So a Ballerina Walks into a Barre......

Does anyone else feel like ballerinas are TERRIBLY clumsy outside the studio? Like when you walk into a door when all of your friends are watching and then unknowingly yell out "DOOR!". Yeah. Happens to the best of us.

BUT that is not what this article is about.

I am writing on the importance of barre class. If you feel tired or weighed down in the middle of class, it may be because you underestimate the importance of barre. Barre isn't just a portion of class to warm you up....it's like a class itself! Treat it like a peice you are learning; try to do your best. Make your plies deep, your frappes sharp, and your turnout steady and strong. This will improve your jumps, petite allegro, adagio, pointe, and stamina. Some of this also may be able to help with drowsiness.

Barre is also a good thing to do at home in between ballet classes. It improves your memory, muscles, and stamina. You come to ballet class with a clean slate and your muscles have automatic memory to barre, which allows you to concentrate more on correcting mistakes. This saves time in class instead of scrambling to remember barre.

30 minutes to an hour per day is all your body asks. Take this time to barre, stretch, anything else your body needs. It improves the sleek shape of the dancer and makes you over-all more healthy. Once I was asked, "So how long does it take to be good at ballet?" At first I thought they meant how long it takes to get to a professional level, but instead I answered, "Well, you never do. Dance is always about striving to be longer, healthier, more precise, better." And it's true.

Stretch Sequences

The best way to become more flexible is to stretch everyday. Your muscles can stretch the most when they are warm, believe it or not. Right after your get out of a hot shower, do one ore two of these stretch sequences. You can pick anyone to fit to whatever you think you need the most flexibility in. The stretches are organized by the muscles used. For help, see Muscle Diagram

1. Leg Stretch

Stand at your dresser, bed, or whatever you might use as a ballet barre. Stand in sous-sous balance, and lift you leg slowly up to rest on your "barre". Slowly plie with your standing leg, 2counts down, 2 counts up. Do this again. Then slowly port de bras towards your leg, and away all the way down to the floor. Lastly, slide your leg along the "barre" like a straddle split. hold for 4 counts. Go for 8 if you can. Then, lift standing leg to releve, and slowly bring your leg down. Repeat for the other leg.
Sartorius, Hamstring, Achilles Tendon

2. Back, Hamstring, and Upper Leg Stretch

1st part: Stand in first position at your "barre". With one hand on the barre, lift the other to fifth position, and port de bras backwards. Try to keep everything below your hips strait, only your back sould bend. Slowly come up, and go through to port de bras front. Come up. 2nd part: Grab your ankle, and slowly extend your leg to the front. Go as far as you can without letting go of your ankle. The point is to get it as far as you can go, not to straighten it complete. Then, flex your foot, grab your toes, and do the same, but with your leg to the side. Lastly, Grab your ankle, and bring it to the back into attitude. Hold in each position for 4 counts.
Latissimus dorsi, Hamstring, Rectus femoris

3. Arabesque Stretch

Stand in fifth position at the barre. Lift your leg to arabesque and, this doesn't have to be graceful, but lay your leg on the barre. This will hurt your back a little bit, but this is good. As you feel less pain in this stretch, try to move your leg off of the barre while keeping the height.
Latissimus dorsi, Gluteus maximus

4. Split Stretch

Sit on the ground and bring your legs to butterfly position. Try to press you nose to your toes for 8 counts. Then extend one leg to the side and bring the other closer to you body. try to lay flat on your stomach like this. This is not that hard to do. Then, bring both legs into a straddle split and and let gravity pull your upper body down for as long as you can take it. Repeat with the other side.
Sartorius, Biceps femoris

I hope you guys enjoy this! You can work on becoming more flexible everyday by doing 1 or 2 of these simple stretches.