ballet shoes or pointe shoes.
You can buy dvd movies nearly anywhere-many supermarkets, book stores, computer and gadget stores or specialty movie stores. Ebay and other online stores such as Amazon sell ballet movies.
Typical movie and game chain stores rent them by the day or week. But it is even more convenient to rent dvds through a mail-order service. These services allow you to drop the movies into a mail box. Many dvd movies contain added sections that show "the making of", interviews and out-takes - the mistakes that are made while filming the movie.
One of the reasons I encourage students to watch ballet DVDs is because they can view the technique they are trying to learn. Most teachers do not demonstrate with the finesse of a ballerina (unless they are one, and I mean at the top of the profession, since the term ballerina can get very loosely applied), and some teachers believe they should demonstrate very little, in advanced classes.
Firstly of course, you want to view the ballet story for its drama or comedy. Get swept away. That's what you want to do as a performer. Stop time, suspend thought, take your audience on a dramatic journey, or hypnotise them with spell-binding choreography and its flawless rendition.
Secondly, view it again and focus on the best technical parts. Maybe the dancers you admire have not trained the way you are training now. They execute dance in a different technical style. However, you can train your brain by watching and feeling the steps you focus on. Training your eye to spot technical points and excellent ballet positions is part of training your brain.
Another quality to watch for and enjoy is musicality. Professional dancers changed musical phrasing to hide technical shortcomings in some cases, and to highlight their strengths. Some good jumpers need more time in the air. Some ballerinas can do more turns. There is an art in their phrasing of the preparation steps, which then give the time they need.
Being sensitive to this element will improve your own work, ultimately.
The historical element of ballet is viewable now. Dance on film, particularly from old Russian productions, is available. You can watch the teachers of your teachers' teachers. One of my favorites is The Ballets Russes, a newer production with old footage and interviews with surviving ballerinas who escaped Bolshevik Russia and regrouped in Europe under Diaghilev.
The new productions and modern ballets are all there in the stores - particularly the online libraries.
So enjoy!
This online ballet library is exceptional.
Knowing that you can watch a movie in the spare time you choose for that, can give you something to look forward to. Even if, like many ballet students, you use the same time frame to sit on the floor and stretch, ice sore muscles or sew your ballet shoes or pointe shoes.
You can buy dvd movies nearly anywhere-many supermarkets, book stores, computer and gadget stores or specialty movie stores. Ebay and other online stores such as Amazon sell ballet movies.
Typical movie and game chain stores rent them by the day or week. But it is even more convenient to rent dvds through a mail-order service. These services allow you to drop the movies into a mail box. Many dvd movies contain added sections that show "the making of", interviews and out-takes - the mistakes that are made while filming the movie.
One of the reasons I encourage students to watch ballet DVDs is because they can view the technique they are trying to learn. Most teachers do not demonstrate with the finesse of a ballerina (unless they are one, and I mean at the top of the profession, since the term ballerina can get very loosely applied), and some teachers believe they should demonstrate very little, in advanced classes.
Firstly of course, you want to view the ballet story for its drama or comedy. Get swept away. That's what you want to do as a performer. Stop time, suspend thought, take your audience on a dramatic journey, or hypnotise them with spell-binding choreography and its flawless rendition.
Secondly, view it again and focus on the best technical parts. Maybe the dancers you admire have not trained the way you are training now. They execute dance in a different technical style. However, you can train your brain by watching and feeling the steps you focus on. Training your eye to spot technical points and excellent ballet positions is part of training your brain.
Another quality to watch for and enjoy is musicality. Professional dancers changed musical phrasing to hide technical shortcomings in some cases, and to highlight their strengths. Some good jumpers need more time in the air. Some ballerinas can do more turns. There is an art in their phrasing of the preparation steps, which then give the time they need.
Being sensitive to this element will improve your own work, ultimately.
The historical element of ballet is viewable now. Dance on film, particularly from old Russian productions, is available. You can watch the teachers of your teachers' teachers. One of my favorites is The Ballets Russes, a newer production with old footage and interviews with surviving ballerinas who escaped Bolshevik Russia and regrouped in Europe under Diaghilev.
The new productions and modern ballets are all there in the stores - particularly the online libraries.
So enjoy!
This online ballet library is exceptional.
How to Avoid Overuse of the Achilles Tendon in Sports and Ballet
One of the too-common dance injuries is that of the achilles tendon. Runners and other athletes in sports training also suffer some over use inflammation, and even rupture of the achilles tendon. This tendon depends on muscle strength in the calf and the foot, to retain proper use. Following are some self-care tips that will help you avoid overuse and injury of your achilles tendons, and encourage courageous patience in better rehabilitation.
Tendonitis is all too-prevalent in dance injuries and sports injuries. In fact, when someone says "I have tendonitis" it usually refers to the achilles tendon, without being explained, it is that common. Inflammation, or "itis" can occur in any area of the body.
The achilles tendon comes from the lower end of the calf muscles, and inserts, or is attached, to the heel bone. The calf muscles above, and the intrinsic foot muscles below, are supposed to do all the actual work in moving the foot flexed, or extended (pointed, in ballet).
If the foot can flex and stretch without changing its angle (curving outward, or sickling out in ballet, or curving inward, sickling in or 'pigeon toes'), in most cases the tendon will not get irritated.
This is presuming that when you are standing on an even surface, the foot is not sloping inward, what people think of as "fallen arches", or is not sloping outward toward the little toe edge of the foot.
Runners and other athletes often work on uneven surfaces and depend on both strength and supportive shoes to minimize the variation in foot angle as it strikes the ground or pushes off. Ballet dancers absolutely depend on foot strength to prevent misuse, as they do not generally wear supports in their ballet shoes and pointe shoes. If needed, however, orthotics, or foot levelers, can be worn in dance shoes.
If a dancer or athlete has bowed legs, or hyper-extended legs, there will be an angle created just to have the feet flat on the floor. If this situation is understood, the student can be taught how to avoid inflammation of the achilles tendon through understanding, and correction of, or accurate compensation for, this particular anatomical detail.
Correcting the stance of hyper-extended legs by stacking the skeletal joints (ankles, knees, hips and on up) and holding turnout, will correct the natural pronation (fallen arches) of the feet on the floor. Sometimes this is not even visible to a glance in dancers, due to a strong built-up muscle structure that is deceptive. Even chiropractors and physio therapists have to test dancers' muscles extensively, in order not to miss this observation, until they gain experience with it.
As more and more athletes are studying ballet principles of turnout and footwork to gain an extra advantage in their performance, and prevent sports injuries, hopefully the area of hyper-extension will also be addressed.
Bowed legs require an angle of the foot, for it to be flat on the floor. In ballet, correct use of turnout, developing the intrinsic foot muscles, and always having the body weight placed correctly on the feet (hyper-extension and bowed legs tend to throw the weight back) minimizes the overuse and irritation of the achilles tendon.
Both ballet dancers and athletes need the understanding that poorly developed foot muscles lead to exhausting the calf muscles. This in turn creates tension, loss of muscle tone and strength, and the achilles tendon develops tendonitis.
Once inflammation has set in, rest, and icing must be applied. A courageous patience is needed in recovery, as the pressure to stay in the daily competitive drive for a an upcoming exam, performance or team try-out, must be resisted. You long term persistence in your chosen field depends on avoiding a chronic situation.
Ballet, dance, and sports injuries can be prevented. If you are a pre-pro, a would-be ballerina, a dedicated recreational dancer or athlete, study all you can about how to avoid overuse and injury of your achilles tendon.
Tendonitis is all too-prevalent in dance injuries and sports injuries. In fact, when someone says "I have tendonitis" it usually refers to the achilles tendon, without being explained, it is that common. Inflammation, or "itis" can occur in any area of the body.
The achilles tendon comes from the lower end of the calf muscles, and inserts, or is attached, to the heel bone. The calf muscles above, and the intrinsic foot muscles below, are supposed to do all the actual work in moving the foot flexed, or extended (pointed, in ballet).
If the foot can flex and stretch without changing its angle (curving outward, or sickling out in ballet, or curving inward, sickling in or 'pigeon toes'), in most cases the tendon will not get irritated.
This is presuming that when you are standing on an even surface, the foot is not sloping inward, what people think of as "fallen arches", or is not sloping outward toward the little toe edge of the foot.
Runners and other athletes often work on uneven surfaces and depend on both strength and supportive shoes to minimize the variation in foot angle as it strikes the ground or pushes off. Ballet dancers absolutely depend on foot strength to prevent misuse, as they do not generally wear supports in their ballet shoes and pointe shoes. If needed, however, orthotics, or foot levelers, can be worn in dance shoes.
If a dancer or athlete has bowed legs, or hyper-extended legs, there will be an angle created just to have the feet flat on the floor. If this situation is understood, the student can be taught how to avoid inflammation of the achilles tendon through understanding, and correction of, or accurate compensation for, this particular anatomical detail.
Correcting the stance of hyper-extended legs by stacking the skeletal joints (ankles, knees, hips and on up) and holding turnout, will correct the natural pronation (fallen arches) of the feet on the floor. Sometimes this is not even visible to a glance in dancers, due to a strong built-up muscle structure that is deceptive. Even chiropractors and physio therapists have to test dancers' muscles extensively, in order not to miss this observation, until they gain experience with it.
As more and more athletes are studying ballet principles of turnout and footwork to gain an extra advantage in their performance, and prevent sports injuries, hopefully the area of hyper-extension will also be addressed.
Bowed legs require an angle of the foot, for it to be flat on the floor. In ballet, correct use of turnout, developing the intrinsic foot muscles, and always having the body weight placed correctly on the feet (hyper-extension and bowed legs tend to throw the weight back) minimizes the overuse and irritation of the achilles tendon.
Both ballet dancers and athletes need the understanding that poorly developed foot muscles lead to exhausting the calf muscles. This in turn creates tension, loss of muscle tone and strength, and the achilles tendon develops tendonitis.
Once inflammation has set in, rest, and icing must be applied. A courageous patience is needed in recovery, as the pressure to stay in the daily competitive drive for a an upcoming exam, performance or team try-out, must be resisted. You long term persistence in your chosen field depends on avoiding a chronic situation.
Ballet, dance, and sports injuries can be prevented. If you are a pre-pro, a would-be ballerina, a dedicated recreational dancer or athlete, study all you can about how to avoid overuse and injury of your achilles tendon.
Understanding Muscle Function and Correct Posture in Ballet
Every ballerina has done the same things you can do in ballet, to progress as far as your physique and dedication will allow.
Understanding how one can build strength in ballet class, stretch safely, and get the core muscles correctly applying classical ballet technique, enhances the amazing potential you have to enjoy and effect health and weight loss or gain.
Ballet is a full body workout, but some aspects of technique are commonly not presented with clarity as to what the anatomical factors are.
Easy learning is possible if you have a little extra time. Without having to study like a kinesiologist, you can learn what a muscle is and how to get the best use out of it. Correct skeletal placement and flexibility are needed to develop the core muscles that lead to the elegance of a ballerina and the precise professional footwork of a male virtuoso.
Muscles have certain behaviors. They can stretch long, like an elastic. With repetition and patience, the muscle will shrink back a little less. On the subject of stretching, it's good to be warmed up because collagen, in your connective tissues, becomes more fluid when you are warmed up and allows more movement in your body.
Stretching a muscle requires knowing the correct position to stretch it in.
For instance, stretching the hamstrings, the long muscles running from the sits bones to below your knee, requires that you stand correctly with one leg in second on the barre, the kitchen counter, or whatever you've got as a support. Or, you can sit on the floor in your widest comfortable second position, with your pelvis in neutral, as though you were standing.
If standing, your posture must be as correct as possible. Spine neutral and elongated by the lengthening support of the abdominal and spinal muscles, turnout held in the deep rotators, and the gluteals or butt muscles not over-supporting, allowing your hip bone and pelvis of the working side to relax down. This way you will do a side bend towards your working leg, or a demi plie remaining straight in the spine, and if you maintain your placement, the hamstring will begin to stretch like a piece of elastic.
That's just one example, you could be in a devant position, or an arabesque position. Once you reach your maximum stretch, before you get to a point of pain, you can hold that stretch for up to 90 seconds. During that time, you'll feel the muscle (and other muscles that are also getting a stretch), let go a little, and a little more, and then relax into the stretch fully. Every dancer has a different point in the stretch time where they will feel it's time to return to the initial position. At some point, the muscle will start pulling back, and that's the time to stop.
Bouncing doesn't help, although after your first stretch is over, you don't have to return to your initial position. You can release out of the stretch and go into it again. It requires some almost meditational attention to sense when you're doing too much, as opposed to pushing to the sharp pain signal that you get from being too demanding of your muscles.
Sore muscles come from tiny tears in the muscle fibers. A hot soak followed by icing, good nutrition and sufficient water intake helps your body recover and maintain a muscle that responds quickly to your brain, and has the strength to do what you want it to do.
Muscle spasms must be attended to with massage or use of a rubber ball, to work them out. Lactic acids remaining in the muscles create chemical damage. Massage and ice stimulate the circulation needed to carry away the lactic acid and other waste products in the muscles tissue.
So - in relation to the correct use and build up of strength in the core muscles, you must have correct placement. If you don't have correct placement, you stretch until you do. Then you are in the ballet positions required to work anatomically correctly. It is a process, longer for late starters in ballet, but still with potential.
Ballet and the people who do it are amazing. Whether you are a ballerina, a late starter, or a pre-professional, understanding something as simple as a muscle, and how to take care of it gets you the most out of your full body ballet workout. For a career builder, to lose weight, gain muscle or "just" to dance, keep being amazing!
Ballet is a full body workout, but some aspects of technique are commonly not presented with clarity as to what the anatomical factors are.
Easy learning is possible if you have a little extra time. Without having to study like a kinesiologist, you can learn what a muscle is and how to get the best use out of it. Correct skeletal placement and flexibility are needed to develop the core muscles that lead to the elegance of a ballerina and the precise professional footwork of a male virtuoso.
Muscles have certain behaviors. They can stretch long, like an elastic. With repetition and patience, the muscle will shrink back a little less. On the subject of stretching, it's good to be warmed up because collagen, in your connective tissues, becomes more fluid when you are warmed up and allows more movement in your body.
Stretching a muscle requires knowing the correct position to stretch it in.
For instance, stretching the hamstrings, the long muscles running from the sits bones to below your knee, requires that you stand correctly with one leg in second on the barre, the kitchen counter, or whatever you've got as a support. Or, you can sit on the floor in your widest comfortable second position, with your pelvis in neutral, as though you were standing.
If standing, your posture must be as correct as possible. Spine neutral and elongated by the lengthening support of the abdominal and spinal muscles, turnout held in the deep rotators, and the gluteals or butt muscles not over-supporting, allowing your hip bone and pelvis of the working side to relax down. This way you will do a side bend towards your working leg, or a demi plie remaining straight in the spine, and if you maintain your placement, the hamstring will begin to stretch like a piece of elastic.
That's just one example, you could be in a devant position, or an arabesque position. Once you reach your maximum stretch, before you get to a point of pain, you can hold that stretch for up to 90 seconds. During that time, you'll feel the muscle (and other muscles that are also getting a stretch), let go a little, and a little more, and then relax into the stretch fully. Every dancer has a different point in the stretch time where they will feel it's time to return to the initial position. At some point, the muscle will start pulling back, and that's the time to stop.
Bouncing doesn't help, although after your first stretch is over, you don't have to return to your initial position. You can release out of the stretch and go into it again. It requires some almost meditational attention to sense when you're doing too much, as opposed to pushing to the sharp pain signal that you get from being too demanding of your muscles.
Sore muscles come from tiny tears in the muscle fibers. A hot soak followed by icing, good nutrition and sufficient water intake helps your body recover and maintain a muscle that responds quickly to your brain, and has the strength to do what you want it to do.
Muscle spasms must be attended to with massage or use of a rubber ball, to work them out. Lactic acids remaining in the muscles create chemical damage. Massage and ice stimulate the circulation needed to carry away the lactic acid and other waste products in the muscles tissue.
So - in relation to the correct use and build up of strength in the core muscles, you must have correct placement. If you don't have correct placement, you stretch until you do. Then you are in the ballet positions required to work anatomically correctly. It is a process, longer for late starters in ballet, but still with potential.
Ballet and the people who do it are amazing. Whether you are a ballerina, a late starter, or a pre-professional, understanding something as simple as a muscle, and how to take care of it gets you the most out of your full body ballet workout. For a career builder, to lose weight, gain muscle or "just" to dance, keep being amazing!
How to Maintain Emotional Intelligence and Positive Thinking in the Ballet World
Author Deborah Vogel has written many books for the student ballet dancer. Most of them have to do with anatomy, and solving the conflicts between ballet's anatomical farfetchedness and the capabilities of the human body."Train Your Brain: A Teen's Guide To Well Being" goes beyond tissue and bone into the wondrous creative realm every student experiences, and sometimes loses direction in. Deborah sets forth with help for you, the would-be ballerina or male ballet dancer, to gain more understanding and control over the demanding world you live in.
Any student of music, writing, and performing of any kind, needs to know some survival techniques to maintain emotional intelligence, and stick with positive thinking. Every new class, with new exams, and fierce competitions, can instigate implosions of self-doubts. How do you take command of your mental and emotional space before that important event? Or so you can sleep well every night?
Deborah designed this book so that teens and pre-teens could discover that there is a way to begin a dialogue about self-sabotaging beliefs and thoughts that so influence their patterns of behavior and success. This 48 page book introduces eight teens with common problems and challenges such as how to take charge of your feelings and how to perform like a pro in the dance studio or anywhere and everywhere. You will learn techniques such as Mental Rehearsing, Creating a Feeling, Refocusing and a very powerful Acting as If. These fun (but seriously amazing) activities will help to train your brain - whether a teen or an adult late starter in ballet - towards success.
As a ballet teacher, I've always recommended to students to look outside the dance classes for ways to help manage their frustrations, fears and struggles with the competitive and perfectionist aspects of the performing arts. I think that private and independent study is best for people - contemplation with direction, and applying uplifting creative techniques to maintain a positive perspective, in one's own way.
That in itself is the challenge - finding one's own way. "Train Your Brain: A Teen's Guide To Well Being" is a wonderful first step on that path.
Go here to see this and all of Deborah Vogel's books and DVDs.
Preparing Chaine Turns For Ballet Dancing In Pointe Shoes
Chaine turns are best perfected in soft shoes first. Every would-be ballerina wants to excel at turns on pointe.
But pointe work depends on the accuracy of your ballet teacher, your basic classical ballet training, and the accuracy of your own class work. And the ballet positions for chainee turns are very simple.
Beginning at the barre, your postural plumb line, turnout and general placement must be correct and strong. It doesn't matter what kind of body you have. Posture can be correct, turnout can be held regardless of your flexibility, and placement can also be correct. I'm just saying that to encourage you. I know it is discouraging if others can do ballet more easily than you. If you are not flexible enough to get the legs extended above 90 degrees without losing placement, you do your best, and work on gaining strength so that you are not straining.
You see once you get on pointe, any tiny incorrect position is going to throw you off your pointe. You can struggle and overcome that, but you will lose your grace and elegance.
For chaine turns, rise onto demi pointe in first position, sideways to a mirror. If you are standing straight, neutral pelvis, neutral spine, and turnout held, that's a good position.
Can you turn your head to the mirror to see yourself without tilting? If not, you need to do some stretching and relaxing for your neck muscles. You do this by tilting your head slowly, letting the muscles stretch a little, for three deep breaths, and then slowly bringing your head upright. 3 times 3 times a day, each side. Also, take a deep breath and then turn your head to one side, exhaling. Then try to turn a little farther, being careful not to tilt. Slowly bring it back to the front, and do the other side. 3 times, 3 times a day. Relaxing your neck is going to help with your spotting.
Being weak in your posture or turnout is going to make you tense your neck and shoulders, therefore throwing off a good turn.
Once you have established that your posture is good, and your turnout held, do a series of chaine turns along the barre, keeping your legs tight in first position. You do not step out. Practice this until you get the feel of it. This establishes correct muscle memory.
When you do the turns in the center your preparation will give you the push to get started. If you chassee into it, or step out from a plie, you then close the legs and they do not come apart at all after that.
There is always ongoing discussion of when someone should start ballet in pointe shoes. Regardless of age, ballet history or growth plates, your basic technique has to be strong, not just your feet. If you have to wait another six months or a year to correct your technique, you will enjoy pointe work a lot more once you start, because you will be able to do things. You won't be struggling.
Once in pointe shoes, chaine turns are a lot easier, as far as the turn goes. It's easy to spin. But your position and how well it is held will determine whether or not you can stay in a straight line, control the speed, and end the sequence gracefully.
Watch your favorite ballerina do chaine turns - they are tight, quick, and end quickly. You'll see how her ballet positions are perfect - and her control is perfect.
With understanding and practice you can do it too.
For understanding and developing your feet properly for pointe work, get some extra tips and tricks from The Perfect Pointe Book.
Beginning at the barre, your postural plumb line, turnout and general placement must be correct and strong. It doesn't matter what kind of body you have. Posture can be correct, turnout can be held regardless of your flexibility, and placement can also be correct. I'm just saying that to encourage you. I know it is discouraging if others can do ballet more easily than you. If you are not flexible enough to get the legs extended above 90 degrees without losing placement, you do your best, and work on gaining strength so that you are not straining.
You see once you get on pointe, any tiny incorrect position is going to throw you off your pointe. You can struggle and overcome that, but you will lose your grace and elegance.
For chaine turns, rise onto demi pointe in first position, sideways to a mirror. If you are standing straight, neutral pelvis, neutral spine, and turnout held, that's a good position.
Can you turn your head to the mirror to see yourself without tilting? If not, you need to do some stretching and relaxing for your neck muscles. You do this by tilting your head slowly, letting the muscles stretch a little, for three deep breaths, and then slowly bringing your head upright. 3 times 3 times a day, each side. Also, take a deep breath and then turn your head to one side, exhaling. Then try to turn a little farther, being careful not to tilt. Slowly bring it back to the front, and do the other side. 3 times, 3 times a day. Relaxing your neck is going to help with your spotting.
Being weak in your posture or turnout is going to make you tense your neck and shoulders, therefore throwing off a good turn.
Once you have established that your posture is good, and your turnout held, do a series of chaine turns along the barre, keeping your legs tight in first position. You do not step out. Practice this until you get the feel of it. This establishes correct muscle memory.
When you do the turns in the center your preparation will give you the push to get started. If you chassee into it, or step out from a plie, you then close the legs and they do not come apart at all after that.
There is always ongoing discussion of when someone should start ballet in pointe shoes. Regardless of age, ballet history or growth plates, your basic technique has to be strong, not just your feet. If you have to wait another six months or a year to correct your technique, you will enjoy pointe work a lot more once you start, because you will be able to do things. You won't be struggling.
Once in pointe shoes, chaine turns are a lot easier, as far as the turn goes. It's easy to spin. But your position and how well it is held will determine whether or not you can stay in a straight line, control the speed, and end the sequence gracefully.
Watch your favorite ballerina do chaine turns - they are tight, quick, and end quickly. You'll see how her ballet positions are perfect - and her control is perfect.
With understanding and practice you can do it too.
For understanding and developing your feet properly for pointe work, get some extra tips and tricks from The Perfect Pointe Book.
Elegance in Ballet Depends on How You Build Strength in Core Muscles
Making classical ballet dancing look effortless and elegant is the goal of any dancer, including for men in ballet. Effortlessness indicates strength , and men in ballet must strive for elegance while showing muscular prowess as a rescuing prince or charismatic villain. Ballerinas strive for fluidity in their arms, upper back, and other movements requiring suppleness, yet depending on the strength of their core muscles.
Naturally, for both men and women in ballet, elegance also depends on the finesse and finer details of professional footwork and strong leg muscles. The whole body works as a coordinated unit, and this coordination depends more on the core muscles than any other area of muscles.
As a student is developing and learning the ballet body positions and the many port de bras (French words for arm movements) he or she must also have core muscles that can support the elegant and floating movements required, just like a tree trunk supports a tree when it sways in the wind. Or a swan's long neck is supported by its sturdy body weight. (perhaps that is a better metaphor!)
Classical ballet dancers easily have the abs of steel, buns of steel and all those things. But they don't want to look like it!
Daily routines in ballet training usually produce what is required to do classical ballet choreography. But unusual body proportions, starting training later, and other factors lead dancers to cross train to catch up, get ahead or get an edge on the competition. And, always, prevent dance injuries.
There are several Pilates gurus promoting their DVD courses so that anyone can work at home. Mat work courses, stretchy band work courses, and even Pilates machine courses are available, with small light weight home-version machines.
So if you are too busy to get to a Pilates studio, that is no problem. Pilates is a wonderful type of cross training for ballet dancers, as it produces the balletic elongation of muscle and builds strength. It also contributes to the fluid quality of movement that dancers strive for.
Slow motion weight training can help dancers too. The slow motion speed is to trigger the best use of the muscles, and also prevent injury. No sudden or jerky movement is done, and this protects the joints and soft tissues around the joints. Slow motion weight training has also shown to contribute to a healthy metabolism and the release of enzymes into the body that is rejuvenating in many ways. It is a detailed and fascinating subject unto itself.
Whatever stage of classical ballet training you are in, or aspire to, you can achieve elegance in your ballet dancing. How well you build strength in your core muscles will also affect your work in pointe shoes, and for the men in ballet, your partnering skills and princely or villainous virtuosity.
Go to Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes for more about ballet barre exercises.
Naturally, for both men and women in ballet, elegance also depends on the finesse and finer details of professional footwork and strong leg muscles. The whole body works as a coordinated unit, and this coordination depends more on the core muscles than any other area of muscles.
As a student is developing and learning the ballet body positions and the many port de bras (French words for arm movements) he or she must also have core muscles that can support the elegant and floating movements required, just like a tree trunk supports a tree when it sways in the wind. Or a swan's long neck is supported by its sturdy body weight. (perhaps that is a better metaphor!)
Classical ballet dancers easily have the abs of steel, buns of steel and all those things. But they don't want to look like it!
Daily routines in ballet training usually produce what is required to do classical ballet choreography. But unusual body proportions, starting training later, and other factors lead dancers to cross train to catch up, get ahead or get an edge on the competition. And, always, prevent dance injuries.
There are several Pilates gurus promoting their DVD courses so that anyone can work at home. Mat work courses, stretchy band work courses, and even Pilates machine courses are available, with small light weight home-version machines.
So if you are too busy to get to a Pilates studio, that is no problem. Pilates is a wonderful type of cross training for ballet dancers, as it produces the balletic elongation of muscle and builds strength. It also contributes to the fluid quality of movement that dancers strive for.
Slow motion weight training can help dancers too. The slow motion speed is to trigger the best use of the muscles, and also prevent injury. No sudden or jerky movement is done, and this protects the joints and soft tissues around the joints. Slow motion weight training has also shown to contribute to a healthy metabolism and the release of enzymes into the body that is rejuvenating in many ways. It is a detailed and fascinating subject unto itself.
Whatever stage of classical ballet training you are in, or aspire to, you can achieve elegance in your ballet dancing. How well you build strength in your core muscles will also affect your work in pointe shoes, and for the men in ballet, your partnering skills and princely or villainous virtuosity.
Go to Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes for more about ballet barre exercises.
How to Stay in Shape and Keep Your Muscle Tone While on Vacation
For athletes and dancers (classical ballet and others too), time off without a daily class brings the double-edged sword of relief and anxiety. Relief to have relaxing time, and anxiety about not staying in shape and keeping the muscle tone they've worked so hard for. So without turning time off into a working vacation, here are some suggestions for daily routines to help stay in shape.
If you're staying at home and have a spot that you usually exercise in, then you are set to practice. If you are a classical ballet student, the challenge is great - there is really nothing to replace the demands of a ballet class. However, you can customize a daily routine to challenge your muscles.
If you are intermediate or advanced, it is easy to get a ballet class DVD to workout with. However, many are instructional with breaks in between the exercises. There are some ballet workout DVDs which are pretty demanding, but if you don't want to customize a routine that works on your particular ongoing corrections from class, you will get a good workout. Also, you'll get warmed up enough to stretch safely.
If you choose to do a regular barre routine, make a simple barre workout that emphasizes your weaknesses. For example, if you have any balancing problems, put in a slow rise and slow lowering into a demi plie in every exercise. And repeat without using the barre. If you understand where the shift in balance is coming from, you can correct, repeat super-slow-motion movements.
You can also include core muscle exercises every day, to help with the balancing problem.
You could sign up for local Pilates classes - they are wonderful for the elongating type of exercises, core muscle strength and stretching too.
If you are traveling in hotels or in homes, and will have a restricted space, take a stretchy band. With the floor space required to sit, move into second position, or lie down and lift your legs to the front back and side, you can do slow leg raises with the band, and developpes with the band. This challenges your leg and core muscles.
If you are preparing for pointe work coming up in your next session of classes, use the stretchy band for foot strengthening. Sitting, legs stretched out in front, pointe your ankles but not your toes. Run the band behind your flexed toes, and stretch your toes long against the resistance of the band. You increase the resistance as you need, and work out all your foot and ankle muscles.
This is good for men in ballet too. Strengthening the feet means you will not be over working your calf muscles, which pinch-hit for the foot muscles when they are weak. This leads to strain and tension, which in turn decreases the ankle flexibility and the degree of point that you have.
Swimming is great for endurance - if you enjoy it, swim a lot.
Stay hydrated, and eat good whole food to keep those electrolytes up. Dehydration affects your muscles tone, your energy, your brain function and leads to retaining water. Real food provides minerals you can digest, avoid those sugary sports drinks with a couple of token minerals in them.
I hope this has given you some ideas as to how to enjoy your time off without feeling like it is a working vacation, and with no worry about staying in shape or how to keep your muscle tone.
If you're staying at home and have a spot that you usually exercise in, then you are set to practice. If you are a classical ballet student, the challenge is great - there is really nothing to replace the demands of a ballet class. However, you can customize a daily routine to challenge your muscles.
If you are intermediate or advanced, it is easy to get a ballet class DVD to workout with. However, many are instructional with breaks in between the exercises. There are some ballet workout DVDs which are pretty demanding, but if you don't want to customize a routine that works on your particular ongoing corrections from class, you will get a good workout. Also, you'll get warmed up enough to stretch safely.
If you choose to do a regular barre routine, make a simple barre workout that emphasizes your weaknesses. For example, if you have any balancing problems, put in a slow rise and slow lowering into a demi plie in every exercise. And repeat without using the barre. If you understand where the shift in balance is coming from, you can correct, repeat super-slow-motion movements.
You can also include core muscle exercises every day, to help with the balancing problem.
You could sign up for local Pilates classes - they are wonderful for the elongating type of exercises, core muscle strength and stretching too.
If you are traveling in hotels or in homes, and will have a restricted space, take a stretchy band. With the floor space required to sit, move into second position, or lie down and lift your legs to the front back and side, you can do slow leg raises with the band, and developpes with the band. This challenges your leg and core muscles.
If you are preparing for pointe work coming up in your next session of classes, use the stretchy band for foot strengthening. Sitting, legs stretched out in front, pointe your ankles but not your toes. Run the band behind your flexed toes, and stretch your toes long against the resistance of the band. You increase the resistance as you need, and work out all your foot and ankle muscles.
This is good for men in ballet too. Strengthening the feet means you will not be over working your calf muscles, which pinch-hit for the foot muscles when they are weak. This leads to strain and tension, which in turn decreases the ankle flexibility and the degree of point that you have.
Swimming is great for endurance - if you enjoy it, swim a lot.
Stay hydrated, and eat good whole food to keep those electrolytes up. Dehydration affects your muscles tone, your energy, your brain function and leads to retaining water. Real food provides minerals you can digest, avoid those sugary sports drinks with a couple of token minerals in them.
I hope this has given you some ideas as to how to enjoy your time off without feeling like it is a working vacation, and with no worry about staying in shape or how to keep your muscle tone.
Professional Footwork, Muscle Memory For Ballet, and Neural Pathways
Improve your ballet dancing and pointe work, and even your tennis footwork. Tennis players learn ballet to refine their professional footwork, too. By understanding the part of the foot in finely reflexive movement, you will prevent muscle exhaustion in the lower leg. Muscle memory will be precise, and your neural pathways will be well built for all that ballet traffic.
The finer details for strong pointe work starts in your first ballet classes, years before most students progress to dancing in pointe shoes. If you are an adult late starter in ballet, this information will help you get ahead. Here are some items to review that pertain to you building strength:
1. The foot bearing the body weight, on flat and in demi plie, in a tripod balance of between the ball of the foot, the point between the little toe and fourth toe, and the heel;
2. The intrinsic muscles of the foot being strengthened so as not to exhaust the calf and tibial (shin) muscles. This allows the foot muscles to be capable of, for example, pressing up to full pointe, pressing back down to demi pointe and back up to full pointe for at least 8 repetitions before getting exhausted. And in turn, this creates a controlled and soft descent from pointe into demi plie or flat.
3. Keeping the toes long in soft shoes and pointe shoes, not buckled;
4. Always having the ankles in a straight line, never sickling out the supporting feet for the curved line dancers like in a working foot;in other words always being on the center of the foot in demi pointe, and fully on the platforms of the pointe shoes;
5. Getting exactly the right fit and type of pointe shoes so the feet are not fighting the shoes: this includes toe levelers or spacers if needed. Avoid dancing in pain!
I have to mention that the correct postural plumb line and turnout must be maintained, or the foot and ankle muscles will be exhausted and over compensating, fighting for balance. So dancing ballet in pointe shoes is a full body workout!
Consider a healthy diet to support your training. Healthy fats and oils must not be avoided. Omega 6/omega 3 balance is vital. These oils naturally help strengthen cell membrane integrity, repair cellular and tissue damage, help optimize neurological transmission and brain function, help improve heart and circulatory function, and ( a wonderful bonus anyone would want) help produce supple, moist skin. These oils also help in lubricating joints, and are anti-inflammatory - the exerciser's dream food.
Developing correct muscle memory and neural pathways is like building the best software program for your computer. Safe and agile movements become automated. This means you are much less likely to injure yourself if you are dancing on a day when you are tired or distracted.
Whether learning classical ballet or tennis, you can excel in professional footwork by understanding your brain and your feet. You can learn how to improve any aspect of your training.
If you would like to learn more about healthy oils read here.
The finer details for strong pointe work starts in your first ballet classes, years before most students progress to dancing in pointe shoes. If you are an adult late starter in ballet, this information will help you get ahead. Here are some items to review that pertain to you building strength:
1. The foot bearing the body weight, on flat and in demi plie, in a tripod balance of between the ball of the foot, the point between the little toe and fourth toe, and the heel;
2. The intrinsic muscles of the foot being strengthened so as not to exhaust the calf and tibial (shin) muscles. This allows the foot muscles to be capable of, for example, pressing up to full pointe, pressing back down to demi pointe and back up to full pointe for at least 8 repetitions before getting exhausted. And in turn, this creates a controlled and soft descent from pointe into demi plie or flat.
3. Keeping the toes long in soft shoes and pointe shoes, not buckled;
4. Always having the ankles in a straight line, never sickling out the supporting feet for the curved line dancers like in a working foot;in other words always being on the center of the foot in demi pointe, and fully on the platforms of the pointe shoes;
5. Getting exactly the right fit and type of pointe shoes so the feet are not fighting the shoes: this includes toe levelers or spacers if needed. Avoid dancing in pain!
I have to mention that the correct postural plumb line and turnout must be maintained, or the foot and ankle muscles will be exhausted and over compensating, fighting for balance. So dancing ballet in pointe shoes is a full body workout!
Consider a healthy diet to support your training. Healthy fats and oils must not be avoided. Omega 6/omega 3 balance is vital. These oils naturally help strengthen cell membrane integrity, repair cellular and tissue damage, help optimize neurological transmission and brain function, help improve heart and circulatory function, and ( a wonderful bonus anyone would want) help produce supple, moist skin. These oils also help in lubricating joints, and are anti-inflammatory - the exerciser's dream food.
Developing correct muscle memory and neural pathways is like building the best software program for your computer. Safe and agile movements become automated. This means you are much less likely to injure yourself if you are dancing on a day when you are tired or distracted.
Whether learning classical ballet or tennis, you can excel in professional footwork by understanding your brain and your feet. You can learn how to improve any aspect of your training.
If you would like to learn more about healthy oils read here.
Parent Volunteers Can Help With Natural Stage Fright Before Ballet Recitals
Parent volunteers for ballet recitals are the support every ballet academy needs. Sewing tutus, dyeing pointe shoes, help in the dressing room with hair and makeup, are the many tasks that need to be done.
If your young ballerina, tap dancer or hip-hop performer starts to express more anxiety than excitement there are ways to help.
Firstly, you may be hearing expressions of natural stage fright, which almost everyone feels when the reality of opening night strikes - even if just for a few moments.
If you have a child that worries, let her/his teacher know that he/she needs encouragement as well as corrections. Remind your child of compliments regarding their dancing you may have overheard from the studio or stage area.
Some dance teachers like to provide each student with the music of their dances, so that they can practice mentally. When they are resting with their sore feet up at home, they can visualize and feel themselves performing, applying their corrections over and over. The earlier they learn this the better. It is a method that actually helps develop neural pathways and better performance. This is a great way to increase confidence, without getting exhausted, or spraining and straining muscles.
Having a couple of soft ice packs handy at home eases aches and pains.
For older children, remind them about good nutrition. While a lot of sugar can be a tranquilizer, it also weakens the muscles. And for many children sugar is an irritant and increases nervousness.
Fruit is a wonderful source of the minerals that get lost in excessive perspiring....and that, along with good water, is something that students can have with them during long rehearsal days. Replacing minerals and staying hydrated (frequent sips, don't wait until your throat is dry) also helps prevent muscle spasms.
Backstage volunteers can help by remaining cheerful and calm no matter what happens. If a child freezes up in the wings, deep breathing can remedy it. Practicing deep breathing is a good idea during staging rehearsals, while kids are in the wings waiting for their entrances.
Speaking of waiting... modern theaters are often chilly with air conditioning. Your child will need leg warmers, even sweats, to keep their muscles warm during the staging rehearsals.
Having them ready with everything they will need in the dressing room, with some Band Aids, a sewing kit, extra hair pins and nets - anything that could be suddenly required - will reassure a worrier that all angles are covered. Aside from that, it is a good professional habit to ingrain in aspiring dancers.
Natural stage fright turns into exhaltation when the performances are done and well received - and hopefully that won't wear off for a while. And parent volunteers get to share that with the joy of seeing their child close a year of hard work at the barre by getting to dance for you!
Click here for more advice on nutrition for dancers, The Ballet Bible, The Perfect Pointe Book, and ballet wear and pointe shoes.
Firstly, you may be hearing expressions of natural stage fright, which almost everyone feels when the reality of opening night strikes - even if just for a few moments.
If you have a child that worries, let her/his teacher know that he/she needs encouragement as well as corrections. Remind your child of compliments regarding their dancing you may have overheard from the studio or stage area.
Some dance teachers like to provide each student with the music of their dances, so that they can practice mentally. When they are resting with their sore feet up at home, they can visualize and feel themselves performing, applying their corrections over and over. The earlier they learn this the better. It is a method that actually helps develop neural pathways and better performance. This is a great way to increase confidence, without getting exhausted, or spraining and straining muscles.
Having a couple of soft ice packs handy at home eases aches and pains.
For older children, remind them about good nutrition. While a lot of sugar can be a tranquilizer, it also weakens the muscles. And for many children sugar is an irritant and increases nervousness.
Fruit is a wonderful source of the minerals that get lost in excessive perspiring....and that, along with good water, is something that students can have with them during long rehearsal days. Replacing minerals and staying hydrated (frequent sips, don't wait until your throat is dry) also helps prevent muscle spasms.
Backstage volunteers can help by remaining cheerful and calm no matter what happens. If a child freezes up in the wings, deep breathing can remedy it. Practicing deep breathing is a good idea during staging rehearsals, while kids are in the wings waiting for their entrances.
Speaking of waiting... modern theaters are often chilly with air conditioning. Your child will need leg warmers, even sweats, to keep their muscles warm during the staging rehearsals.
Having them ready with everything they will need in the dressing room, with some Band Aids, a sewing kit, extra hair pins and nets - anything that could be suddenly required - will reassure a worrier that all angles are covered. Aside from that, it is a good professional habit to ingrain in aspiring dancers.
Natural stage fright turns into exhaltation when the performances are done and well received - and hopefully that won't wear off for a while. And parent volunteers get to share that with the joy of seeing their child close a year of hard work at the barre by getting to dance for you!
Click here for more advice on nutrition for dancers, The Ballet Bible, The Perfect Pointe Book, and ballet wear and pointe shoes.
Learn To Dance Ballet And Eventually Start Pointe
Whether you are only interested in classical ballet, or other forms of dance like hip hop, modern and ballroom (there are many more!) it is best to learn some classical ballet technique.
People of both young and older ages dream that they might learn to dance ballet. They picture the tidy look of the black leotard, the pink tights and the satin pointe shoes. Hip hop, modern and ballroom dancers learn ballet technique to build strength and avoid injury. And some adults who start late work hard to eventually start pointe. Needing to understand basic classical ballet, is what they all have in common.
If you want to learn to dance ballet, start with finding a reputable dance studio. Many dance academies will allow you watch a class if you like.
The correct use of your posture, turn out and learning correct placement will help you to build strength and avoid injuries.
Even football players learn ballet to prevent sports injuries!
Simple ballet wear is preferred by teachers because they can see how you use your muscles (or not), and they can easily see how your joints are aligned. The visual result is important in ballet, but the proper technique is also related to preventing injuries.
The freer forms of dance depend on good technique as much or more than ballet, because dancers are asked to do more innovative and untested movements, repeatedly, in modern choreography. The risk of strain and sprain are less predictable.
Of you are an older student and a have a late start on ballet, have a couple of soft ice packs in the freezer! You will feel soreness and stiffness the day after your ballet class. Ice is soothing to your muscles, a drug free solution to the results of your exertion. Unless the ice pack is fabric covered, be careful not to put it on bare skin.
There are specific exercise routines with many of the finer details of technique, which will move you toward dancing in pointe shoes safely. Understanding your foot type, what the intrinsic foot muscles are, and finding out about the flexibility of your ankle and foot joints is important.
Also realize that any ballet move you do that is a little awkward will seem much more so on pointe, and must be corrected before you start pointe.
If you have time to study a little anatomy and movement mechanics you'll understand why some things are easier for you than others. You'll see the reasoning in many technical rules, the do's and don't's. It is designed for safety and step by step progress.
Safe stretching is another area you need to learn about. All dancers need flexibility, although all dance forms do not require that you have to do the splits, or close to the splits, to dance at a performance level.
If you want to learn to dance ballet, start where you are. Start early or start late. To get the most enjoyment out of your ballet or other style of dancing, be patient learning the basics. It may seem like a slow start, but all the elegance and beauty of ballet is present in the first steps, too.
A wealth of information can be found here.
If you want to learn to dance ballet, start with finding a reputable dance studio. Many dance academies will allow you watch a class if you like.
The correct use of your posture, turn out and learning correct placement will help you to build strength and avoid injuries.
Even football players learn ballet to prevent sports injuries!
Simple ballet wear is preferred by teachers because they can see how you use your muscles (or not), and they can easily see how your joints are aligned. The visual result is important in ballet, but the proper technique is also related to preventing injuries.
The freer forms of dance depend on good technique as much or more than ballet, because dancers are asked to do more innovative and untested movements, repeatedly, in modern choreography. The risk of strain and sprain are less predictable.
Of you are an older student and a have a late start on ballet, have a couple of soft ice packs in the freezer! You will feel soreness and stiffness the day after your ballet class. Ice is soothing to your muscles, a drug free solution to the results of your exertion. Unless the ice pack is fabric covered, be careful not to put it on bare skin.
There are specific exercise routines with many of the finer details of technique, which will move you toward dancing in pointe shoes safely. Understanding your foot type, what the intrinsic foot muscles are, and finding out about the flexibility of your ankle and foot joints is important.
Also realize that any ballet move you do that is a little awkward will seem much more so on pointe, and must be corrected before you start pointe.
If you have time to study a little anatomy and movement mechanics you'll understand why some things are easier for you than others. You'll see the reasoning in many technical rules, the do's and don't's. It is designed for safety and step by step progress.
Safe stretching is another area you need to learn about. All dancers need flexibility, although all dance forms do not require that you have to do the splits, or close to the splits, to dance at a performance level.
If you want to learn to dance ballet, start where you are. Start early or start late. To get the most enjoyment out of your ballet or other style of dancing, be patient learning the basics. It may seem like a slow start, but all the elegance and beauty of ballet is present in the first steps, too.
A wealth of information can be found here.
Common Misunderstandings About Ballet Stretches and Doing The Splits
I am flabbergasted at the misunderstandings being perpetuated about doing the splits. Ballet stretches taught properly help with muscle flexibility.
Ballet exercises in soft shoes and pointe shoes all require the correct posture and alignments. Doing the splits for a jete or a penche does not come naturally to many dancers. So how do they make it look right?
One of the biggest reliefs I had when I went from amateur to professional training was that hips do not have to be square in a derriere (behind you) position. Including doing the splits.
I started my training in the R.A.D. system. I had natural turnout. It looked great except when I did a tendu (French word for stretched) derriere. We had to keep our hips square. In more advanced classes the developpe to the back, and attitude positions still looked terribly turned in. Naturally the students would go for height, which opened our hip. Our teacher would correct our hips, placing them back to a square position, and both the height and turnout looked miserable.
When I got into classes taught by teachers from The National Ballet of Canada, I was elated to find I could open my working hip. The waist, upper back and shoulders had to stay square, but not the hips. I finally and instantly had a professional looking line in arabesque, attitude, etc. When I explained how I had been taught they said "no one can do that!"
Another absurdity is that some people will never do the splits due to hip deformity.
Doing the splits depends on overall hyper-mobility. Not only hamstrings and quads need to be extremely flexible, but your postural muscles, the iliopsoas, needs to be very flexible. Hyper-mobility of the joints is an extra blessing for doing the splits, but creates a lot of problems too.
A professional ballet dancer will do whatever it takes to get a good line in a split jete or penche. Those who cannot do the splits perfectly open the hip more, and sometimes slightly bend the leg so that their foot lines up with the hip, and even though the entire leg is not lined up, the illusion of the splits is seen.
The hard and fast rules of ballet technique are for safety - for prevention of dance injuries. Getting the right line allows for accommodations that skilled teachers know how to teach.
Stretch after your ballet exercises when you are warm. Relax your muscles first. Use a rubber ball to knead out the worst tension. Then stretch gently in correctly aligned positions. You will improve your muscle flexibility, and you may end up doing the splits. But if you never do, it is not going to kill a dance career.
One of the biggest reliefs I had when I went from amateur to professional training was that hips do not have to be square in a derriere (behind you) position. Including doing the splits.
I started my training in the R.A.D. system. I had natural turnout. It looked great except when I did a tendu (French word for stretched) derriere. We had to keep our hips square. In more advanced classes the developpe to the back, and attitude positions still looked terribly turned in. Naturally the students would go for height, which opened our hip. Our teacher would correct our hips, placing them back to a square position, and both the height and turnout looked miserable.
When I got into classes taught by teachers from The National Ballet of Canada, I was elated to find I could open my working hip. The waist, upper back and shoulders had to stay square, but not the hips. I finally and instantly had a professional looking line in arabesque, attitude, etc. When I explained how I had been taught they said "no one can do that!"
Another absurdity is that some people will never do the splits due to hip deformity.
Doing the splits depends on overall hyper-mobility. Not only hamstrings and quads need to be extremely flexible, but your postural muscles, the iliopsoas, needs to be very flexible. Hyper-mobility of the joints is an extra blessing for doing the splits, but creates a lot of problems too.
A professional ballet dancer will do whatever it takes to get a good line in a split jete or penche. Those who cannot do the splits perfectly open the hip more, and sometimes slightly bend the leg so that their foot lines up with the hip, and even though the entire leg is not lined up, the illusion of the splits is seen.
The hard and fast rules of ballet technique are for safety - for prevention of dance injuries. Getting the right line allows for accommodations that skilled teachers know how to teach.
Stretch after your ballet exercises when you are warm. Relax your muscles first. Use a rubber ball to knead out the worst tension. Then stretch gently in correctly aligned positions. You will improve your muscle flexibility, and you may end up doing the splits. But if you never do, it is not going to kill a dance career.
Productive Routines - A Step By Step Approach To Pointe Work
Whether you are a beginner in ballet classes and you are under ten years old, or a young adult beginner, you can start some clever planning to achieve your goal of dancing in pointe shoes.
Productive routines done at home, with a step by step approach, will help you build strength for all aspects of your ballet technique.
Anything that enhances the strength and accuracy of your ballet technique will get you closer to doing pointe work, if you are a female, and get you closer to the male virtuoso steps if you are a male.
If you are over about 12 years old and have been doing ballet for three years or more, it will also help you get towards classes on pointe faster.
If you are under 12, there is no rush. You need to grow, and there are a zillion finer details to work on in the meantime.
However, you can begin learning as soon as you can read! There are foot muscles to learn about, and posture, and turnout.
There are "flexers" and "extensors" and "rotators".
There are foods that help you grow and there are foods that weaken your muscles instantly! (sugars, and various chemicals in foods).
There are French words for ballet to learn.
There are ways to learn to relax and stretch, ways to warm up, and ways to ice and rest exhausted muscles (while you are watching your favorite ballet movies) .
Be optimistic and excited, but be methodical too. The way has been prepared for you by many teachers who have shared their expertise with books, videos, and excellent practice regimens.
I have seen students with the ideal ballet physique, good stage looks, the money to study, ("born to dance") and yet poor ability to concentrate. They are more likely to get injured and lose time. Or, they just cannot absorb the many details and keep up with the demands of ballet training.
Thus, students who seem less talented at first, but who can work well, gain consistently.
A step by step approach and clever planning, will result in productive routines that will advance you better, perhaps faster, and more safely.
Anything that enhances the strength and accuracy of your ballet technique will get you closer to doing pointe work, if you are a female, and get you closer to the male virtuoso steps if you are a male.
If you are over about 12 years old and have been doing ballet for three years or more, it will also help you get towards classes on pointe faster.
If you are under 12, there is no rush. You need to grow, and there are a zillion finer details to work on in the meantime.
However, you can begin learning as soon as you can read! There are foot muscles to learn about, and posture, and turnout.
There are "flexers" and "extensors" and "rotators".
There are foods that help you grow and there are foods that weaken your muscles instantly! (sugars, and various chemicals in foods).
There are French words for ballet to learn.
There are ways to learn to relax and stretch, ways to warm up, and ways to ice and rest exhausted muscles (while you are watching your favorite ballet movies) .
Be optimistic and excited, but be methodical too. The way has been prepared for you by many teachers who have shared their expertise with books, videos, and excellent practice regimens.
I have seen students with the ideal ballet physique, good stage looks, the money to study, ("born to dance") and yet poor ability to concentrate. They are more likely to get injured and lose time. Or, they just cannot absorb the many details and keep up with the demands of ballet training.
Thus, students who seem less talented at first, but who can work well, gain consistently.
A step by step approach and clever planning, will result in productive routines that will advance you better, perhaps faster, and more safely.
Your Self-Assurance In Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes - And How To Build Confidence
Ballet training is rigorous, exacting, and the finer details of technique all count. Keeping up your self-assurance is challenging.
Things that are wrong about what you are doing in your ballet training are mentioned repeatedly. Most teachers want to help their students build confidence. Ballet students worry about their progress, their pointe shoes, their ballet wear, and how they compare to everyone else.
How do you know you are doing things right in ballet class? You count on being told if you are doing something wrong. Not that all teachers correct everyone, every class. Most teachers do, or try their best to, but some do not.
You want your teacher to correct you. And you get corrected. It is all about what is wrong. You want to show up in the right ballet shoes and pointe shoes, in the right ballet wear, and you want to measure up to all that is expected.
Some students are fine with this. Maybe their self-assurance is a given. Maybe they do not aspire to a ballet career, and they just enjoy doing their best.
However, if you are seriously dedicated to becoming professional, it can be discouraging.
The demands of ballet technique encourages self-criticism. But being aware of your particular technical weaknesses is different from nagging and criticizing yourself. Awareness is helpful, and self-criticism is not. Once it becomes a habit it takes on a life of its own.
Knowing what your body is capable of, right now, and in the long run, is important. The purpose of good training is to teach you what the ideal is, and how to compensate safely, yet aesthetically, for what you do that is less than ideal. Not all teachers are trained for this.
If you are not in a big city with many studios to choose from, do not despair. The information about ballet training that used to be available only by being in a particular teacher's studio, is now more widely accessed. Not that a book or video can replace excellent classes, I am not saying that.
If you need a boost in self-assurance, and need to build confidence, get all the information you can. From your teachers, and from other sources too. And it is okay to KNOW that there are some things you do very well.
The Ballet Bible is a guide that will show you how to improve your ballet technique, ballet movements, and ballet positions.
How do you know you are doing things right in ballet class? You count on being told if you are doing something wrong. Not that all teachers correct everyone, every class. Most teachers do, or try their best to, but some do not.
You want your teacher to correct you. And you get corrected. It is all about what is wrong. You want to show up in the right ballet shoes and pointe shoes, in the right ballet wear, and you want to measure up to all that is expected.
Some students are fine with this. Maybe their self-assurance is a given. Maybe they do not aspire to a ballet career, and they just enjoy doing their best.
However, if you are seriously dedicated to becoming professional, it can be discouraging.
The demands of ballet technique encourages self-criticism. But being aware of your particular technical weaknesses is different from nagging and criticizing yourself. Awareness is helpful, and self-criticism is not. Once it becomes a habit it takes on a life of its own.
Knowing what your body is capable of, right now, and in the long run, is important. The purpose of good training is to teach you what the ideal is, and how to compensate safely, yet aesthetically, for what you do that is less than ideal. Not all teachers are trained for this.
If you are not in a big city with many studios to choose from, do not despair. The information about ballet training that used to be available only by being in a particular teacher's studio, is now more widely accessed. Not that a book or video can replace excellent classes, I am not saying that.
If you need a boost in self-assurance, and need to build confidence, get all the information you can. From your teachers, and from other sources too. And it is okay to KNOW that there are some things you do very well.
The Ballet Bible is a guide that will show you how to improve your ballet technique, ballet movements, and ballet positions.
How Can I Improve The Basics of Ballet Exercises and Build Strength For Pointe Shoes?
The basics of ballet exercises begin with posture, turnout, and flexibility.
While being able to sit in the splits is not a prerequisite to advancing in ballet, enough flexibility to stand with a neutral spine is an advantage. And what does that have to do with the finer details of ballet technique that lead to dancing in pointe shoes?
Whether you are a younger beginner or an adult beginner, being able to self-assess your posture gives you a place to start learning technique from.
Standing sideways to a mirror, lift your chest a little, breathe easily, and notice how you stand. Look to see if your shoulders are relaxed to the side of your torso, as opposed to resting forwards.
If your shoulders do rest a little forward, here is a very easy stretch. Commonly called the doorway stretch - stand in a doorway. See if you can raise your arms so your elbows are shoulder level, and your forearms are raised upwards at a 90 degree angle to your upper arms. With your palms facing forwards, can you press your forearms into the door jamb on either side? If not, you will stretch one side at a time.
So, pressing either both or one forearm into the door jamb, lean forward until you feel a stretch across your chest. Just stretch gently, holding for 10 seconds, and releasing. You can do this several times a day - whenever you walk through a doorway! Gradually you will see that your shoulders will relax more towards the side, in line with the plane your ears occupy.
The lower part of your posture is your pelvis. If you have equal flexibility in your quads, or front thigh muscles, and hamstrings, on the back of your thighs, and also your postural abdominal muscles, your pelvis should rest in a "neutral" position. This means it is not pulled into a tilt in either direction due to tight muscles. Therefore your back does not sway, increasing the curve at the back of your waist, nor does the pelvis tilt back, pulling the natural curve into a straight line.
So flexibility affects posture. Just this one detail of many finer details is your starting point. Your posture, dancing in point shoes, is going to be exactly how you are standing now. For this reason you want to build strength from a correct posture. "...so how can I improve the basics of..." starts with this.
Go here for the finer details with photos and videos. Become your own expert!
Whether you are a younger beginner or an adult beginner, being able to self-assess your posture gives you a place to start learning technique from.
Standing sideways to a mirror, lift your chest a little, breathe easily, and notice how you stand. Look to see if your shoulders are relaxed to the side of your torso, as opposed to resting forwards.
If your shoulders do rest a little forward, here is a very easy stretch. Commonly called the doorway stretch - stand in a doorway. See if you can raise your arms so your elbows are shoulder level, and your forearms are raised upwards at a 90 degree angle to your upper arms. With your palms facing forwards, can you press your forearms into the door jamb on either side? If not, you will stretch one side at a time.
So, pressing either both or one forearm into the door jamb, lean forward until you feel a stretch across your chest. Just stretch gently, holding for 10 seconds, and releasing. You can do this several times a day - whenever you walk through a doorway! Gradually you will see that your shoulders will relax more towards the side, in line with the plane your ears occupy.
The lower part of your posture is your pelvis. If you have equal flexibility in your quads, or front thigh muscles, and hamstrings, on the back of your thighs, and also your postural abdominal muscles, your pelvis should rest in a "neutral" position. This means it is not pulled into a tilt in either direction due to tight muscles. Therefore your back does not sway, increasing the curve at the back of your waist, nor does the pelvis tilt back, pulling the natural curve into a straight line.
So flexibility affects posture. Just this one detail of many finer details is your starting point. Your posture, dancing in point shoes, is going to be exactly how you are standing now. For this reason you want to build strength from a correct posture. "...so how can I improve the basics of..." starts with this.
Go here for the finer details with photos and videos. Become your own expert!
7 Highly Effective Habits In Ballet Training
Guide To Developing Productive Training Habits
7 Highly Effective Habits In Ballet Training
A key area of dancing for females is pointe work, and a key area for males is jumping. In early training, there are 7 highly effective habits that will contribute to excellence in both these areas.
***First, education re physical attributes and shortcomings. Every dancer would like to have long and stretchy Achilles tendons, and flexible ankles. These 2 advantages provide the biggest movement between the bottom of a demi-plie and the take-off point of a releve or jump. One of the dancers I know had a very shallow demi-plie. Yet, she had very flexible ankles and a high arch, and this gave her the thrust to jump very high.
***Second, technical education. Understanding of the ideal movements and resulting positions can be obtained from an educated teacher, books, and the many DVD's available to all through internet stores. There is no restriction on our access to information.
***Third, a teacher with decent credentials, and who has the required habit of demanding correctness in class. This is a variable, and inexperienced teachers do not realize how often they are going to repeat the same correction over the years of training, to the same students.
***Fourth, knowing that there is cross-training that will help you compensate for your physical shortcomings.To increase flexibility, there is Pilates, massage, or Yoga. For more strength, Pilates, and weight training will help.
***Fifth, hunger for details - make a habit of curiosity. Studying anatomy and kinesiology is a plus. (I know you already have homework or a job, or family obligations, but hey, if you are serious about dance, all this is just more fun, right?)
***Sixth, coordinating the knowledge of your physiology, and how you compensate detrimentally to get the deepest demi-plie and best take-off that you can, and compensate more with cross-training and less with bad habits. It's a life-long process, don't get discouraged.
***Seven, an appreciation of your uniqueness, talents, intelligence, and determination. There is always an invitation to doubt yourself, envy others' talents, and waste time thinking negative thoughts.
Proper rest and good nutrition have a lot to do with #7. Body and brain fatigue, and nutritional deficiencies are related to mood. Be curious. Get the information you need.
These 7 highly effective habits are the tip of the icebergs. They are a guide to use until you develop your own unique training patterns.
A key area of dancing for females is pointe work, and a key area for males is jumping. In early training, there are 7 highly effective habits that will contribute to excellence in both these areas.
***First, education re physical attributes and shortcomings. Every dancer would like to have long and stretchy Achilles tendons, and flexible ankles. These 2 advantages provide the biggest movement between the bottom of a demi-plie and the take-off point of a releve or jump. One of the dancers I know had a very shallow demi-plie. Yet, she had very flexible ankles and a high arch, and this gave her the thrust to jump very high.
***Second, technical education. Understanding of the ideal movements and resulting positions can be obtained from an educated teacher, books, and the many DVD's available to all through internet stores. There is no restriction on our access to information.
***Third, a teacher with decent credentials, and who has the required habit of demanding correctness in class. This is a variable, and inexperienced teachers do not realize how often they are going to repeat the same correction over the years of training, to the same students.
***Fourth, knowing that there is cross-training that will help you compensate for your physical shortcomings.To increase flexibility, there is Pilates, massage, or Yoga. For more strength, Pilates, and weight training will help.
***Fifth, hunger for details - make a habit of curiosity. Studying anatomy and kinesiology is a plus. (I know you already have homework or a job, or family obligations, but hey, if you are serious about dance, all this is just more fun, right?)
***Sixth, coordinating the knowledge of your physiology, and how you compensate detrimentally to get the deepest demi-plie and best take-off that you can, and compensate more with cross-training and less with bad habits. It's a life-long process, don't get discouraged.
***Seven, an appreciation of your uniqueness, talents, intelligence, and determination. There is always an invitation to doubt yourself, envy others' talents, and waste time thinking negative thoughts.
Proper rest and good nutrition have a lot to do with #7. Body and brain fatigue, and nutritional deficiencies are related to mood. Be curious. Get the information you need.
These 7 highly effective habits are the tip of the icebergs. They are a guide to use until you develop your own unique training patterns.
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- driewe driewe Feb 11, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
- great lens, 5 stars and favorite
http://www.squidoo.com/ballet-performance
Links For Dancers and Other Athletes
Dancers and all athletes have much in common - health, movement techniques, avoiding injury, better rehabilitation and more.
- Tennis Is Dance
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- A Dancer Deserves To Be Painted
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by dianbee
Dianne M. Buxton writes about classical ballet technique, ballet shoes and pointe shoes and professional tips and tricks to dancing ballet better.
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