extension

[Guest RachelD]

My extention is not as high to the front as it is to the side and back. My teachers have told me to lift my leg from underneath and not use my quads. I've tried to find this muscle is there any stretches to help find this muscle. I found it once durring a class and it helped but I haven't found it again. Thanks

[Victoria Leigh]

Kaitlin, front extensions are always harder than side or back, for everyone. Your teachers are correct in trying to get you to feel the movement more from underneath the legs, which means using the hamstrings more than the quads, although the quads of course have to work in order to straighten the leg.

 

Feel the energy moving in a circle around you, and going from above you to behind you and moving your leg up almost like you are not doing it at all! Using your breathing helps in this, by exhaling at the moment you release the leg into the air.

[Guest dancinbabie514]

i had the same problem...thanks that helped!

[Guest whos_lulu]

Also I found that if you kept thinking of lengthening your leg away without displacing your hips it is easier to feel the underneath muscles.

[Guest thumpinhippo]

I've had the same problem but i've never found the muscle. Well, I've found a muscle when i am sitting down but when i get up it's gone. I'm not even sure if it's the one i'm looking for. I'll give Ms Leigh's advice a try next class.

[Marenetha]

I have a similar problem, but to the side. My arabesques are somewhere about 100-105-ish (hurrah!) when I'm working, and to the front is pretty decent as well, but I can't get the leg up to the side very easily. I turn it out as much as possible, because I know that that makes your leg go up higher, but ... Any ideas?

[Victoria Leigh]

Try the same thing I described above for front extensions. Same idea works for side.

[Guest thumpinhippo]

I tried whos_lulu's advice at class (because I'd forgotten what Ms Leigh had posted) and it worked! It was kind of difficult to keep focusing on that muscle but for the first time, I felt it working!!! Thank YOU!!!

But in penché arabes, i can lift my right leg far higher than my left. Usually my left hamstring that feels tight but this doesn't usually link to this leg (or does it) What can I do to "catch it up"?

[Victoria Leigh]

Work the weaker leg twice as hard as the stronger leg.

[Guest Jaime]

Also it helps to the front if you do not use your hip flexer to get your leg up, but from your seat muscles all the way around!

Hopefully it will help you like it helped me!

[Guest dancinbabie514]

what sort of exercises could i do once warm after ballet class to help improve the extentions?

[Victoria Leigh]

Stretches like splits, pied dans le mans, sitting in a second position split up against a wall, things like that. All the more extreme stretches that you should not do when you have not had a class first.

[PheonixTutu]

Yeah, especially the splits. My ballet friend did them once before a class and she pulled a muscle and couldn't dance that day!

[Guest Firebird3000]

What are pied dans le mans? I've never heard this word before.

[Mel Johnson]

I bet you've done it, even though you haven't heard the name. It's the good old one that starts by taking a retiré, then you fondu on the supporting leg and carry the working leg to the front. From there, you can straighten the supporting leg and let the working leg down slowly, or you can carry it to seconde, still holding it, then let go and lower as before.