Ballet Shoes Pointe Shoes...And Adult Ballet Class

Rudi Van Dantzig

2012-01-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

Linda Maybarduk Alguire has posted..."For those of you who have not heard yet, the ballet world has lost Rudi van Dantzig. Quite simply, I loved and admired him so much that my husband and I asked him to be the godfather for our boys, Michael and Cameron..."

Such a big loss to the world of dance. Lives on in spirit with us...

You Don't Have To Do The Stunts - Yeah I Get This Way When It's Raining

2012-01-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

My favorite line from "One Last Dance" with Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi. (re-watching it today).

Yes it is a little melodramatic but a beautifully danced dance film. No dancer is a slouch in this dancer's film. Probably no one has seen it except for dancers. But I have a feeling that dancers are for whom this film was made.

But - back to the point - you don't have to do the stunts.

You do have to do the splits, or fake it beautifully. But if you are within an inch of that, believe me, your talent will take care of it.

Men in ballet--lots of pressure. It never stops. Be the perfect partner if you want to dance with the best ballerinas. But while you work those stunts, keep on learning about your talent.

I'm not criticizing the choreographers who only pick the dancers with the Olympic gymnastic contortionist bodies. O.K., yes I am. Not really criticizing, but appealing.

I mean look at Lisa Niemi. She doesn't quite make that 180 degree penche. Fire her already. Put more cheese cloth on that lens - she's got lines on her face.

I'm not tired of the articles 400+ I've written here about the details of plies, tendus, foot muscles and doing the splits. I'll keep writing them. As a ballet teacher, the one thing I learned that will never change is that you keep giving the same corrections, forever. Because they are the right ones, and not much will change year after year, whether you are training recreational dancers or world class ballerinas.

O.K. I just turn into a total suck when it's raining and dance movies get into the family stuff. I don't care that she's not hitting the splits penches and she's not in pointe shoes.

Ballet is difficult and the big world of dance is beyond tough. If you're 80% close to those stunts, don't give up.

Let's see if I call chicken and delete this post...

Disordered Eating, Hypoglycemia, And Self Esteem Problems

2011-12-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

While discussing the issues in ballet training with students, my ear is perked up all the time, when I hear comments, phrases, and brush-offs, concerning eating, body image, and obvious self esteem problems.

Certainly I am not going to address this with someone unless they ask for that. Recently, my radar on this subject really started to beep, due a conversation I had with a non-dancer, but aspiring performer, in another field. This person is talented, pushed forward by all her teachers, and yet cannot accept the “well done's” from teachers or peers, because – she just can't.

The lack of self-esteem in this person stupefies me. A person who won the number one state award for a Shakespeare scene? Give me a break! That's like winning the ballet competition for Blue Bird or Swan Lake pas de deux.

Disorder eating can be most broadly defined as, the behavior that achieves emotional reward by controlling what you eat. This does not necessarily mean anorexia or bulimia, but may refer to a habit of self criticism or self approval in regards to what type of food you eat, how many calories you eat, and this does not only apply to dancers.

It may involve an extreme situation like a teenager who insists on being a vegan, in which I have personally witnessed the result causing stress fractures in this dancer who still thought that she was going to be able to get stronger on pointe and have a professional career in ballet, while she looked at her x-rays.

Recently I took a look at hypoglycemia and its symptoms. Now this is tricky. Symptoms are almost unique to the individual. But the dominating symptoms, according to what I have read, are:

***sadness
***self criticism
***hopelessness
***feelings of absolutely NO SELF-WORTH
***periodic complete failure of energy, dizziness, mental confusion
***thoughts of suicide, though not enough energy to think further than that

Hypoglycemia is...drum roll...too low blood sugar!

It is caused by a nutritional deficiency of protein, or just lack of food.

Hypoglycemia does not mean you are diabetic, or almost diabetic. More concisely called Reactive Hypoglycemia, this is a condition that results from a poor diet, or not eating often enough for whatever reason. Or eating too many carbohydrates with not enough protein.

The most common recommendation for hypoglycemics, is to eat some protein every two hours.

Also, I would like to mention the rule of nutritionists, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Why? Proteins set your brain chemicals for the day. Skip those, and your brain chemicals will not be properly functioning until the next day IF you happen to eat protein for breakfast.

Dance parents reading this – how many times in a week does your dancing daughter or dancing son run out of the house without breakfast because they slept late?

And what are they going to eat when they get to the food dispensers at their public school? Or hang in until they get to the school cafeteria for lunch? This is a miserable situation for a non-athlete student, not to mention a ballet dancer or any other athlete.

And later when they run off to their ballet academy? Are you one of those ballet parents who have to suffer hearing “I'm not that good”...”I'm not good enough”... and worse? While the ballet teacher is telling you your child should be aiming higher – auditioning for professional summer intensives?

Confused yet? Let me give you a break. Read this thread!

Personally, I believe that hypoglycemia is a result of:

***nutritional ignorance
***modern fast-food, frozen food products
***lack of time to prepare fresh food showing your kids what REAL FOOD IS
***sugar addiction (nutritional ignorance)
***ignorance about the lack of need for grains, and the quality of most (GMO) grains

And, sadly much more I cannot cover here. BUT please, if your dancing child or anyone in your family has any energy or depression issues – but not severe enough to consult your physician (who probably will not have any nutritional education) or therapist, please investigate hypoglycemia. It is an insidious condition - but can be reversed with a good diet!

It is not that difficult. I would love to never hear from again, a ballet dancer, or any other kind of performing artist, who feels morose, depressed, sad, or hopeless about their talent or potential, when they have no idea where all this negativity comes from. And they skip meals, eat nutrition-free snacks, and have low blood sugar...

I would love to never hear from again, a sad, depressed ballet parent, whose amazing talented child is failing, sinking, not even treading water, suffering from body image problems, or self esteem problems, and contemplating quitting ballet, or even suicide.

I've seen it. Fellow students and teachers who attempted and achieved suicide. Or were off-loaded from the school because they were a liability. Yet, some recovered and achieved greatness.

I do not believe that nutrition is superior to the human spirit. But I do believe that the aspirations of the human spirit are so much more easily achieved if we know about and support our bodies' needs, every day. This may take a little extra study.

This may take a lot of extra food preparation for ballet parents! If you're still reading this post, I bet you're O.K. with that.

I Love Ballet Because...

2011-12-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

Read this article about 2 ballet boys in Nutcracker.

Nothing for me to add!

National Ballet School of Canada Audition Tour

2011-11-25T09:41:00.000-08:00

National Ballet School of Canada cross country audition tour details.

Click the link for dates, locations and all about the follow ups if you get accepted!

Dance Pointe Shoes And Top Of Foot Pain

2011-10-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Training in dance pointe shoes, especially if you have started a bit before you are truly ready to get into pointe shoes, may show some weaknesses in your foot structure that you were unaware of before.

First however, if you experience top of foot pain, please see a health practitioner and make sure you do not have a stress fracture.

Top of foot pain can occur if your arch is flattening out. This puts pressure on the top of the foot, where the bones are now compressing together, called dorsal compression syndrome.

Growth spurts, weight gain and hormonal changes that affect ligaments may change the strength of your arch. Wearing flip-flops, unstructured shoes, and soft slippers at home, or bare feet, can aggravate this problem.

Unfortunately the familiar human growth and aging stages are completely thrown off due to the deterioration of food quality and food additives and contaminants. If you are working toward, or are dancing in pointe shoes, you need extra everything--proteins, vitamins, minerals and good pure water.

If you have ruled out a stress fracture for your top of foot pain, and if you are doing special pointe shoes exercises, and you still have foot pain, take a look at the footwear you have for home, daily use and other working out.

If you wear sneakers to school, make sure you have shoes with a good arch support and a well built heel that will not allow you to pronate, or roll inwards, flattening your arch.

At home, don't wear bare feet all the time. Get some slippers with an arch support, or flip-flops with an arch support.

Over the counter orthotics with some arch support are better than none, if custom-made orthotics are not an option for you.

A multi-vitamin, from food sources, including the B Complex and B6, can be added to your daily diet, unless you are allergic to some of these substances. Even allergies can be eliminated with correct used of N.A.E.T.

Soaking your feet with magnesium chloride or Epsom Salts absorbs magnesium into your body. This feeds and relaxes your muscles.

Icing painful feet decreases inflammation and pain.

There is much a dancer can do to diminish top of foot pain and get stronger for dance pointe shoes.

Breast Cancer Survivors Special Stretching Exercises

2011-10-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

Miranda and I graduated together at The National Ballet School of Canada. I applaud her work in this area.

Watch her breast cancer survivor stretch and rehabilitation video.

Alexander Grant Dies at 86 - Anna Kisselgoff article

2011-10-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

FromThe New York Times:

"Alexander Grant, Dancer With Royal Ballet, Dies at 86
By ANNA KISSELGOFF
Published: October 3, 2011

Alexander Grant, whose portrayal of childlike suitors, muddled husbands, English eccentrics, pirate chiefs and Shakespearean rustics made him one of British ballet’s most beloved stars, died on Friday in London. He was 86.

His death was confirmed by Jean-Pierre Gasquet, his longtime companion. Mr. Grant had been ill for eight months after a hip operation left him hospitalized with infections and pneumonia.

Mr. Grant was especially acclaimed for his magnetic personality and vigorous demi-caractère style, particularly in Frederick Ashton’s works for the Royal Ballet.

Seeing Mr. Grant as the complete dancer, Clive Barnes, dance critic of The New York Times, reviewed him in Ashton’s Neapolitan Dance for “Swan Lake” in 1969 and proclaimed him “one of the few great, as opposed to merely magnificent, dancers of our time.”

Mr. Grant also played an influential role in international ballet. He served as artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada from 1976 to 1983 and staged Ashton’s “Fille Mal Gardée” in many companies, including American Ballet Theater.

Mr. Grant himself is perhaps best remembered for the role he originated in “Fille” as Alain, the rich farmer’s son rejected by Lise, a rich widow’s daughter who marries her poor sweetheart.

More in love with his red umbrella than with Lise, Alain could be mistaken for a simpleton. But Mr. Grant made him a gentle childlike figure who had not experienced the world. The trick was to dance so well that Alain looked slightly clumsy but not too much so.

In another memorable role seen with the Royal in New York, he was Bottom in “The Dream,” Ashton’s version of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Transformed into a donkey, Mr. Grant danced a virtuosic solo in toe shoes disguised as hooves.

Although many called Mr. Grant a character dancer, he was more of a classical dancer who used ballet technique in a demi-caractère style, which is less concerned with academic niceties.

In his early years, he showed off a swashbuckling bravura: his pirate chief in Ashton’s “Daphnis and Chloë” exploded into a frenzy of leaps after abducting Margot Fonteyn’s Chloë, wrapping her around his neck and throwing her to the floor.

Alexander Grant was born on Feb. 22, 1925, in Wellington, New Zealand, where his parents were in the hotel business.

Having studied dance since the age of 7, he was offered a ballet scholarship in London. He arrived there in February 1946 and was invited two months later into the Sadler’s Wells Theater Ballet, the recently formed junior troupe of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet (which became the Royal Ballet in 1956). Short on male dancers in the postwar period, Ninette de Valois, founder of both troupes, invited him into the senior company in September of 1946.

Ashton, now considered Britain’s greatest choreographer but not yet internationally known, created a small role for Mr. Grant in 1946 in one of his lesser ballets, “Les Sirènes.”

It was Leonide Massine, then ballet’s most prominent choreographer, who brought the young dancer to public notice.

Invited as a guest choreographer by de Valois, Massine cast Mr. Grant in his revivals and two new works. Massine’s farce-like “Mam’zelle Angot” gave Mr. Grant a major success in the choreographer’s idiosyncratic comic style.

“I was given this role by Massine which typed me as that kind of dancer for the rest of my life, Mr. Grant said in later years. “I don’t regret it.” Nor did he regret never portraying a prince or count in 19th-century classics like “Swan Lake” or “Giselle.”

It was Mr. Grant’s ability to portray a character through dancing rather than mime that made him outstanding. Ashton recognized this quality and cast him as the Jester in his new “Cinderella” (1948).

During his 30 years as a dancer in the Royal Ballet (1946 to 1976) Mr. Grant appeared in 30 Ashton ballets, creating roles in 22 premieres. Occasionally he was thrust into Ashton neo-classical works like “Symphonic Variations” and he appeared in Michel Fokine’s “Petrouchka” and ballets by de Valois.

In the 1971 film “Tales of Beatrix Potter,” Mr. Grant danced on toe again as Pigling Bland and was also featured as Peter Rabbit.

In addition to Mr. Gasquet, his partner of 54 years, Mr. Grant is survived by his brother, Garry Grant, also a former dancer in the Royal Ballet.

Mr. Grant was seen as an inspiration to Ashton and even as a collaborator. The range he displayed in Ashton ballets alone was testimony to their joint creativity.

In “Enigma Variations,” a meditative Ashton masterpiece about the composer Edward Elgar and his friends, Mr. Grant’s terse expressiveness summed up an entire personality in a brief comic solo. For his final Ashton role, he offered a moving image of a lovelorn Russian husband in “A Month in the Country” (1976)."

Talent For Ballet - Can I Get Into Ballet

2011-09-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

If you love ballet do you wonder if you have the talent for it? Kids ask me "how do I know if I can get into ballet"? If you are nine or ten years old, audition for a professional ballet school - if you are accepted, you can assume that you have been recognized as having some talent for ballet.

Professional ballet teachers who select potential ballet dancers at the auditions are looking for a combination of a physique - close to the ideal ballet body - and the spark of love for dance and presence, or magnetism, that they feel will develop you into a successful performer.

If it seems that you do not qualify for a professional dance career (sometimes you are not accepted because there are not enough places in a program), you can still get into ballet and love it. Find the best local studio with the highest credentials. If a specific studio has been able to send any of their students to a professional school, they will be advertising that fact. Read everything in their web site, and check the teachers' credentials.

If you do get into ballet, take advantage of the current dance education that is available for home practice. There are books and DVD's, put together to enhance your ballet training. You can learn a lot about ballet stretches, professional footwork, and anatomy.

These topics may not be covered in depth in your ballet classes, but it will help you get stronger and more flexible as needed, to practice safely and correctly at home. Understanding proper stretching and relaxation techniques will add to your muscle strength.

All ballet dancers want to dance in pointe shoes as soon as they can. If you get correct training, every ballet class you do will contribute to this. After all, ballet in pointe shoes is the same as ballet in soft shoes. If you know how to take advantage of every ballet barre exercise, you will develop the following technique:

* correct natural posture
* ballet foot muscles and ballet footwork
* correct alignment
* high leg extensions
* strong ballet turnout

Talent for ballet involves the ability to concentrate, in other words, a maturity to ignore all the distractions delivered to you by your culture. Television shows dictating your self image, fashion demands, and the accepted requirements to tweet and talk on your mobile devices in all your spare moments.

Keeping up good grades is also a need for your time and energy, as well as healthy nutrition and quality sleep. So if you want to get into ballet and have a professional dance career, you are taking on a lot of responsibility. Yet, many children do this and accept it, because that is what they want more than anything.

I do not believe there is a dead end to studying dance, even if you do not have a professional dance career. If your body type simply cannot do ballet, you will nevertheless gain abilities to excel wherever your heart takes you.

So if you're constantly thinking "can I get into ballet", get some kind of feedback about your talent for ballet.

The Best Stretching Exercises - What's My Best Program

2011-09-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

The ballet beginner and the adult going into ballet class both want to learn and understand the best stretching exercises. Each wonders "what's my best program"? Those in love with, and already watching ballet closely, can see that high leg extensions, long curving back bends, elastic knee bends and cat-like jump landings, and high leaps in the splits, are the mere norm in classical dancing. A tall order for most!

After training hundreds of ballet students, I tell you, everyone is different, and almost each one wished they had just one more physical attribute, the one that everyone but they, had. You may be a ballet student with high arches, flexible hips, and yet - you have lousy turnout.

You may be a dance student with a long neck, elastic shoulders, a willowy upper back, and high arches, yet have a tight pelvic area. Believe me, it seems like even the most gifted ballerina has one area that needs a lot of stretching exercises, just to catch up with the rest of their physique.

Ballet is easy for practically no one, just in this regards. Yet, if you learn some functional anatomy, and if you KNOW what your least flexible muscle group is, you can get it up to par with your more flexible muscles.

Don't despair if you do not have the easy flexible ankle joints, but you have a deep, elastic, demi plie. Your long and stretchy calf muscles will provide you with a range of motion from the depth of your plie, to your highest point of foot, giving you a strong jump upwards.

If you have a shallow demi plie, but more motion in the ankle joint, that movement will give you a strong push off from the feet. Either way, you can work on the other, to get more movement, as well as more of a fashionable look in the result, which as we all know, ballet is very picky about.

If you have a small range of motion in both the ankle and demi plie (calf muscles), then you will have to patiently work on both areas. The good news is, no matter how slowly, you will improve, with understanding of your muscles and joints, and not with just forceful pushing on them.

The essential arabesque - you need to be flexible in the hips, psoas, or long postural muscle going from the thigh to the anterior of the spine, and through the upper back into the shoulder girdle, for a really fluid motion. Some dancers find themselves tighter in one spot, which is very annoying...but can still be corrected.

Understanding Myofascial Release

Releasing tension in the fascia, the wrap-around tissue that surrounds and joins all your muscles from head to toe, will release tension and elongate the muscles as well. Referring back to the lower legs and ankle joint flexibility, a relaxation technique for myofascial releasae of the shin muscles can be done BEFORE you stretch the ankle joint. You will feel more flexibility if you do it in this order.

Effective Stretching - The Ultimate Stretching Guide, and Ballwork Releasing Muscular Tension are both wonderful dancers guides to help you with the best stretching exercises. You will be able to implement whatever is 'my best program'.

Back To Ballet With An Adult Ballet Class

2011-09-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

I talk to many adults who ask if they should try and get back to ballet class. Depending on how many years it has been since you have done ballet, or any kind of dance related exercise, I always say go for it. You may have to call several local studios to find an adult ballet class that is right for you. You may worry about the dance wear dress codes and if you will want to comply. If you are overweight, or have lost your flexibility, you probably feel very self conscious.

Most dance academies that offer adult ballet class level work will offer a one-class-pay for a new dancer, and after that you will be asked to pay by the month. There are usually other types of class packaging that are further discounted, depending on the amount of classes purchased.

Will You Get Injured In An Adult Ballet Class?

There is always a possibility of injury, with ballet and most sports too, if you are out of shape. But bear in mind that every single ballet barre exercise is designed to train your muscles so that you prevent dance injuries. The basic ballet posture, for example, is a natural posture. It may not feel or look that way, since most people slouch and are slowly injuring themselves just by that bad habit.

Standing up straight is not an exaggerated military posture, but maintains the natural spinal curves, placement of the shoulders under the ears, and is completed with a relaxed and curved neck.

Ballet turnout is the main technique that prevents knee injuries. The feet should not be forced out more than the knees can match the rotation. You may never get into the performance standard fifth position - toes to heels - and yet over time you can still gain elegance and control in your adult ballet class.

You will achieve your artistic fulfillment with careful, patient hard work. You will feel the exhilaration of the air borne leaps and spinning pirouettes all the more, having the confidence that you can land from jumps safely, and reaching your ballet position after turning, well grounded, without the room spinning on without you.

Control And Perfectionism

Ballet classes truly give an ongoing sense of control and mastery, through repetition, and slow increase of strength. Yet, the affliction of perfectionism is a dead end for any dancer, especially a self critical individual in an adult ballet class. If there is any quest in your mind/heart for a perfect kind of control and a harsh way to discipline yourself, you will be the dancer to most likely injure her/himself in class.

I caution this because, a drive to be perfect usually entails over-working, not resting enough in between classes, and maybe not eating enough to achieve any muscle building. I don't mean muscle shape or bulk, but just strength, and a normal recovery. Dancing ballet, you can always get better, so there is no perfect.

The real control comes with practice, developing better foot control, and knowing how to do ballet stretches and relaxation techniques correctly.

I hope you DO get back to ballet, and find an adult ballet class that you love.

Ballet Movies - Like Steampunk Movies?

2011-08-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

I love ballet movies. The abundance of movies available now is of great interest to me, and I'm sure it is for most dancers.

It is not possible to get around the world, see all the dance festivals, or travel to catch all the ballet touring companies every year. Yet, while collecting ballet movies, I feel like I just lucked out.

I bought a "deal" package of 4 ballet movies recently. Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. I only bought it because The Nutcracker is Maurice Bejart's production, which I had not seen. The others...well I can always watch another one, whoever.

The "Swan Lake" was special because Evelyn Hart danced Odette/Odile. I had not seen her in that role, so it was a nice surprise for me.

Secondly, I watched "Romeo and Juliet", choreography by Angelin Preljocaj, with the Opera National De Lyon, filmed in 1992. Cool. That's a company that has not graced my neighborhood. I knew it was a neoclassical style.

Steam punk movies? I may have seen three before - "Dune" designed by Tony Masters and Carlo Rimbaldi; City of Lost Children" designed by set designer Jean Rabasse and artistic director Caro (and coincidentally both scores were by Angelo Badalamenti); and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" with set designer Andy Thomson - all steam punky designers...

Well, this "Romeo and Juliet" has the flavor of steam punk movies and it is moody and powerful. None of the lush Italian wealth of the power families, but very strong emotionally. I did not think I would like the modern choreography - having been partial to John Cranko's - yet with the Prokofiev score, it was captivating.

I did not assimilate what I was looking at immediately. This production re-invents some of the characterization, trimming down the cast and events.

When I realized I was watching a Steam Punk Movie I sat back and enjoyed it. The wall guards with the German Shepherd were a chilling touch.

I love old movies - probably all ballet movies!

National Ballet School Grows Own Organic Vegetable Garden

2011-07-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

"Simon and Jack's Garden
Simon Hill, NBS' Manager of Food Service Operations and Jack Sobocinski, NBS' Chef de Cuisine, have planted an organic herb & vegetable garden behind NBS' Residence! The herb variety is extensive, including lemongrass, thyme, basil, chives & tarragon amongst others. The vegetables include heirloom tomatoes, English runner beans & cucumbers! Many of NBS' menus have featured our very own herbs & produce."

posted at:http://www.nbs-enb.ca/media/enews2011/enewsAug11.htm

I applaud!

How To Relieve Muscle Pain That Has Become Chronic In Ballet, Dance And Cheerleading

2011-07-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

Dancers and cheerleaders need to know how to relieve muscle pain that has become chronic. Often, some area of the hips in particular can become imbalanced because of a postural misalignment. It seems like nothing gives those sore muscles relief.

In many cases, you will see a dancer's or cheerleader's postural habit when they are not dancing or practicing. There are variations on the lack of the postural plumb line, which is a line going straight down through the body, through the natural curves of the neck and spine. Ideally, the ankles, knees, hips, waist, and shoulders are all stacked neatly.

A tight area in the psoas, one of the large muscles that lifts the legs to the front, will pull the low back out of alignment. The back will look swayed, and the thighs will turn inward.

This is one way that leads to imbalance in the development of the hip muscles. A dancer or cheerleader will try to resolve this with more and more stretching. Yet, one muscle or another will get tighter and tighter, and others may get over-stretched.

Some students will feel a clicking, a snapping, or a clunky movement for a long time before it starts to hurt. Please tell your teacher or coach immediately if you feel these things. You can correct your posture and how you use your core and hip muscles, before you get the inflammation and pain that is so hard to get rid of.

Misalignment in the basic posture, and in the basic ballet positions (used everywhere in dance), will develop one muscle or area of muscles too much. Consequently, other muscles in the same group remain underdeveloped and weak.

Understanding the muscles around the hips, and how they work in connection with the deep low core muscles, will help students or dance team members prevent injuries.

Can you stand sideways to a mirror and check your posture? Can you see the natural curves of your spine and visualize the plumb line going straight through the curves? Can you pull up the very low abdominal muscles? Sometimes they can be harder to feel than the higher stomach muscles.

If you are not sure that you are using these low ab muscles properly, try this:

* lie down on the floor, and make sure you have your natural curve at the small of your back
* you should be able to slide your hand under the curve there
* first do this wrong - suck in your stomach so that the small of your back pushes into your hand
* release the stomach muscles
* now do it right - pull your very low ab muscles straight up from your pubic bone and away from your hip bones
* keep the curve in the small of your back

Your belly button will move UP toward your ribs. Up not IN. This action, when you are doing barre exercises, or routines to warm up for your cheer leading, will support the right activity in the hip muscles. It is going to help you develop long lean muscles.

If you take contemporary dance classes and study the Martha Graham technique, you know that the contraction movement actually elongates - even though it changes the shape of the spine and DOES push out the curve at the small of the back, it requires that you pull UP the lower core muscles and maintain length in the spine.

The stronger your low ab muscles are, the more fluidity you will have in your ballet movements. For cheer leading too, your core control will be so much better.

Make sure you get the instructional DVD Effective Stretches The Ultimate Stretching Guide. It includes a whole section on sore muscles relief.

Dancer Teacher Summit NYC Giveaway Passes -Value $425.oo

2011-06-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

Deborah Vogel of The Body Series announced today:

"I'm excited to announce that I will be giving away 5 full

attendee passes for the Dance Teacher Summit being held

July 29 - 31, 2011, in New York City. Each pass is worth

$425 and you can take all the dance classes, visit the

exhibit hall, and get a goody bag filled with... well

goodies! You're also invited to the cocktail party, the

ACE award competition performance, and a fun Fashion

Forward show choreographed by Mandy Moore.

Transportation and lodging is not included in this contest -

just the $425 registration fee.

To be in the running for one of these 5 free passes place

an order for $50 or more from The Body Series. The

contest is open from today, June 27th - July 3rd. I'll

pick the 5 winners from all who order first thing on the 4th

and then email you immediately, making for an even better

holiday!

Pointe Shoe Pain - Do I Have A Bunion?

2011-06-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

A ballet student describes her pointe pain as being at the side of the big toe joint. The foot pain is bad that she cannot releve onto that leg, although the other foot is fine.

She does not see any bump on the painful big toe joint, but she wonders if she has a bunion.

If you find yourself in this predicament, it is best to see a health practitioner to determine if there is a hairline, or stress fracture in the toe bone.

Without a fracture, inflammation by itself can cause enough pain to result in you not being able to do a releve. The pointe shoe fit seemed correct at the ballet store, yet - is the painful foot just a tad bigger? Or a tad wider?

Has the painful foot ever been injured in any way?

If you perform the foot strength tests from The Perfect Pointe Book, is the painful foot weaker? Those are good tests for any ballet student in toe shoes to check regularly. Most people do have a stronger foot, and the exercises in the Perfect Pointe Book will help you even up the foot muscle strength.

Your health practitioner can help you figure out what is causing the pain, and advise some home care. Icing decreases inflammation. Be sure the ice pack is wrapped, and such a small spot would not need more than a few minutes. The frequency of icing will help as well, perhaps two or three times a day.

You may have a bunion forming. If so, you can learn how to prevent it continuing. Just be sure to get professional help, and you'll become a truly professional student who knows how to care of her feet!

Capezio A.C.E Awards - Deadline To Enter This Friday

2011-05-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Go to Dance Media for the details!

Dance West In Orange County CA Accepting Scholarship Applications

2011-04-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Dance West in Orange County, Los Alamitos, California is NOW ACCEPTING Scholarship Applications through May 15, 2011

This is for a One Year Dance Scholarship.

Any boy or girl age 9 through 12 who resides in Southern California can apply.

One applicant will be chosen to receive the full one year dance scholarship, and one will be chosen as Runner Up.

Eligibility Requirements:
Must be between the ages of 9 and 12
Must reside in Southern California
Must complete the application form

Selection is based on the following criteria:
Financial Need
Passion and desire to dance
Talent, potential and positive attitude
Ability and willingness to commit to a yearlong program

The Scholarship will run from July 1 2011 through June 30, 2012
But applications END May 15th! Apply Now!

Interested applicants should contact Dance West by phone or email.
Dance West

Summer Dance Intensive At The National Ballet of Canada - Their First

2011-04-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

The National Ballet (company) of Canada announces a new summer dance intensive.

"New this year The National Ballet of Canada will offer a 10 day Summer Dance Intensive that will give young ballet students the opportunity to learn from professional dancers right in the National Ballet’s studios. Ballet students ages 14 to 18, who have an Intermediate or higher level of ballet training, will participate in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Repertoire and Hip Hop classes taught by professional artists from the National Ballet and others."

Ballet Barre Workouts With Some Tips For The Adult Ballet Beginner

2011-03-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Ballet barre work is a wonderfully configured full body workout. If this were not so, you would not see so many trade marked workouts for Pilates, core muscle training, "booty" trimming, and many more, with "ballet barre" in the name.

But it is all good, literally. If you are an adult ballet beginner and have chosen classical dance technique to fulfill your exercise and your artistic needs, here are a few tips for getting the most out of your work at the barre.

If you are doing some other, non-ballet academy barre-ish workout, you may get some tips also.

First Tip - Warm Up Before Class

The barre exercises will warm you up, completely. Yet you will get much more out of the first few exercises if you can manage at least a five minute warming up time before class starts. At the very least, two to three minutes of walking on the spot, executing large easy arm movements, will increase your heart rate a little and get your circulation going.

Gentle Stretches

Stretches before class are good for simply "getting out the kinks". If you sit down all day before a dance class, or if the class is first thing in the morning, doing some barre exercise-related stretches will ease you into the class gently. These would not be deep stretches, but more like movements to remind your body of what is about to happen.

Doing a few rotations both inwards and outwards of each ankle, and then doing a few demi plies, either with turnout or parallel, will stretch the calves out. If you are not so flexible in the ankles, you can sit down, legs folded, and gently pull up one knee at a time, to stretch the front of the ankle joint.

Easing Out The Hip Flexors, Or Front Of The Hip Joint

This is easily done with a runner's lunge. Standing parallel, move one foot behind you about three feet, or where ever you need to place the foot to feel the stretch from the upper thigh, over the hip bone, and into the abdominal area above the extended leg.

Pull up the lowest core abdominal muscles, and allow the pelvis to relax into its neutral (no tip forward or back) position. If you are too tight in the hip joint to get the pelvis straight, don't worry. You are just getting the alignment that you can here, with no need for heavy pressure.

Repeat on the other side.

Easing Out The Hamstrings

Most ballet studios have a lower barre. For a light hamstring stretch, place one leg on the low barre. Flex the foot and make sure the leg is straight. Also, keep a straight back, and you are going to bend from the hips, not curving in the low back. This keeps the stretchy part in the hamstring, or back of your thigh muscle.

It doesn't matter if you hardly move at all. You can do a deeper stretch in the break before center work.

Side Bends Lengthen the Large Quadratus Lumborum, Or Spinal Support Muscles

Standing with the feet apart, comfortably, reach up with the right arm, keeping the shoulders and neck relaxed, and bend toward your left. Get a long pulled out stretch, keeping the left side of your torso lengthened.

Repeat other side.

The Turnout Muscles Need Stretching Too

The easiest way to do a brief low pressure stretch out of the rotator muscles is to sit on a chair, and bring up one leg, bent, with your foot resting above the opposite knee. You can hold the bent knee up with your hand if you feel ANY strain in the knee joint. This is not about having the bent knee level like a table top, or stretching in the hip socket area.

Now you will bend forward, back straight, and you will feel a stretch in the back of the pelvis, and around the side of the hip. Use very gentle pressure, just to alert your body that ballet class is about to start.

The "Swan Lake" Stretch

This stretch will give you a nice pull across the chest. Stand with your back to the barre, and reach behind you with both arms, grasping the barre. Then lean away, not arching very much, but stretching out the arms and you will feel a delicious elastic feeling at some point, in this small movement.

Muscle stretching exercises done before class are very gentle. They part of your warm up. Deeper stretches can be later in the class, or afterwards. Visit us and get more ballet tips for your ballet barre work.

Remembering Glenn Gilmour - A Wonderful Colleague and Friend

2011-02-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

On this page from The National Ballet School of Canada's newsletter, poignant passages are written by Mavis Staines and Paul Winston, I won't re-iterate.

Glenn was so refreshing in Cecchetti classes when I taught him the grueling grades after he'd danced the classics for many years. He and fellow professional Brian Scott had the funniest ways of embellishing some of the duller sequences.

Later it was always wonderful to come back to his class at NBS when I was a performing pro.

A Pointe Shoe Exercise - Tips For Pointe Beginners

2011-02-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

Pointe shoe beginners need more than one pointe shoe exercise - naturally. But here is one to get you started, if your goal is dance in pointe shoes.

The following describes a pointe shoes exercise, for the pointe shoe beginners and the hopeful. It focuses on training the feet to point, extending the ankle joint as far as possible, to force up the instep into its maximum arch.

However, the toes, next for the completion of the movement, can point, and stay long and strong, or curl over. This is what you want to avoid. The toes can follow the curve of the arch, but not curl in their own joints. This should have been the way you have always pointed your toes in soft leather ballet shoes.

Many dance students try to feel more arch by curling their toes over, but this does not help ankle flexibility. It puts the toes into a position, that inside pointe shoes, will create blisters as the top of the joints press into the stiff box of the toe shoe.

Ouch.

If you are not sure how precisely you have been pointing your toes in soft shoes, just practice the following exercise:

* sit on the floor, legs straight in front of you

* point the foot, extending the arch/instep as far as it will go. But keep the toes flexed.

* next, begin to point the toes. When they are in a long position, following the curve of the foot, but not curling over in your toe joints, STOP.

* hold and memorize this position. You may have been doing this all along, from your very first ballet class. If not, you can correct and re-train this important ballet position right now.

* next, flex the toes back up, and then flex the whole foot. Push through the heels and get a nice calf stretch.

* repeat twenty times.

If your feet or ankles cramp, stop and rotate the ankles in circles to loosen the muscles back up. If the sole of the foot cramps, massage it until the tension releases, and then start the exercise again.

You can avoid dance injuries, blisters, and pain, if you know how to use your feet in toe shoes. If you are an adult ballet beginner, this works for you too. Visit us to get the best in a group of routines that give you much more than a pointe shoe exercise.

A Pointe Shoe Exercise For Perfect Ballet Positions In Press Ups Or Rises For

2011-02-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

A pointe shoe exercise for perfect ballet positions can be practiced sitting down. And by perfect, I mean the best you can do today, right now. Do not compare what you can do to your favorite ballerina and what she can do. Press ups, or rises, can be done perfectly by you, now.

As long as you understand the form and the movement, you will do it right. Sitting in a chair, you do not have your body weight on your foot. Repeating the ballet movements exactly as you will do them in pointe shoes, you prepare your brain and your feet to do these actions precisely, safely, and in a way that you will get stronger and prevent dance injuries.

Start sitting straight in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, resting evenly on the ball of the foot, the heel, and the little toe joint. In other words, no rolling ankles or pronation, or leaning to the outside of the foot.

The purpose of this exercise is to train your foot to perform it perfectly, in a way that develops strength, and prevents over-use of the shin and calf muscles. (painful shin splints).

Your arch muscles should be "on", meaning ready to move, but not clenched.

One foot at a time: peel the foot slowly off the floor, working and controlling the muscles and keeping the foot/ankle angle in a straight line. No leaning to the inner side of the foot, or the outer.

Lift the foot off the floor, as though you were completing a jump or releve movement. Stretch the toes long, but do not curl them. This is the top of a jump, or where your toes will be positioned in pointe shoes.

Touch the tips of the toes to the floor.

Pressing the heel back down, with resistance through the sole-of-the-foot muscles, resume your starting position. Repeat twenty times. Simple yet very effective - this is one in a series, a wonderful pointe shoe exercise.

I Hope This Does Not Sound Purely Philosophical About Ballet Training

2011-02-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

I recently heard from a mom who was concerned about her 12 year old daughter's dance training.

It seems like her daughter was ahead of her age group in a former ballet school. For some reason, her daughter had to change ballet schools.

Now her daughter is in a school that puts students in age appropriate classes, which is a surprise for this young dancer. Or nasty shock. She was expecting to start dancing in pointe shoes.

I had to encourage this loving mom to flip to the positive here; her daughter is 12, and she has plenty of time to progress in her new school. The time during which she feels "held back" is a time during which she can perfect her ballet technique, and then be even more prepared than she would have been, to dance in pointe shoes.

This is not an uncommon scenario. Perhaps if her daughter can somehow see that she actually has an advantage here, and is not being cheated in some way, then she can just continue to enjoy her dancing and excel in it.

Sometimes the "grade" or the "level" has to be relegated to the background, and the urge to dance and the love of it has to come forward. I hope this doesn't sound abstract or purely philosophical - but her daughter - or maybe YOUR daughter has TIME on her side. If she were 17, then my thoughts on this would be different.

The Big Dance World And Professional Ballet Dancing

2011-02-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

You are between fifteen and twenty years old and you have suddenly decided that only professional ballet dancing is for you. It is your passion and excludes all else. What are you going to do? Which ballet academy will you choose? Will this dance studio accept you as a serious student? Will you ever dance in pointe shoes? You are in a very vulnerable position right now. You are actually considered to be an adult ballet beginner, even if you just turned fifteen. That seems unfair!

I know you are aware that ballet is like the Olympics. You start young, like nine or tens years old. Ideally you have the best professional training offered, ballet six days a week with character dancing, modern dance, endurance training and eventually pointe work. Your school has a physical therapist, a massage therapist, and you learn dance notation and anatomy as you progress.

What? You don't? Well before you get depressed about not doing all of the above, think about why you love ballet. What qualities do you admire in ballet dancers? What aspects of the drama grab you o that you dream about it, run it over and over in your head.

I ask this, because this is important. If you HAVE missed the ballet boat, you must seriously engage in the things that draw you to ballet. Why?

I believe this has something to do with you and your destiny. Whether it is dancing ballet on stage or - being a stage manager, a dance medicine specialist, a costume designer, a dance photographer.... a professional in dance notation - do you see how big the big dance world is?

I am not suggesting that you don't start ballet classes right away. First and foremost, this is going to engage your love of life and art at a crucial level. Your intensity in learning ballet now will carry you through all the moments of doubt. "My legs are too short". "My arches are not flexible". Whatever - in ballet, something will come up short, guaranteed. But that is not the point!

You love ballet for a reason. Even if you decided this "too late" there is still a reason. I hope you will explore your instincts further and follow your heart to the big dance world.

If You Have Hammer Claw and Mallet Toes Can You Do Pointe?

2011-01-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

Getting into pointe shoes may not be a dream you feel you can fulfill if you have hammer, claw, or mallet toes. Misshapen toes may or may not hurt. They may be related to arthritis, or not. These kinds of toes indicate that the toe muscles have somehow become unbalanced. A common reason is from you wearing shoes that are too tight. However, home care and stretching and exercises can be performed, gradually alleviating these conditions, to some degree if not altogether. If you are ready to dance on pointe, improving your toes' shapes and functions can be done while you take pointe classes.

In both your toe shoes and your everyday shoes, proper sizing is crucial. There absolutely must be room for your toes. If your second toe is longer, it is the toe that you choose shoe length for.

Especially pointe shoes, which must fit snuggly, and yet accommodate a long second toe. You are going to become very particular with toe spacers, toe caps and any other padding that will help your toes stay long in the shoes, and be protected from developing blisters and corns due to their bent joints.

A podiatrist may recommend orthotic insoles - made to fit your feet - and can also teach you ways to splint or strap toes to help straighten out the joints.

Learning ballet foot stretches and ways to relax all the foot and toe muscles will help you work with misshapen toes. Specific exercises for articulation and strength in the toes will help you straighten these toes to whatever degree possible, and develop the strength you need to dance in toe shoes, at the same time.

All dancers should pamper their feet with warm soaks and massage, and this will help you too, with your special project.

Don't forget nutrition. Eating fresh foods, good lean proteins, and getting enough of the right vitamins that convert proteins to muscle in your body is important. The Vitamins B12, B6, and Folic Acid are needed for this. Add Vitamin D3, and plenty of dark green vegetables and salads count too.

If you are a serious dancer, young or an adult beginner, I know you will gradually learn all that you need to keep you going in ballet training. This article is meant to get you started if you have been wondering about whether you will be able to dance in pointe shoes. Get more information here about straightening and strengthening hammer mallet claw types of toes.

Dancing Professional Ballet - Is It Too Late?

2011-01-26T18:32:00.000-08:00

I get this question from time to time, sometimes from dancers whose experience with ballet I know, and sometimes from those I have not seen dance, or even walk for that matter. So here are my thoughts as of today:

Dancers competing for a professional job will have done 10 years of training already. They will have had the advantage of training over physical limitations, while young enough to overcome them, to some degree, or altogether.

I don't like to be discouraging but must be honest.

But here's something else to think about - what soulful or artistic quality in you loves ballet? Could that aspect of yourself be expressed through another media that does not require:

a) an extraordinary physique by birth
b) the circumstances under which to be trained by an exceptional professional school starting at age 9-10
c) the political savvy to survive all that? (seldom mentioned, but not to be discounted)

That wonderful artistic energy in you could come out some other way without challenging your age, your body, the reality of the profession, et al.

I hope I am not disappointing anyone with this perspective. But I believe there is something in you, even though you love ballet, that can come alive without ballet. And you are better off figuring that out, even if you experience a disappointment right now.

Believe in your life.

Ballet Classes And Foot Arch Pain

2011-01-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

In a ballet classes, there are many types and shapes of feet and some may experience foot arch pain more easily than others. If you have arch pain during or after ballet or your contemporary dance classes, I will help you understand some of the causes of foot pain in dance training.

There is a complete manual about how to learn properly in ballet classes on how to use the foot and arch muscles properly, that will make it easier for you to enjoy years of dance, no matter the style you study. For example, the following topics are covered:

the tripod foot - proper weight placement

pronation - not holding ballet turnout

relaxation techniques

stretching exercises

over use of lower leg and weak foot muscles

ballet injuries

Pronation - called "rolling ankles" in dance. Your inner feet collapse toward the floor. This puts strain on the knee joints, as well as all the tiny joints in your feet. Often this can be corrected by simply learning how to hold your turnout better in the rotator muscles at the back of the pelvis area. As the legs turn out, the inner foot lifts a little, without evoking excess tension in the ankle muscles.

Also, the amount of tension it takes to activate your arch muscles is small, and yet can help support the feet. This does not mean pulling the arches way up from the floor, resulting in tension at the front of the ankles. If you do this, you will see the tendon at the ankle joint stick out.

The tripod foot is a term meant to describe the placement of your body weight on the ball of the foot, the little toe joint area, and the heel. Getting the weight just right will help you feel that the foot muscles are activated, but not tense.

Relaxing and stretching your feet can be achieved with rolling a golf ball or a Pinkie Ball, pressing into the foot muscles, used under the foot and on top. You'll feel a release of tension, and do not push too hard. It's better to do this more often, rather than harder.

The softer Pinkie Ball is used to stretch the ankle joint like this: sitting on your feet, place the ball under your tibia or shin muscle, below your knee. You may feel tension or tenderness as you work the ball down the leg to the ankle, pushing into it to release tension.

This prepares you for a gentle and safe ankle joint and muscle stretch, to give your more flexibility and a better point of the foot.

Now you can place the ball under the metatarsal area, just above the foot joints (closer to the ankle), and gently press into the ball. You will feel a delicious stretch over your arch and ankle area. Repeat on the other side.

Weak sole of the foot muscles will cause over-use of the lower leg muscles. This will result in tension and a decrease in the depth of your demi plie.

I hope the above tips about ballet dancing have helped you. Get all the details about how to improve your ballet technique and avoid foot arch pain.

Adult Ballet Class Exercises - All Prepare You For Pointe Shoes

2011-01-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

If you are in an adult ballet class as a beginner or a returning dancer, every exercise you do will prepare you for getting into pointe shoes, if that is your goal. Every ballet barre exercise, whether focused on the feet or not, will get you ready for pointe shoes. The men in ballet can benefit from this viewpoint, as special foot exercises for pointe strengthen, and refine control. This will increase technical accuracy in allegro (jumps) and help prevent dance injuries.

Starting with your demi and grand plies, your use of correct ballet turnout, core muscles, and ease of the upper back, head and arm movements, all means a great deal about everything else you will do in dance class. If you can do this simple (but not easy!) warm up exercise correctly, to YOUR best ability, you will probably be able to do the entire ballet class with the same control. Someday, if not today.

The battements tendus and battements degages, or foot warm up exercises, begin to develop your control and strength in the sole of the foot. While these exercises also make the lower legs stronger, if your calves or shins get stiff and sore, you need to use the feet more, and the lower leg muscles less. Stretch the calves in between exercises with a demi plie or a lunge stretch.

It is good to turn in and allow the rotator muscles to relax in between barre exercises as well.

You actually start preparing for pointe work right from Day One. Everything you do in class will possibly be done later in toe shoes. Any misalignment of posture or weakness in ballet positions, will be magnified when you are on full pointe.

If your ballet studio offers pre-pointe classes, ask if you can view one. You will see special foot exercises being taught, not ballet moves, but just isolated routines to refine and strengthen the use of the feet. If you do not see anything like this, it may not be the best kind of pre-pointe class to take.

Aside from your dance classes, if you would like to gain on the normal time needed to develop a fine classical technique, you can learn the special exercises that target the muscles in the soles of the feet. A few minutes a day is all that is needed. I recommend that you take a look at this fine dancer's guide for preparing to dance in pointe shoes.

Homeschooling Community Served By En Pointe Ballet

2011-01-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

I happened upon this ballet blog post today, and decided to share!

Dancer Knee Replacement Discussion/Sale On "Essential Anatomy"

2010-12-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

Deborah Vogel discusses knee replacements at The Body Series blog. Follow the link, select Blog at the top of the page.

She also announces a special price on "ESSENTIAL ANATOMY:A Multimedia Course;

"My 2011 New Year’s special will run from today through January 5th. Purchase Essential Anatomy: A Multimedia Course for dancers and dance teachers for $149 and receive either a free DVD – or – simply get $45 off one of the best tools for dance teachers to learn important anatomical principles. Simply put TBS2011 in the coupon box when purchasing and hit apply in order to see your $45 discount."

Ballet Injury, Pain And Over Use and Muscle Recovery Time

2010-12-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

I am shocked at the periodic reports I get about dancers' training schedules. Five to six hours a day, and as much as twelve hours on a Saturday, and then maybe two to three hours on a Sunday. Somehow a dancer may feel that he or she is imitating a professional training schedule, in their local dance academy.

Young dancers with this kind of drive need some counseling about muscle recovery. Not that recovery time is taken into consideration in general in the ballet world. Studios without any input from local physiotherapists or chiropractors (who would probably love to come to your dance school and lecture on the topic), can allow dancers to get carried away with extra recital/competition rehearsal or exam preparation.

I wince when I am asked by a student (not mine) "I have had pain in this area for two months now - do I need to start resting it?"

Most ballet teachers have or have had a student who, they know, will go home and run through the variation fifteen more times in broken pointe shoes, on a concrete floor, if necessary. Nothing will stop them.

Except, unfortunately, a ballet injury. It must be the days of relentless rain that is making me feel a little gloomy about this.

Glycemic Load Chart

2010-12-15T16:07:00.000-08:00

I found this at Dr. Al Sears site, a glycemic load chart. He explains the glycemic index numbers and the glycemic load numbers.

Good to know if you're trying to load up on healthy foods to satisfy the hunger of tired muscles, without eating carbohydrates that offer no nutrition - and, some that do, but could be substituted for lower glycemic loading foods.

Eat well! Your dancing muscles deserve it.

The Reader’s Choice Top Dance Blogs of 2010 Competition

2010-12-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

Nichelle of Dance Advantage is running a contest for the Readers' Choice Top Dance Blog of 2010.

Each dance blog responding to this contest, will be evaluated by the number of their readers' comments, and will be eligible to earn the title.

So please let me know by adding your comment, how much you enjoy this blog. We dance bloggers are a vast community, with much shared appreciation for all the dance education every blogger offers. I will very much appreciate it if you can leave some words for this blog.

I have already enjoyed the exposure to other dance bloggers I haven't come across till now, just because of this contest invite. This is fun!

I have always admired Nichelle for her Dance Advantage site and the vast range of dance topics she posts about.

Happy Holidays All!

Whey Protein Is Useful For Building Muscle Mass

2010-12-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

Many dance students want to know about natural muscle building, and build those muscles up. Perhaps you want to lose weight and keep it down, or simply build healthy muscle for your ballet training. Whatever your reason, understanding how protein functions as the body's prime fuel, and aids in maintaining a healthy weight, will influence your choice of a protein supplement. If you are on a fat burning diet, please bear in mind that most protein supplements are not meal replacements, but can be used to help you restore muscle that you break down with exercise.

So why think about adding protein if you eat healthy meals? At one end of the spectrum you can get the drive-through hamburger, reduced in calories by having a lettuce wrap instead of a bun. However, you still have the load of saturated fat, with questionable quality beef. Beef fed with grains, which give you too much omega 6 oils, and not enough omega 3 oils. The abundance of omega 6 fatty acids promotes inflammation in the body. Inflammation is natural, but should always be a temporary healing process in the body. Chronic inflammation leads to the "killer diseases": cancer, Diabetes, arterial disease, heart disease, everything a natural diet will help you avoid.

By natural - the other end of the spectrum - I mean organically produced foods, vegetables and fruits and salads uncontaminated by cancer-causing pesticides and herbicides. And when it comes to meats - why shouldn't those animals eat organically and naturally too? Fortunately, many herds do.

You can then benefit by getting protein powder made from healthy whey - milk from not miserable cows, spared the grains, growth hormones and antibiotics that most bovines are fed. Cows that get sunshine and get to wander around munching on juicy green grass. You get the benefit of higher anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats in the resulting foods. And the key here is that when your body is fed enough protein, it is triggered to allow the burning of fat for energy.

Years ago I spent a weekend in the country at a fellow performer's family farm. At the end of every hearty home-grown meal, all the leftovers were wiped into a huge bowl to be taken out to the pigs. I commented on how well their pigs were fed. My friend's grandmother quipped "Well, we're going to eat them!".

That was the first time I ever thought about what the animals I ate, ate. I was very ignorant of the "progress" in the food industry. I recommend that you eat well-fed protein products if you are trying to improve your natural muscle building.

Muscle Building Foods and The B Vitamins

2010-11-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

I am always trying to learn more about nutrition. The one thing that I have understood is that any nutritional component (protein, vitamin, mineral, enzyme), is one part of a whole picture and the health of the body is dependent upon ALL nutritional elements being provided for it, all the time.

I have associated the Vitamin B Complex with the support of brain hormones (moods and mental clarity) but recently I learned that the Vitamins B12, B6, and Folate, or Folic Acid, are all necessary for the conversion of the muscle building foods we eat, to the muscle tissue that dancers so direly need.

Protein from beef provides B vitamins, though it is much more abundant in the beef liver than in the muscles meats (steak!). Does every dancer eat beef liver 5-7 times a week? Not likely.

I think therefore that adding B vitamins to the diet as a supplement is pretty well mandatory for dancers and all athletes - and growing children and....well who would be exempt? Whole food supplements (vitamin pills made from food and not made in a lab) would be my choice.

Get one of these well-formulated supplements to process muscle building foods.

Snowball The Dancing Cockatoo

2010-10-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Watch videos and hear about Snowball here.

This is lovely.

Brighton Ballet In Brooklyn - Free Boys Classes

2010-10-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

For the boys in ballet....

I heard from Brighton Ballet today so I checked them out on line. They offer free unlimited boys classes!

From their website: http://www.brightonballet.org/Boys_Dance.htm

"Classes include:
* Ballet - Develop your ballet technique, strengthen and point your feet, improve your balance and coordination.
* Character Dance - Learn how to dance character dance combine strong dance technique with acting skills.
* Ballroom & Latin Dance - Partnering dance teaches students grace, coordination, self-discipline and self-confidence as they explore dances like salsa, tango, rumba and more as well as social skill development.
* Hip-Hop - Get ready to get up and move. Learn all of the latest moves utilizing lots of dance technique.
* Break dance - Taking break-dance is a great way to improve your fitness levels. This dance class will leave you with a feeling of exhilaration resulting from a great workout.

Benefits of the boys program include:
- An understanding of how the arts shape the diverse cultures in their society
- Actively engaging in and becoming more knowledgeable about the arts
- Enhanced motivation and greater self-confidence
- Improved school attendance and reduced drop-out rate
- Decreased likelihood of substance abuse
- Exposure to a variety of careers related to the arts
- Fewer behavioral problems in school
- Better social skills (more cooperative attitude with adults and peers)"

I understand that this is annoying to girls in ballet... I honestly do. I was one, and I did not have unlimited free classes. But, if you want partners, this is a price we pay for social bias and ignorance. Keep your attention on YOUR progress, your visions, and your brilliance.

For boys who want to be in ballet in Brooklyn - here is their home page.

If You Like The Organic and Natural Foot Care

2010-09-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

I just read this article about natural foot care products. The author is Marlene Daniels.

They sound wonderful!! The thing is, they are recipes and you have to make them yourself.

They are wonderful for relaxing, pampering and luxuriating over your precious feet.

I thought some of you may want to take a look.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet Honors Dr. Arnold Spohr - Free Concert

2010-09-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is honoring the late Artistic Director Emeritus Dr. Arnold Spohr, who passed away in April.

The company is hosting a free performance on October 4. Arnold Spohr led the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for three decades.

Choreographer Stephanie Ballard and Spohr's biographer, Michael Crabb will co-host.

RWB company dancers and guest artists will perform work by Jiri Kylian, Peter Quanz, Itzak Galili and others.

Tickets are free, but please reserve in advance - call 1-800-667-4792.

Pointe Ballet Shoes, Sizing and Your Foot Type

2010-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

I often read that pointe ballet shoes can be best fitted to 2-3 sizes smaller than your street shoes. This is not correct, as pointe shoes, or ballet toe shoes, come in many different shapes and sizes, and street shoes do not. If you are a pointe ballet beginner and are ready to go and buy ballet shoes, know your foot type.

Here are some ballet tips that will help.

If you have a "Greek" or "Morton's" foot type, your second toe is longer than your big toe. This means you must have the strength to keep the second toe long in the pointe shoe. Using a toe protector such as a gel sleeve on the toe is a good idea, at least until a student is used to toe shoes. A "V" shape of the vamp, or the cloth covering the foot over the metatarsals, may be a more flattering and comfortable style of shoe. Try on a few vamp/box shapes and see what feels best.

The "Egyptian" foot is a challenging shape to fit. The big toe is longer with the other toes diminishing in length steeply. Often the little toe is opposite the ball of the foot. In a pointe shoes, this means that it is not even in the box. This little toe may need taping up as it will be rubbing against the wing, or the stiff outside of the shoe, instead of being tucked securely in the box with the other toes. Make sure that as you press up through demi pointe, that the big toe joint is not meeting a too deep box edge, but can bend efficiently.

The "Giselle/Peasant" foot has three or more toes that are the same length. Often toes on such a foot are short, and medium in width. Some students do not think this foot type is very elegant, yet it is great foot for pointe ballet. Short to medium vamps are good. This can be strong foot in toe shoes, and will likely suffer less injuries than other foot types.

The Compressible foot is one which appears quite wide when the dancer is standing. Yet this foot has little muscle structure between its bones, and will easily compress into a narrower shoe than a fitter might pick from a visual decision.

So always try on MANY pairs of shoes. Do not rush a fitting, or allow anyone else to rush you. Once you find a shoe that feels fairly good, try half a size different each way - shorter, longer, narrower, wider, just to be sure.

Point shoe sizing charts are a guide, but only a guide. After you buy your ballet toe shoes, take them to the dance studio and let your teacher check the fit before you sew ribbons on them. This way you can be sure that you have the best fit.

You can get a whole book about sizing, breaking in, sewing, and dancing in pointe ballet shoes.

The Right Pointe Shoe and 'Bad' Ballet Feet

2010-07-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

It is pretty awful that when I search Google and "bad ballet feet" comes up with over a million sites and "the right ballet feet" or "flexible ballet feet" comes up with between eight and two results. It is a cultural bias that persists in the world of ballet, yet many many famous ballerinas did not have 'the right ballet feet', Margot Fonteyn, a legend, for one. But, if you have bad ballet feet, or think you do, let's talk about the right pointe shoe.

A less flexible ankle joint, requires a pliable pointe shoe usually with a lower vamp, unless the toes are long.

There are so many shapes and styles of pointe shoes. You must take time to try many on, and be fussy. Even if one type feels good, try on all that are in the category of "more pliable".

If a shoe feels good (none of them really feel GOOD), try on a half size shorter/longer/wider/narrower, just to be sure.

Do a demi plie in each one, making sure that your toes are not completely squished into the box, with pain. You need some "squish" room, because the feet spread when you plie.

Be sure to take your toe protectors to try shoes on. Take tights to put on your feet. With one foot (standing on flat with the other) press up onto a pointe position in a try-on shoe. See if your foot places onto the platform easily, and feels the whole shoe, except for the middle of the sole, or shank, which will not bend yet.

Use something for a barre and rise up onto pointe with both feet. Make sure you can rise onto the platform completely.

The right feet for pointe shoes, are feet that have been wisely prepared for pointe. Special foot exercises can be done for months before a student is ready for pointe classes.

As a matter of fact, there are NO BAD FEET IN BALLET. Except maybe those feet that have had no preparation with special training, for strength and flexibility. Get the right exercises and plenty of practice for your ballet feet, and you'll be ready for the right pointe shoe.

Stretching After Exercise For the Long Leg, the Straight Leg

2010-07-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

You are a ballet student, in contemporary dance classes, or cheer leading, and you cannot get the straight leg look. You know about stretching after exercise, and you want the long leg, straight leg look. You have learned all the good stretching exercises, yet your knees still look bent. The following tips will help you understand whether you have a structural problem or simply need to know more effective ways to release muscle tension.

The Effective Stretching DVD teaches a tension release technique using a sports ball, and start with the hip area. Relaxing the piriformis muscle (your turnout muscle) increases your turnout and enhances relaxation of the hamstrings.

Kneading down the back of the leg while sitting on the floor, roll around to get at the tense spots on both the inside and outside of the hamstrings.

Rolling to the outside extreme, you can get into the side of the quads, muscles that will pull on the knee joint when holding chronic tension.

You can massage the lower thigh muscles above the knee, and at the sides of the knees. Don't get into the back of the knee area. It is a very delicate muscle that can be worked on by a chiropractor, physiotherapist or massage therapist.

Learning how to release tension in the feet and calves will contribute to your overall muscle relaxation as well.

If a professional therapist tells you that you have tight ligaments around your knees, please do not plan to go home and stretch your ligaments. They are not elastic like muscles.

Take careful note of the professional advice you get. Ballet dancers especially are known for trying drastic and forceful measures to get a straight leg. Please don't!

Keep stretching after exercise and be patient with your muscles. Learn all the expertly taught and professional good stretching exercises with Effective Stretching, The Ultimate Stretching Guide.

Dance Classes For Boys

2010-07-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Because of our current social biases, many boys start dancing later than they would have liked. They know their parents might have a problem with them practicing ballet dancing positions, even if it is for technical support in their hip hop dance steps for beginners. Or jazz, contemporary dance classes, ballroom, and other dance styles.

If you never intend to dance ballet (and, if you do), there are many technical classical ballet positions and technique factors that you would benefit knowing and mastering. For instance, understanding correct ballet posture will help prevent lower back pain injury.

Knowing how to find your real degree of turnout is a bonus. Then, learning how to hold the turnout that you have, will help you prevent many dance injuries.

For example if you're still learning hip hop dance steps for beginners, and have no ballet classes, read up on turn out. Understanding and increasing your turnout will help you move fluidly, and prevent common knee injuries.

If you are older and in dance classes for adults, the same holds true. Any part of classical ballet technique is worth understanding, if you intend to dance for a while.

Most dance studios would love to offer dance classes for boys. Especially in tap dancing schools and beginning hip hop classes, teachers would be thrilled to see line ups to register for their dance classes. And, some do.

And many do not. This is understandable. The cost effect of having a dance class for 4-6 boys can be prohibitive.

Boys who want to be in a dance class have the worst and the best - social phobias, and ironically, what seems to the girls in the dance world, red carpet treatment for scholarships and advancement.

Sometimes it is the simplest of things that determines whether you dance, or for how long. To go from dance classes to a dance company requires dedication. And technical know-how. Learn the real elements of ballet turnout, whatever you form of dance you study. Tune Up Your Turnout in boys dance classes.

Bonuses For First Buyers Of "Essential Anatomy: A Multimedia Course For Dancers And Dance Teachers

2010-07-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Do you want to increase your chances of preventing knee and leg pain....a lower back pain injury...any dancer injuries? Today Deborah Vogel sent me the following:

"Hello!

I'm very proud to announce that Essential Anatomy: A Multimedia

Course for Dancers and Dance Teachers is now ready for purchase.

The first 10 purchasers will also receive a free copy of Tune Up

Your Turnout and the 6 audio CD set of Enhancing the

Body/Brain Connection. (give them as gifts to the dancers

in your life)

Essential Anatomy: A Multimedia Course is a 2 CD set

that covers the essential components of anatomy

that every dancer should know. Anatomy comes to life

through over 3 hours of quicktime movies using pictures and

animations to illustrate the spoken text. Included are

outlines and study guides for each unit so you can easily

begin to use this important information.

CD #1 includes the following units
Essential Vocabulary
The Pelvis
The Femoral Joint
The Knee
The Ankle and Foot

CD #2 includes
The Spine
The Ribcage and Diaphragm
The Upper Extremity
Conditioning
Teaching Tips

Education is the key to injury prevention. Dance Smart and Teach Smart

using the science of dance training to improve strength and flexibility

while minimizing the risk of injury.

Warmest regards,

Deborah"

Higher Leg Extensions In Dance and Ballet

2010-07-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

Get Higher Developpes

Build Strength For Long and Lean Ballet Muscles

The Ultimate Ballet Line - Arabesque

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

Get A Higher Developpe

2010-07-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Deborah Vogel has a new post at The Body Series - click on the BLOG to read it - and she includes a clip of an exercise using a theraband, which will help you get a higher developpe.

Check it out!

Weight Loss Overview - Keeping A Perspective

2010-06-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

If you want to lose a little weight, I recommend that you cut back on all the empty carbs you may be eating. Bread, pastas, crackers, buns, cereals and potatoes. However, you must not go hungry, and you must eat enough proteins, vegetables, salads, fruits, and healthy fats.

You don't want to lose any muscle mass, or visceral fat - the fat that protects your organs. Some dancers weigh too little - oh yes.

Here are some tips to keep this all in a healthy perspective:

How To Lose Some Weight and Keep It Off this article has a link to protein calculator;

What Ballet Dancers Need To Understand About Weight Loss and Calories

What Is Your Protein Requirement

Learning To Develop Lean Muscles

Healthy Fats For Ballet Dancers

A Quote That Deserves Its Own Post re Ballet Turnout

2010-06-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

From page 279 of Gretchen Ward Warren's book "The Art of Teaching Ballet":

"Turn-out is something a dancer does, not necessarily something he has." - Anne Woolliams

Haven't many of us said it ourselves, perhaps in a different way.....

Understanding and being able to hold the turnout that you have, is more important than the turnout that you have!

A Word of Encouragement For Late Ballet Starters

2010-06-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

I get many queries from young dancers as to what are their chances for becoming professional. This is a general answer to dancers whom I cannot see -

While I cannot see you dance and give any opinion as to whether you could make the professional grade or not, I will try to help you see it for yourself. Here are some professionally trained 14-17 yr old dance students, who will be able to get a job in a world class ballet company:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=National
+Ballet+School+of+Canada

This play list includes other schools as well. Compare the ability and technique to the students at your school/company and you will see how your abilities match. Bear in mind that these students have had 6-10 classes a week with world class teachers since they were 9-10 yrs old - so don't get self-critical! (I know, dancers specialize in that!).

While it may not be possible for you to train well enough to get into the top world ballet companies, perhaps you would qualify for a smaller/regional company. Look at as many as you can on line.

Consider a summer intensive next year at a major school, to work in a professional training schedule.

Consider a BFA program where you will train and perform through your college years, and be able to go on to dance history, criticism or teaching when you can no longer perform. Or, you could enter a B.Sc. program in dance that will proceed to dance medicine/physical therapy as a specialty for after you stop dancing. In the meantime, you will be dancing!

So you see, even if you cannot have the career that a dancer with 8-10 years of intense training can have, there is much to do in the world of ballet! Since you are so drawn to ballet, you must believe that you have a special gift to offer the dance world, in one way or another. Keep your personal vision alert and wide, and your adventures in dance may be amazing!

Posts on Knee Injuries

2010-06-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

I just had a request for information on knee injuries. Here are the posts I've written about that.

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-understand-overpronation-and.html

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-prevent-knee-injuries-in-ballet.html

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2008/08/highly-effective-tips-for-understanding.html

http://balletshoesandpointeshoes.blogspot.com/2008/03/ballet-turnout-prevents-knee-injuries.html

Posts about turnout refer to preventing knee injuries as well - listed down on the left.

My Son Can Dance and Teaching Boys Ballet - Nina Amir's Blog

2010-04-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

I wrote a post for Nina Amir's blog My Son Can Dance. It is about teaching boys ballet.

If you enjoy it please leave her a comment!

Get A Free Copy of Tune Up Your Turnout

2010-04-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Author Deborah Vogel states:

"Remember that any order through the end of April
will receive a free copy of Tune Up Your Turnout
(or if you order an ebook or downloadable product
I will email you the Dancing Smart Ebook - 440
pages of fantastic tips and suggestions to
improve your technique!) It will automatically be added."

Just go to The Body Series!

David Hatch Walker 1949-2010

2010-04-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Older Martha Graham Company fans may remember David Hatch Walker, formerly a principal dancer.

The National Ballet School of Canada's 50th reunion is coming up, and therefore classmates have been looking each other up and happily getting in touch after many years (well, my classmates anyway).

I have wondered for the past few years why I could not find David through the internet. I thought he had to be teaching somewhere.... last year I heard from The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance that they had not been able to locate him.

Recently, Ann Ditchburn (NBS classmate) inquired at the Martha Graham Center and received this back:

"Dear Ann,

I'm so sorry to tell you that we received news a few weeks ago that David Hatch Walker had passed away. We were told he had MS. This information came to us from Trish Beaty. You can reach her at xxxxxx. I danced with David for years. He was a beautiful dancer who could transform himself in the Graham roles. It's terribly sad to have lost him.

Yours,

Janet

Janet Eilber
Artistic Director
Martha Graham Center"

I then asked Amy Bowring of Dance Collection Danse (Canada's dance history archives)if she had any information about David. She sent me this youtube link of David dancing in "Diversions of Angels" (also features his wife of that time, Takako Asakawa), saying that David had had MS and died of a stroke, in Toronto, this February.

My condolences to David's loved ones that we classmates do not know....I last saw David in NYC in the early 80's....

I know that David would have had supportive visits from his Toronto classmates, had they known. We will sadly miss seeing him or hearing from him....

Getting Back to Ballet

2010-03-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Getting back to ballet after a few years off seems intimidating to many who really want to. A child, teen, or adult ballet student will need a different approach. Some may need to get in shape for ballet for a few months. Unless there is a medical condition, there is no reason not to go back to classical dancing.

For example, perhaps you took ballet classes from the age of five to fifteen.

Then for some reason you decided to go to college. You pursue academics for a couple of years, and realize you really miss dancing. You were considered a talented student formerly, but now you worry about what it would take to get back to an advanced level.

At this time of year (March), look into summer intensives. The more established summer intensives will ask you to audition, and may have already held their auditions.

Sometimes a smaller more local studio is the best, as you may get more attention in those classes than in a major ballet school.

After intensive study, you and your teachers will have a good idea of whether you can make the progress you want.

But you don't have to wait....if you can, right now, take a weekly ballet class, starting in a less advanced class than you had been doing so you can have "the luxury" of concentrating on basic ballet technique. The fancy combinations of an advanced class would be a distraction.

In some cases a dedicated student gets accepted into a full time training ballet school, and "something happens". After recovery from injury or some other situation, has taken place, an ambitious teen can be tortured by not knowing how the previous scenario would have played out - and wonders if she/he should try to get back to it. I say if you can, audition again. Some of the training schools have a special course for older students who are talented enough to make quick progress, or go into a teacher training program that dovetails with a degree program.

Sometimes a teacher is approached by a student who quit ballet at the very old age of ten, after five years of classes. Now she/he wants to get back into class, and isn't sure how to catch up. Many studios like to keep classes geared to an age range, but I would put this student into a very basic technique class once a week for a while. She/he could also take a class closer to the previous level studied. That way boredom won't take over.

Doctors I have asked say that the best cardio/endurance training for dancers is swimming. There is no impact on the joints at all, as there is with jogging or running.

If you want some pointe exercises to practice every day, here is a whole routine to get back into pointe shoes.

Spotting For Pirouettes Correctly

2010-03-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Spotting is the technique used by ballet dancers to avoid dizziness while doing multiple turns. In ballet classes, and in theaters, dancers will find a "spot" that they can see, and upon which they will focus throughout, for example, the 32 fouettes performed in Swan Lake by the ballerina, or a series of turns a la seconde by the male dancer.

When you reach the point in ballet training where turns are added to your class exercises, often spotting will be taught first.

Imagine a child spinning, just for the joy of it. Children will do this until they are too dizzy to stay upright, and then they will collapse. In the dance studio, the same playful spin can be done. With one difference.

Choosing a spot on the wall, which could be a picture of a famous ballerina, or whatever decoration the dance teacher may have chosen to inspire her/his students, a dance student can spin while focusing on the spot.

In slow motion, as the dancer spins away from the front, or corner of the studio as it may be, she or he leaves their head behind, focusing on the spot. At the last possible moment, the dancer whips the head around to regain focus before the body reaches the front again.

That is spotting. Within the requirements of ballet technique a few points are added.

The head must not incline. The entire body posture of a retire position, or an a la seconde position, must not be influenced by the head staying behind to remain focused on the spot. Same for a turn in arabesque or attitude.

Usually, chainee turns are the first ones learned. Remaining in first position, the entire body position must be held while the dancer spots.

This achievement then assumes that the core and turnout muscles are well held. The arms remain in a fifth en avant or slightly over - crossed position, and the NECK IS RELAXED, allowing the head to spot, without inclination.

A modern, jazz or hip hop dancer does the same.

Image: many years ago I watched Helgi Thomason give dancer Victor Edwards a correction in class. He said something like "imagine your body is spinning underneath your head, which just stays looking at the front".

That's spotting.

Every dancer needs to accomplish proper spotting before dancing in pointe shoes. The most subtle errors in posture, turnout, and basic ballet positions will be exaggerated once you are en pointe. Be prepared for dancing in pointe shoes by getting a professionally written guide specific for pointe shoe exercises.

How To Build Strength In Your Calves For Ballet and Pointe

2010-03-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

I just found this page of exercises on a post by Ken Woodman at dance.net.

This is the thread where Ken discusses why these exercises are best.

I was glad to find this because I cringe when I see kids ask each other how to increase strength for pointe work and many seem to think "do a hundred releves a day" is more or less the solution.

I have to admit I have not taken up this issue thoroughly till now, and I will continue to add info when I find anything different. But, Ken (thank you), explains these well.

Costumes For Boys In Ballet - Creativity Wanted!

2010-03-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

Nina Amir has written a very relevant post about costumes for boys in ballet at her blog My Son Can Dance.

This is indeed an area that can benefit from creativity! I've been in conflicts with directors quite a few times over boys'/mens costumes. I've seen arguments about whether boys/men should shave their armpits or not. Or shave off a moustache because of one piece of choreography...I've seen people resign over it.

It is not easy!

How To Do a Sissone Lift - Pas de Deux for Good Partnering

2010-03-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Today's pas de deux snippet is a nice clear look at a sissone lift - including explanation et al - and a good view at a shoulder lift, that a pas de deux boy ballet student would appreciate.

Inland Pacific Ballet Offers Free Scholarship Class For Boys

2010-02-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

I found this today at: http://blogs.inlandsocal.com/moms/things-to-do/
"Inland Pacific Ballet offers free scholarship class for boys
By
Jennifer Dean
on February 17, 2010 6:23 AM

Inland Pacific Ballet Academy, the official school of Inland Pacific Ballet, is currently offering a free scholarship class specifically for boys taught by Jonathan Sharp, IPB Guest Principal Dancer and former member of the USC Dance Department faculty.

The free class is held on Thursdays from 4-5:15 p.m. and is open to boys age 8 and older. No previous dance experience is required and all levels are accepted.

Designed to help male dancers and athletes develop coordination, flexibility and balance, the class focuses on upper body and leg strength. The program provides strenuous body conditioning for injury prevention, and is excellent cross training for all athletes, particularly tennis, basketball and football players. Artistic appreciation and musicality are also introduced.

"Bringing boys together to train artistically lets us focus on the key strengths of the male body," Sharp said. "This class includes a little bit of martial arts combined with strength training and theater games. We work on how to stay balanced, turning, how to jump higher and have a powerful landing."

For more information call 909-482-1590 or visit www.ipballet.org."

Teaching Aid - A New Anatomy Coloring Book - Doing The Splits

2010-02-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

From Deborah Vogel:

"I now have Anatomy Coloring
Pages for the young dancer available in the store. They are in a
pdf format that you do multiple copies of for your younger students.

The muscles that are included in the coloring pages are:
1. rotators (turnout muscles)
2. Quadriceps
3. Hamstrings
4. Iliopsoas
5. Adductor (inner thigh)
6. Abductor (lateral hip)
7. Abdominals
8. Soleus (deeper calf muscle that determines depth of demi plié)
9. Gastrocnemius
10. Deltoid (that lifts the arm)

Each page demonstrates the action of the muscle, has an insert of
what the actual muscle looks like, and at the bottom of each page
is a sentence describing the action in simple terms. Perfect for the
youngest (6 - 8 yrs) to begin learning about their body!

The price is right - only $9.95 so check them out!

Warm regards,
Deborah

“Education is the key to injury prevention”

Deborah has given ballet teachers a tool with which to train students anatomy they need to know....and I believe that those students who feel frustrated with "doomed with my body type", can learn how to get more flexible and improve safely.

What a wonderful teaching aid!

Learn Ballet Arm Positions and Improve Your Ballet Technique

2010-01-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

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!

Excerpt from "Train Your Brain: A Teen's Guide to Well Being"

2010-01-31T10:02:00.000-08:00

Today Deborah Vogel wrote:

"Another Dancing Smart newsletter has been posted.

This one is on improving focus and I have included
an excerpt from Train Your Brain: A Teen's Guide
to Well Being."

Go to Deborah's site The Body Series and click on the blog button in the top menu.

You can learn ways to train yourself to focus away from negative emotions, tension and anxiety. Positive emotions will enhance all your work in ballet and dance training. Positive emotions strengthen your immune system.

Learn how to enjoy - relish! - ballet class, school, and all the inherent challenges life brings. When you know how, you can change your life direction. You do not have to wait until you are "grown up".

"STUDIO TO STAGE" SUMMER INTENSIVE At The National Ballet School of Canada

2010-01-29T07:46:00.000-08:00

From their recent newsletter:

"Offered for the first time at NBS is a new open dance program for students 12-16 years.
"STUDIO TO STAGE" SUMMER INTENSIVE
Offering a rich program in dance instruction – including Ballet, Musical Theatre, Character & Repertoire students will receive the best training in light-filled studios on NBS' award-winning campus, from
August 3 13 with NBS' world-renowned Artistic staff.

Class sizes will be small, with no more than 20 students in each. There are only 60 spaces available, with registration beginning February 1st, register Monday!

For more details, visit our "Studio to Stage" Summer Intensive webpage.

Avoid Being Too Stiff For Ballet With Simple Resistance Stretching

2010-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

A while ago when I wrote an article about office space workouts I was astounded at the high number of times it was read. I was aware that many recreational adult ballet dancers sit on a chair all day, or do some other repetitive or physically confining work. If you cannot sit on a physio ball, as I've suggested before, there are ways of getting more flexible with daily resistance stretching, sitting at your desk.

With recent discoveries about how to get more flexible by understanding the connective tissue in the body, called fascia, the most simple of exercises can be appreciated in a new way.

Understanding resistance stretching and doing just a little every day will improve adult ballet, and any sports or fitness activities.

Many working people like us experience neck pain and stiffness every day. Sitting in front of a computer screen, perhaps in a detrimental ergonomic design, (working with supports for back, elbow and wrists at the wrong angles) will build tension in the neck.

Lacking a good office chair, low back pain and stiffness can progress from periodic to chronic.

Having your feet too far from the floor affects your posture also, adding to neck and low back strain.

This is all worse, and creates anxiety if you are feeling this tension increase all day, while planning to go to your adult ballet class in the evening after work, or some other sports/fitness activity.

Stretching with resistance is the ultimate yet simple way of staying more flexible. For example: you intend to stretch the right side neck muscles. You reach over your head with your left hand, and pull your head to the left. Resistance is pushing back into your hand with your head. If you have never stretched like this, it sounds strange.

However, it feels wonderful!

If you had five minutes in the morning and another five in the afternoon, you could do daily stretches at work and gain on getting more flexible. Then, when you got into ballet class, you'd feel a lot different!

Failing to do any kind of stretches daily regardless of your other activities is not good for you. However, learning a simple yet effective routine will start to reverse your decrease in flexibility.

Is it too late for you to get more flexible? I don't know, and maybe you feel that increasing your flexibility would be difficult. If you learn properly and work gently, you will make progress. I have found Deborah Vogel's Ultimate Stretching Guide for good stretching exercises to be an easy to learn at home program.

Your Potential To Get More Flexible - And How To Do Effective Ballet/Sports/Cheer Leading Stretching

2010-01-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Those of us who were not born with that amazing flexibility to do the splits and perfect ballet positions can learn how to get more flexible with a simple yet truly ultimate stretching guide. For daily stretches, for example, even at an office space desk, the same exercises can be done discreetly to improve your comfort and efficiency.

So you want to know how to get more flexible. Education prevents injury, and I will help you learn from expert guidance that I have found.

I was not born with that fantastic flexibility - or, hyper-mobility that ballet dancers and cheer leaders want, yet is considered a negative condition by kinesiologists - so I understand the frustration that many of us athletes go through.

We work so hard and yet do not get the visual or aesthetic results that the "born to" lucky ones get. Sometimes we get a little strain or sprain just because we work so hard.

Don't you just long to find a stretching routine that you can do for a few weeks and start to feel the difference?

The real secret to stretching has been recently revealed by some of the top dance medicine experts in the world. I say "revealed" not because it has been some trade secret that a few have kept to themselves - not at all - but the human body is understood better and better all the time.

And here is a warning - when you look at this information, do not underestimate its effectiveness because of the simplicity of the presentation. Or because the presenter is not sitting in the splits while showing the stretching exercises.

Actually, if you try it out, I think you will really appreciate the quality of the data and the ease with which you can start doing it.

Now the latest data on stretching without injury, and with incredible results when done properly, is available to you and me.

Right now you don't know exactly how much more flexible you can get. But you CAN learn safe stretching, with understanding of how the body tightens up as you grow. If you want to improve at ballet, sports, fitness, cheer leading or another athletic goal, find out about how to get more flexible.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

2009-12-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

All the best to everyone! Merde for your performances (I hope no one asks me to explain that one) and have a safe and happy holiday time.

How to Train in Ballet Before You're Too Old

2009-12-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

High school age students have a dilemma with ballet training, and balancing the demands of the academic and the artistic. However, the structure of education is actually quite flexible. The easiest solution is to get accepted into a full time ballet/academic school, but that is not possible for many. Here are some ideas dancers and parents may want to explore.

Finding out the audition schedules and possible audition tours of the full time ballet/academic schools is not difficult.

Use a search engine and type in "full time ballet schools in (name your country or area)".

Search the web site for auditions, audition tours, or "about us" if you cannot find the audition information. Usually that and scholarship information, or financial assistance, is available.

If it is not possible for you to even consider leaving home and attending a full time training school, then calculate the number of hours you can train at a local studio, each week. If you can add three hours a day of academic training on top of that, then you can spend those other hours doing dance training.

In the US, home schooling is legal and very organized. Registered schools, of which the details may be different in each state, are usually organized by parents. A home schooler registers with a school. The school may offer a curriculum for the school grades. or not. If they do not, then the student and the parent put one together. It is not difficult because there are many models to use. Here's another thing that helps - home schooling high schoolers, at least in California, can register in community college courses for NO cost, and get college credits for the courses. This is in place because many home schoolers have finished high school by the time they are thirteen years old.

When you factor in the legal requirement in spending three hours a day in school, and how much work a student can do in that time, without all the extra time spent just going through the daily motions of a public school - three hours is all it takes. Additionally, hours of ballet can count as physical education and - well, more time for dance training!

There is a lot of philosophic and political discussion going on about home schooling, but this article is not about that. If a young person is extremely talented and motivated to train in the arts, the regular 7 hour school day is a waste of time.

Also, check to see if your state provides a high school exit test which can usually be done in the later semester of Grade 11, if the student has turned sixteen. This gives a high school diploma and the student can then go on to further training. In California it is law that the school inform students of this option, although I've never heard that schools routinely do this. I found out from a home schooling mom.

An arts intensive curriculum can be created at any grade, while still fulfilling general education needs. If you want to train in ballet before you're too old, you do have options.

"La Danse" - If You Dance and Love Ballet

2009-12-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

"La Danse" - Le ballet de l'Opéra de Paris is a wonderful dance film. By Frederick Wiseman, it gives you the role of a fly on the wall. I saw it with a friend, a real estate mogul, who is also a doll house maker and a seamstress. She said afterwards "I want to run away and join le ballet! In the wardrobe department!" Tutus galore, masks, wigs, and more...I can see her in Paris.

Oh....the wide shots of Paris..... wonderful cinematography.

Shots from the roof - where beehives are harvested - shots below with water filled causeways - the real Phantom of the Opera location -

And then there's the dance! La Danse, le ballet....

Rehearsals, performance, moderne, classique - office meetings, union meeting, you are a fly on the wall......

"Also, at two and a half hours, it's not a film for the fidgety." reviews Mike Scott, of the The Times-Picayune. Hah - dance fans are not fidgety!

You'll get an ongoing and interspersed revelation into the rehearsals of "Medea". During the two and a half hours , between the studio rehearsals and stage rehearsals , I wondered what the buckets across the back of the stage were for. Duh - uh. Oh, Medea, every mother's worst sacrifice. If you are not familiar with the Medea story, you may want to look it up before going to this ballet.

You'll see rehearsals with le corps de ballet, and with soloists/principals. You'll see the dyeing of shoes, the sewing of crystals on tutus and the dyeing of costume fabric.

You'll see it all!
Read here about Brigitte Lefevre, the current Director of Dance at the Paris National Opera.

If you love dance, you'll love this movie.

I Want To Be A Ballerina - But I Need More Time At The Ballet Academy

2009-12-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Finding a way to balance school requirements and the time needed at the ballet academy is frustrating for many young ballerinas and boys in ballet. Parents worry if grades drop and use dance classes as currency for academic improvement. What are the alternatives for getting a good education and still putting the time into classical dance training?
If you want to audition for a professional academic/ballet school, do a web search for their audition tours and see if any of them come to your area. Most auditions are held early in the year.

The sooner you can start professional training the better. Check all your choices!

Can you home school - or get a an independent education program? Here in Los Angeles children can home school - they register in a local private school for home schoolers, and get a curriculum put together that fulfills the grade requirements. They document their attendance (legal requirement is 3 hrs per day)and the parents who have registered the school supply computerized transcripts of their grades every year. There is no problem entering a private school or a college, later.

This allows ballet students to attend their dance classes on a more intense schedule. Also, the dance training would fulfill a quota of the home schooling daily requirements - such as physical education, field trips (ballet, art galleries, etc.,). There are very large home schooling communities so students do not exist in isolation.

You may be able to get into an Independent program through their public school, where you study at home and check in with an academic advisor once or twice a month, and do the usual school exams at school. This system allows for both disabled and gifted students to arrange their own schooling circumstances.

Look into all of this. If your school semesters start again in January, or early in the year, perhaps you can arrange a switch to another system of schooling which would fulfill the requirements you would need as a professional dancer, (art, language, for instance), as well as general education.

Also new here in California is a system for students to do ALL their schooling on line. They co-ordinate with a public school advisor to stay on track, yet there is a freedom of schedule for both the parents and students.

So check all your options, and make the best of the years left to qualify for auditioning in a professional company. Try to get some feedback from a local ballet company - audition at their school!

A lot of success in this world comes from having the nerve to approach people, present yourself, and make contacts. While ballet has specific requirements, often the bravest reach the top when the most talented do not.

How to Improve at Ballet - Define Your Weaknesses

2009-11-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

The elegant art of ballet has a mechanical side to every position and movement. Understanding anatomy and which muscles create the movement you want, helps you enormously in knowing how to improve at ballet. You can learn to define your weaknesses in an impersonal way. Sometimes your weakness in ballet technique comes from just not knowing how your muscles work.

If you are a young ballet student or an adult beginner, organize yourself by learning the correct way to execute ballet movements, one at a time.

Or start before you make a move - you can improve all your ballet by learning correct posture. Good posture in ballet is the same as general good posture. There is no extra tension in the upper body as all the elongating support is in the lower abs and pelvic area. This doesn't mean that the upper torso muscles are not pitching in as the lower muscles change position and tension level - but the upper back/shoulder/neck muscles don't "hold" your posture at all.

Your core muscles - lower ab and pelvic/low back/hip muscles hold your posture. Then you add turnout.

So if your next exploration is turnout, it is best to find a good illustration of the low back/pelvic/hip area showing the muscles and joints clearly. (A picture is worth a thousand words....).

Learn how to stretch the rotator muscles, the piriformis and the adductors (inner thigh) muscles.

With correct posture and turnout you have a basis to develop beautiful basic ballet positions. If you can define your most basic weaknesses in classical technique, and search for every detail as to the solution that you need, you will learn how to improve at ballet with an excellent understanding.

Here is more info about where to get ballet turnout exercises.

Learn Ballet To Speed Up Your Calorie Burning

2009-11-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

If you choose classical dance as a workout, you can expect some degree of health results, even if you do not target that particular goal.

If you learn ballet correctly and keep a slow, relaxed focus on progressing through the levels, you have a chance at reversing typical aging effects and rejuvenating your body.

Here's a nutshell version of how you speed up your calorie burning twenty-four/seven. How your body uses insulin and burns energy (instead of storing it as fat) depends upon lowering the glucose content in your muscles. The way to deplete the glucose in your muscles is by high intensity exertion, to the point of "muscle failure".

For example, when you execute a simple sequence of developpes (slow unfolding and lifting the leg) at the barre, you may feel shaky by the time the exercise ends. Your quad, or thigh muscle may be burning a little. This is good! You shake out your muscles to relax, and turn to the other side. This kind of exertion exhausts the big muscle, triggering the cellular events that uses insulin properly and burns energy.

The calorie burning speeds up as the muscles must now recover and rebuild. This requires a faster metabolism, even as you sleep.

Ballet classes have a combination of slow, intensive workouts, and short bursts of activity (fast footwork at the barre, and jumps) that require a different exertion from the cardiovascular system. This is similar to the Pace exercise program, though not as exacting.

When you learn ballet arm movements (port de bras) you will feel the exertion on arm muscles as well. It's not the same as weight lifting, but done properly (which involves correct spinal posture) arm positions and movement in ballet is toning and sculpting. Everyone sculpts differently with exercise, but most people will see some visible result.

Running, jogging, and even brisk walking, done long term, can wear out joints. Learn the controlled workouts of ballet correctly, and you'll find out how to prevent joint injuries, and speed up your calorie burning at the same time.

Learn Ballet Positions Faster, 3 Essential Tips

2009-11-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRY - TUNE UP YOUR TURNOUT by Deborah Vogel.

TRY - THE PERFECT POINTE BOOK by Lisa Howell.

(just for starters!)

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

Exclusive Chance To Win Tickets To See the English National Ballet's Nutcracker

2009-10-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Win two tickets for English National Ballet's production of The Nutcracker!

And there is lots more interesting Ballet News at Elise' blog.

Regional Ballet Nutcrackers - Support Your Local Ballet!

2009-10-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

Tucson Regional Ballet

Virginia Regional Ballet

Utah Regional Ballet

Contra Costa Ballet, Walnut Creek, CA

Pennsylvania Regional Ballet

Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet

Ashland Regional Ballet

Nutcrackers In Ohio

Allen Civic Ballet (TX)

Arts Ballet Theater of Florida

Ballet Chicago

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

Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with ABT guests

Ballet Theatre of New Mexico

Ballet Yuma, AZ

Ballethnic Dance Company Atlanta, GA

Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre

Bossov Ballet Theatre Pittsfield Maine

Brandywine Ballet West Chester PA

California Ballet San Diego CA

Canyon Concert Ballet Fort Collins CO

Cape Cod Ballet

Carnegie Performing Arts Center , PA

Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet

November Nutcracker with Chamberlain Ballet in Plano TX

The Childrens Ballet Theatre of Michigan

Company of Dance Arts Redbank NJ

Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania

Fort Lauderdale Ballet Classique

Greater York Dance York, PA

Greensboro Ballet NC

Gwinnett Ballet Snellville, GA

Harford Ballet Edgewater, MD

Indiana Ballet Theatre

Irine Fokine School of Ballet

Ithica Ballet

Lake Arrowhead Classical Ballet Company

Madison Ballet

Media City Ballet Glendale CA

Mid Atlantic Ballet De

Midland Festival Ballet, TX

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

Mohawk Ballet

Mystic Ballet

Neglia Ballet Buffalo NY

New England Ballet CT

Nouveau Chamber Ballet Fullerton CA (with orchestra)

Nutmeg Conservatory For the Arts

Peninsula Youth Ballet San Mateo CA

Peoria Ballet

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

Fort Wayne Ballet

Red River Dance LA

Rhode Island Ballet presents Nutcracker excerpts and Alice In Wonderland

Rochester City Ballet

Salt Creek Ballet, IL

San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet

San Pedro City Ballet CA

Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet

Sierra Vista Ballet, AZ

South Bay Ballet Torrence CA

South Dayton Dance Theatre

Southern New Hampshire Dance Theatre

Southwest Virginia Ballet

Saint Louis Ballet

The Toledo Ballet

The Tupelo Ballet

Virginia Ballet Company & School

Westchester Ballet Company NY

Westside Ballet Santa Monica CA

Wichita Falls Ballet Theatre

Woodlands Civic Ballet TX

Exercises For Pointe in Adult Ballet Classes - Warm Up and Awareness

2009-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Most ballet exercises cover a lot of muscle groups, while exercises to prepare for pointe work, or foot work in general focus on the feet/ankles. Here is a simple exercise you can use as a warm up before class that will activate your posture, leg muscles, and foot muscles. It will get your joints more flexible in a gentle way as you increase your circulation and alert your brain/body that class is about to start!

As an adult ballet student you may have been sitting at a desk all day, or confined more or less, in an office venue. Coming into an adult ballet class, usually at the end of the day, your body is ready to wind down, yet - here you are.

Prances is a wonderful warm up movement. Facing a mirror, you can set up your posture, checking that your legs are truly parallel, with knees over the toes, not turning in toward each other at all. You can also check that your hips and shoulders are level. If not, be aware of tense areas in the body as you warm up. (And check at the end of class to see if you look more level).

So if you haven't learned prances, start by pressing up onto demi/three quarter pointe and then come down on one leg through a flat point, and then lower into demi plie. The other leg bends, and you can press over a little on that (now) working leg, to get a little more flexible in the ankle and toe joints.

Slowly transfer the weight onto both feet as you press up onto demi pointe. Check that your neck and shoulders are not working, and that your core muscles, or lowest abs, are controlling the neutral pelvic posture (pelvis tilted neither forward a little, or back).

Do 12-16 slow controlled prances, then take a little break. Now turn sideways to the mirror, repeat all, checking that your demi plie is going up and down a plumb line, not allowing your weight to press back at all at the depth of the plie.

This is a great yet simple warm up. You can add to it by doing a port de bras - bring the arms up from low fifth through fifth in front to high fifth and down through second position. This will warm up the back and shoulders. Breathe deeply and easily.

This little preparation to class addresses the basic foot movements for ballet - and every use of the foot is an exercise to prepare for pointe work, every single one. Flexing and extending the ankle and arch properly, while controlling your posture, and getting a little flexibility through the toe joints (especially the big toe), is no small feat.

When you do eventually get into pointe shoes, you can do the same exercise as a preparation/warm up, holding onto the barre, and going up onto pointe and coming down through the foot, changing the weight, and pressing over your pointe a little if you need more flexibility. If you have hyper-mobile ankle joints, you can practice holding it back a little, staying on your pointe shoe platform instead of pressing over.

I hope this will help you enjoy your adult ballet class even more!

If you want to go the extra mile, get this book to prepare for pointe shoes.

How Adult Beginners In Ballet Can Progress To Pointe Work

2009-10-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

Most adult ballet beginners I talk to are motivated to add home practice to their dance class schedule. If you want to progress to pointe work, you can save time and money by learning exercises targeted to prepare the foot muscles for pointe. An added bonus to this focus is, that the same exercises enhance your balance and all your ballet footwork.

Exercises involving just the intrinsic (in the foot only) foot muscles do not require a ballet barre (or bar), a mirror, ballet wear, dance music, or any kind of workout equipment.

Furthermore, once you have learned these exercises properly, you can do them while you watch television, read, or engage in casual conversation.

Adding an exercise to determine and then improve your turnout requires enough floor space for the length of your body, and a small cushion or folded towel if you are very thin.

Practicing press ups on one leg in a cou de pied or retire position requires a kitchen counter or chair back for use as a barre.

Checking for a correct ballet position to practice in, is best done with your ballet teacher. However, if you have a full length mirror, you can also check at home, once you understand what is right for spinal posture, pelvic position, and leg positions.

Plan on adding ten to fifteen minutes a day for foot exercises to progress toward pointe work. While your feet get stronger, you will find a better push off in all your releves and jumps. Landing through the foot will become easier as well.

Some adult ballet beginners may never get to dance ballet in pointe shoes because of previous dance injuries, extremely inflexible ankle joints, or another reason. Yet, adding specific foot exercises to your routines will definitely help you progress toward pointe work and better foot work in general.

Learn more about how to progress to pointe work, with targeted foot exercises in an easy-at-home learning format to support your ballet class work.

Relaxation Techniques And Myofascial Release

2009-10-17T12:17:00.001-07:00

Releasing tension in the fascia, the covering of our soft tissues (to put it in my rustic terms) is different from just releasing tension in the muscle centers. For an example of situations that are addressed from a myo-fascial release viewpoint, learn about relaxation techniques with "The Ball Work" DVD.

Still Trying To Lift Your Leg "From Underneath?"

2009-10-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well, give it up - it's not going to work. Trying to get the legs up by pure force and effort is quite frustrating. Believe me, I understand!

Nichelle at Dance Advantage wrote a detailed article about the iliopsoas muscle and pelvic area that's well worth reviewing.

If you want better extensions, read this through as many times as it takes for you to sense this muscle and surrounding area.

Learn Basic Ballet Positions - Can You Learn On Line?

2009-10-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

For the curious adult beginner, or younger student wanting to learn ballet, there are many offers to learn ballet on line. Is this really possible? There are many articles and you tube videos showing basic ballet positions. Even if they were all perfect, how would you learn ballet at home? Maybe your body can do ballet positions easily, maybe not.

It's easy to view the great ballerinas and male dancers doing ballet as perfect as it gets. So you can do it because you can see it, right?

Well, you already got my point. The professional teachers who put e-books, videos, and print books about ballet, anatomy, exercises to prepare for pointe, and dance injury recovery information on the internet, assume that you have a ballet teacher and that you have a basic grasp on the basic ballet positions and movements.

To learn classical positions properly, you need a ballet class. Certainly you can improve with taking advantage of the abundance of information obtained on line. But only if you understand how you are doing things right in ballet (or other dance style) class, and how you are seeking to improve turnout/posture/core strength/exercises for pointe etc., etc..

And, for example, ballet flexibility (or getting more flexible for cheer leading or dance/sports/fitness) is also a topic that has been updated and written about in the recent past.

If you love dance, clarify your goals with your dance study. Determine what topic in dance that you need the most information in, and find it. I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to find answers to any of your dance questions.

You can learn all about ballet positions easily. Then, follow up with data on exercises to prepare for pointe. You can bring all this info into your ballet class practice and get optimum results!

Pointe Shoes- Basic Ballet Positions Matter!

2009-10-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Exercises in pointe shoes are not going to result in grace and ease when you dance ballet, unless your basic ballet positions are correct. Spinal posture, well-held turnout (no matter what degree you have naturally), and powerful demi plies will give you strength and power in pointe shoes.

Neutral spine position must be understood and practiced correctly in every ballet barre exercise. Good posture makes everything else in ballet easier - and will help you progress faster.

Using your demi plies in a very elastic way, as a movement rather than a series of positions, gives you power to push off for releves and jumps. Maintaining your spinal posture and holding your turnout lends to your strength.

Strength in your core muscles, or lower abs, supports your overall alignments. Especially if you have an additional situation to control, such as hyper-extended legs. This lower abdominal activation also allows you to relax in the upper body area, enabling natural and graceful arm and head movement.

Sliding and pressing the feet into the floor every time you leave first, third or fifth position, develops strength and awareness of your foot muscles. This use of the feet also powers every demi plie into a chassee that ends in a jump or releve onto three quarter or full pointe.

Holding alignment of the supporting side of the body in ronde de jambe a terre, and en l'air builds the kind of strength you will need to do thirty-two fouettes en pointe.

Being able to build up from four releves on one leg in a well-held retire position, to eight, to sixteen, to thirty-two, with a correct demi plie, pressing from the heel every time, will also mean that you will be able to do the releves and then the fouettes, on full pointe.

Every barre exercise you do with correct basic ballet positions prepares you for pointe work!

Learn all about exercises to prepare for ballet pointe shoes.

Pointe Shoes - Exercises to Prepare

2009-10-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Every young ballet dancer wants to dance in pointe shoes. And every ballet exercise, done properly, will prepare you to dance ballet in pointe shoes. Yet, there are special exercises you can add to your home practice that will prepare your foot muscles to do pointe work. There is a special gentle way (or two) that you can get more flexible in the ankle joint, if you need that.

First, a simple exercise that you can do - toe swapping. With feet flat on the floor, lift your big toe up and don't allow the other toes to follow, or even work at all. Sometimes in the beginning, your toes all want to work at once, and it feels very strange to separate the big toe from the others. Hold the big toe up for 10-20 counts.

Then, put the big toe down, and lift the other four toes of each foot. Hold them up for 10-20 counts. You will feel muscles working that maybe you have never been aware of before.

Secondly - playing the piano with the toes. Just like it sounds. Lift the toes, then place them down, one by one, starting with the big toe. Lift them up one by one, starting with the little toe. This takes practice to do properly. The wonderful thing with these exercises is that you can do them while studying, watching tv, or reading.

For more flexibility in the ankle joint, first it is important to relax the muscles at the front of the calf, all the way down to the ankle. This can be done with a tennis ball, or a "pinkie" sports ball. Kneel down and sit back on your feet. Work the ball down the tibial (front of lower leg) muscles, pressing into tender spots that are holding tension.

Once you are down to the ankle area, there are two ways you can stretch the top of the ankle/foot area gently. You can place the tennis ball under the top of the foot, above your toe joints (or you will stretch the toe joints, not the arch area). Gently press down on the ball, just enough to feel a good stretchy feeling from above the ankle joint into the top of the foot. No force is needed. This gentle stretch is simply to elongate and release tension in the muscles, giving you a little more point. Progress is gradual. Do not ever push into the stretch where you feel pain.

The other way to get a gentle (did I say GENTLE yet?) stretch is to lift the knee off the floor and hold it up. You'll feel the same elongating but not forceful stretch over the top of the ankle/foot area. You can hold these stretches for 15- 30 seconds and slowly release.

That's just a start. Get your own copy of The Perfect Pointe Book, for exercises to prepare for pointe shoes.

The Trey McIntyre Project - I LOVED It!

2009-10-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's Thursday - I've been so busy. Wanted to get to this earlier...

Last Saturday evening some fellow dance fans and myself drove down to the Orange County Performing Arts Center to see the Trey McIntyre Project dance company.

I LOVED it!

"Ma Maison" (translate, "My House" - New Orleans was initially French, and also the Acadians (say 'Cajun') from Nova Scotia Canada were re-located (rounded up, and forcibly abducted to) to Louisiana three- four hundred years ago (that's why the food's so great!) with fabulous jazz band music was colorful, beautifully danced, poignant, funny and just delicious to watch. "Ma Maison" also used masks, which I loved for that commedia del'arte, carnivalesque touch.

I know, I do not sound like an academic intellectual dance critic - because I'm not that, I'm a dance lover. Not that the critics don't love the Trey McIntyre Project - they do!

"(serious)" was.....serious. It was not the kind of contemporary/classically-based dance that I enjoy - except that the execution was WONDERFUL and captivating. So who cares - entrancing to watch Chanel DaSilva, Jason Hartley and Brett Perry.

"Shape" was entertaining above all. Use of shapes (duh-uh) as props - well, I just don't want to give it away in case you have tickets for an upcoming show.

"The Sun Road" ahhhhh..... Trey McIntyre was inspired by visiting Glacier National Park. I had spent summers there as a child - close to my heart. But if you see this and have never been there, he presents a wonderful exhilarating visit with the choreography and film of the wild, wind-whipped vistas of that international border-defying land. The music of Paul Simon and Nina Simone lent irony and soulfulness. The music of Young Grey Horse lent a portal to another realm.

But then, dance offers us a portal to another realm, even while doing the grunge work of the ballet barre!

"The More I See You" took us from the theater, outside to the plaza, for viewing the dancers in cages, and film on the wall, with projected comments of the individual dancers personal history, likes, etc. This was entertaining for a couple of minutes, but I couldn't help thinking "I bet the dancers just HATE this!". But I could be wrong! And then I found myself thinking "just wait till they hit ----Minnesota?" (right, take everyone outside in October...January...).

Anyway, I still loved it.

Improve Your Ballet By Learning How To Train Your Brain Waves For Creativity

2009-09-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ballet dancers and all creative artists who have more Alpha brain waves suffer less tension and anxiety. The artistic lifestyle of competition and daily pressures produces stress, which suppresses your immune systems, diminishing the physical strength you rely on. If, in the teen years, during ballet training, you could train your brain and become familiar with Alpha waves and producing positive emotions, your adult years in ballet would be much more fulfilling.

Alpha waves help to produce a burst of creative inspiration, or revelation, in response to the demands of problem solving. Scientists have studied highly creative people and observed that they have different brain waves from non-artistic types.

For brain activity to result in inspirational ideas, the process needs to be able to produce a big burst of Alpha brain waves. This is a 'left- brained' activity.

One way to increase creativity is to increase Alpha wave production.

Peak athletic performance is enhanced by Alpha brain waves. Sports scientists have observed that the one key difference between beginner and elite athletes is in their brain function, and the ability to produce a burst of Alpha waves on the left side of their brain, exactly when needed. What's more, study of thought-wave activity showed that Alpha waves increased as athletes trained.

To experience less stress and anxiety during ballet training, you can learn how to increase the amount of your Alpha brain waves. If you are not a natural born mellow personality (and to my personal experience training dancers, most are not), learning how to train your brain for the Alpha wave activity of producing positive emotions, and positive imagery, will balance the pressure and stress you feel about ballet, performances, auditions, and your professional potential.

The teen brain especially produces a roller-coaster ride as the brain chemicals and resulting growth spurts change radically, disrupting the flow of dance training. Positive outlook becomes a challenge.

Train your brain, improve your creativity and enjoy life more!

Power Training Video For Men In Ballet

2009-09-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

Here's an excellent power training/weights/kettlebell video taken at The National Ballet of Canada, with trainer Josh Hewitt.

Josh introduces an overview of the basics of training for power. He recommends this type of training as useful for men in ballet and shows how it helps explosive movements and partner work.

His demo includes:

-dynamic warmup
-importance of training for power
-exercise progressions for power movements
-triple extension
-kettlebell training
-other power movements such as plyo pushups and jump squats

These training exercises are meant for advanced/professional dancers and they should not be practiced without instruction and supervision.

Stretching at the Ballet Barre to Improve Basic Positions

2009-09-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Stretching at the barre is necessary even when you are first learning ballet. Opportunities to stretch come in between exercises while your ballet teacher describes the next exercise. Often a teacher will give a stretching exercise at the end of the ballet barre workout, in order to take advantage of the warmed up muscles, and also to give the ballet students a brief rest from the most strenuous moves.

One set of muscles that need stretching and relaxing between each exercise is the rotator, or turnout muscles. After plies for example, turn your legs in and plie. Then lean into each hip, gently stretching all the muscles in the hip area. Do this after every barre exercise.

Stretching and relaxing muscles does not diminish your muscle tone, but does the opposite. Muscles that retain tension are weaker than muscles that are relaxed properly with correct stretching.

After battement tendu, relaxing the calves with a demi plie is advised. Relax the foot muscles briefly by pressing each foot up to demi pointe (while standing on the other) to stretch the sole of the foot muscles out.

Some ballet teachers give a stretch exercise at the barre before grand battement. This may be something like placing one leg on the barre, to your devant or front position, and stretching over it. A stretch should be held still for 15-30 seconds at least. No bouncing or pulsing is needed - and movement does not help with the stretch. Turning out the supporting leg and pivoting the body turns you into a la seconde, leg to the side.

There are two common ways you can stretch in a la seconde. One, simply hold a well aligned position (spinal posture correct, working hip level with the supporting hip if possible), and stretch sideways over the leg, holding it 15-30 seconds, or musical equivalent. For more flexible students, slide down the bar, staying close to it, and maintain the widened second position, holding turnout well, 15-30 seconds.

And this is how you can do your stretching at the ballet barre to improve your basic positions.

Fitting Ballet Pointe Shoes - Some Extra Tips

2009-09-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

It is exciting when your dance teacher tells you that it's time to start dancing ballet in pointe shoes. New, shiny, pink satin pointe shoes are beautiful. Every student has to have an idea of what they should look for in getting exactly the right fit. Hopefully the ballet store will have an area of floor for fitting ballet pointe shoes, and a ballet barre (bar) or chair back to use for support.

Here are a few points for every dance student to review. Do you have

*** narrow feet/wide feet

*** narrow heels/wide across metatarsal are

*** long toes/short toes

*** even length toes/varying lengths of toes (especially longer second toe)

*** flat arch and less deep toes/high domed arch and deeper toes/ankle bone higher above floor

All these elements determine the kind of pointe shoe you will work best in.

Pointe shoes must be snug enough to support the foot, yet not too tight. Cramped toe joints will not be able to work properly. Pain at the end of the toes from compression does not serve the dance student who needs to concentrate on accurate technique in order to build strength and avoid ballet injuries.

The boxes, or supportive area of pointe shoes around the toes, come in different widths and shapes. Therefore the platform, or part you actually stand up on, may be narrower or wider.

The vamp, or cloth extending from the box up over the metatarsal joints, also is made in different lengths to accommodate different foot shapes.

You will try on each shoe standing flat, in demi plie in second position (you need a little room for your feet to spread), and on pointe, using a barre or chair back for support (or a person). Of course, you do not want to break a pair of shoes when fitting.

Once you select a pair of shoes, take them to your teacher to review the fit. Keep them absolutely clean by standing on clean white paper or a towel, in case you end up returning them. Do not sew on ribbons and/or elastic before having your teacher see the fit.

You can get many more details about ballet pointe shoes and exercises to prepare for toe shoes, before you start pointe work.

Fitting ballet pointe shoes takes time, so don't be rushed at the ballet store.

Ballet For Adults and Barre Exercises

2009-09-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

Basic ballet positions, technique and movements are taught through barre exercises. To discover and increase your turnout, and improve your natural dancing abilities, you need to understand the purpose of each barre exercise. Adult ballet beginners can progress faster with an understanding of ballet barre work.

A ballet barre work out is designed to warm you up while working different muscle groups.

For example, the demi (half way down) and full plie exercise warms up everything a little, but more so for the large quadriceps (front thigh muscles), gluteals (butt and hip muscles), as well the supporting abs and back muscles. But, mainly it's thought of as a leg exercise.

As you advance, different arm movements are added, to practice ballet positions of the upper body. It also requires coordination and musicality to do the arm positions and movements.

However, if your class doesn't do a lot of arm positions in plies, don't worry. Your teacher is giving you a chance to concentrate on your legs, posture, and turnout until you get stronger.

Battements tendus and degages are mostly lower leg and foot exercises. This gives your upper leg muscles a rest, although all your muscles will support the technique you are building with the footwork. Maintaining good posture and turnout is crucial here, as in every ballet barre exercise.

A well-planned barre continues with trading off on larger upper leg muscles with lower leg and foot muscles, as you proceed through it. This way you get practice, you get warmed up, but never exhausted.

Technically, a ballet barre exercise may work a set of muscles "to exhaustion", which means you may experience a weakness, or trembling by the end of the exercise. THIS IS GOOD! This point is where your brain tells your body to build on the size of your muscle fibers, meaning, building strength.

And again, a well planned barre will then rest those muscles and work others in the next exercise. This is all carefully planned for you.

In a ballet for adults class, ask questions when you need to. Keep a small notebook so you can write down ballet positions or movements you'd like to look up after class. You'll master your barre exercises and enjoy ballet that much more.

How To Improve Your Ballet Technique, Avoid Ballet Injuries and Eventual Arthritis

2009-09-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

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.

Analyzing 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, get exactly the right fit in pink satin flat ballet shoes, pink tights and tutus - the stuff dreams are made of. Get dance education like The Perfect Pointe Book, and Deborah Vogel's 'dancing smart' products for injury prevention, and become the dancer in you.

Use the Ballet Barre to Improve Your Balance and Strengthen Your Ballet Technique

2009-08-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

Be in pointe shoes as much as you can. Once you've gone beyond beginning pointe work, wearing the shoes for barre work is a good habit. The sole of the foot, and ankle, have to work so much more with every tendu, degage, and rise onto demi-pointe. The shoe resists, and the muscles get a better workout. If you're not in pointe shoes yet, read on for more ideas.

Be in pointe shoes as much as you can. Once you've gone beyond beginning pointe work, wearing the shoes for barre work is a good habit.

The sole of the foot, and ankle, have to work so much more with every tendu, degage, and rise onto demi-pointe. The shoe resists, and the muscles get a better workout.

If the thickness of the sole makes your foot wobble because it does lie flat on the floor, use a wood file, and shave the sole down lightly. You can get the sole close to flush with the satin, so that your foot will be flatter on the floor. Straining the ankles from wobbling is distracting, during ballet barre work.

Even wearing worn out pointe shoes is better than wearing soft shoes. There is still more effort needed, until the shoe is completely mushy.

If you're still pre-pointe, or an adult ballet beginner, here's some tips to help you gain from using the ballet barre properly:

*** understand correct weight placement on your feet (or supporting foot) which is, evenly distributed between the center of the heel, the area at the little toe joint at the outside of the foot, and the area at the big toe joint at the ball of the foot.

*** check frequently during barre work, by lifting your hand off the barre, that your weight has not moved back onto the heel.

*** additionally, at frequent opportunities, see if you can lift the heel of the supporting foot, and place back down, indicating that you are not back on your heel.

These two simple points show you how to use the ballet barre to improve your balance and strengthen your ballet technique.To get into pointe shoes faster, learn more about better ballet technique, and ballet positions.

Easy At Home Stretches For Your Ballet Or Cheer Leading Moves - Position To the Side

2009-08-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Doing the splits to the side, or a la seconde, can be improved with patient stretching after a sufficient warm up. Basic ballet positions can be used to highlight cheer leading jumps, and landings, into the splits.

After a ballet class or a cheer leading workout is a great time to stretch - when you're extremely warmed up.

Here are some tips to getting a better looking second - or side splits position.

Usually the audience is presented with this position straight on from the front. So, even if your legs cannot extend out to the extreme (180 degrees turnout) position, if you can raise the legs waist high in a leap, it still looks impressive.

All of the muscles around the pelvis, low back, and in the back of the the thighs (the hamstrings) can be gradually and constantly lengthened. The tendons and ligaments around your joints should not be pressured into tearing. They don't lengthen the way muscles do.

If you cannot stretch at the end of a class or a workout, put on leg warmers or sweat pants to go home in. This will keep you warm.

As soon as you have some time, even if you're doing homework reading or studying, sit down in second position on the floor. Do a stretch in second position, relaxing over to the floor over your book, and just hold the position. Do not bounce or pulse. Deep breathing is okay, and helps you relax. This is the yoga method of NO FORCE. After 30 to 60 seconds, slowly pull up straight and see if you can wiggle your legs out even a hair's width, without pain.

Repeat this stretch about ten times, not pushing into pain, but tolerating discomfort.

You have to get away from your book for the next bit - do a side bend, leaning to one side over your now stretched to the max sideways leg. Keep the other hip and butt bone down, on the floor. Hold 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat 4-5 times and do the other side.

This sideways stretch actually stretches your lower back muscles on each side of your spine. These muscles normally restrict movement so that in daily life you don't over stretch and tear your back. In controlled stretching, it's fine to stretch them out. This will allow you to maintain an upright position when you kick to the side. All from easy at home stretching while you get some studying done.

Now your basic ballet positions and your cheer leading leaps and kicks are going to look great!

Improve your basic ballet positions and cheer leading moves. Get more flexible for your ballet barre exercise and dancing ballet in pointe shoes.

FABULOUS Dance Student Videos

2009-08-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Watch these videos!

I just found this on line. Wonderful student videos of Napolean's summer dance course in the Salt Lake Conservatory's Summer Dance Intensive.

I've taught in dance courses with modern dance teachers like Wendy Perron, Sandra Neals and Raymond Johnson. There is frustration with teaching ballet students modern choreography. Yet they did, and Napolean did - to enjoyable results - check the link and watch the dances!

Making Progress In Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes By Understanding Basic Ballet Positions

2009-08-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Understanding basic ballet positions, to most people, means the five positions of the feet. Yet, a position more basic than those, is the position your body is in when you are standing with your feet parallel, in a comfortably held good posture. Understanding your personal starting point will help you progress faster.

You may not be asked to do this in a beginner (including adult beginner) ballet class. If your teacher skips this step, you can do it at home.

Stand in front of a mirror in your ballet clothes, or wear shorts and a tight top so you can see your knees, and your general posture. A hard floor is better than a plush carpet. Here are things to notice:

- are your feet evenly touching the floor with your weight distributed evenly between the center of your heel, the little toe joint area and the big toe joint area (this is often called "tripod")

- do your ankles roll inward or outward

- do your calves naturally stand in a straight line upward to your knees, or do they bow out slightly

- do your knees face the front or slightly inward

- are your hips and shoulders level or even a tiny bit uneven

- standing sideways to the mirror, are your knees above your ankles or do they over-straighten and curve behind you

- is there a small curve inward at the small of your back (everyone's natural curve will look different in relation to the shape of their gluteal muscles)

- can you pull the very bottom of your abdomen up and in without changing the tilt of your pelvis

- is your chest lifted allowing your shoulders to relax, not drooping forward

- is your neck relaxed - turn your head slightly from side to side, and up and down a little, to get into a relaxed position

Of course it is your teacher's job to notice all of this, but it gets you ahead if you can see these factors, and correct yourself as much as possible. Always ask for help if you need more information to be sure.

All of the above will determine how you will stand in first, second, third, fourth and fifth ballet positions. Aside from introducing the element of turn out, your understanding of posture and how your feet are placed on the floor, will determine how you progress learning basic ballet positions.

Learn more details about accurate ballet positions and movements like retire, releve, and how to correct your turnout and posture for dancing ballet in pointe shoes.

How to Become More Flexible For Cheerleading

2009-08-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

How to improve your flexibility is an ongoing challenge for cheerleaders, dancers, and those doing gymnastics. Safe stretching is a learned art. It's especially important for those who are not in dance classes learning ballet technique, to learn proper warm up, and proper stretching positions.

If you are in high school or college cheer leading it's easy to justify a short-cut and skip warming up - especially if you're hot and sweaty just from getting to practice on time! Yet warm up and cool down are important for making your hard work pay off. Also, and just as important, your stretching is more effective.The time taken to warm up protects you from injuries. Stress fractures, joint pain and muscle strains are the least of what can happen if you fail to warm up.

Warm-up gets your body activated for the intense activity of all the choreographic repetitions you will do in any given practice. It wakens your reflexes, or your automatic physical reactions to your own and others' movements. Your heart rate and breathing will increase, pushing oxygen and glucose to your muscles and raising your body temperature. The result is, your muscles get warmer, move and stretch more easily, and will be less painful afterwards. Once warmed up, your metabolism runs high for the duration of your practice, resulting in better fat-burn off.

Your warm-up should work the same muscles you'll be using while exercising. If you are going to be doing a lot of jumps, a slow motion warm up of jumps would be slow controlled squats. Slowly straightening up, controlling your posture, and holding your core muscles, will prepare your muscles and your concentration for a fun and safe session.

Using slow motion versions of your arm movements will warm up your shoulder/neck/arms and upper back.

After five to ten minutes of this kind of warm up, you can do some gentle stretching in all the positions you will be using in the choreography.

After practice, you can repeat your stretching more intensely. Better to take time here while you're really warmed up, and then throw on some sweats to go home in. (Even if you are going somewhere to grab a bite and socialize, better use the time to stretch rather than primp. You are serious, right?)

Cool-down gradually. Just walking around two or three minutes, pausing to lunge and stretch your calves, makes it easy on your circulatory system (heart/lungs/blood flow).

Stretches are technical and must be learned in detail. Warming up in order to maximize your efforts will help you get more flexible for cheer leading, and avoid injury.

Get the wonderfully demonstrated Ultimate Stretching Guide DVD for ballet flexibility if you want to improve your cheer leadering.

Get More Flexible With Safe Stretching and All Natural Nutrition

2009-08-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here's an article about all natural nutrition and how to get more flexible.

Easy At Home Stretches For Your Ballet Or Cheer Leading Moves - Position To The Front

2009-07-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

If you are a beginner in ballet classes, adult ballet classes, or with a cheer leading team, safe stretching is an important factor in your training. Following are some safe easy at home stretches with which you can become more flexible. Whatever aspect of ballet/sports/fitness you participate in, these stretches will help for ballet warm up exercises.

Being able to kick, or lift your leg to the front, side, and back, enables you to move more freely and maybe eventually do the splits. You need a daily routine of stretches to become more flexible. You also need to understand a few principles of working safely.

Don't skip a warm up. If you haven't had a class or any other kind of exercise on a day where you decide to stretch, walk on the spot for at least five minutes, swinging and moving your arms freely. This will boost your metabolism and get your muscles a little warm.

For becoming more flexible to the front position, you need to engage your core muscles and lengthen the hamstring muscle(s) that run from your butt bone to the areas around your knee. There are two ways I recommend for this. If you are not able to lift or kick your leg to the front without the movement causing a change in the position of your hips, here's a great exercise. Stand in front of a chair. Lift one leg up and place it on the chair. Bend the standing leg, keeping your pelvis upright and your back straight. If you feel tension down the back of the leg on the chair, stop there. Very slowly lean forward, back still straight. You may only move a quarter of an inch, this doesn't matter. Don't let your back round. Hold this position for 15-30 seconds. That's your stretch. No bouncing or pulsing. Release up a little, then repeat. Change legs. As you get used to this you can do more repetitions on each leg. You want a stretchy feeling, but not pain.

You will feel a place where the muscles will let go a little, allowing more of a stretch. This is the "stretch reflex".

If you can already easily lift or kick the leg to over 90 degrees, or above your hip height, you can put your leg up on a ballet barre or counter top, keeping your hips facing to it. Maintaining a straight pelvis/back, lean over the leg slightly, while pressing the leg down. Hold 15-30 seconds. At some point you will feel the stretch reflex, maybe not on the first repetition. Do the same number of reps on each leg.

After a class or workout is an ideal time to stretch, but sometimes that's not possible. Always warm up for safe stretching.

With these ballet stretches, you will become more flexible for your ballet moves or cheer leading choreography.

Get more ballet warm up exercises, Effective Stretching.

How To Understand Overpronation and Knee Pain If You Have Flat Feet

2009-07-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

Overpronation is the inward roll of the foot while standing, walking, running or dancing. Allowing the foot to roll inwards causes noticeable internal rotation of the lower leg and knee and can influence the body's posture. This can result in extra strain on the lower body and can cause foot pain of the arches, heels and ankles, knee pain, leg pain, and lower back pain. A ballet student only needs to understand this, and can correct a flat foot by developing the sole of the foot muscles.

Studying ballet without correcting pronation can lead to knee pain, shin splints, arch pain, and overall tension in the lower leg.

Flat feet may be flexible and may show a curve when pointed, but on the floor, they still need to be supported properly. Rolling ankles, with the lower leg internally rotating inwards, and the thighs turning out, can eventually lead to a twisting of the knee joint with irritation, inflammation, and pain.

Excess wear on the inner sides of the street shoes, is an obvious sign of overpronation.

If you can get a parent or a fellow dance student to take a picture of your flat feet standing in parallel, (from the back) you'll see if you are rolling in from the heel, with your arches mushed on the floor.

See if your heels lean inwards and if your kneecaps turn inwards while standing. This would be in a relaxed position, not holding your thighs in any particular way. You'll see that if you then turn out, your feet may adjust somewhat, with the heels pulling up straighter, and the arches maybe lifting a little. This will definitely help avoid a knee injury.

However, holding your turnout is not enough to correct this. Also, just lifting the arches up by rolling outward is not a good correction.

Locating and strengthening the tiny foot muscles is your best bet to not compensate for flat feet in the wrong ways and then send the feet's workload up into the calf and shin muscles.

If you already have ankle, lower leg or knee pain, see a chiropractor, physiotherapist or a podiatrist. You may need orthotics (supportive shoe inserts) and even a heel counter (an insert in the heel of your shoe that stabilizes your heel position) in your street shoes. This heel counter should fit well to prevent extra movement and twisting ankles.

Morton’s foot (big toe shorter than second) can cause a slight roll inward when the foot moves upward to rise or take off for a jump. Even though weight goes off the foot in many of these movements, just try counting how often in a class that happens - and imagine the uneven pressure on the feet muscles and bones.

Having the weight spread evenly from the center of the heel, big toe joint and little toe joint, is your foundation. It gives the level base, just like the platform a house is built on, for your skeleton to stack up above.

Understanding flat feet, overpronation, and the possibility of foot/calf/shin/knee sprain, will help you prevent dance injuries.

Learn how to develop your foot muscles.

The Care Of Shin Splints - Or Prevent Shin Splints By Building Strong Foot Muscles

2009-06-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

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. Women and men in sports/fitness/ballet can learn how to build your foot muscles for fine reflexes, fine balance, and for ballet pointe shoes.

Ballet Pointe Shoes and How to Control Your Professional Footwork

2009-06-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

To prepare your ballet footwork for pointe shoes, concentrate on the single factor which will make up for perhaps not getting exactly the right fit with your first pair of toe shoes. It is not the ballet shoe ribbons or the toe padding that you use. It is not your teacher, or the type of dance floor at your ballet studio. It is something you own, and it cannot be taken from you. It is the strength in your tiny foot muscles.

The advantages of developing your intrinsic foot muscles (the ones that are in your feet and are not extensions of leg muscles) are:

* your calf and tibial (shin muscles) will not over work and hold extra tension because of weak foot muscles

* your Achilles tendon will not be prone to dance injuries due to tense calf muscles

* your reflexes will develop in your ballet footwork, giving the needed control and balance

* you will able to use the full depth and power of your demi plie

* you will be able to secure your weight properly on your feet, in the 'tripod' or middle of the heel/at the little toe metatarsal joint/at the big toe metatarsal joint

When you cannot get the exact fit in pointe shoes, compensations can be made with toe spacers, gel padding, heel grips, and sewing wide elastic across the vamp for extra support. These are many methods that dancers use to make their pointe shoes more comfortable.

However, you gain an extra advantage over the availability - or lack of - the specific ballet shoes that you want, when your feet are really strong.

Another wonderful quality you gain from developing the right ballet muscles in your feet is a more relaxed, elegant upper body, helping you attain the impression of effortlessness that every ballet dancer strives for.

When you get into a ballet partnering class (Pas de deux, French words for 'dance for two"), you rely less on your partner for control.

You will also have more of a cat-like quality simply walking in your pointe shoes, not to mention performing difficult classical dance movements requiring finer ballet footwork.

Doing ballet in pointe shoes is not difficult if you are prepared. You'll become the dancer you want to be with strong professional footwork.

Great Reading For Understudies....

2009-06-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

http://balletbusiness.blogspot.com/2008/11/being-understudy.html

I just found this article on the blog "Ballet Business". It is good advice!