PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!! ballet dancers especially!?

Question

I am really bad with plies. like REALLY bad.

at ballet class when we are doing our demi plie, everyone goes down, and i go down like a centimeter!!!

what are some stretches,anything, to get my demi plies down?????

Answer 1

Okay, so there are basically two types of plies (very broad generalization)

One is a demi plie and the other is a grand plie. The demi plie is supposed to go about half way down whereas the grand plie goes all the way down.

For the ground plie, you need to make sure that your heels are the last thing touching the floor and the first thing to touch the floor (if you need to raise them when you do a grand). For 2nd position grand plie, your but should not go below your thighs...as in keep your body above your knees!

For demi plies, you should go about half way down. If you can't reach a demi, then you have got some serious stretching to do.

Always warm up before stretching (jog in place for like 3 min) and make sure that you have digested all your food or you'll be seeing them again. Also, NEVER stretch after you have woken up--give your body a chance to loose the muscles again.

Stand and aim for your toes without bending your knees. Repeat this sitting down. Both times, you should try and get your head to your knees as well and you should hold them each for 20 seconds at least. Oh, and NEVER bounce when you're doing a stretch or holding a stretch because, well, you'll cause microtears in your muscles which is never good news.

While sitting down, put the bottom of your feet together and bring them in towards your body so that your legs are bent and making a diamond shape. Bring them in as close as you can and make sure the outside side of your feet are touching the ground. From there, press down on your thighs as much as you can. You're aiming to have the outside of your legs touch the ground entirely.

Stand up and go to a wall or something of the like. Put your toes of one foot against the wall and your hands flat against the wall (your palms, that is). Bend that leg slightly and bring your other foot behind you. Keep your foot touching the floor and that leg straight. Now, push with your arms away from the wall while keeping the back leg in the same position. You should feel a stretch along your hamstring.

Those are really basic stretches. If you work on them for at least 15min--twice a day, you should see improvements. Other than that, keep working on your plies =)

Answer 2

just do a demi plie and go down until you feel a stretch but make sure that your foot is flat on the ground and hold it their for as long as possible  

Answer 3

Try a butterfly stretch, to help with bending your legs while keeping turnout. Here's how: sit on the floor with your spine straight over your hips. Bend your legs so that your feet are touching, creating a diamond shape inside your legs. Then slowly bend with a straight back and try to touch your nose to your feet. Go down as far as you can and stay there for a minute. Repeat daily.

Answer 4

you just have to keep practicing. lol. at home do a demi plie and hold it there and try to get further down. maybe that will work?

Answer 5

Practice makes perfect. Keep trying! Try going into a demi plie and sit in it for a while, like during the ad break of a TV show. Aim for better flexibility of your calf and thigh muscles- try doing the splits, if you can.

Answer 6

i would say just keep practicing and try to sink into your plies more...

Answer 7

You sound like you have very tight quad muscles and or calf muscles. You should do the stretch where while standing on one leg, you bend the other leg backward and hold at the foot. For hamstrings, you can lie on you back and lift one leg straight up to the ceiling, while bending the other. You can use a strap or belt or something to dray your leg closer to your body. Or check on line for photos or drawings of calf and quad muscle stretches.

http://askthetrainer.com/leg-stretches.h...

Answer 8

OK. Do you know what the lotus position is? Don't panic - you don't have to do it!

You need to improve your turnout. I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but it will help you in going down as well. (It helped me, anyway.)

Sit on the floor as you would with lotus, but instead put the soles of your feet together. Push down on your thighs. Sit like this for a minute. After that, stop pushing for about five minutes, but stay sitting like that. Then get back to pushing. Have periods of pushing and periods of relaxing. It's best to do this listening to music or watching TV. Do it as much as you can - it has much more effect than you'll think!

Break a leg!

Oh, and if you get discouraged, sit like that on the bed. Seriously. It's easy and it'll boost your confidence. Remember, though - this isn't helping your turnout!