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5 Essential Ballet Tips to Improve Your Technique

Ballet /

Introduction

Whether you’re an aspiring young dancer or taking up Ballet for fun, one thing is certain – you already know it takes hard work and dedication!  You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t.   If you want to take your ballet technique to the next level no matter your level or age, focus on the following 5 key areas for good results:

  1. Improving turn out.
  2. Efficient posture and alignment.
  3. Conditioning.
  4. Strength training.
  5. Flexibility.

I will be creating a RAISE THE BARRE: Improve technique series delving into EACH of these elements separately but here are some tips to get you started.  Keep an eye out for future articles and valuable tips! 

1. Improving Turn Out

  • Don’t force it! 

As a dancer and teacher I realise how tempting it is to push the feet open to max turn out and then hold it by gripping your feet on the floor.  DON’T DO THIS!  You are allowing negative movement patterns and creating unnecessary strain on the ankles, knees and hips.  This will cause muscles like the quadriceps to overdevelop due to the misalignment of the pelvis.  It’s paramount to keep working at your maximum turnout in static and dynamic movement WHILE maintaining correct alignment.

  • Placement first.

At first, focus on your natural turn out and maintain alignment through the toes to the knee.   As you improve strength by following these exercises you can work for improved turnout without sacrificing placement.

Exercise:  Lie on your back with your pelvis in neutral (there must be a small gap between your lower back and the floor).  Straighten knees and keep them parallel.  Now keeping your right foot on the floor, draw your knee up until your right foot is placed next to your knee.  Open up your right knee as much as you can without moving your hip bones.  Keeping your foot on the floor, push your foot down but retain as much turn out in the hip as you can.  This can also be done with a resistance band around the knee. 

2. Efficient Posture and Alignment

  • Plumb line

Ever heard of the plumb line?  It’s a piece of string with a weight attached to the bottom.  When you look at the body from the side, back or front, it should be aligned.  For example, looking sideways, your ear, shoulder, hip bone, knee and ankle should be in a straight line.  Combining this with energy forces, dancers apply this to every position we find ourselves in.  In pirouette position:  body is in a straight line from the ball of the foot through to the head.  We also focus on opposing energy forces through the body – lifting the abdominals up and pushing the relevé into the floor.

  • Neutral pelvis

Neutral spine follows the three natural curves of the spine.  See the video below to find your neutral pelvis placing.  Why is this important?  When you ‘tuck’ your glutes you actually limit the movement in the hip joint and prevent your spine from lengthening as much as you can.  By embracing and working from neutral pelvis you are able to engage the abdominals more efficiently and create tension free movement.

Exercise:  The lower abdominals and pelvic floor are the key muscles to strengthen here.   The classic pilates exercise ‘pelvic tilt’ is a staple for every dancer.  Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor.  Tilt your hips and pelvis away from your head as to create a small gap between the floor and your lower back.  Now engage the lower abdominals and pelvic floor.  Imagine your navel being drawn up towards your head and ‘zip’ your abs and as a result flatten your lower back.  The glutes and hamstrings remain relaxed.

3. Feet First

  • Flexibility of toe joints.

This is important especially for demi-pointe and pointe work.  Flexible toe joints will help with elevation as you use your feet to push up through the floor. 

Exercise:  Sitting down and stretching your legs, place the front of your foot in the width of a resistance band.  Fully point your foot and keep the ankle in that pointed position.  Now flex and point the toe joints only.

 

  • Strength of muscles underneath the foot (intrinsic muscles).

Most of us started ballet with the dream of dancing en pointe!  However, those dreams can be crushed very quickly if the dancer’s feet weren’t properly conditioned to sustain the position on pointe.  Strengthening the feet is also essential for allegro and adage (jumping and balancing).

Exercise:  Sitting down and stretch both legs out.  Fully pointe feet – get a feeling of lengthening the toe joints.  Now ‘cramp’ the feet by pulling in your toes and feet as if you are picking up a pencil off the floor.  Extend your toes back into a flexed position.

4. Strength

Most people don’t realise how strong a dancer really has to be!  The dancer’s job is to make the movement look graceful and effortless – it’s not like we dance with our face red with effort and bulging veins!  Dancers need to be strong enough to hide all of that.

  • Strength training is crucial to prevent injury!

Studies show that the most injured muscles of dancers are the lower back followed by the knees and ankles.  Strengthening the core muscles will protect the lower back and as a result through improved coordination and balance the lower leg will work more efficiently too.

  • A stronger body = more stability and control!

Exercise:  Eg.  Weighted squats and leg raises, abdominal and back exercises.  See our Instagram and TikTok pages for ideas.

5. Flexibility

Of course, this is the first thing we tend to think of or want to do to improve our technique.  I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to be strong enough to control the range of movement in the joints!  STRENGTH FIRST, FLEX NEXT!  I advise my students as follows:

  • Hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds
  • Take deep breaths in and out when you stretch
  • Release all tension

Exercise:  I am sure you know a lot of stretching exercises already.  However, it is imperative to focus on form when you do these.  For example, when doing forward splits make sure your hips are square and your knees are not turned out.

Conclusion

Conclusion:  Finally, if you have the passion or motivation to succeed in Ballet you will realise the importance of a dedicated body conditioning program.   I will be publishing an in-depth article on each of these points in the coming weeks with more exercises so stay tuned for more tips! You can also find conditioning content on my various socials (to get you started).

Happy Dancing!

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