A COMPLETE package that has helped many ballet dancers IMPROVE. 

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Improve Your Ballet - The Ballet Bible Review Becoming a ballet dancer can be difficult. It is not something that can be learned overnight, nor can it be mastered in a few months. Taking ballet classes is imperative to learn the proper techniques necessary to become a truly magical ballet dancer whose every move and step personify grace and beauty. As a resource for beginning through advanced ballet students, The Complete Ballet Bible Package written by Anita Leembruggen, reinforces what students learn in class. It’s like having your own private tutor at home. Broken into four components, ebook, audio and ballet dance videos and one on one lessons, these user friendly formats allow you to navigate through every ballet exercise with ease.

Part 1 - titled “The 3 Simple Rules of a Prima Ballerina” is a PDF ebook with over 200 pages of text and detailed pictures. This guide not only shows you how to do a movement or gesture correctly, but shows you how most dancers do it incorrectly, and tells you WHY. No other book I have ever read shows you this. I feel this is a fundamental aspect to learning.

Part 2 - titled “Audio Terms and Definitions” is a audio software package that allows you to find any ballet term and learn its meaning. For each exercise, step, position, and/or pose, a simple point and click allows you to do any of the following: Scroll through the whole list of terms. Find specific terms. Learn the correct French accents for specific terms. Click a button to hear each term sounded out for you with clear and concise definitions and a visible pronunciation guide.

Part 3 - titled “Video Demonstrations” is a collection of over 60 videos on ballet technique. If you are a visual learner like myself this is a real benefit. Being able to watch how to correctly perform a Ballonce or Entrachat Quatre whenever you like, and as many times as you like, is an excellent method to reinforce proper technique.

Part 4 - “the Ballet Bible 1-on-1 Vidoes Lessons” is a complete demonstration/teaching series containing over 20 individual video lessons covering everything you need to know to reach the top of your class in record time.

All in all the The Complete Ballet Bible Package is unlike anything else I could find on the market. It is a flexible online teaching tool that provides you with a visual model of ballet steps, exercises, and principles typically taught only in an educational setting.

Many have benefited from this package and it’s a resource they go back to time after time.

This complete package is highly recommended if you want to IMPROVE your ballet skills in a short period of time, whether you are a beginner or not.

By: Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com.  Did you know that 95% of people who start ballet classes will fail miserably… Here’s how you can succeed click here!

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How Can I Improve the Basics of My Ballet Training Without A Professional Ballet School?

However, there are currently several good sources of basic ballet technique in text, photo and DVD form. The finer details of posture, turnout and placement can be understood and learned. Stretching safely can produce great improvement, whether or not you end up doing the splits.

How to improve the basics of ballet training can be done with the help of professional technique manuals. A student cannot train in pointed shoes without an experienced teacher. However, there are currently several good sources of basic ballet technique in text, photo and DVD form. The finer details of posture, turnout and placement can be understood and learned. Stretching safely can produce great improvement, whether or not you end up doing the splits.

Internet dance forums and chats can create a wonderful community for students, especially those in smaller towns with fewer dance studios to choose from.

One drawback, however, is the transfer of incorrect technical information that may lead to zero progress, or even injury.

For example, the basics of posture depend on enough flexibility for a dancer to stand with a neutral spine (normal curves and good abdominal support). This requires thigh muscles at the front of the leg, or hip flexors, and thigh muscles at the back of the leg, the hamstrings, that are long and flexible enough to allow the pelvis to retain a natural position. This is simply, neither tilted forward nor back in response to a short or tense muscle of the leg.

While flexibility allowing a ballet dancer to do the splits may seem like the ideal, a strong technique is required to hold the traditional ballet positions and leg extensions in a stable position. Without a strong core and uncluttered ballet exercises to build more strength, both adagio and grand allegro will be clumsy or result in injury.

A clean and accurate ballet technique benefits greatly from a student learning the basics of anatomy in regards to turnout, foot structure, the spine, and large muscle groups. The all too common knee injuries and sprained ankles can be prevented with understanding what is at stake when a dancer forces turnout, for example, or goes onto pointe too soon.

Dance students who are not ideally flexible, long and lean, or highly arched in their foot structure can still be strong. Holding the turnout you have means you can move and jump safely. Having strong extension positions and a strong core can mean you will do a fabulous series of turns in second, arabesque or attitude. Strength is more important than height of leg, for these showy spins.

Understanding the finer details of the basics of classical ballet technique will allow you to build strength faster, without developing over worked muscles that gradually become too tense to maintain good muscle tone. Learning to train your brain to improve your ability to envision your dance moves, and stay in a positive frame of mind will give you an edge. Yet, you must know what is accurate in order to envision it for the best results.

Learning the tips and tricks of safe ballet stretching, and proper muscle care and relaxation will result in a steady progress and optimum results.

Study, in particular, the pre-pointed routines, including proper self-assessment, and well-paced home practice. Whether you are a would-be ballerina or are among the men in ballet, pre-pointed regimens benefit balance, foot strength, and lead to virtuoso professional footwork. Men and boys in pointed shoes is not a freak phenomenon, it’s wise study, and more and more dance teachers allow the males to join basic barre work on pointed.

Pointed work should always be supervised. Problems with pointed work usually need to be corrected off pointed first. General technical weaknesses can be improved throughout class work, and then work on pointed will be accurate and can be done without a struggle.

If you would like to improve your ballet dancing beyond your local training, all the information you need is readily available. Give yourself some quiet time to study and learn some self-assessment tests to isolate your weaker areas. The basics of ballet training are well explained and are in your reach, even if you are far away from a professional ballet school.

Find out how a would-be ballerina and men in ballet get exactly the right fit in ballet shoes and pointed shoes, prevent dance injuries, get The Perfect Pointe Book, The Ballet Bible, and Deborah Vogel’s products on injury prevention and functional anatomy. Dianne M. Buxton trained at The National Ballet School of Canada, The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and Toronto Dance Theater.

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Common Misunderstandings about Ballet Stretches and Doing the Splits

I am flabbergasted at the misunderstandings being perpetuated about doing the splits. Ballet stretches taught properly help with muscle flexibility. Ballet exercises in soft shoes and pointe shoes all require the correct posture and alignments. Doing the splits for a jete or a penche does not come naturally to many dancers. So how do they make it look right?

One of the biggest reliefs I had when I went from amateur to professional training was that hips do not have to be square in a derriere (behind you) position. Including doing the splits. I started my training in the R.A.D. system. I had natural turnout. It looked great except when I did a tend (French word for stretched) derriere. We had to keep our hips square. In more advanced classes the developed to the back, and attitude positions still looked terribly turned in. Naturally the students would go for height, which opened our hip. Our teacher would correct our hips, placing them back to a square position, and both the height and turnout looked miserable. When I got into classes taught by teachers from The National Ballet of Canada, I was elated to find I could open my working hip. The waist, upper back and shoulders had to stay square, but not the hips. I finally and instantly had a professional looking line in arabesque, attitude, etc. When I explained how I had been taught they said "no one can do that!"

Another absurdity is that some people will never do the splits due to hip deformity.

Doing the splits depends on overall hyper-mobility. Not only hamstrings and quads need to be extremely flexible, but your postural muscles, the iliopsoas, needs to be very flexible. Hyper-mobility of the joints is an extra blessing for doing the splits, but creates a lot of problems too.

A professional ballet dancer will do whatever it takes to get a good line in a split jete or penche. Those who cannot do the splits perfectly open the hip more, and sometimes slightly bend the leg so that their foot lines up with the hip, and even though the entire leg is not lined up, the illusion of the splits is seen. The hard and fast rules of ballet technique are for safety - for prevention of dance injuries. Getting the right line allows for accommodations that skilled teachers know how to teach. Stretch after your ballet exercises when you are warm. Relax your muscles first. Use a rubber ball to knead out the worst tension. Then stretch gently in correctly aligned positions. You will improve your muscle flexibility, and you may end up doing the splits. But if you never do, it is not going to kill a dance career.

Click here for free articles on ballet shoes pointe shoes, The Perfect Pointe Book, The Ballet Bible, how to get exactly the right fit, details about turnout, pre-pointe, dance books and DVD’s and more.

Find out more here about learning ballet online.

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Don’t Waste Time - Learn To Self-Assess Your Ballet Technique

If you are a dedicated student who is willing to do some reading about the finer details of correct ballet technique, you’ll acquire good ballet exercise tips and you’ll know if you’re working accurately in class. No author of ballet technique can see you and your work. However, you can find the information you need about ballet standards, pointe shoes, and you can build strength and the correct muscle memory to advance with optimum results.

If you can learn about self-assessing, and practise very accurate routines to improve one basic ballet exercise at a time, you’ll get ahead much faster, for example, even if you continue only doing 2 classes a week. The internet is full of information! Glossaries of French words for ballet are available.

I know that if you are a dedicated student, you will love these volumes of information. You can prepare for pointe safely and properly, even if your own teacher doesn’t know how. And many teachers don’t, because this has not been taught before.

You can gradually reach the same standards as students who have studied during the early years that perhaps you didn’t. You need the right info, that’s all. For instance, if you just read one article about a correct plie, and practise that for a week at home, you would improve and strengthen every exercise you do in class.

If you self-assessed and started a routine for preparing to work in pointe shoes, in one month you would be far ahead of where you are now. And I encourage male dance students to do these too, because to date, I haven’t found anything written for male students refining their footwork.

Repetition certainly is the essence of ballet training - but it only gets you optimum results if you’re doing things accurately. Even the best of teachers can correct you only so much in a class - teachers try their best to correct everyone. So any student who is willing to learn to assess themselves and work a little at home is going to get way ahead!

Be creative in how you apply your homework in ballet exercises - figure out how you can do your foot exercises while you study for schoolwork. Do your core exercises while you watch a movie. There are many ways to not waste time, to build strength and muscle memory, and to excel beyond your expectations.

And always remember, proper ballet stretching, relaxing tight muscles, and a day of rest is always part of the program!

Click here for ballet shoes, pointe shoes, The Perfect Pointe Book, The Ballet Bible, getting exactly the right fit, dance books, ballet forum, ballet wear, diet for dancers, DVD’s and more.

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Being a Ballerina: Top 3 Mistakes Every Ballerina Makes

Being a ballerina, especially a good one, requires a great deal of dedication and hard work. Saying that is almost a joke because it’s really much more than that - and any ballerina knows that.

Working hard is just part of the job. It’s part of the lifestyle, but even with that dedication, it can be hard to avoid a few of the most common mistakes.

So, what are the top three mistakes that every ballerina makes?

1. Posture. From head to toe a ballerina must be perfect. The walk must be graceful and her stance must be pristine. But there are moments during routines when any ballerina can falter, if just for a moment, when she could have kept control. A few simple steps can keep this from ever happening again.

2. Arm extensions. Okay, we’ve all seen the dreaded chicken wing during a turn. Your instructor has probably made a big issue about this because arm extensions play a huge role in points when in front of a judge. A floppy arm will elicit big deductions - when it could have been avoided with a simple technique.

3. Maintaining control during positions. Often, this is an issue of technique more than it is one of strength. But, many ballerinas have difficulty keeping control of positions like the Penche, Foutt, Arabesque, and Pirouette, but they don’t know why. But what if it is an issue of strength? Then it’s time to learn how to trick your body into doing these moves with the control you need, until you gain the strength that will ensure results every time.

Watch out for these common mistakes and your audience will take one look at you and think you’ve been dancing since you were old enough to walk -which, okay, most ballerinas have.

Find out more information on learning ballet online and ballet basics here.  

If you’d like to learn more about how to gain an extra advantage in your ballet dancing, visit http://www.shoplizards.com/bibleballet.html . Audry Grant is the author of over a hundred online articles and has a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing.

By Audry Grant Published: 8/25/2008

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