This is a guide for both teachers and students on how to cope with putting advanced ballet steps together in preparation for your major ballet exams. This section of the ballet exam is called the free enchainment section, and some dancers really dread this part of the exam, as it places a lot of extra stress … Read more
The dance rage at the moment seems to be the ballet turning board. This board also goes by other names like dance turn board, pirouette turning board or just plain TurnBoard. It seems like this is the must have for any dancer who wants to improve their turns. Training to do pirouettes in ballet requires … Read more
Pirouettes are one of those things in ballet that take endless practice, and there are no shortcuts when it comes to how to pirouette in ballet. Here are some tips and tricks to improve your pirouettes How To Pirouette In Ballet Tips and Tricks From the Pros Learn to turn first – form and technique … Read more
What Is Center In Ballet? Center in ballet is the reward for all your hard and disciplined work at the barre. It is not that center work in ballet requires less effort, but it is far more exhilarating for the dancer, as this is when she feels she is really and truly dancing. Center work … Read more
Allegro in ballet could mean either petit allegro or grand allegro. The term allegro in music means ‘at a brisk tempo.’ In Italian the word allegro means merry, but in ballet it means jumps. The term grand allegro refers to big travelling jumps and turns, and petit allegro is when the jumps are smaller and faster. … Read more
Most teachers dedicate a few minutes of class time to ballet barre stretches or stretching in general. Some leave you free to stretch yourself, and others give a combination of ballet barre stretches. It is very important for dancers to be both flexible and strong. If you want to read more about stretching exercises, you can … Read more
There are so many things involved in improving your turns and leaps in your dancing, and it follows on from building a great foundation of technique involving all of the following skills. Balance Achieving balance is like the holy grail of dance, right? It’s all about core strength here. A strong core acts like a … Read more
What Is Rond De Jambe En L’air? In the short video above, the dancer is demonstrating a single rond de jambe en l’air followed by a double rond de jambe en l’air. The dancer aims to touch her toe to the side of her leg just under knee height each time her leg circles in. … Read more
In the video above you can see the dancer demonstrating Petit Battement Sur le Cou-de-Pied very slowly. This step in ballet is usually done very fast, but a good way to learn it is slowly as the girl in the video is doing. Petit Battement Sur le Cou-de-Pied literally means ‘little beating on the cou-de-pied … Read more
What is in ballet technique you may ask? Classical Ballet Technique The Basic Principles of Classical Ballet Technique book has some great tips on how to improve your ballet technique and is written by an ex-dancer and teacher. It is a good resource to have for both teachers and dancers. Dance has never been as … Read more