Ballet practice at home

[Balletbrit]

I'm just wondering how many people wear the same ballet wear for "at home" practice as well as studio practice. As most of you probably know, I wear a t-shirt and tights...what a shock!! I have tried practicing ballet at home in shorts and it just doesn't feel quite right to me. I felt I was practicing lazily or half-heartedly.

 

Balletbrit

[Garyecht]

I don't do regular ballet classes any longer, but I still do home ballet practices. I usually wear any exercise type clothing or what I wear to modern class adding socks. When I was doing regular ballet classes, it was about the same only I did wear ballet slippers all the time. Personally I think it's good to be able to dance in any kind of costume as in performance you sometimes have to wear things that don't always feel that comfortable.

 

I will say that in home practice, it's easy to get lazy and approach what you are doing half-heartedly. That's bad. Anything you can do to avoid that is worthwhile doing. If it is related to what you wear, by all means wear what makes you feel energized about what you are doing. I've always approached home practice by concentrating on one or two technical points throughout all the exercises I was doing. I think that keeps me focused on what I am trying to accomplish. The second thing I do is whenever I am having a bad practice, I stop immediately. Finished with practice, at least with ballet practice.

 

Home practice is difficult for a lot of people. It requires a lot of focus and discipline. If you have trouble with that, you might try taking more classes, doing fewer home practice sessions.

[Geezer]

I'd think you could wear whatever you like as long as it allows freedom of movement. Tights/leotard are mainly for class wear so the teacher can see your body lines.

[brie]

Thought I'd chime in with female perspective... I wear a tight fitting singlet top and short shorts (the same ones I usually wear over my leotard and tights). I don't think it matters what you were as long as you can move. I don't usually even wear my ballet shoes - unless I'm doing a little bit of pointe but to be honest that's pretty rare.

 

I'm curious as to what you all do for practice at home. I usually do a full barre to modern dance music (not classical or ballet music) though still classical ballet. That usually takes about 30 - 40 mins then I do about 30 mins stretching. I'm particularly trying to focus on my hip flexors and turnout muscles at the moment as they are pretty tight due to a past injury. Unfortunately my lounge isn't big enough to any centre work.

Edited January 21, 2012 by brie

[Garyecht]

At first my home practice consisted of simply repeating the combinations I could remember from class. That eventually evolved into repeating entire classes, unfortunately minimizing allegro combinations because the floor wasn't conducive to jumping. Then I got creative and created my own classes, inventing some of the combinations and using others that I had picked up from reading and watching other classes. Now I do a real mish-mash--a mix of floor barre, barre, center, stretching--anything that meets my fancy. Sometimes I'll do some modern things I've been working on. The only things that I always work in are turns of all sorts. Don't jump any more as my right heel and knee gets upset when I jump too much. It's all what I feel like doing and what will make me feel good having done it. For music I use either ballet CD music or jazz, drum, or contemporary classical that I have. I take somewhere between 60 and 120 minutes to do a home practice, more often closer to 60 than to 120.

[Badgertoes]

I've always worn dance clothes for workouts because honestly I think it's the most comfortable to move around in. I'm not so fond of loose fabrics. I don't wear my leotards ever, but I usually am in tights, short workout shorts, and a fitted shirt. I just like to be able to see what I'm doing with my body at all times.

 

My at home workout is a jazz warmup (hops up my energy and wakes my muscles up nicely), passive stretching, focused strengthening exercises on different muscle groups, and then more intensive stretching. It usually takes something like an hour to complete (sometimes longer if I have time) and I put on contemporary music because my workout is a mix of ballet and jazz. I don't like to practice my ballet technique at home yet so it's really just about keeping my muscles ready for action.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Badgertoes

[Marjolein]

I stretch at home, do some strengthening exercises and sometimes do the warmups from my musical theatre class (basically a classical warm up, pliés, tendus, relevés, ronds de jambe, frappés and some jumps) and the conditioning routine.

 

I don't put on ballet wear, just something that's comfortable or pajamas when I stretch before I go to bed.

[Balletbrit]

I like to practice my barre work. I do a lot of back stretching, plies, rond de jambes, etc. I don't have room for center work and am not THAT big a fan of it anyway. The thing I really like about ballet class IS the barre work and stretching. I find that to be REALLY beneficial!!!

[mermaid7176]

Usually I just wear something comfortable since I am usually squeezing in some exercises and stretching after my toddler has gone to bed. I save my leotards and tights for class since I usually hand wash them and don't want to make more laundry for myself

[Siobhan]

I usually wear my leotard for sure. I find that puts my mind in a more focused place. I don't want to develop any bad habits when I practice at home.

[Hans]

Before you practice anything at home, please be sure to ask your teacher what he or she considers it appropriate for you to do on your own. That way you can make sure you are working safely and not developing bad habits.

[olgahk]

I usually wear my leotard for sure. I find that puts my mind in a more focused place. I don't want to develop any bad habits when I practice at home.

 

Me too! I used to wear leggins and t-shirt or racerback shirt (gym style) but I found myself rolling up the t-shirt up to my chest to be able to observe my back and stomache for proper alignment. Once I started wearing leotard as in the class, I found that I can see everything I need to control my back, shoulders and hips for proper alignment. Plus, it puts me in the right mood, this and some ballet music on the iPod.

 

As for the practice itself, I do a warm up and floor exercises (50% of the practice) and then proceed to barre with some minimal centre work (balancing in the centre and pirouette preparation) for another 50%. Stretching at the very end.

Edited January 24, 2012 by olgahk