Using Inner Thigh Muscles?

[bubble-tea]

When you tendue to the side, then pick up your foot so that it is rasied off the floor at about 90 degrees, do you use your inner thigh muscles? I always feel like I'm clenching my quads, and usually after the excercise my quads feel kind of sore-ish. How do I actually know when I'm using my inner thigh muscles properly?

Also, when you are in demi-pointe in first and fifth position, do you need to squeeze the inner thigh muscles? I was taught that way, but the teacher I go to now says to squeeze the muscle under your bottom at the top of the thigh.

[Guest grace]

it's not my job to reply to Young Dancer's queries, so i won't do that, but i thought you might like to know where these muscles are, in the sense of being able to identify/feel them, in dance movement:

 

try standing in parallel, (with good posture, of course) and do a battement tendu (or better yet a battement glisse) to the side IN PARALLEL ALIGNMENT WITH YOUR FOOT STILL FLEXED (that is, NOT pointed).

 

NOW, as you bring the leg BACK TOWARDS its partner/back towards the middle of your body/back into parallel 1st (sometimes called 6th position) - THAT is when you can feel those 'inside thigh' muscles working, at the inside top of your leg. (these are what they call the ADDUCTORS, i believe...and, depending on your leg alignment, are only PART OF the 'inside thigh' collection!)

 

i hope this is acceptable post, AND one that the moderators will agree with(!) - because if they don't, then I TOO need to be told how to find/feel inside thighs!

[Victoria Leigh]

No problem with agreeing with your post, grace....only that it is posted on YD

 

Bubble-tea, when you lift your leg to the front or side, while the inner thighs have to work to help maintain rotation, and the quads are also working, it is best if you can feel that the movement is really being motivated by the hamstrings. This is more of a feeling, which creates a release of energy from under the leg, than a reality, however it is very helpful and does make the movement more efficient and puts less strain on the quads. Breathing helps with this. Take a breath just before the extension, exhale as you begin to lift the leg, and imagine a big circle of energy moving around you and under your leg, almost lifting it for you!

[Guest limeymauve]

gripping my quads is a big problem I have, so I was wondering--when developing i try really hard to think of turning out, which i understand has a lot to do with inner thighs. Is this the right way to think of it? Also I have really tight hips and bad natural turnout, and they do the popping thing that someone was asking about in another recent thread. One teacher I have just tells me to relax, but my quads grip so automatically that I don't see how i can, it's like a reflex because I've been doing it so long. How can you unteach that?

[Victoria Leigh]

limey, read my post above, plus you will most likely need to find where your control zone is for à la seconde. It will most likely be somewhat forward of where you are trying to put it when it is popping.

[Guest wishing_tobe_clara]

I have had a similar problem too. If it helps, my teacher has told me that the muscles inside of the leg are very hard to feel or see if they are working. They do not get hard when they are used like other muscles. So it is all up to you to really work them.