BALLET TECHNIQUES
This file contains five categories that can help speed your training and understanding of Ballet technique. First, ballet is composed of seven things: Positions, Poses, Jumps, Beats, Turns, Steps and Balance.
Second, they all take practice. This file along with "JUMPS AND BEATS" will help you understand what to practice and how to practice to accelerate your training. Keep in mind that hard work and determination can overcome many obstacles. And remember "Ballet is Fun".

TRAINING SECRETS
These are exercises that speed up your training by helping your timing, coordination, strength, speed and feel for important steps. It also might change your way of looking at a step and will help you improve your technique, as in turns. If you understand more about centrifugal force, your turns could improve. Did you know that an Entrachat Six is really just two actual beats of the legs, not six? Did you know that some stretches can actually make your feet point better and others can dramatically increase your extension? You should be at least Intermediate II level to get the most from this file. So give them a try. You will be surprised.

TURNS
Turns are a major part of training a ballet dancer. They give you timing, coordination, balance and body placement, or should I say, it takes timing, coordination, balance and body placement to be a good turner. They help each other. A dancer who balances well on one foot is usually a good turner, and visa-versa. Turns take a major part of your practice. Every teacher has their own way of teaching turns. That's why when a student has too many teachers that teach different styles, there is contradiction and the student does not know who to listen to. We teach the theory of centrifugal force, where you bring your arms into the center of your body, rather than pushing your arms around and making your center in front of your body. See Training Secrets for more examples of this. You should be at least Intermediate II level to get the most from this turn file.

The turns in this section are all important and should be practiced, both right and left. They can and should be done on pointe, when you are ready. Remember, you must have a pretty good spot and the correct body position before you can do good turns. Practice them both before doing the turn. All turns help the coordination for other turns. And don't forget, TURNING IS FUN.

The most commonly used turns are:

Outside or en dehors turn
Inside or en dedans turn
PiquÈ inside or en dedans turn
Fouette En Tournant outside or en dehors turn
Grahn Pirouette leg in second outside or en dehors turn
Chaine turns

CONNECTING STEPS
These are some very important steps that connect with other steps. Combinations cannot be made without these steps. You cannot dance without them. Every dancer must know these steps. Make sure to put connecting steps into your practice schedule.

POSES & POSITIONS
Poses and positions are what ballet is made of. Whenever you are on stage, anyone can tell if you have worked a lot on poses and positions. All poses have to be stretched out to make you look longer and correctly placed to someone sitting in the audience. It takes lots of practice and looking in the mirror to get them right. Your teacher has to correct you on these a lot. Positions have to be clean and not sloppy. When you have a good arabesque and a good fifth, you have more confidence in your dancing. Remember, there is no substitute for a good ballet teacher to coach you day by day. You should be at least intermediate II level to get the most from this file.

7 BASIC MOVEMENTS
It has been established that there are seven basic movements used in dance. Every dancer should be aware of these:

Plier (Plee-ay) To bend as in Demi Plie
Relever (Ruhl-vay) To raise as in Releve
Etendre (Ay-tahn-druh) To stretch as in Tendu
Glisser (Glee-say) To glide as in Glissade
Tourner (Toor-nay) To turn as in Pirouette
Sauter (Soh-tay) To jump as in Jumps in first
Elancer (Ay-lahn-say) To dart as in Darting to Arabesque