Ballet Journals (term 3)
Ashley Booth

Lesson one
One of the main focuses of todays lesson was basic technique. We concentrated on alignment, safe dance practice in ballet and body limitations. By this I mean, how far we can push our bodies with out being in risk of causing injury. Technique in ballet is the learning of movement and refers to a way of using the body in the correct alignment. Alignment in ballet refers to keeping the head, shoulders and hips vertically aligned. A dancer with good technique requires good placement, alignment and turnout. Turnout refers to completing movements with your legs rotated outwards using the six deep outward rotators of the hip joint (ball and socket). This promotes clean footwork, graceful port
Also, maintaining correct alignment in the knee when in a plie is very difficult as you must not be over the ankle or to far back from the ankle but stacked on top of the ankle and the foot. The knee is designed to provide both stability and mobility and relies on the correct placement of the pelvis for stability. When in a plie our knee is in flexion. Flexion is the decreased angle between the two levers, in this case the two levers being the hamstring and gastrocnemius. Flexion of the knee is initiated by the plantaris muscle. The plantaris muscle is a tiny fragile muscle behind the knee cap.

At the bar we completed a battement tendu exercise. In ballet, tendu means ‘to stretch’ and battement means to ‘beat’. A battement tendu stretches the working leg and foot away from the supporting leg. This movement seems very simple, however it is very important as it leads to other exercise such as, battement jete, battement releve lent and grande battement. In this exercise as the working legs slides out, using the tarsus, metatarsals and digits against the floor, the weight shifts on to the supporting leg, which should remain straight throughout the whole exercise. The inner thigh/ adductors and the heel of the working leg leads, ensuring the dancer maintains turnout of the leg and foot, initiated from the hip. If not done the toes will slip