Strength: Your Legs

Strength and flexibility come hand in hand.  Even though it may seem like flexibility is everything, it's not.  You need to be able to hold your legs up high using your muscles!  Just like flexibility, strengthening your leg muscles takes time.  It could take up to four weeks or even up to years or hard work.  


In this post, we will focus on your leg muscles.  During class, it is important that you always tighten your knees.  This strengthens your muscle called the quadricep, or your thighs.  This is what will hold your leg up high; it helps with extension.  Another exercise to try are squats or grand pliés.  


For your calves, relevés are the best thing to do.  Whether you do them with plié or without, it is important that you do them nice and slow.  Make sure that you keep your legs tight while you are doing this.  

In dance, we use our hamstrings quite a bit when we jump.  It is important to do lunges or leg lifts to strengthen them.

To work your inner leg muscles, lie on your back with your legs straight up in the air and your feet pointed.  Switch them back and forth in fifth position.  Do this ten times.  Then move your legs down towards the floor a little.  Do it again for ten times.  Do this until they're almost touching the floor.  This exercise also strengthens not only your inner leg muscles, but also your core!


Do this once a day, and you'll be good to go!

 

Confidence is key.

Hello everyone!

Today's post is all about confidence, which is something that I think all of us dancers need more of!  As dancers, we all strive to be the best and hope that someday, we get a solo or some important character in a ballet.  However, how do we get there?  

Believe it or not, confidence is key.  Self confidence is important in dance, as well as many different activities in your life.  Now, what is confidence exactly?  We've all heard of it, but do we really know what it is?  Sure, we can look it up in a dictionary, but the meaning of confidence changes throughout person to person.  Confidence to me is feeling certain of myself and not being afraid of being my real self.  When you hear the word confidence, what does it make you think of?  What is your definition of the word?  Post your ideas below!

Now comes the hardest question of them all.  Why is confidence so important?  Well, have you ever had someone come up to you after a show, whether it was family, friends, dance teachers or instructors and/or just a complete stranger, and say "Good job!"  How did it make you feel?  When I get that, I feel pretty good inside!  When somebody says good job to me, I want to work even harder and do even better than I did before.  It boosts my self-esteem.  And we all know what happens when you work harder...you do better!  Maybe next time you have a show, invite some of your relatives or even a couple of your friends.

It is not only important for you to get complimented, but also that your dance friends/peers do too.  At dance, it is important that you stay close and true to your friends.  Trust me, I've learned from experience.  Your friends and you are in it together, and you should always try to do the best you can to support them!  


I hope this helps!

Turnout, turnout, turnout!

We all strive for it, we all want it.  Now, how do we get there?  Again, it takes time.

Technique is a crucial part to ballet.  You need it.  Some dancers are born with great amounts of turnout, others have to work harder to achieve it, like me. 

The good part to turnout is that you can exercise it, just like your flexibility and strength!

Some good stretches to do are the frog stretch (lying on either your back or front).  Wall straddle splits also help with turnout as well.  Lie on your back, and put your legs up onto a wall.  Then, let them go down into a straddle split.  Gravity will turn your legs out to the side.  

It is important that when you do these exercises, you rotate from your hips rather than from your knees.  Rotating from your knees is a bad habit, not to mention bad for your body.  You should try to break this habit early on, before you get into a higher level class or even core/company.   

Good luck!  Hope this helps!

Getting started!

Hey everybody!

Welcome to the blog, Dance, Dance, Dance! This is where everyone and anyone can come share their stories, and thoughts or problems about dance and/or life in general, as well as all any questions. 

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Because this is just getting started, please tell your friends! I will try to post as often as I can! :)