Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 12/6/2007

Question
Any excercises for a higher arabesque/atitude?  I am very flexible actually and can bring my leg to a high arabesque, but  can't maintain it or bring it to that height without my hands. Other than back muscle strengthening excercises any other ideas?

My ballet teacher brought me to the side to talk to me in private.  She said I needed to start working alot more on my feet.  Of course, she said that ABT wants the "no heel" showing and not winged, but the heel going towards the ground in tendu arabesque.  She said to accomplish this I have to strengthen the inside part of my foot rather than the outside.  Are there any excercises I can work on?  I have a thera-band which has helped me in the past.

Thankyou for your time! ~Rachel

Answer
Hi Rachel. Lack of strength in arabesque could be in your mid back muscles, in your deep abdominal muscles, in your hamstrings, and in your hip extensor muscles. Since I can't see you, can't see your tendu derriere, the position you are starting from, before you raise your leg, and I can't see if something needs correcting, I am just mentioning everything.

Here's something you can try, to strengthen all those muscles. Stand in arabesque in the corner where you can hold one barre on one wall in front of you, and place the arabesque leg behind you on the other barre. Let the leg rest for a moment and check your placement.

Is the leg extended out away from you leaving you length in the back, as opposed to you having bunched up back muscles at and above the waist? Do you feel your butt muscles holding the leg as high as it can go? You can test this by lifting the leg off the barre without letting the back work or move forward at all. Just an inch, leg only moves.

Hold the leg there, feeling the back of the leg (hamstrings) and butt (hip extensors) holding it. Put the leg down and pick it up 10 times, just an inch. Gradually work up to 20 times.

Here's an extension of that exercise. Get placed like above. Do a demi plie, allowing your back to move forward as needed, but staying upright in your upper back. Lift the leg just off the barre and come up from the plie, holding the leg in position. Do this as many times as you can.

Dancers who are lucky to be so flexible always have challenges with strength. You just have to keep working until you can do what you need to do. For instance, in Giselle, when the corps de ballet move back and forth across the stage in arabesque - that takes strength, and you need to have it. When you land from a grand jete en tournant, the leg must not bounce. I'm sure you hear that all the time.....no avoiding it.

As for your foot in tendu derriere, if your heel is sticking up, have you retained all the turnout that you have from the hip? If so, then you can press the heel down, but the foot will wing slightly. There is no way it cannot. That doesn't mean you lose all of its arch, but it will wing slightly. In fact, many professional schools do teach dancers to wing.

I'm not quite sure what your teacher means by strengthening the inside of the foot - she wants your heel to disappear, which ideally would happen from the turnout from the hip. If it can't, you first would open the hip more, keeping square from the waist up. It's a careful cheat, and you must be sure your weight stays off the supporting heel, in other words it doesn't change the placement of your body over your supporting leg. That turns out the whole leg. And the foot would therefore rotate too, hiding the heel from the side view.

If you are not turned out enough to achieve the line you want by opening the hip more, you have to wing the foot. I cannot think of anyway out of it.

Ask your teacher what you specifically need to do to achieve what she wants. Find out if she thinks you need more strength in your feet, or just a different line in tendu derriere.

There is a new book out on pre-pointe assessment and regimens that has some fabulous foot exercises in it, with photos, anatomical info and more. I'm not sure if that is what you are needing, but if that seems to be something you need more detailed info on, you can get it at http://www.linkbrander.com/go/54727 The author, Lisa Howell, charges $47.77 for it and it is quite a technical manual. It covers posture and turnout as well, and has many strengthening exercises in it.

There is also a book by Deborah Vogel, "FUNctional Anatomy for Dancers - the Level Three is one I have, and it also has foot exercises in it. You can get that at http://www.thebodyseries.com

But check with your teacher and make sure you understand exactly what she wants first.

Also, at http://www.theballetstore.com there are many articles on strengthening you might like to read.

I hope this helps and that I haven't been confusing with the details! All the best, Dianne

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!