Correct and elegant ballet arm positions depend on correct spinal posture, correct hold on the turnout, and correct placement of feet on the floor (and knee positions, if you are hyper-extended). It sounds complex, but ballet body posture is natural and allows for relaxed movements of the neck, head and arms. Following are a few tips so that you know how to improve.
When you, especially if you are an adult beginner, learn ballet, there is a lot of information to absorb about basic positions.
The basics of ballet exercises begin with posture, turnout, and flexibility. Having enough flexibility to stand with a neutral spine is an advantage.
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.
Pressing your 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.
Next check the posture of 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.
If your hard work in ballet classes builds strength from correct posture, chances are that you will have elegant ballet arm positions that will improve your technique.
Ballet is an art form that increases the magical and imaginative dimension of life. Understanding how to learn ballet brings you real physical results. It's your journey, it's your dance. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label improve ballet technique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label improve ballet technique. Show all posts
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, September 6, 2009
How To Improve Your Ballet Technique, Avoid Ballet Injuries and Eventual Arthritis
The traditional ballet conservatory training usually combines a syllabus training (Cecchetti, Royal Academy of Dancing, Vaganova) with the talent of world class retired ballerinas and male dancers. This provides ballet technique that trains each dancer to improve their ballet technique according to their unique physique and talent. How can the recreational dancer, adult ballet beginner or cheer leader student tap into this information in order to avoid ballet injuries and eventual arthritis?
The fastest way to improve your ballet technique, no matter what style of dance your ballet conservatory teaches, is to learn what is anatomically correct and what is not.
You can improve your turnout by understanding the type of hip joints you have. You can also learn which muscles actually hold your turnout, and which muscles support your correct ballet technique and traditional ballet positions. Cheerleaders and even football pros use turnout in their movements and learning it correctly can prevent sprained and torn knee joints.
Analysing Arabesque for example, requires that you understand moving from an upright position of the spine, to a tilted, correctly twisted position of the lumbar (low back) spine. Even if you have 180 degree turnout from your hips, a high arabesque will demand the twist of the low back/pelvis to achieve a professional line. Different dance styles will determine the details of your line, as in some arm placement (square shoulders or not, etc.,) and yet correct ballet technique will allow the dancer to adapt to many choreographic styles.
Also, understanding a proper arabesque ballet position helps you stretch properly to do the splits.
Understanding foot types, foot muscles, and how to strengthen AND relax lower leg and foot muscles will help prepare you for dancing ballet in pointe shoes, regardless of your dance training style. Cheerleaders included - you may not aspire to dance in pointe shoes, but foot/lower leg control will improve your balance and help you avoid the most common ballet/sports/fitness injury - sprained ankles.
It's amazing that x-rays dancers in their twenties can show arthritis in foot joints, knee joints and joints of the low back, neck and shoulders. Certain ballet training styles sprain and strain joints to perpetuate the tradition. Ballet conservatories understand this, and their audition processes attempt to screen out the physiques that will sustain too much damage to finish the training. The better funded academies have added anatomy classes and physical therapists to their programs to diminish this accepted professional hazard.
Now any ballet student or cheer leading student can get the same information! No matter how out of the way your ballet school is! If you have no money to spend, there are many free articles to read on the internet, and many ballet books in your local library.
It's open access to anyone who will search and benefit from the wealth of information on how to improve your ballet technique.
Learn how to IMPROVE YOUR BALLET TECHNIQUE,with products from The Body Series. These educational books and DVDs cover anatomy, ballet turnout, analysing arabesque, muscle tension release and much more!
The fastest way to improve your ballet technique, no matter what style of dance your ballet conservatory teaches, is to learn what is anatomically correct and what is not.
You can improve your turnout by understanding the type of hip joints you have. You can also learn which muscles actually hold your turnout, and which muscles support your correct ballet technique and traditional ballet positions. Cheerleaders and even football pros use turnout in their movements and learning it correctly can prevent sprained and torn knee joints.
Analysing Arabesque for example, requires that you understand moving from an upright position of the spine, to a tilted, correctly twisted position of the lumbar (low back) spine. Even if you have 180 degree turnout from your hips, a high arabesque will demand the twist of the low back/pelvis to achieve a professional line. Different dance styles will determine the details of your line, as in some arm placement (square shoulders or not, etc.,) and yet correct ballet technique will allow the dancer to adapt to many choreographic styles.
Also, understanding a proper arabesque ballet position helps you stretch properly to do the splits.
Understanding foot types, foot muscles, and how to strengthen AND relax lower leg and foot muscles will help prepare you for dancing ballet in pointe shoes, regardless of your dance training style. Cheerleaders included - you may not aspire to dance in pointe shoes, but foot/lower leg control will improve your balance and help you avoid the most common ballet/sports/fitness injury - sprained ankles.
It's amazing that x-rays dancers in their twenties can show arthritis in foot joints, knee joints and joints of the low back, neck and shoulders. Certain ballet training styles sprain and strain joints to perpetuate the tradition. Ballet conservatories understand this, and their audition processes attempt to screen out the physiques that will sustain too much damage to finish the training. The better funded academies have added anatomy classes and physical therapists to their programs to diminish this accepted professional hazard.
Now any ballet student or cheer leading student can get the same information! No matter how out of the way your ballet school is! If you have no money to spend, there are many free articles to read on the internet, and many ballet books in your local library.
It's open access to anyone who will search and benefit from the wealth of information on how to improve your ballet technique.
Learn how to IMPROVE YOUR BALLET TECHNIQUE,with products from The Body Series. These educational books and DVDs cover anatomy, ballet turnout, analysing arabesque, muscle tension release and much more!
Monday, December 3, 2007
7 Additional Effective Habits To Improve Ballet Technique
How would you like a short list of dance training tips to help you improve ballet technique for pointe or pre-pointe.
Every exercise you do up until you get into pointe shoes, is basically pre-pointe.
However, using the term to focus on the basics that will help you work well in pointe shoes, is how we currently emphasize that there IS a regimen for improving your strength build-up towards pointe work.
For boys, these exercises will improve your technique too.And for all, they will improve your footwork and allegro.
Check your postural plumb line when doing your first demi plie of the class. Your postural plumb line is the line that goes straight down through your body, through the curve of your spine and your other natural shapes.
Also called "neutral spine", when you are not straining to straighten the spine, nor are you slacking in your ab muscles, and curving excessively at the at back of the waist,
Check your turnout.
Turn out as much as you can from your rotator muscles in the back of your pelvis. Your feet should be turned out as much as your thighs are, but not more to the degree that they pronate (rolling the front of the ankles toward the floor), or tense excessively, under the arches and toes.
Ballet is not anatomically correct. The fact that you will ultimately have to produce a "heel to toe" fifth position (as viewed from the audience, if you get my drift), does not mean you should be doing that in early training.
Move your head easily from side to side. Check that your neck is relaxed, and your shoulders move easily with your breathing. You should not press your shoulders down to compensate for a non-neutral spine, feet not completely contacting the floor, or anything else indicating that you are off balance.
You should not have to press your shoulders down to hide the fact that they are constantly pulling up from effort. If this happens, you need to work on your abdominal and back "core" muscles, and your turnout and thigh muscles, so your shoulders can stop working.
You may need to be in a more basic class.
During your plie exercise, note that your arm can move without the shoulders following. In other words, the shoulder joint is free, and your shoulders and arms are not working to hold your balance in any way.
More important than many would think, is the focus of your eyes.
When you look ahead, look at something and be aware of what you are looking at.
When you incline your head, look at something. Your attention to the environment is necessary. A class or a stage can be a busy place!
You must be able to focus and see what is around you even when you are concentrating on your own movement. You also must seem, to an audience, that you are focusing outward, to them, even in moments when you are not, and even when you cannot see them.
Check that you are holding the barre lightly. Place your hand on the barre and use a slight pressure down when you feel your balance shifting. Gripping constantly tells you one thing - you cannot do what you are trying to do!
You need to cut back to an easier version of the exercise and practice.
You may need to increase your ab and back exercises. Ask your teacher for help. Teachers don't see everything in class, no matter how hard they may try.
If you are altering ANYTHING at the depth of your grande plie, or during the first inch coming up out of it, you need to find what is weak. As soon as your heels come off the floor, start watching and feeling. Have a friend help too.
If it just a matter of strength at the bottom of the plie, do shallower grande plies for a few classes.
Tell your teacher you are trying to improve this way, and that you are deepening your plie little by little, so as not to lose posture or turnout, whichever it is.
If you are among boys in ballet and you've noticed the girls talking excitedly about new pre-pointe regimens, pay attention!
All those exercises and assessments in The Perfect Pointe Book are perfect for men in ballet too.
The strength and finesse of foot work is just as necessary for you. Your jumps, your landings, controlling your descent from multiple turns, will have that cat-like quality if you develop your feet as you would for pointe work.
Every exercise you do up until you get into pointe shoes, is basically pre-pointe.
 |
| source. |
However, using the term to focus on the basics that will help you work well in pointe shoes, is how we currently emphasize that there IS a regimen for improving your strength build-up towards pointe work.
For boys, these exercises will improve your technique too.And for all, they will improve your footwork and allegro.
Ballet - Basic Moves
Check your postural plumb line when doing your first demi plie of the class. Your postural plumb line is the line that goes straight down through your body, through the curve of your spine and your other natural shapes.
Also called "neutral spine", when you are not straining to straighten the spine, nor are you slacking in your ab muscles, and curving excessively at the at back of the waist,
Check your turnout.
Turn out as much as you can from your rotator muscles in the back of your pelvis. Your feet should be turned out as much as your thighs are, but not more to the degree that they pronate (rolling the front of the ankles toward the floor), or tense excessively, under the arches and toes.
Ballet is not anatomically correct. The fact that you will ultimately have to produce a "heel to toe" fifth position (as viewed from the audience, if you get my drift), does not mean you should be doing that in early training.
Move your head easily from side to side. Check that your neck is relaxed, and your shoulders move easily with your breathing. You should not press your shoulders down to compensate for a non-neutral spine, feet not completely contacting the floor, or anything else indicating that you are off balance.
You should not have to press your shoulders down to hide the fact that they are constantly pulling up from effort. If this happens, you need to work on your abdominal and back "core" muscles, and your turnout and thigh muscles, so your shoulders can stop working.
You may need to be in a more basic class.
During your plie exercise, note that your arm can move without the shoulders following. In other words, the shoulder joint is free, and your shoulders and arms are not working to hold your balance in any way.
More important than many would think, is the focus of your eyes.
When you look ahead, look at something and be aware of what you are looking at.
When you incline your head, look at something. Your attention to the environment is necessary. A class or a stage can be a busy place!
You must be able to focus and see what is around you even when you are concentrating on your own movement. You also must seem, to an audience, that you are focusing outward, to them, even in moments when you are not, and even when you cannot see them.
Check that you are holding the barre lightly. Place your hand on the barre and use a slight pressure down when you feel your balance shifting. Gripping constantly tells you one thing - you cannot do what you are trying to do!
You need to cut back to an easier version of the exercise and practice.
You may need to increase your ab and back exercises. Ask your teacher for help. Teachers don't see everything in class, no matter how hard they may try.
If you are altering ANYTHING at the depth of your grande plie, or during the first inch coming up out of it, you need to find what is weak. As soon as your heels come off the floor, start watching and feeling. Have a friend help too.
If it just a matter of strength at the bottom of the plie, do shallower grande plies for a few classes.
Tell your teacher you are trying to improve this way, and that you are deepening your plie little by little, so as not to lose posture or turnout, whichever it is.
If you are among boys in ballet and you've noticed the girls talking excitedly about new pre-pointe regimens, pay attention!
All those exercises and assessments in The Perfect Pointe Book are perfect for men in ballet too.
The strength and finesse of foot work is just as necessary for you. Your jumps, your landings, controlling your descent from multiple turns, will have that cat-like quality if you develop your feet as you would for pointe work.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
7 Highly Effective Tips for Fouettes To Improve Ballet Technique
Get a highly detailed home study manual to improve ballet technique, which will make all this easier.
Traveling, in a series of pirouettes,ballet fouettes, or turns a la seconde, is a problem of strength holding the postural plumb line. If the movement is not perfectly vertical, the turns will travel and flounder.
Here are 7 highly effective tips to examine your technique for fouettes and turns a la seconde:
Standing sideways to a mirror, do a few press ups in first position. Do you have a postural plumb line? If your core muscles, your turnout, your ankles and soles of the foot are steady, also check to see that these movements are done with no strain in the shoulders and neck.
Core Muscles Strength
With fingertips on the barre, do slow motion press ups and down in retire, or a la seconde. If you can do this without strain in the neck and shoulders, great. If there is strain, you need to build up strength in your core muscles, and possibly overall. If a postural deviation from your plumb line shows up here, check for technical accuracy.
Compensations/Counter Compensations
What specific technical accuracy? The basics, always. Is your turnout strong, or have you compensated by shoving your supporting heel forward when you plie, changing your center of balance?
Are you dropping your weight back in the bottom of the demi plie? A shorter demi plie is not a bad thing.
What counts is being in good posture in your demi plie so that you can press with your heel/foot, into the floor, and use gravity to push up, without having to make another compensation to rise into a straight position.
It's a lot more work to keep all these compensations/counter-compensations going.
Patience!
Spend several weeks if necessary, to address the above issues, until you can do rises and releves with correct posture and placement. Learn some Pilates core work, and stretch and relax all your muscles, before, during and after class.
Spotting/Inclined Head
To check your spotting, walk on the spot, turning as far as you can toward a quarter turn, leaving your head to the front. I don't specifiy exactly how far you should turn, because this depends on the extent your head will turn without inclining.
Memorize this feeling and this head position. This is just to feel the looseness of your neck muscles in leaving your head behind.
Repeat this exercise in retire or a la seconde. Use a partner, to hold the hand of your supporting side as you turn away from the front. Again, this is to check the neck (and shoulders) relaxation as you releve, and to check your postural plumb line in the position of your turn, and your demi plie. (We haven't dealt with fouette yet).
For fouettes, use a partner in the center, to do your demi plie with the leg extended devant, and then do a slow motion press up with the ronde de jambe and into retire, turning a little.
This is to again check the postural plumb line, correct demi plie, and ease of the neck in leaving the head behind.
This whole process may take place over a whole year. You will be doing your pirouettes, fouettes and turns a la seconde all the time. But as you gain strength, and learn to see and feel those tiny compensations you have been doing, you will build excellent work habits for these spectacular feats.
Ballet is much harder to do incorrectly. If your early training wasn't the best, you can back-peddle like this to improve ballet technique in your advanced levels.
For any overworked muscles use an ice pack at least twice a day. An arnica cream or BioFreeze is wonderful for soft tissue repair. Apply after icing.
So save yourself time and over-exertion. Get The Perfect Pointe Book if you need to re-learn more ballet technique moves.
Traveling, in a series of pirouettes,ballet fouettes, or turns a la seconde, is a problem of strength holding the postural plumb line. If the movement is not perfectly vertical, the turns will travel and flounder.
 |
| source. |
Here are 7 highly effective tips to examine your technique for fouettes and turns a la seconde:
Postural Plumb Line
Standing sideways to a mirror, do a few press ups in first position. Do you have a postural plumb line? If your core muscles, your turnout, your ankles and soles of the foot are steady, also check to see that these movements are done with no strain in the shoulders and neck.
Core Muscles Strength
With fingertips on the barre, do slow motion press ups and down in retire, or a la seconde. If you can do this without strain in the neck and shoulders, great. If there is strain, you need to build up strength in your core muscles, and possibly overall. If a postural deviation from your plumb line shows up here, check for technical accuracy.
Compensations/Counter Compensations
What specific technical accuracy? The basics, always. Is your turnout strong, or have you compensated by shoving your supporting heel forward when you plie, changing your center of balance?
Are you dropping your weight back in the bottom of the demi plie? A shorter demi plie is not a bad thing.
What counts is being in good posture in your demi plie so that you can press with your heel/foot, into the floor, and use gravity to push up, without having to make another compensation to rise into a straight position.
It's a lot more work to keep all these compensations/counter-compensations going.
Patience!
Spend several weeks if necessary, to address the above issues, until you can do rises and releves with correct posture and placement. Learn some Pilates core work, and stretch and relax all your muscles, before, during and after class.
Spotting/Inclined Head
To check your spotting, walk on the spot, turning as far as you can toward a quarter turn, leaving your head to the front. I don't specifiy exactly how far you should turn, because this depends on the extent your head will turn without inclining.
Memorize this feeling and this head position. This is just to feel the looseness of your neck muscles in leaving your head behind.
Rinse And Repeat
Repeat this exercise in retire or a la seconde. Use a partner, to hold the hand of your supporting side as you turn away from the front. Again, this is to check the neck (and shoulders) relaxation as you releve, and to check your postural plumb line in the position of your turn, and your demi plie. (We haven't dealt with fouette yet).
Fouettes
For fouettes, use a partner in the center, to do your demi plie with the leg extended devant, and then do a slow motion press up with the ronde de jambe and into retire, turning a little.
This is to again check the postural plumb line, correct demi plie, and ease of the neck in leaving the head behind.
This whole process may take place over a whole year. You will be doing your pirouettes, fouettes and turns a la seconde all the time. But as you gain strength, and learn to see and feel those tiny compensations you have been doing, you will build excellent work habits for these spectacular feats.
Ballet is much harder to do incorrectly. If your early training wasn't the best, you can back-peddle like this to improve ballet technique in your advanced levels.
For any overworked muscles use an ice pack at least twice a day. An arnica cream or BioFreeze is wonderful for soft tissue repair. Apply after icing.
So save yourself time and over-exertion. Get The Perfect Pointe Book if you need to re-learn more ballet technique moves.
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