Ballerina Exercises

Ballerinas are renowned for their lean, lithe figures and graceful movements. Many ballerinas get most of their physical activity from ballet class, with some supplementing their physical activity with yoga, pilates, cardiovascular activity or light weight training. Ballet class consists of exercises holding a barre and in the center of the room. All exercises are performed in a turned-out position, meaning that the ballerina's legs are externally rotated from the hip and her thighs, knees, ankles and feet point as far to the side as possible.

Pliés

Pliés are the first exercise performed in a ballet class and are a whole-body exercise that challenges the muscles of the thighs, buttocks, lower leg and core while stretching the ankles and achilles tendon. There are two types of pliés, grand and demi pliés. Demi pliés are knee bends with the heels down, touching the floor, and the body upright. The dancer completes a demi plié before continuing her downward descent into a grand plié, allowing her heels to come off the ground and lowering herself until she is just above the ground.

Tendue and Degagé

Tendues and degagés are whole body exercises that are performed both with and without the barre. They challenge nearly every muscle in the lower body and require the core muscles to maintain balance over the standing leg. Tendues and degages begin in either the first or fifth foot positions, with the heels together and the leg turned out or the feet crossed, heel to toe, with the leg turned out. The ballerina slides her foot along the floor and points her leg straight in front of her, keeping all of the weight on her standing leg, and then reverses the motion to bring her leg back to the starting position. She keeps her foot on the ground for tendue, but lifts it off the ground for degagé.

Adagio

Adagio is a group of slow exercises that demonstrate strength and endurance. Adagio is typically comprised of exercises that require the ballerina to lift her leg as high in the air as possible, including envelopés, developpés and grand rond de jambes. Adagio exercises require strong legs, hip flexors and core muscles and are performed in all directions.

Allégro

Allégro exercises are jumps that are small or large, called petite or grande in ballet. Jumps demonstrate power and speed and allégro sequences often require excellent stamina and conditioning. Petite allégro consists of small, fast jumps from one leg to two legs, two legs to one leg and one leg to one leg. Some jumps rotate in the air, making the exercise even more challenging for the ballerina. Grand allégro consists of large jumps in positions like the splits.