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High extensions and split jetes are a common attraction in ballet. If you were not born with long ligaments, muscles and tendons, is ballet a career builder for you? Since you will spending strength on fighting your own tightness, striving for that effortlessness in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes, other very flexible dancers are trying to reign in their movements to maintain form and balance. But, ballet being the way it is, they look better during the struggle than the tighter dancers. Sheesh..... What are you going to do if you are not in a full-time ballet school with 10 +classes a week? You may be rushing from class to a bus stop, or being driven home to finish your home work. If that means sitting at a desk or a computer station, you may just end up cooling off those muscles and tightening everything up. Going from a neutral situation to a negative. Be solution oriented. If you are in classes that are only an hour long, I think it is better to do the whole class before stretching. If you are in longer classes you might get a break for stretching, or a stretching exercise from the teacher. If you can stay after class, do the following: Sitting on the floor, stretch the legs out in front to stretch the hamstrings – one at a time, bending one knee, so as not to stretch the lower back, flex and point the foot. After slow stretching, I recommend completely relaxing the legs and letting the torso sink forward, with a few deep breaths, to release tension before going into a second position split. The second position split should be opened fully but WITHOUT pain. Ideally have your pelvis upright, and your knees facing the ceiling, with the backs of your thighs pressing into the floor. You are mimicking the position your legs/spine would be in, in a standing position. Do not tuck your hip bones under or sway your back and roll forward off your pelvic bone onto your thighs. In this position you will do a side bend toward one leg, hang there, breathing deeply, holding the legs straight but relaxing neck, shoulders, face and arms. Circle forward, hold the abdominals, but allow the upper torso to bend forward toward the floor, keeping the legs with the backs of the thighs pressed into the floor. Circle to the other leg, and pull up into a straight position. You want a stretch but not any sharp pains. You are applying stress to the soft tissues, but never painful or sudden movements. Ahhh – the splits. A full 180 degree splits depends on overall extreme flexability. When you are sitting in the splits it is like you are doing a 90 degree back bend. If you can't sit in this position but can only get, for example, down to a few inches from the floor (or halfway or three-quarter way down) stretch one leg at a time. Sit down and stretch one leg devant. Let the back leg bend. Keeping the front leg straight and turned out, pull forward slowly, and when you can't go any further, hold your lower abdominals and let your upper torso bend over. Your weight will effect the stretch, breathe deeply a few times, and then come back up to a straight position. Do this four times, and change legs. Next, bend the front leg into a 90 degree angle so you can lean forward over it, and extend the back leg to a straight position. It will probably slide sideways so that it will not be behind the hip as it would if you were standing up. Slowly move upright, stretching the front of the hip, do NOT go to a point of pain. Stretching is DISCOMFORT, not pain. Lean forward releasing the tension, and turn your leg in. Then straighten up again, and you will feel the stretch in a different area. Do this several times and change legs. Eventually your leg will stretch out more behind you. Another great stretch is to do a side bend away from the derriere leg – you'll stretch from your thigh through your hip area up the side of your torso. To finally relax, sit in a splits position with both legs bent. Bend forward right onto your front leg and let the weight of your torso press your hip, inner thigh and groin muscles into a relaxed stretch. Then bend back, but in a relaxed manner. Breathe deeply a few times and change legs. If you have any muscles or joints stinging and aching after classes, ice. Get a soft gel ice pack, and you can use it 15 minutes per hour. Make sure the ice pack is wrapped in a thin towel and does not touch your skin. Another therapy is a hot bath with a cup of apple cider vinegar. This draws the lactic acid out of the muscles and is extremely relaxing. Epsom Salts are good too, I think vinegar is better. You won't smell afterwards, honest. If you are a retired dancer, or are on a hiatus from classes and miss that wonderful stretched out feeling, I highly recommend the these Classical Stretch DVD's. Dianne M. Buxton is a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada. She taught at, and choreographed for The National Ballet School, York University, and George Brown College, in Canada, and taught at Harvard University in the U.S. Click here for ballet shoes, pointe shoes, strengthening exercises, dance news, dance books, diet and health for dancers,DVD's and more.
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