Backbends and Core Strength

This simple sequence is to help you gain a flexible spine and strong back.  There are many benefits of yoga backbends for classical dancers, so read on!

We tend to think of a "backbend" as a flexibility move.  While you do need a mobile spine to bend backwards, a back extension (or 'backbend' in layperson's terms) is actually a back strengthener when done correctly -- it's the front of the body that's lengthening and stretching.

When we bend over backwards, our hip joints are also in extension -- but in this case it means opening at the hip flexors, And this is exactly the kind of flexibility that dancers need to achieve arabesques, attitude derriere and the back leg of a grand jete.  Plus, when our hips are in extension our glutes and hamstrings switch on while the hip flexors release, and those are some of muscles we need to hold the leg there out back.

I recently met a young male student from the English National Ballet School.  He had come to one of my classes after being advised to try yoga as he was carrying a lot of tension in his shoulders.  And sound advice that was:  A strong, supple upper back can also prevent neck and shoulders in partnering work and port de bras, and most backbends also help to open and free existing tightness the chest and shoulders, too,  This, in turn, can help you deepen and control your breath, too,

As you'll see here, many yoga backbends involve quite a big range of motion, but that's good news for ballet dancers who need to achieve a more extreme shapes and lines than the general population. One word of caution:  Dancers often have very mobile, expressive spines already.  (As you'll also see from this video, I'm not one of them!)  But it's important not to rely on this mobility and not to "sink" into your low back by hinging  solely from the lumbar.  The upper back needs to be strong and mobile, too, as well as the abs to support the spine from the front.  So here's how we bend over backwards the yoga way.

You may need to warm up a bit before this sequence.  Enjoy!