Know your Ballet Barre Exercises
Walking into a ballet class where the students are poised with straight backs, one arm poised gracefully to the side, and one foot resting lightly in line with the barre may seem like something out of a dance movie, but it's a common sight in all ballet classes. Barre work is the important foundation on which ballet technique is built. By learning not just the basic movements, but understanding how to perform them slowly and with correct posture and balance will help you become a better dancer. Barre exercises are especially developed to train and strengthen the muscles in both your back and legs so that the more complex ballet movements appear effortless. The grace, balance and poise of a ballerina doesn't come from her clothing, or length of time she has danced, but rather the amount of focus she has put into her barre work.
The Basic Exercises
There are 4 basic exercises that you will need to learn as a ballet dancer. Although there are others, most of them will build on these. Plie - performed in either demi-plie or grand-plie, plies will strengthen your back. Both demi and grand plies can be done in 1st or 2nd position. The main movement, bending the knees outwards whilst keeping the back straight is the same for both plie forms, the difference is in the heel placement. In a demi-plie, as the knees bend, the heels remain in position and flat to the floor. In a grand-plie, the heels are lifted.
Tendu Front -Put your feet in 3rd position and slide the foot of the non-supporting leg forward. Your toes should never leave the floor. Once you have extended the leg as far forward as you can, slowly slide it back to the starting position. A variation of this is known as the Tendu side where you begin in 3rd position and slowly slide the non-supporting leg out to the side until the toes are fully pointed and just touching the floor. When returning the foot to 3rd position, the foot should be placed behind the foot of the supporting leg.
Degage - this is a continuation of a tendu exercise and movement can be in a forward or side direction. Do the same beginning as with tendu, but once your foot is fully stretched and pointed don't immediately start to return it. Instead, with the foot still pointed, lift the leg a couple of inches from the floor, slowly replace the toes to the floor, and then return the foot to the starting position.
Grande Battements - this exercise takes the tendu to a further level than the degage. Instead of lifting the leg only a couple of inches, in grade battements, you slowly raise the leg to hip level before slowing lowering it while still pointing and extending the foot, then return to the starting position. Grande Battements can not only be done in a forward or sideways direction but also behind - but when doing them behind you must take extra care to keep your back straight.
Barre work at first may seem boring and not what you want to do, but put your focus into perfecting the exercises. You'll find your body not only becomes more graceful and poised, but it will also build strength that will make the more advanced exercises you will learn easier.
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