Happy Friday, dancers! I hope you all are having an amazing day. In today’s post we are going to talk about how to improve lines in ballet. As I’m sure you all know, ballet “lines” is the elongation of your body to create nice, elegant ballet positions such as arabesque, attitude, Italian fouettes, etc. This is where all of your ballet form comes in to play and, in all actuality, improving the lines of your ballet form actually consists of small, easy fixes. So, don’t worry. You don’t have to be 6ft tall to have those nice elongated lines or have extremely long arms to achieve those perfect arm positions. All you need is a few minutes with From the Top Dance Blog! Let’s get it goin’!
Tip #1
“Stand Proud and Tall”
This is where the phrase “Don’t sit in your hips” majorly comes into play! Slumping or letting your upper body sink into your lower body won’t allow you to have the elongated form to achieve moves like a nice arabesques, for example. However, standing up straight and not sitting in your hips will make you appear taller, which in return will make the movement bigger, more elegant and more dramatic. Are any of you guys Stranger Things, fans? If the answer is yes, then let’s bring that into ballet form, shall we? Just imagine that your upper body and your lower are in two different dimensions and your hips are the dividing line between those two worlds. Never let your upper body slump into the other world. It may sound dramatic but I can guarantee it will stick. So remember, don’t let your upper body go into “The Upside Down”!
Tip #2
“Always Keep Your Chin Lifted”
My next tip is to always keep your chin lifted and your head up while you’re dancing. This will give the look of confidence and elegance as you dance. It also naturally elongates your neck, which aids in upper body elongation.
Tip #3
“Elongated Arms”
Long, lifted and fluid arms also improve your lines and something that I really stress in my class! By really extending and reaching your arms while you dance, it will make your moves more dramatic, elegant and leave a bigger impact. Along with lengthening your arms, it also helps to soften them as well. Sometime we can focus on our lower body being strong and precise while we dance, that we subconsciously allow are arms to get stiff as well. This is a habit that I had really bad and I had to find a way to break it because they were making my arabesque look like a paper airplane! Then one day while I was watching a performance of “Sleeping Beauty”, it just hit me. I thought to myself “Why are my arms always so stiff? My arms can’t help my legs anyway. I might as well soften them!” That random thought fixed everything and it’s something that I still keep in mind to this day. So, always remember to keep those arms nice and fluid. Be like the ocean not like the plan that flies OVER the ocean.
Tip #3
“Elongated Legs”
Lastly, keep your legs nice and strong by lengthening through your thighs and keeping your feet pointed. This is the icing on the cake that you have been baking using the tips listed above. Doing this will make your legs appear even longer, even if you’re on the shorter side. I can guarantee that your legs will look flawless!
Well, that’s it for today’s post! I hope these tips help you as you improve that gorgeous form of yours! I’ll see you all next week and remember…
Keep Dancing!
-Lexi
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