Developpe height and body posture?

Question

I am a beginner in ballet and whenever I do a developpe I noticed that I tilt a little in the opposite direction of my working leg. Is pulling up in my torso the only correction or is there something else wrong?

Also I don't seem to be improving much on the height of my leg in a developpe... is there another excercise/stretch that I can do to strengthen the muscles that are worked in a developpe??

thank you!

Answer 1

First of all, It is natural for you to see a slight shift in your position, because obviously, you have to change your weight to over top of the other foot. Your hips SHOULD  be centered directly over the supporting knee. It is usual.

Second of all, stretching won't do you any good unless you are just stiff. To get a nice, high, straight extension, you need to build muscle to hold it up there. To reaaaaallly get a good muscle in you leg, do the highest developpe you can, but do it slowly, then hold that extension as high as you can and as long as you can. It will hurt like heck, and you may only be able to hold it a few seconds, but a few weeks of that, and you should be able to do one at least to your shoulder.

Answer 2

What you a mostly lacking is ab strength. If you have splits in all directions then you are flexible enough to get your leg 180 degrees you just aren't strong enough right now. Try doing crunches or this other stretch which I do that really helps with this problem. to do this you lie flat on the ground and at the same time you lift one leg (knee straight) while you lift your torso (be sure not to let your stomach cave in). Alternate legs and also do both legs at once.  

Answer 3

Doing basic exercises like grande plies well help your strength. And if you can do your splits i suggest you work on them because once you get flexible, your leg gets higher, and the higher your leg is, the easier it is to hold the developpe.