Welcome back to From the Top, everyone! Today we are going to talk about improving balance both in and out of pointe shoes! Balance is a huge part of ballet when in demi pointe, without pointe shoes, and it becomes even more important once you enter into the world of pointe. However, balancing can be a little trickier than it appears. So, if you’re looking for some ways to improve your balance and be able to hold all 8 of those counts, then you’ve come to the right place. Here 3 tips to help improve balance! Let’s get started!
Tip #1
“Engage Your Core”
This is the first and most stated tip for improving balance for many different styles of dance. From ballet to heels choreography, lyrical to jazz; engaging, or tightening, your abs has a way of really keeping your body grounded and stable. The reason being is because it distributes your body weight evenly, which in result, will give you stability and security!
Tip #2
“Hips Don’t Lie”
This is a tip that I still must keep in mind to this day and that tip is to always keep your weight OVER your hips! It’s so easy to find yourself leaning slightly over or leaning slightly backward while balancing in demi pointe or en pointe but as a result, it causes you to lose your footing and makes it incredibly hard to balance. However, keeping your upper body straight and aligned right on top of your hips will correctly distribute your weight evenly. And of course, remember your ballet form!
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Tip #3
“Focus On Those Feet”
Another big help with balance is nice strong feet! If you are balancing out of pointe, make sure your releve is nice and high with your weight distributed between your big and middle toe to give you stability. If you are en pointe, make sure to really roll through the shoe. Roll through demi pointe, up to your box with your feet pointed inside your shoe to get yourself on top the box securely, which will allow you to balance on top of the box correctly!
And there you have it! If you liked these tips, I encourage you to give them a try and see how big of a difference they will make! Thanks so much for hanging out with us today and I will see you all next week for another blog post! Have a great weekend, everyone!
Keep Dancing!
-Lexi
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