Ballet Warmup Excercises

[broadwaychick2000]

Hello Everyone!

I am new to the forum . I am VERY interested about all the areas of dance. I was wondering if any of you could give me some basic warm ups ( exercises ) for ballet or tap. :D

thank you so much and I am looking forward to talking to you guys!

-Susanne[/b]

[DanceMentor]

Hi broadwaychick2000,

Welcome to the forums. I don't know too much about ballet. It would be great if you were able to post messages about ballet though. So far, most of the members are into swing, ballroom, salsa and tango.

I've done a little ballet...maybe 6-8 hours of lessons, but I don't know enough to tell you about warm-up excercises. I do own the New York City Ballet excercise book and it has some great excercises.

Thanks,
David

[Spitfire]

Susanne,

Welcome,

The Dancescape Forums has a section devoted to ballet. Here's the link to that forum.

http://www.dancescape.com//ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=UBB9

[Pass It On]

It looks like they haven't had a post since February. Maybe we can still increase the ballet interest here at Dance Forums as well.

[broadwaychick2000]

Thank you so much for the information! I will check out the link you gave me.

-Susanne

[Black Sheep]

Broadwaychic,
Any dancing requires strong legs; the best way to develop them is bike
riding and doing thirty yard dashes, sprints on you toes with thirty yard
walks in between. Do Squats at the bar, but don't squat too low, it
embellishes the hips too much. Do three reps of 60 reach of toe raises
keeping legs straight.. Do not turn out those toes to the extreme fifth
position; even ladies will suffer from knee problems from those extreme turn
outs in their later years. When you do squats, make sure your knees are
directly over your toes to avoid stretching the lateral ligaments in the
knees. Above all, do not message calfs unless they are cramping. Muscles
need to be taught, tight like stretched rubber bands, it's called muscle
tone; tre's important for control of balance, jetes, pirouettes and the Cha
Cha.
At home do your squats (Plie's) holding onto the back rest of a chair;
concentrate on being your own teacher if you can't find a Russian or Italian
Ballet teacher.
Lots of luck!
Black Sheep

[AngelArts]

The very important thing which the classical ballet trainee requires is devotion for strenuous workouts and a sturdy lower body. The fashions of authoritative ballet coaching can be divided into seven types. The most celebrated ones are Vaganova or Russian method, Balanchine or American method, Royal or English method, Cecchetti or Italian method, Royal Academy of dancing method.
______________________________________________
http://www.theatre-arts-tips.com/ is a website where you can fine different types of Theater Arts.
http://www.theatre-art-tips.com/ is a website where you can find different types of theater Arts.

[J.Risa]

Hello Everyone!

I am new to the forum . I am VERY interested about all the areas of dance. I was wondering if any of you could give me some basic warm ups ( exercises ) for ballet or tap. :D

thank you so much and I am looking forward to talking to you guys!

-Susanne[/b]


Hi Susanne! :)

It really depends which part of the body you want to work/warm/stretch and sometimes it depends on which level of ballet you're currently at.

For sore calves that you need to stretch/warmup, demi-plies work best.

To stretch your thighs, (Please do this very slowly because it can hurt and you might get injured.) sit on the floor with your legs together, feet parallel. Rotate the leg you want to stretch at the knee such that your knee faces inwards but your feet and calf are outwards (I can post a picture of this if you're not too sure what I mean because it's quite hard to describe) then gradually lie back. This will stretch your outer thigh muscle. I don't suggest going completely flat on your back on the first try. Slowly lower yourself, using your hands and elbows. Make sure your hips remain flat on the floor.

If you want to to work on your ankles, you can use a thera band. Bunheads dance accessories sells them and I think you can preorder them online. (They usually come with instructions but if you need help on how to use them, you can ask.)

Those are basic stretches for the legs that you can use as warmups for both ballet and tap. They typically stretch the muscles out.

I hope this helps a little. :)

[flashdance]

There's an excellent book on conditioning/exercises etc if anyone is interested. Useful for all forms of dance.

amazon search : 'conditioning for dance' by Eric Frankin ;)

[yippee1999]

I'm sure there are books out there that give you exercises to do, with diagrams. It would be difficult for you to visualize what people would describe in text only. Or, try and rent a video from the library. There may be an instructional video out there too.

[DanceWeb]

Hello,
... for ballet warm ups, a ballet class typically starts at the barre with plies followed by a series of tendus and jetes. There are videos of ballet classes on the internet which you could probably use. I will post them if I find them.


Hope this helps,

DW