Stretching

[Clecle333]

Hey guys,

 

So im 16 and new to ballet. I was just wondering if you guys have any stretching routines? especially stretches to perform the splits? or just generally improve my flexibility?

 

Thanks!

[Mel Johnson]

Hello, Clecle333, and welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers. Stretching, and the mandatory warmups to be done BEFORE stretching are what constitutes a good one-third of a ballet class's time. Splits are stretches, and require a warmup, at least the barre part of the class, before doing them. Splits are not major aims in themselves, but are really just exercises, mostly passive, to prepare for other parts of ballet beside the obvious flexibility. The way to more flexibility is more class, whether considered as duration of classtime, or duration of study (i.e. how long you've been taking class - ballet is a "slow cooking" process of development).