Modify Ballet for Your Body
Tiekka, at Everyday Ballet, has some really good advice for at-home dancers, on how to modify traditional ballet exercises to suit your body and your needs. Here are her tips. Check out the full video below, to hear her great ideas and explanations!
- Reduce the turnout of our legs; whatever your body can comfortably manage is perfectly fine.
- Face your barre (or chair, or countertop) and hold it with two hands for support.
- Work combinations only from 1st, 2nd and 3rd position. (Remember, in class, it's fine to substitute 3rd position for 5th position.)
- Stick with demi-plies, and skip the grand-plies.
- Reduce the number of repetitions in your combinations, and do them more slowly.
- Keep your legs lower.
- Don't do jumps. Or, do baby-jumps at the barre, while holding on.