Abby: Hello Everyone and welcome to episode 1 of Abby’s dance class! The series where we learn about all things DANCE. So “beginners”, “in-betweeners”, and “professionals”- you’re all welcome here.
Today, our focus will be on barre! We’ll also be learning about the five main positions in Ballet.
A ballet barre is a horizontal, usually wooden, handrail that is used to warm up our body, practice balance and stability and align our bodies correctly, like this one!
So throw on something you can dance in, it doesn’t matter what and let’s get dancing!
Voice over Abby: Alright, let’s start with first position. First position is where your ankles are touching together and your toes are turned out. Make sure you don’t turn your feet out too much since this will put stress on your knees. You want to make sure you’re not rolling onto the inside or the outside of your feet. Stand tall and centered over your toes.
For your arms in first position, imagine you are holding an invisible beach ball. You want to roll your shoulders down and back and engage those back muscles to hold the imaginary beach ball. This is first position!
For second position, your feet are to the side and turned out. You don’t want to be in too wide of a stance for second position because you don’t want to be unsupported. I measure my second position by lining my knees up with my shoulders.
For your arms in second position, they are out to the side over your feet however you don’t want them to go too far back. Keep them rounded and keep engaging those back muscles. This is second position!
For third position, your heel will be meeting the center of your other foot. This position isn’t used anymore because it looks too similar to fifth position. We won’t be doing this position at the barre today however it’s still important to learn.
For your arms in third position, the outside arm will be rounded above your head and the inside arm will be directly to the side and also rounded. Keep engaging those back muscles, make sure your chest is high. This is third position!
For fourth position one foot will push out directly in front of the standing foot. Like second position, make sure your stance isn’t too wide or too narrow. You’ll want to make sure your feet are turned out and you’re standing up nice and tall.
For your arms in fourth position, you’ll extend your outside arm rounded above your head, while your inside arm will be rounded directly in front of you. Stand nice and tall. This is fourth position.
For fifth position, your toes and heel will meet. Don’t push into that turn out so much that it hurts, you want to follow your natural turn out line.
For your arms in fifth position, you will either do arms fifth high or arms fifth low. For arms fifth high, you will bring back that invisible beach ball but this time it will be over your head. Make sure your chest is open and your shoulders are down and back. For fifth low arms, you’ll bring the imaginary beach ball down here, keeping some resistance in your arms.
Today we’ll learn how to do a plie. Plie means bend in French. We’ll be learning how to do the two types of plies. Demi plie aka half plie and grande plie aka big plie.
First I’ll start by showing you a couple of Demi plies. A plie is a move where the dancer bends at their knees. A plie should be smooth with your feet and knees turned outwards with the upper body aligned and upright. Now I’ll show you a couple to the side. This is Demi plie.
A grande plie is a little more advanced than a Demi plie but the same rules apply. Here’s a helpful tip! Think of yourself as one of those animals on a carousel ride. You know how that rod goes straight up and down through the carousel animal? That’s what your grande plie should look like. You don’t want to tip backwards or forwards, you want to stay as aligned and balanced as possible. Here’s a couple to the side. This is a grande plie.
Abby: Alright my friends, now the challenge is can we do Demi plies and grand plies in each position we learned about in class today? I think you’re up for the challenge. Let’s do it!
We’ll start by doing 4 Demi plies and 1 grand plie on one side. We will then switch directions to the other side and repeat. Got it?
Voice over Abby: Alright, starting with our arms first and then gently place that hand on the barre, we’ll plie one, two, just follow my hand, and our fourth. Now we grande plie, nice and easy, good job! Let’s open up to second position, and we Demi plie one, Demi plie two, Demi plie three, Demi plie four. Keep your heels to the floor for this grande plie, your alignment nice and upright. Good job! And now let’s go to fourth position. We Demi plie one, Demi plie two, Demi plie three, Demi plie fourth. Gently lift your heels off the ground for this grande plie, right back up, good job everyone! Arms fourth position and let’s slide into fifth position. We Demi plie one, Demi plie two, Demi plie three, you got this, and four. Keep those heels just barely off the ground, you’re that carousel animal nice and upright, arms fifth high and bring them down.
Okay, we’ll bring our arms up to first position and gently place your hand on the barre. We plie first position one, Demi plie two, and three and four. Grand plie, nice and easy, gently peel those heels off the floor and come back up. First position, great open to second position. We Demi plie one, Demi plie two, Demi plie three, Demi plie four. Plant those heels to the ground, grande plie. Nice work! Arms out to second, and we’ll go to fourth position. We Demi plie one, two, make sure that turn out is nice, those heels planted to the floor, and we go grande plie, just like that carousel animal back up, arms in fourth position, and close to fifth position. Almost done! Demi plie one, Demi plie two, nice and easy three, and four. Last grande plie squeeze, you got this, and gently back to the floor, nice arms fifth high, and open.
Abby: Well done my friends, you learned so many new things today. You learned the 5 main positions are in ballet, how to do a Demi plie and a grande plie at the barre in each position?! Whoo! Great work!
Join us next time when we learn more ballet basics!
High five! Woo hoo!