Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 12/3/2007

Question
Hello! My name is Jessica and I have been doing ISTD Grade 5 ballet (I don't know if that's the same in USA? I'm in England) for one term. I didn't do any ballet before that but I really do love everything about it!After Christmas, I'm going to move up into Intermediate ballet, but do some classes on grade 3, 4 and 5 just for practice, but I find that while I'm very flexible, my balance is just appauling! I find it so difficult. Also, I have a perfect 18o degree turnout but when I'm dancing I don't have the strength to keep my hips turned out that far. Is there anything I can do to help these? I would appreciate any advice atall. Thank you very much!

Answer
Hi Jessica. First of all, building strength takes time. In ballet you may be advanced to a more difficult level because you have the intellectual capacity to understand more. Personally, I wouldn't advance a student who had the muscles weaknesses you are describing.

I thnk you can get lots of help with this at http://www.theballetstore.com where there are many articles on dance technique. You will find some that talk about strengthening turnout, and others that talk about balance. When I talk about balance I call it the postural plumb line - the straight up and down line through the body, through the curve of the spine and your other natural shapes.

If you can rise up and down from the bottom of your demi plie to the top of your rise position, without losing balance, your postural plumb line is kept. If you lose it, you go off balance.

Give these articles a careful read and do some practising. Let your teacher know what you are working on at home, and ask her to tell you when she sees improvement. Building strength depends on you picking two or three correct exercises, and doing them six days a week, and completely resting on one day. You do not have to work to exhaustion, but work carefully and deliberately. The repetition builds strength and also muscle memory.

I'd love to hear how this goes for you!

Please feel free to contact me again if you have any further questions.

A brief follow up - I've recommended to almost everyone to read my articles and blog entries at http://www.theballetstore.com You have to create a user name to log in to see all the blog entries - your privacy is safe! I really apologize that I didn't tell you this - I'm not a technical person!