This document discusses ballet technique and body alignment. It provides 12 rules for proper body placement in ballet, including erect posture, engaged core, turned out legs, and lifted feet. It also lists the 5 basic foot positions in ballet and explains that the hip joint is a ball and socket joint that allows dancers to achieve high leg extensions and is key to dance movements. Understanding anatomy can help improve one's ballet technique and alignment.

1. Ballet Technique and Your Dancing Body GOAL TO DEVELOP A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO IMPROVE ALIGNMENT IN YOUR DANCE TRAINING THROUGH KNOWING ANATOMY

2. WHAT IS TECHNIQUE IN BALLET? TECHNIQUE IS HOW YOU CREATE THE PROPER LINES OF THE BODY BY PLACING YOU ARMS, LEGS, TORSO, HEAD, NECK, SHOULDERS, ANKLES, FEET AND EVEN HANDS. THERE ARE MANY POSITIONS OF THE ARMS AND LEGS IN BALLET. HOW YOU PLACE YOURSELF INTO THESE POSITIONS IS WHERE YOU WORK ON YOUR TECHNIQUE

3. 12 Body Placement Rules for Ballet Technique Head erect straight on top of spine, ears over shoulders chin up Diaphragm lifted (breathing muscles in rib cage Spine held straight up and lengthened Shoulders squarely over hip Eyes forward and focused Pelvis centered with the hips placed directly over the feet

4. 7. Abdomen (lower abdominal muscles) tightened and lifted8.Gluteal muscles contracted to pull down tailbone9. Thighs (quadriceps and hamstrings) pulled up with knees straight10. Feet must bear weight primarily over the metatarsals (long thin bones in the foot).11. Turn out from hip joints (ball and socket joint)12. SMILE

6. BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THESE FOR THE TEST

8. Activity Take a moment and stand up. Move all the parts of your body. Make a list of where you think all of your joints are and name them on a sheet of paper. Share you thoughts….

9. 5 Positions of the Feet Refer to page 139 in your ballet dictionary. Do you recognize these positions? Where do you know them from. What major joint of the body do we use to create these positions?

10. The Hip Ball and Socket Joint: has great mobility and is key in being able to extend your legs up for battements, Grande jetes and arabesque. Illiopsoas muscle is attached from your lumbar spine around the hip socket and is a key muscle in these dance movements as well.