Ballet Beautiful: Transform Your Body and Gain the Strength, Grace and Focus of a Ballet Dancer (29 page)
Authors: Mary Helen Bowers
a
Bring your feet together to sixth position. (Imagine your feet in first position, heels together, toes open, then close your toes together, taking a parallel position, heels together.)
b
Lift one foot slightly off the floor, pointing the toe into a coupé position and bending the standing knee.
c
Open your chest and arms into a Swan Arms Low position.
d
Stretch the standing knee and lift your leg into a passé parallel as you lift your arms up high above your head, bringing your wrists toward each other, with your palms facing out. Your right foot should slide up your left leg from the ankle to the kneecap. Bend and stretch the knee fully.
e
Keep your stomach in and your chest open. Engage your center.
8 counts, 4 sets.
f
Repeat steps a through d on the other side.
Stretch
:
Standing Stretch for Legs.
Putting It Together into a Ballet Step: The Pirouette
!
H
ave you ever wondered what a pirouette is? It’s a turn that literally means “to whirl about.” The classic ballet pirouette starts in a plié in fourth position, just as in this exercise. In the Balanchine style, your weight would be on your front foot and your back leg would be extended out straight behind you in what I call a ballet lunge. As a New York City Ballet dancer, this is my favorite style and preferred position to turn from!
If you are turning to the right, your right leg would be back. From here you would extend the same arm (your right arm) out long in front and open your left arm to second position. Pulling in tight through your stomach, push off with all of your weight front as you lift your back leg into a passé (foot to the knee, leg turned out) and turn. Lots of fun!
If you have ever seen the ballet version of
Sleeping Beauty,
you know how classic and beautiful an attitude is as a ballet step! There is a famous scene in Aurora’s pas de deux where she balances in attitude en pointe for what seems like forever as her suitors promenade her in the court. It’s a beautiful and suspenseful scene to watch, and executing it takes incredible balance and perfect form! In a proper attitude, the standing knee should be very straight, and the knee lifted into the air in attitude back should be bent with the knee at about 90 degrees, The upper body must stay relaxed.
a
Start in a plié in fourth position, with your arms in first position. Keep your knees over your toes and your chest open. From this plié you are going to lift your back leg up into the air in an attitude—an extension back with the knee bent.
b
Pull your stomach in and lift your arms up to fifth position (curved high above your head) as you lift up your back leg and
stretch the standing knee. Be certain to engage your center as you lift—this will prevent you from arching your back.
c
Lower your foot back to fourth position, taking care not to drop your chest. Bring your arms down to first position, curved in front of you, and keep your weight on your front foot.
d
Lift again and repeat.
8 counts, 4 sets.
/B.
Beginners can take an extra Standing Stretch for Legs here and work with just 2 or 3 sets of 8.
a
From the attitude position in Attitude Lift—with your back leg raised and bent—bend your front knee and open your arms out to the side to second position.
b
Keep your chest open and your stomach in.
c
Pulse here in plié, staying relaxed through your upper body. Keep your back leg stretched and elevated.
8 counts, 4 sets.
Stretch
:
Standing Stretch for Legs.
Change legs and repeat Plié Pulse in Parallel, Passe Lift in Parallel, Attitude Lift, and Attitude Plié Pulse on the other side.
These standing exercises for your abs and obliques use a beautiful port de bras to sculpt and define your waist while also improving your center of balance.
a
Begin with your feet in fourth position. Bend your knees into a plié and extend your right leg back straight into tendu arabesque. Make sure your weight is over your front foot. You can test this by lifting your back leg up off the floor—if your upper body moves forward when you do this, your weight is back. Adjust accordingly.
b
Lift your left arm (the opposite arm from the extended leg) up and over into fourth position, pulling in with your stomach.
c
Keep your weight over your front foot and really bend with your torso, lifting up and over with your arms.
d
Extend through your arms and lift up and open to second position as you straighten your front leg. Stretching this knee changes the movement from tendu plié to a tendu with straight knees—it’s also great for the butt and leg!
e
Take a breath and lift and bend your arms back into another port de bras in fourth position to the right side, bending your front knee into plié as you do so. Pull in again through your stomach, keep your weight over your front leg, and really bend with your upper body. Now straighten the standing leg again as you lift your arms to second position.
f
Keep pulling in through your stomach the entire time and really stretch and bend your standing knee and upper body to fully engage the muscles through your center and side.
8 counts, 4 sets.
a
Begin from the extended position in Standing Abs, with your knee in demi-plié and your arms in fourth position.