["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Hello, I'm Melissa Lowe.
During my years as a principal dancer
with several major American ballet companies,
I learned there are three primary components
of all ballet exercise practice,
floor work, bar work, and center work.
The floor work will increase your circulation,
prepare your body for the outward rotation from the hip,
work your body without the adverse effects of gravity,
and decrease any muscle tension.
The bar work will enable you to focus on balance and control
as you meet the demands of hip, rotation, extension, and speed.
The challenge of the center work is
to retain the increased degree of rotation and flexibility
and the length and posture that you achieved at the bar
while increasing your freedom to move from one foot
to the other in combinations of traveling steps.
This tape contains two workouts, each one
with these three types of exercises.
The first workout includes fundamentals
that are essential for the more challenging second workout.
I advise starting with the first workout
even if you have some ballet training.
And when you feel ready for a more physically and mentally
demanding set of exercises, move on to the level two workout.
Within each workout, you will discover
that you can progress by learning the movement first
and then gradually increasing your awareness
of proper body alignment, energy output, style,
and ease of movement.
We will start the level one ballet workout with floor work.
Let's start by sitting on the floor with your left leg out
straight in front of you and place your right leg
across your left knee.
Gently pull back the toes of the ball of the foot
with your hand, stretching the underneath side of the foot
and breathing regularly and deeply and now
stretching the instep and changing legs,
flexing the foot, stretching the underneath side of the foot,
the planter arch and the Achilles tendon,
and stretching the instep.
Now turn over and support yourself on your hands and feet.
Your seat is the highest point, and your body basically
forms a triangle.
We're going to stretch our Achilles tendons
a little differently and also our calves
in the backs of our knees.
Alternating feet and bend the right heel to the floor
and the left.
Keep your toes pointed directly forward
so you really get a good stretch of the Achilles tendon.
Now support yourself on your hands and knees
and slowly ease yourself down onto your forearms
as your knees slide open to the side,
maintaining a slight arch in the back.
Press your feet to the floor and hold this stretch.
Heels to the floor and right heel to the floor,
left and right and left, both together.
Right heel down.
Place your legs now so that they bend at right angles
in relation to your body.
And your right leg is in front of you
and the left wraps around your back behind.
Keeping your shoulders very square,
we're going to bend forward and back,
stretching the quadriceps.
The foot comes in close to the seat and forward and back.
Changing legs and forward and back.
Now we're going to stretch the buttocks,
sitting up with your right leg crossed over your left,
just bending forward and twist and again forward.
And towards the raised leg.
Changing legs and forward.
And twist.
As you see, we are using the bar to continue stretching.
The purpose of the bar is to provide stability for us
while we work on placement, increasing
the degree of rotation, and the height of our leg extensions.
At home, select a countertop or even a sturdy chair
that is an appropriate height for you to stretch your legs.
I'm going to use Roxanne to demonstrate proper alignment
and posture.
As you can see, having her shoulders
a proper distance from the bar is very important
so that her shoulders can remain level and relaxed
at all times.
Also, keeping the abdomen pulled in and flattened
is very important, and don't forget
to breathe at this point.
We have to really avoid the situation where
we would roll on the feet, putting a great deal of strain
on the knees.
Keeping all 10 toes on the floor at all times
is very, very important.
Now, when we lift the legs into the air,
as we can see Elena doing right now,
the hip of the leg that's lifted does not go up.
She takes the leg to the side.
It's still relaxed and down, carrying the leg to the back.
The hip will go up slightly.
Chest lifts forward and up.
The toe coming into the knee.
The pelvis flattens once again, and the shoulders
resume their position right over the hips.
Primary positions that we'll be using
are first, second, third, and fifth position.
Fourth position will be used mostly as a transition
from one foot to another.
There are primary arm positions that correspond
with each foot position.
We will learn more about these positions
during the exercises at the bar.
We'll begin with a series of small half knee
bends called demi plies.
Let us start with left hand at the bar.
All right.
Many times in ballet, the arm movement gives the impulse for the rest of the body to follow.
Music
Pliés and Elevés will help to shape and tone the calves.
In second position, the heels should remain on the floor throughout the grand plié.
Music
Pliés and Elevés
Music
Pointing and flexing works the muscles of the foot, ankle and lower leg.
Music
Keep both hips positioned squarely as the leg works behind in the arabesque line.
Pliés and Elevés
Music
Whenever you work in a tight position, either third or fifth, the thighs, hips and buttocks are being firmed.
Pliés and Elevés
Music
Balmain dégagé is a movement where the foot is disengaged from the floor.
You'll be able to develop speed in pointing your feet as you do this exercise and it will prepare you for quick jumps later in the center work.
Working faster now has a slimming effect on the whole leg.
Allow your head to follow your arm movements.
Pliés and Elevés
Rond de jambe means circle of the leg. You'll become aware of the flexibility in your hips as your leg moves from one direction to the next.
As you circle the leg more quickly, try to keep the hips as still as possible.
Pliés and Elevés
Rond de jambe
Pliés and Elevés
Rond de jambe
Fondue is a gentle melting of the legs and developé means to unfold.
The challenge of these exercises will be to do them smoothly and with control.
Pliés and Elevés
Rond de jambe
Pliés and Elevés
And the last exercise we'll do at the barre will strengthen our feet and ankles.
Try to feel your heels pushing away from the floor as you perform these Rélevés.
Having completed the barre work, we are ready to move on to exercises in the center.
The main element to remember is to keep your weight centered over the balls of the feet rather than sitting back on your heels.
By doing this, you'll find it easier to balance and to keep lifted throughout the body.
We'll begin with an adagio, a term also used in music characterized by slow, controlled phrases.
Pliés and Elevés
Battement dégagés, which we did at the barre, will present more of a challenge as we execute them now in the center.
Pliés and Elevés
You may find fondu to Rélevés is more demanding now that we don't have a barre for balance.
We will also do a series of pas de bourrées, often used as a link or transition between bigger movements.
Pas de bourrées are three little steps.
Judy is practicing pas de bourrées to the coup de pied position,
but they can also be done with a third step closing into fifth position, back, side, front, and up, up, down.
Pliés and Elevés
Sautés are small jumps.
We'll do them off of two feet here to build strength for jumps off of one foot.
Échappé, which means to escape, is a jump where the feet begin in a closed position,
such as the fifth, and fly to an open position, such as second.
A refined version of jumping jacks, we are adding port de bras, movement of the arms.
Mary Ellen is showing us how the arms are coordinated with the legs.
If it's confusing at first, simply place your arms in second position, as you see her doing now.
Échappé, which means to escape, is a jump where the feet begin in a closed position.
Cisson is a scissor-like jump, which can be executed either small or large.
We'll do our Cissons as large jumps, which David will demonstrate.
Begins in fifth position demi-plié, springs off both feet with an equal push from the floor.
His legs scissor open, and he flies to the right, landing on his right foot,
and allowing his left foot to travel down to the floor and into position left foot front.
And consecutively, they look like this.
By standing at the back of your work area, you will have room to perform the traveling step,
which glides forward, called Chasse.
As we finish the level one ballet workout, we will wind down slowly
until we reach the end of this video.
The level two workout will build on the exercises of the first workout
and provide some interesting and challenging new material.
Let's be seated and begin with floor work.
Have your legs extended together in front of you, and bend your right knee
as you slide your heel in close to your body until the knee approaches the chest.
Keep the back straight and tall.
And with both hands, just pull gently on the toes.
And let go and stretch and slide it out.
And now lengthen the toes, working through all the muscles of the feet.
And stretch the toes up, rotate open, little toes to the floor, repeating left.
Stretching the Achilles tendon.
Lengthen it out.
And toes to the floor, stretching the instep.
And toes up, rotating open, repeating with both feet.
Slide them in, keep your back straight and tall.
And slide the feet out.
And as you stretch the feet, take the arms overhead, exhale and go forward to the toes.
Hold this deepest part of the stretch and just stay.
And roll easily up.
Good. Now roll down onto your back and flatten the small of the back as much as possible
until you feel no arch at all.
And now bend both knees up until the feet are just slightly in front of the knees.
Take a hold of your right leg just behind the calf.
Flex it in.
And stretch it up.
You are rotating your leg just gently and easily.
And now with a flexed foot, pull the heel towards the left shoulder.
Heel to the ceiling.
Let go.
Feel the long leg reaching towards the floor, repeating with the left.
Flex it in.
And stretch.
Flex it in.
And stretch.
Really rotate the leg as much as possible.
And with a flexed foot, pull that heel opposite right shoulder.
Heel to the ceiling.
Lengthen the leg.
Easily down to the floor.
Good. Let's sit up.
Now place your legs out to the sides of your body as far as they will naturally go.
Reach up over your head with your left hand out towards the toes.
And stretching.
Up and over to the left.
And walking the hands forward.
Chest approaches the floor and you just hold that.
And walking back up.
Now lift your pelvis up off the floor and rotate towards the right leg.
Lift the left arm overhead.
And stretch forward. Square your shoulders off.
Lengthen the back leg.
Rotate back through second.
And repeat left.
Long waist.
Try not to collapse.
Up and forward.
Chest near the floor.
Hold that stretch.
And walking the hands in.
Lifting your pelvis.
Rotate towards the left leg.
Bend your right knee in.
Reach the right arm overhead.
And square the shoulders off and go forward.
Lengthen the back knee.
And rotate back through second.
Our last stretch will stretch our hamstrings in a slightly different way as well as our quadriceps, hip flexors, and buttocks.
With your feet parallel, now stand up, placing your right leg slightly in front of your left.
We're going to bend forward and stretch.
And right forward.
Flex the foot.
Head to the knee.
And now slide that foot back.
Keep your legs directly parallel.
You can place one hand on the knee if you wish.
And draw the knee in and sit and tuck.
Forward.
And standing to stretch.
Easy rotation around to the other side.
Square your shoulders in relation to your feet.
And here we go.
Flex.
Sliding the right foot back.
Drop your knee to the floor.
Make sure the knee is in line with the foot.
Tuck and sit.
And forward.
And push to stand up.
And finish.
That concludes the floor work, and now we're ready to move on to the barre.
Let's begin at the barre with a series of plies, relevés, and port de bras.
Port de bras is any movement of the arms, and here we'll be using it as a stretch.
As you lengthen the torso forward to meet your legs, try to keep your weight forward over the balls of the feet.
Then keep your legs and seat strong and pulled up so the arch is high in the back.
Remember to keep the abdomen pulled in and flattened.
Let's begin at the barre with a series of plies, relevés, and port de bras.
And forward.
And push to stand up.
Make sure to keep the heel pushing forward as you work in all directions.
Working the feet and legs a little faster now, first position and fifth position will be used alternately so that you can experience the feeling of turnout in an open position and then a more difficult closed position.
Don't forget that even though fifth position is more difficult, whenever you close there you are firming the hips and buttocks.
And don't forget that even though fifth position is more difficult, whenever you close there you are firming the hips and buttocks.
Baatma degage is an exercise requiring speed and clarity of movement. Consistency when closing into good fifth positions will ensure excellent development of the muscle tone of your legs.
This baatma degage is called pique where the tips of the toes rebound from the floor sharply.
Rond de jambe, circle of the leg, can be executed a terre on the ground or en l'air in the air. Grand rond de jambe en l'air refers to the movement where the leg circles from front to back or the reverse at or above 45 degrees.
This baatma degage is an exercise requiring speed and clarity of movement. Consistency when closing into good fifth positions will ensure excellent development of the muscle tone of your legs.
This baatma degage is an exercise requiring speed and clarity of movement.
As you become more familiar with these exercises, you may wish to make stylistic changes in the port de bras as I'm doing here.
This baatma degage is an exercise requiring speed and clarity of movement.
Whenever you need help in feeling length of the torso, you can place your arm overhead in fifth on O.
This baatma degage is an exercise requiring speed and clarity of movement.
We'll challenge ourselves to work smoothly and with control as we do these fun dos and developes.
The position where we raise the leg just before extending it is called attitude.
As you become more aware of using your turnout to lift your leg, you will use and firm the inner thigh even more.
Swinging the leg from front to back, a movement called balance soire, will increase our flexibility.
Rond de jambe en l'air is an outward or inward oval rotation of the lower leg.
As you do these circles, hold the thigh as still as possible.
Rond de jambe en l'air is an outward or inward oval rotation of the lower leg.
In order to make sure that our feet and ankles are ready to support us without the bar,
This is called shouldering the leg.
If it is hard for you to hold your foot, you can hold just under the calf.
Take a moment to catch your breath as we prepare for the final portion of this workout, the center work.
This is a demanding set of exercises, so we'll start slowly with a controlled adagio
where our legs will be making transitions in the air from one position to another.
Fuette is one of these transitions where the leg begins in second.
As you can see Mary Ellen demonstrating, the leg arrives in arabesque.
Maintaining balance and proper alignment is the challenge here.
Building up speed with this next exercise, the feet will be slicing in and out of fifth
position during these battement degages.
Then the same fast slicing action will be used in the small jumping movement called
glissade.
Un derelevé will be combined with balance, a step done in three beats.
Step side, transfer of weight to the ball of the foot and come down.
Sautés, these small jumps will be executed in first, second, and fifth position.
This next jump will require more strength as we land on one foot.
Adding to these sounds, the large scissor-like jumps will be chassé, a sliding movement
along the floor, which takes us to a relevé arabesque.
As you are catching your breath in the final reverence, feel the carriage of your arms
through space, your body lifted yet relaxed, and your legs strong and supportive.
This next movement will require more strength as we land on one foot, which takes us to
a relevé arabesque.
This next movement will require more strength as we land on one foot, which takes us to
a relevé arabesque.
Congratulations on getting through a demanding set of exercises.
If you started with the level one workout and progressed through level two, you have
made an impressive accomplishment.
I encourage you to continue.
The rewards of health and fitness grow as you continue your dance practice.
Thank you for joining us for the ballet workout.
We all enjoyed making this tape, and hope you have enjoyed using it.
Thank you for joining us for the ballet workout.
Thank you.