May 1, 2013

Beginner Ballet Tips: How to Improve Jumps

Now that my legs finally seem to be getting back in shape, it’s finally time that I start to work on my jumps a little bit more, which, honestly are pretty pathetic. I’m not a jumping person AT ALL. In fact…it’s probably my least favorite part of ballet. But, I am ever so jealous of pretty professional ballerinas and their perfect grand jetes.  So I did some research into what I could possibly to do improve them and found out the key was:

Plies, Plies, Plies!

Plies are one of the keys to  jumps (and  turns as well).

The Ballet Dancer’s Guide says:

Your plie is crucial to every single jump, for both the landing and the take off. Without your plie you simply can not jump, but more importantly, without the right use of the plie you won’t be give full value to each jump.

Other tips from Dance Advantage (which also mentions plies!) include strengthening your core and proper alignment (my dance instructor is always reminding us of this). I know I need to work on proper alignment more, as its one of the things I’m likely to forget as I’m focused on something else. It also mentions working on strengthening your feet as well through exercises in class (tendu, degage, releve) as well as through theraband at home exercises.

Dance Advantage also has some pretty great tips for doing grand jetes.

What do you do to improve your jumps?

 

Filed Under: Ballet, Ballet Class, Info Tagged With: , , , , , , 2 Comments
April 17, 2013

Should Dancers Run?

English: Running woman Nederlands: Hardlopende...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was going to post this earlier this week, but it just didn’t feel right, after the Boston Marathon bombings occurred. A few of the #sweatpink members ran the marathon, and thankfully they’re all okay. It’s great to see that everyone in the running community coming together after such a horrific event.

Now, I’ve only just started running, and I’ve dealt with a few issues with it (HELLO, shin splints) especially given the injuries in my background. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the idea of dancers–especially ballet dancers–and running, with many people saying it’s too high of an impact and stresses your body too much. Some suggest swimming, biking or the elliptical instead. Trust me, I love all three of those, but there’s nothing quite like running.

Personally, I think both are perfectly fine in moderation. Charlotte Stabenau wrote in a blog post for Pointe Magazine that she became a runner after being a dancer for a long time–and it only helped improve her stamina and confidence.

Especially as recreational dancers, why not go for it if you want to?

The best way to do it, as Charlotte wrote, is to start out slow. How do you manage that? Add running to your schedule slowly, 3-4 days a week (max), alternating between walking and running. Programs like Couch to 5k (available as iPhone Apps and downloadable schedules) are great. Another free app, RunKeeper, has a similar program (as well as a bunch of others of other levels).

Do you run or have your wanted to run?

*I am not a personal trainer or medical doctor, this is just information found through my own research that I have found useful.

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog, Etc., Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , , 7 Comments
April 11, 2013

Catching up on the Stretch, Plank and Squat Challenges!

King Pigeon Pose

My favorite yoga pose (Photo credit: lululemon athletica)

Good news is, while I’ve missed a few days of my squat and plank challenge–I’m completely caught up. While my boyfriend and I have a few days–we’ve caught up on the challenge’s days off. I’ve even managed to pull off a 1:30 plank, and I’ve been thinking about incorporating side planks and straight-arm planks.

Stretching has not been going quite as well. I was getting slightly sick of doing videos, so I basically ended up skipping stretching this weekend after a two-hour long ballet class and a super stressful Sunday (my 5k did not happen because of my shin splints). So I’ve been working on getting that back on track and Monday and Tuesday I just did some of the yoga poses and stretches I had worked on. Hopefully these will help me get closer to my splits in the end. Maybe I’ll get brave enough to put up some split photos when we reach the halfway point of our April challenge.

I’ve added another element of fitness to my daily routine to try to strengthen my calves for running and for pointe work (eventually–I’m taking baby steps in getting back to pointe work!). I’ve just been incorporating 3 sets of 12 calf raises and 3 sets of 12 single calf raises.

Now I just need to work more theraband stretching into my routine.

How have you been challenging yourself this April?

Filed Under: 30 Day Stretch Challenge, Ballet, Blog, Etc., Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
April 10, 2013

Help Me Deal with Crazy, Unruly Hair

Picture of the back of a woman's head, with he...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Someone help me out, please. Share your perfect ballerina bunhead secrets.

We’ve discussed how to make the perfect bun (and trust me, I’m not there yet either). But I want to know  how do you make the rest of your hair–even when it’s just in a ponytail–look less unruly. My messy bun that I usually rock to ballet class looks way more messy than it should.

My hair is super unruly–it seems like no amount of headbands, bobby pins or gymnastics clips can help keep my hair from looking like an absolute mess. I got a hair cut a couple of weeks ago, and instead of making my hair less messy, it made it worse. My hair is in an awkward stage and I can barely get it to stay up in a messy bun because it’s too thick to get a hairband to wrap around 3 times–but when it’s only wrapped around twice my hair falls it out of the bun.

My bangs are also short and messy and I usually have a bunch of stray pieces coming out all over my head resulting in me using a headband or a billion bobby pins, clips…or both. While this is sometimes effective, other times I just like a hot mess. When I use most headbands, I have to use bobby pins to keep it in place. ICK. I recently bought a Bondiband which is super wide (and thin, too) so it keeps all my hair in place, but it’s not perfect and it seems like it slips a bit, although not much. I’m super looking forward to trying it out when it’s cold out cause it’ll cover my ears. I’ve also found that my headbands stick best when my hair is completely dry–and it’s tough to get my hair dry in a hurry, so I shower at night sometimes but it’s not always helpful.

So girls out there with the perfect hair–how do you get yours buns (and messy buns and ponytails) to look so good? I’m looking for hair product, hairband, headband, bobby pin, etc. recommendations. Whatever will help me out, even if you’re not a ballerina.

Filed Under: Ballet, Ballet Class, Blog, Info Tagged With: , , , , , , , 13 Comments
April 5, 2013

Beginner Ballet Tips: Grand Plies in Fourth

Ballet class

(Photo credit: Oude School)

Grand plies in fourth position: yuck, right?

Okay, maybe you don’t have a problem with grand plies in fourth, but I certainly do. I’m always super wobbly while doing them. I realize that this probably has a lot to do with the fact my turnout needs a lot of work (my feet can look a mess in fourth position if I’m not being careful).

As it turns out, a quick Google search found a lot of people struggling with grand plies in fourth position, with a lot of them even questioning a need for them, as they’re kind of harsh on the knees.

Someone else recommended keeping a very small fourth position that allows you to really feel your turnout. Other people on the same message board recommended making sure your back knee doesn’t bend too far in, maintaining proper turnout, and keeping your weight equal on the same legs.

My goals for improving my fourth position grand plies will be both working on my turnout and strengthening my knees (from Dance Spirit Magazine). I’m already doing the squats from the knee strengthening post!

Do you have trouble with 4th position grand plies? Do you think they should be banned?

Note: I’m not a professional ballet instructor or fitness instructor, just sharing the notes I found helpful when I was looking for help for myself.

Filed Under: Ballet, Ballet Class, Etc., Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , , , , 9 Comments