Gripping my quads and hip flexors !

[Guest lovinballet14]

I have a VERY hard time not gripping my quads and hip flexors in front and side développé. To the back I have no problem using my hamstrings without my quads or hip flexors. But everytime I lift my leg up in the front our side you can see my quads and hips qlench. My teacher always tells me not to, but I just don't know how. I really need help because I am wiping out my hip flexors! And the fact that I played soccer before I started to dance just makes my quads bigger.... Please help! This is what is keeping me back from my teacher letting me get ahead of the other girls!

[Mel Johnson]

I wonder if you are actually gripping the affected muscles, or are just using them. After all, you can't lift your leg at all without employing your hip flexors, and you can't straighten your knee without using the quads. There's a big difference between using and gripping. In the latter, the student makes the muscles rock-hard and constantly stressed before, during and after the movements. Is this what's happening? And we've got threads out there on quad stretches. Just run a search on "quad stretch*" just that way and select "search all forums".

 

And welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers!

[Victoria Leigh]

Hello lovinballet14, welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers

 

At the top of any extension the quads are fully engaged and so are the hip flexors, but the process of getting there can be made much more efficient by learning to use an undercirlce of energy to release the leg into the extension instead of powering it up there. Breathing helps. A lot. Take a deep breath just before the extension and then exhale as you lift the leg, whether it is in a grand battement or a développé. Imagine that there is this circle of energy, sort of like a ferris wheel, moving over your body, under your leg, and lifting it for you. The exhale helps that a lot. Try it, it works!