Beginner Ballet Tips: Strengthening Ankles

Français : Pied sur la pointe

Ankle strength plays a huge role in ballet, especially pointe. I’ve struggled a lot with my ankles so far, having to take some time off because of bad cases of tendonitis. However, I’ve been working to improve them through various exercises. Regardless of whether you’ve had ankle injuries in the past, these ankle strengthening exercises are useful to get ready for pointe work as well as ballet in general.

Prehab: Strengthen Your Ankles: While I was told to stay off my ankles in ballet, several of the different doctors that I saw recommended the last exercise in this article, writing with your feet. I find it’s super easy to fit this one into your routine because you can do it while watching TV or while lying in bed.

12 Ways to Build Ankle Strength:  This article, from Active.com lists a wide variety of ways to strengthen ankles, including Theraband exercises which are my favorite. Again, some of these, such as the balancing ones can be done pretty much at anytime.

What other exercises have you come across to strengthen your ankles?

Looking for more Beginner Ballerinas to Interview!

English: .

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday and is getting their ballet-related New Year’s resolution’s planned out. Since it’s in the middle of a holiday week, I don’t have a new interview ready for today.

However, I’m in need of new ballerinas to interview. It doesn’t matter what your skill level is, you are still invited to be interviewed for the website. Don’t worry if you don’t have a photo of you in your ballet gear, any photo will do. If you’re interested, please either shoot me an e-mail (adultballerinaproject@gmail.com) or fill out this super-short form at SurveyMonkey.

Here are some profiles you may want to check out:

Beginner Profile: Alisha of Four Eyed Ballerina

IMG_0939The last profile of 2012 is from Alisha of The Four Eyed Ballerina. She’s got a lot of awesome posts up on her blog, including one about how to make an awesome and easy ballerina bun for class here!

Adult Ballerina Project: When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

Alisha: About 2 1/2 years ago, at age 22.

ABP: Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

A: I did very briefly when I was about 5, but got kicked out because I would just run around and never listen to the teacher. My mom was pretty disappointed.

ABP: Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?

A: I loved ballet for a really long time and decided it would be a fun way to exercise. I ended up catching on pretty quickly and fell in love with it. Now I don’t think of it as exercise at all, just something I’m really passionate about getting better at.

ABP: Where do you take classes?

A: I take classes at two different studios; I dance at an intermediate level and also take pointe classes.

ABP: What is your favorite part about ballet?

A: The satisfaction you get when suddenly one day something has noticeably improved, like your leg can go higher or something you’ve been struggling with is suddenly just coming together naturally.

ABP: What is your least favorite part?

A: The sweat. Its gross, ok? Some people leave entire puddles on the floor at their spot at the barre. It creeps me out how much sweat and grossness is probably on those barres! But its worth it.

ABP: Who/What is your ballet inspiration?

A: I love Polina Semionovoa. She is such an amazing dancer and I really hope I get to see her dance in person one day; IMG_1715bweverything just see,s so effortless for her. As for past ballerinas I really like Gelsey Kirkland and Karen Kain. Gelsey was just so light and sprite-like with so much energy and Karen was such a beauty but also full of strength. I am also inspired by dance photography and music.

ABP: What motivates you to keep dancing?

A: This is a tough one! It is really hard sometimes to drag yourself to ballet class after work. A lot of the time I show up tired and starving but I find when I don’t go I feel really guilty and when I force myself to go I feel really glad that I’ve gone. So I suppose my motivation is the feeling of accomplishment and happiness that I get from my classes.

ABP: Do you take any other dance classes?

A: Nope, but I do take Yoga classes at work during lunch which I find really helps with flexibility for Ballet.

ABP: What are your hobbies outside of ballet?

A: I am one of those people who has way too many hobbies and not enough time. I love to draw, paint, take photographs, sew, cook, knit, garden, read, bake, hike, canoe, spend time with my animals, and probably other things I am forgetting!

ABP: What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?

A: It is definitely not easy, and as far as I can tell it never will be! Ballet is not for the faint of heart, you will have to constantly work at it and you will probably look like a fumbling idiot at first, just don’t give up! With a lot of hard work and determination you will start to see improvements; I for example have moved up to an intermediate level in just two years and one of my studios even said I could attend the advanced class if I wanted to, I also have the privilege of getting technically good enough to go en pointe. If I can do it in two years so can you 🙂

ABP: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: Just keep dancing.

Beginner Ballet Tips: How Not to Get Kicked In Class (and other things you should know)

Barre and mirror

Grown-Ups at the Barre is one of the best resources out there for those looking to start ballet as an adult, and I’ve linked to their post before about balletiquette. They’ve got another great one up entitled: Lessons about Ballet Class: How to NOT get Kicked in Class. Often, spacing in adult beginner ballet classes tends to be a mess, and this post gives advice on what you  can do to help space yourself out (both at the barre and in the center) and ultimately reminds the reader that it is your responsibility to do your part to make sure you don’t get kicked (Rule #1). Some of my other favorite rules include:

5. I know you like your little piece of heaven (your own personal private claimed barre space) but be prepared to move if you have to… consider it a challenge to try a different place at the barre and in the studio.

I know I’m personally guilty of this one. I like my space at the barre. But if I get moved, or someone steals my space, I suck it up and accept the challenge. Continue Reading

Beginner Ballet Tips: What to do Over the Holidays

As I’ve written about recently, many of us won’t be able to make it to ballet classes over the holidays. I’ve made plans to stretch and do a few at home DVDs a few times a week, even though I know it won’t be the same as going to the classes I normally go to throughout the week. But it’ll have to do, especially as I visit friends this week and head to relatives houses in the middle of no where next week.

Continue Reading