The Ballet Dancer

Help on ballet moves?

I am a dancer and have been dancing for years now, but there are still some moves that I have trouble with. Can you please write tips and how to practice them?
This is what I need to work on:
1) Tour jete- http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/index.html
2)Fouetté (the turn when you whip your leg around)
3)Frappè- I just can’t do it to the back!!
4)Penché- putting your legs at a 6 o’clock position, how do I stretch to get better at that?
Thanks!

Tour Jete:
1)Work on stretching your back and jumping up in the air. You will need to jump high and have time to kick your legs up. You will need to be flexible enough to do a battement front and go past 90 degrees. Same thing in arabesque.
Keep practicing! I’m not good at this either but this is the advice that my ballet teacher gave me and it really helped a lot.

Fouettes:
I’m not very good at this either. Here are some helpful tips that helped me:
1) Work at the barre. Practice doing single fouettes at the barre until you are used to the movement. Muscle memory will help you. You need to make sure you are doing it right because if you memorize it wrong, you will lose your balance at the center.
2) Spot! Start in fourth position, do a pirouette, and start doing fouettes from there. Try to do as many as you can. The first time will be hard but you will get better. Spot each time. It doesn’t have to be the same place each time but have a spot to concentrate on so you don’t lose your balance.
3) Whip your arms out and make sure your leg is going front-side. Don’t let your arms stay in one place. They are supposed to go front-side too. Don’t drop them either! If you are falling to the right, raise your right arm to support you. Turn out your foot and don’t go past the side. It was hard for me at first but you get used to it.
4) Straight leg. Make sure your leg is straight. If it is, it will help your body be in balance and not tilted.
5) Be in rhythm with the music. It will help you concentrate.

Frappe:
1) Just practice! Turn out your foot. You might want to do tondus to the back to practice brushing to the back. Back frappes are especially hard but you will get good if you practice every day. Also, try double and triple frappes to the back too. I’m sorry, that’s all I can tell you.

Ponche:
1)Stretch in the splits. Flexing your foot will help because that is how your foot is when you are doing ponches. Also, stretch in arabesque too. It will need to be at least 90 degrees or it will look bad. Go foward slowly, not letting your upper body drop. It should still be 90 degrees where ever you are. Practice getting your legs to 180 degrees. Stretching in the splits against the wall like a ponche may help a lot.

I hope I helped. Good Luck!

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